0:00:03 > 0:00:06I'm so pleased that the BBC have decided to institute
0:00:06 > 0:00:11an annual lecture on the art of comedy,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14and I think it's very fitting that they have decided
0:00:14 > 0:00:17to name it in honour of my old friend and mentor,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20the lovely, clever Ronnie Barker.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Not only was he a great comedy actor and performer,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26but he was also a very skilful writer.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30He would be absolutely pleased and delighted to know
0:00:30 > 0:00:33that this lecture is being hosted
0:00:33 > 0:00:37by a favourite of his and a favourite of mine -
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Ben Elton.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41APPLAUSE
0:00:41 > 0:00:43WHOOPING
0:00:51 > 0:00:52Thank you.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Thank you very much.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00Ladies, gentlemen, fellow turns, welcome to...
0:01:01 > 0:01:03..BBC Broadcasting House -
0:01:03 > 0:01:08the epicentre of British popular culture since 1932.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And I'd like to make a very special welcome to Charlie Barker,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Ronnie's daughter, who's here with us tonight representing
0:01:14 > 0:01:15Ronnie's family. And also,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19I'm so pleased to say that there are quite a few members of
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Ronnie Corbett's family here with us tonight as well, which is lovely.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26So it's good evening to you and it's good evening to you.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29It is obviously a huge honour to have been asked to give
0:01:29 > 0:01:32this inaugural Ronnie Barker BBC comedy lecture
0:01:32 > 0:01:35and tonight I'm going to use the opportunity
0:01:35 > 0:01:39to offer some reflections on specific aspects of the sitcom,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41a subject I'm certain would have been
0:01:41 > 0:01:43of great interest to the great man himself.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I was lucky enough to get to know Ronnie quite well
0:01:46 > 0:01:47towards the end of his life,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50we became quite friendly, but I will admit
0:01:50 > 0:01:53that our first meeting wasn't quite such a happy occasion.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56I was at my favourite event of the whole year -
0:01:56 > 0:02:01the BBC Light Entertainment Christmas party.
0:02:01 > 0:02:02You can imagine how I felt.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07I was young, it was Christmas and I was at the BBC,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10and not just any part of the BBC, but the bit that WAS Christmas.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12It was a black tie event.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Oh, yes, they did things properly in BBC Comedy in those days.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17They insisted on dinner jackets,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19even though the party was held in an office -
0:02:19 > 0:02:24the famed sixth-floor Entertainment Suite at BBC Television Centre,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27which was the same as all the other offices at Television Centre,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30but with the partition walls taken out.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35Same nylon carpet tiles, same low-flying ceiling,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39same strip fluoro-lighting at a Christmas party.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42It even made Bob Monkhouse look pasty.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48There was no DJs, no chill-out room,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50no scatter cushions,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52no musk-scented indoor yurt.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Just a Woolies cassette of Christmas carols
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and a sofa for the cast of Last Of The Summer Wine.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Some of my generation revolted against the black tie.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08They didn't like it. They weren't going to wear dinner jackets to order.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13They weren't going to kowtow to a hierarchical, autocratic BBC,
0:03:13 > 0:03:14but I loved it. I loved it.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I thought it looked great. I was proud to wear it.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Probably where I started to get my reputation for political hypocrisy.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26"Votes Labour, but prepared to wear a bow tie to a Christmas party.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27"What a sell-out!"
0:03:29 > 0:03:30But the Rons were there,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33undisputedly the biggest stars in the room.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Everybody wanted to talk to the Ronnies.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37It was marvellous, people used to cluster round.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39There'd kind of be two Ronnie circles.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40They didn't entertain together.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I mean, they were friends, but they weren't joined at the hip.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46There'd be a Ronnie C circle and a Ronnie B circle.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Ronnie C's circle was very friendly,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51very inclusive, he was always laughing.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52I can remember him still stood there.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56He always wore a velvet dinner jacket and tartan trews.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Never saw him in those any other time of the year.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03He was a Scottish Nationalist once a year, and only from the waist down.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Ronnie B's circle - little bit more formal.
