Morecambe and Wise comment on Monty Python in 1973
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In an unearthed interview with University of East Anglia (UEA) TV station Nexus in 1973, the comedy duo slammed the comedy within BBC series, Monty Python. Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were huge stars of the era, and their TV shows could pull in more than 20 million views a week. However, their opinion on the comedy sketches within the show left Sir Michael Palin “hurt” when he saw the footage.
In the clip, the student interviewer asked: “Which parts do you like?” when asked what they thought.
Morecambe joked: “Erm, the opening and the finish, it’s the bit in the middle that I don’t like, no, I like it.”
Wise added: “I like Monty Python, but as I said, what I find is watching it… there’s five or, you know, at times, there’s five or six minutes of utter boredom.
“And then there are three minutes of very funny and then another eight minutes of boredom,” he laughed.
Morecambe continued: “You see what I, the way I feel about it is, that it’s, what they give you is for want of a better expression, is university comedy.
“You know, or college comedy or whatever you want to call it. And that is what they give you, and I’m afraid a lot of it is very unprofessional, and this irritates me being a professional.
“But what does make me laugh, really makes me laugh, and what doesn’t make me laugh bores me stiff.”
When Monty Python member Sir Michael Palin heard what the comedy legends had to say, he was “a little hurt” but was “intrigued” by the footage.
He told the BBC it was unusual for comedians to comment so directly on each other at the time.
“People in the same sort of business were very careful about what they said about somebody else,” he said.
“It was quite nice that they just relaxed. And it’s most interesting what they say because I think it’s what they meant.
“It didn’t seem particularly savage – but on the other hand, it was very clear what they felt.”
Still, in today’s society, Morecambe and Wise are still seen as Britain’s greatest double act and, at the time, were approaching the peak of their popularity.
Their partnership began by chance in 1941, when they were booked separately to appear on stage at Nottingham, and lasted right up until Morecambe’s death in 1984.
Morecambe was a heavy smoker and suffered his first major heart attack in 1968 at the wheel of his car.
He later went on to have two more heart attacks before he died walking off stage and telling his wife Joan Bartlett he was “on top form”.
Wise died in 1999 after also suffering from a heart attack following a series of heart problems over the years.
Holding back tears, Doreen Wise said of her husband: “We have had ups and downs for quite a while, but he is finally gone.”
On Christmas Day, 2021, a long-lost episode of Morecambe and Wise was broadcast in colour for the first time.
The footage was found by Eric Morecambe’s son Gary in the attic of his mother’s house.
Morecambe & Wise: 30 Funniest Moments airs tonight at 8:30pm on Channel 5.
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