0:04:07 > 0:04:08He sort of held court a little bit.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12They used to call him The Governor and I think he liked that.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And always, you know, the sort of,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17what they call the suits these days would gravitate towards Ronnie B.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20The channel controllers would be listening earnestly to what Ronnie B
0:04:20 > 0:04:23had to say and of course I was gravitating towards him, too,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26because this was Ronnie Barker and he wasn't on the telly,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30he was actually there. And I was with Stephen Fry and Rowan Atkinson.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34We were all young back then and we were sort of hovering on the edge
0:04:34 > 0:04:37of Ronnie Barker's little group and he must've sensed we were there.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39He didn't see us, but we were kind of at his shoulder,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43and eventually he turned round and he looks us up and down
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and finally he points at Rowan and he says,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47"I like you."
0:04:47 > 0:04:53And he points at Stephen and he says, "I quite like you."
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Then he points at me...
0:04:56 > 0:04:58"But I don't like you."
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And then he turned, turned his back.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06It was quite a moment.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Stephen tried to take him on a little bit,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11but, I mean, it was very chilly. I felt ridiculous.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15I was a fan and stood there in me rented tuxedo, but...
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Now, I only tell this story because it's kind of relevant to the theme
0:05:18 > 0:05:22of this evening. Something about me had made Ronnie angry.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Angry enough to be quite rude to me,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26and I think that's true about comedy, isn't it?
0:05:26 > 0:05:28It seems to make people angry.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31If people don't like comedy, they get annoyed by it.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34I mean, much more annoyed than you would get if you don't like
0:05:34 > 0:05:37a picture or a poem or a nice serious play.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Comedy tends to wind people up.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43And, look, I know we live in an age of anger where the internet has made
0:05:43 > 0:05:49splenetic fury the new tolerance, but even in our age of outrage,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53I'd say comedy is reserved for a special type of bile
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and there's a certain type of comedy, interestingly,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58which provokes the greatest level of fury of all.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The real venom is generally reserved for a certain style of comedy
0:06:02 > 0:06:06which seems to make quite a large proportion of comedy critics
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and commentators and some consumers very angry indeed.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I'm talking about the studio-based sitcom
0:06:12 > 0:06:16recorded in front of a live audience.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Here's a clip from the BBC's
0:06:18 > 0:06:22currently far-and-away most popular sitcom.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Oh, Winnie, I remember one night me and Reg were walking along the beach
0:06:25 > 0:06:27in Portmarnock.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30He started chasing me into the sand dunes, so I was there, you know,
0:06:30 > 0:06:35pretending to run and he caught me and he threw me in the sand.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38So I was lying there, I said, "What do you want?"
0:06:40 > 0:06:43And he said, "I want your knickers round your ankles."
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Oh, Jesus!
0:06:45 > 0:06:48I had to get them out of me fecking handbag and put them on.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55That's Mrs Brown's Boys, a huge hit.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57It regularly gets 11 million viewers
0:06:57 > 0:07:00in an age when three or four is considered a triumph.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04It was recently voted by the Radio Times readers, no less,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07favourite sitcom of the 21st century.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10And here is a little selection of the sort of criticism
0:07:10 > 0:07:12that is regularly thrown at it.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Now, I don't know what you think of Mrs Brown's Boys,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50but I hope you'd agree that by commissioning it,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52the BBC is doing its job.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Recognising that the whole country pays the licence fee
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and quality comedy comes in many guises
0:07:58 > 0:08:02because Mrs Brown's Boys is quality comedy.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05It's not to everybody's taste, but then what work of art of any value
0:08:05 > 0:08:07could possibly be to everybody's taste?
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Mrs Brown's Boys is self-evidently an exuberant, superbly executed
0:08:13 > 0:08:16celebration of what, for want of a better word,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18we might call "big" comedy.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22The comedy of the perfect theatrical double-take.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I have a huge penis.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25RAUCOUS LAUGHTER
0:08:39 > 0:08:41The shameless pratfall.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Cathy, for God's sake.
0:08:44 > 0:08:45Hello?
0:08:51 > 0:08:52I'm fine, I'm fine.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Really, I'm OK.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56# You can't touch this... #
0:08:57 > 0:09:00And, of course, the outrageous double-entendre.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02What's the name of that count?
0:09:05 > 0:09:06Count Basie.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12A highly talented cast led by an inspired comic star,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15giving an adoring audience a weekly object lesson
0:09:15 > 0:09:18in big, broad, farcical nonsense.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20What's not to respect?
0:09:20 > 0:09:25And yet, as we have seen, it's afforded very, very little.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27Studio sitcom rarely is.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31So here's a couple of clips now from two other current or very recent
0:09:31 > 0:09:35hugely-loved BBC comedy sitcoms.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37No. I'm stuck.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38My necklace...
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Stinky's on the floor.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42My necklace! I'm stuck!
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Actually, sorry. Sorry.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Just undo it at the back.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I can't!
0:09:51 > 0:09:54If you must know, yes, I have been for a quick work-out.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Nothing major today. Just a few ab-dabs, resits, diddly squats,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00some bi-curious and a triceratops.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I wish the ground could've swallowed me up.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11That was, of course, the marvellous Miranda and the endlessly likeable,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14wonderful Lee Mack in Not Going Out.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Here's again a fair representation of what was said about Miranda.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31That was Miranda. Let's take a look at the sort of criticism
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Not Going Out gets.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Nothing seems to wind a certain type of commentator up
0:10:49 > 0:10:51like a studio sitcom,
0:10:51 > 0:10:52and before we go any further,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56I have to put my hand up and say I've been guilty of it myself.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Here's a clip from The Young Ones.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08No, no, no, no!
0:11:08 > 0:11:10We're not watching the bloody Good Life.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Bloody, bloody, bloody!
0:11:13 > 0:11:15I hate it!
0:11:15 > 0:11:17It's so bloody nice!
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Felicity "Treacle" Kendal
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and Richard "Sugar-flavoured Snob" Briers.
0:11:23 > 0:11:24What do they do now?
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Chocolate bloody button ads, that's what.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31They're nothing but a couple of reactionary stereotypes
0:11:31 > 0:11:34confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a lovable,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38middle-class eccentric and I hate them!
0:11:41 > 0:11:44To be fair, I did hedge my bets on this one.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Well, you can just shut up, Vyvyan.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48You can just about blooming well shut up
0:11:48 > 0:11:50because if you've got anything horrid to say
0:11:50 > 0:11:53about Felicity Kendal...
0:11:53 > 0:11:57you can just about blooming well say it to me first, all right!
0:11:57 > 0:11:59Rick, Rick, I just did.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Oh. Oh, you did, did you?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Well, I've got a good mind to give you a ruddy good punch on the bottom
0:12:05 > 0:12:10for what you just said! You're talking about the woman I love!
0:12:12 > 0:12:15If I'm honest, looking back on that, I sort of regret that riff.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18I didn't hate The Good Life, I quite liked it,
0:12:18 > 0:12:19but I suppose we were young, you know,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22we were a bit punky and The Good Life was head and shoulders
0:12:22 > 0:12:24the most successful sitcom of its day.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25But as you get older,
0:12:25 > 0:12:30you begin to realise that casual dismissal and sometimes anger
0:12:30 > 0:12:33can be quite harmful, damage a lot of good work
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and also very hurtful to the people whose work you're having a go at.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40So at this point I have to declare a personal interest.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42I'm not an independent witness.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44This is a subjective talk.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46It is not object, it is subject.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It is as subjective as a Donald Trump press conference
0:12:50 > 0:12:51because I...
0:12:51 > 0:12:53It may surprise you to know, I, too,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57have had one or two bad reviews in my time.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Here's a clip from a sitcom I did three years ago,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05starring the incomparable David Haig as a hapless,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09overzealous local council health and safety officer.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Ours is a proud record.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20This is the department that introduced the static seesaw.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25The horizontal slide.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33Babies must wear helmets when breast-feeding near the swings...
0:13:34 > 0:13:36..because of us.
0:13:36 > 0:13:37That was The Wright Way,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and here is a very small selection of the universal phalanx
0:13:41 > 0:13:44of furious abuse that hit it immediately after
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and indeed during its first broadcast.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Believe me, that was one of the better ones.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56I'm not kidding you, it was furious and it was nasty.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Well, you know, maybe it was deserved,
0:13:59 > 0:14:03but just to show you that a massive slagging doesn't necessarily mean
0:14:03 > 0:14:05a show has no popular appeal,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I'd like to show you a clip from another show I did with David Haig
0:14:08 > 0:14:10from the '90s. That one did very well indeed
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and still shows on Gold to this day and even won a few awards.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16The Thin Blue Line.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18I'll have you know, Grim, that we in the uniform division
0:14:18 > 0:14:21are also at the cutting edge of modern policing.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23Oh, dear.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Well, have you tried putting a saucer of milk at the bottom of the tree?
0:14:33 > 0:14:38I haven't got time, Raymond, I am involved in serious police work.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41If you get in the way, I'm responsible.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Your cock-up, my arse.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50And here is a small, but I promise you,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54representative selection of the absolutely universal slagging
0:14:54 > 0:14:56it got the following morning.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20I've got to say, if you do only write one line in a sitcom,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23"My cock-up, your arse" isn't a bad one!
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I'm really not complaining. We're all in the business,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32you put your head up, you know you're going to get a kicking.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Everybody gets bad reviews.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Shakespeare got bad reviews. Well, the only...
0:15:37 > 0:15:40only contemporary review of Shakespeare that comes down to us
0:15:40 > 0:15:43from his own day was an absolute kicking.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48They called him a plagiarist, they called him an "upstart crow".
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Here's me imagining how he felt the morning he got that.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56And getting a bad review is much worse than getting the plague,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00because at least with the plague, the person that gave it to you died.
0:16:02 > 0:16:03So...
0:16:03 > 0:16:05APPLAUSE
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Obviously I am a subjective witness,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12but I'm making an objective point,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14a point that I feel very strongly about,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18because I contend that through a kind of lazy contempt,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22we're in danger of losing something of real value in our culture,
0:16:22 > 0:16:27and once the studio infrastructure and the talent base that supports it
0:16:27 > 0:16:30are gone, they won't come again.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34So what is it that defines this thing I'm so anxious to defend?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37What is it that connects The Goodies to Terry And June,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39The Young Ones to On The Buses?
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Well, as I say, they're all recorded live in front of a studio audience,
0:16:43 > 0:16:48an exercise in which laughter is clearly the desired aim.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53Real vocalised laughter, recorded and broadcast along with the show.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56So is that the problem?
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Is it the laughter which offends in comedy?
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Strangely, I think it is,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08because laughter is evidence of making an effort.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11The terrible British sin of going for laughs,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14laughs which, incidentally, are routinely dismissed
0:17:14 > 0:17:16as cheap and easy.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Laughs which are clear evidence of the greatest comic crime of all -
0:17:20 > 0:17:22trying to be funny.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Can you imagine a more withering sneer or put-down to throw at a comedian?
0:17:26 > 0:17:29"Oh, he was trying to be funny."
0:17:29 > 0:17:32But is that really such a terrible crime?
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Trying and failing, that's a shame,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38but trying at all, is that so terrible?
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Surely not, because without people trying to be funny,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45we'd have had to get along without memories like these.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Who's this then?
0:17:47 > 0:17:49HE SHOUTS IN GERMAN
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I'll do the funny walk.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02You see those flasks over there? I want you to fill one for me.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03What, from 'ere?
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Brace yourself, Rodney.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Even now, across the years, you can feel the joy,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42the immediacy of those live studio comedies -
0:18:42 > 0:18:45a single performance, one of a kind, captured in time.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48And consider the extraordinary complexities involved
0:18:48 > 0:18:50in producing those shows,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and the awe-inspiring collection of craft and skills that it required.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Each episode is recorded over the course of a single evening,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00two and half hours in front of a large audience.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Five or six cameras all moving and recording simultaneously
0:19:04 > 0:19:09capture the flow, the feel, the timing of a theatrical comedy event.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11While, in a darkened vision suite,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14all those six camera feeds are projected onto television screens
0:19:14 > 0:19:19and the show is cut and mixed and edited live - in real time -
0:19:19 > 0:19:22as the show is being performed.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25And hovering above every scurrying actor is a microphone,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28whizzing through the air, as players move about the set,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30deftly controlled by boom operators,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33sitting high above the throng on wheeled chariots,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37extending and contracting their four metre-long booms,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42like dinosaurs going fishing for gags, using microphones for bait.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And meanwhile, their colleagues also are hidden in a darkened room,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49mixing the sound, balancing the four or five dialogue feeds,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53the audience laughter, which could swell and dip at any moment,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56and also, of course, they have to mix in the comedy sound effects,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59which have to be dropped in with precision timing.
0:20:01 > 0:20:02What?!
0:20:15 > 0:20:19And while the cameras prowl and the camera assistants wrangle,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22the great rubber spaghetti of hundreds of metres of cable
0:20:22 > 0:20:25which covers the floor and can't be allowed for an instant
0:20:25 > 0:20:28to impede the movement of a camera or a boom platform,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31a techie spaghetti constantly in danger
0:20:31 > 0:20:33of overwhelming the gag bolognese.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37The art department dress the set and place the props, and all live,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40as the lighting department tweak and the costume departments
0:20:40 > 0:20:43dab and dip and stitch, and in the midst of it all,
0:20:43 > 0:20:48the actors struggle to maintain their characters' timing and commitment,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51deprived of the glorious freedom of the stage,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54but required nonetheless to conform to its disciplines -
0:20:54 > 0:20:58live dialogue, live effects, live and collaborative timing.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And whatever is captured in those few short hours
0:21:01 > 0:21:03is what gets broadcast,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06which produces an atmosphere very different from the type of feel
0:21:06 > 0:21:10produced when comedy is created filmically using a single camera.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Most people tend to think that the difference between
0:21:12 > 0:21:14a single-camera sitcom and a multi-camera one
0:21:14 > 0:21:16is just the absence of the audience.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18But I would suggest that of equal importance
0:21:18 > 0:21:21is that, in a single-camera shoot,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24the dialogue, the scene, is recorded in pieces -
0:21:24 > 0:21:27one character, then another.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30The characters in a multi-camera shoot are all recorded at once.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Now I'm not making a value judgment here -
0:21:32 > 0:21:36I love single-camera comedy, but there is a difference,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39because when you see a multi-camera shoot sitcom,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42what you're watching is the actors' real timing.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44When you watch a single-camera shoot,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46often on location but with single camera,
0:21:46 > 0:21:51what you're seeing is the editor's interpretation of that timing.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55It's just different, and it produces a different atmosphere.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59And, oh, what a vast array of craft and skill and talent is required
0:21:59 > 0:22:01to capture those fleeting moments.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Edgy and obscure can be done on-the-fly.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Ironic minimalism and wry mockumentary can be recorded
0:22:08 > 0:22:10on an iPhone with a single person,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13but it takes a village for Rik to destroy
0:22:13 > 0:22:16The Young Ones staircase using his bollocks as a battering ram.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21And, of course, all that makes these shows very expensive,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24an expense that frankly is easier to duck
0:22:24 > 0:22:27if you're just going to get slagged off for doing it anyway.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31And so a great and original television art form is dying,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33it really is.
0:22:33 > 0:22:34And while there's nothing we can do
0:22:34 > 0:22:37about shrinking budgets, fractured audiences
0:22:37 > 0:22:41and TV companies turning their fabulous studio facilities
0:22:41 > 0:22:43into prime real estate,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46empty flats to be rented out as investment blocks,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50it might help if commentator, critic and columnist alike
0:22:50 > 0:22:54stop treating studio sitcom with such thoughtless contempt,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56as if the only comic art of any real value
0:22:56 > 0:23:00is the comedy that pretends it isn't trying to be funny.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Now, I think we all know the sea change occurred in the mid '90s.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06That was when it suddenly became fashionable
0:23:06 > 0:23:08to record sitcoms without an audience,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and some fantastic work was done and has been done ever since.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14It sort of began with the sublime The Royle Family,
0:23:14 > 0:23:15which was kind of a hybrid.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18It was a crossover, because they still recorded that
0:23:18 > 0:23:21in a studio on multi-camera, but they didn't have an audience.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24The real watershed moment occurred with the wonderful,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26ground-breaking The Office,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30a brilliant piece of work, and that and many, many, many shows
0:23:30 > 0:23:33in similar styles that have followed deserved every plaudit
0:23:33 > 0:23:35they ever got. But, strangely,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39what began as a fantastic and innovative and refreshing style,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42quickly became a kind of comic orthodoxy,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46and the inexplicable side-effect was that the studio sitcom
0:23:46 > 0:23:49became overnight a byword for critical contempt,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51and it was the laughter that was hugely irritating.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Apparently, people don't need canned laughter,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56telling them if something's funny.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02Well, I am here to lance the boil of probably the most corrosive myth
0:24:02 > 0:24:07in television comedy, because that laughter is not blooming canned,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09it's just recorded - live.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Studio nights are not cynical -
0:24:12 > 0:24:15they're fun, they're exciting community events.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Is it a coincidence that they fell from grace
0:24:18 > 0:24:20in the aftermath of the 1980s,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25the decade in which the individual so firmly replaced the community
0:24:25 > 0:24:28as the social and political focus of the nation?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Yes, I'm blaming Thatch.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I'm mainly joking, but I am...
0:24:43 > 0:24:46I am making the point that audiences' laughter is
0:24:46 > 0:24:48a group activity, a collective act.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53The shared joy that occurs in the recording of a live comedy is real,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and that joy somehow manages to make its way across the airwaves
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and into people's living rooms.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00The country's biggest popular hits
0:25:00 > 0:25:03have always been accompanied by laughter.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07They form an abiding and affectionate collective memory.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10The part of what it means to be British, and yet, as I've shown,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the form is routinely dismissed and often despised.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18It's a sort of snobbery, it really is, and I say that reluctantly,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22fully aware that such a charge is unlikely to make me any friends
0:25:22 > 0:25:25amongst media commentators. But I make the charge nonetheless,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29because I think what we are discussing here is nothing less than
0:25:29 > 0:25:31a prejudice against joy.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Corrosive, destructive and coloured, I'm afraid,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39by that ancient British cultural cancer - class.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I look down on him because I am upper-class.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51I looked up to him because he is upper-class,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55but I look down on him because he is lower-class.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56I am middle-class.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58I know my place.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04The British establishment has always been suspicious of popular success,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07particularly success that comes from below,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10through conspicuous effort and obvious ambition.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12This prejudice has deep roots.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16The founding fathers of the American economy created their wealth.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The original elite in Britain inherited theirs
0:26:19 > 0:26:21and deeply resented those who tried to share in it,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25establishing an underlying cultural resentment of hard-earned success
0:26:25 > 0:26:28that, astonishingly, still seems to play its part
0:26:28 > 0:26:31in shaping our national character today.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36Because what is a laugh if it's not evidence of success?
0:26:36 > 0:26:39If you go for a laugh, and you get it, you've succeeded.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41In the US and most places in the world,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43that's something to celebrate.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45In America, if you do an interview on a chat show
0:26:45 > 0:26:49and they ask you what you're up to, you tell them and people applaud.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53In Britain, you have to pretend you don't want to say, you have to go,
0:26:53 > 0:26:54"Ooh, shameless plug, sorry.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58"I've written a book, but it's probably awful, don't buy it, please!"
0:27:00 > 0:27:05It simply is not the done thing to be seen to want to succeed,
0:27:05 > 0:27:10and studio sitcom cannot hide that ambition - it's needy.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15It's saying, "Please like me!" And, as such, it must be despised.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Perhaps you think all I'm suggesting
0:27:18 > 0:27:21is that simpler, less complex, less cerebral forms of comedy
0:27:21 > 0:27:24deserve to be given a little more respect.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Well, it would be nice, but actually I'm also saying the opposite,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32because, in fact, I suggest there's nothing simple
0:27:32 > 0:27:35or lacking in complexity about the shows I'm discussing at all.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40In fact, I humbly suggest that behind all that mindless laughter
0:27:40 > 0:27:43often lies human truths as real and revelatory
0:27:43 > 0:27:47as those explored in any acclaimed drama.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49That's why they're so funny.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Consider the strange and unexplained fictional home life
0:27:53 > 0:27:56of Eric and Ernie, which was a sort of mini-sitcom
0:27:56 > 0:27:58set within their variety shows.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Here are Eric and Ernie passing the time together,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05measuring out their lives not in TS Eliot's coffee spoons,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07but in mugs of cocoa,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11and wistful reflections on the hopes and dreams of lost youth.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13For me, their circular efforts
0:28:13 > 0:28:15to pass the time and to get along together
0:28:15 > 0:28:19were every bit as inconsequentially bleak and deeply absurd
0:28:19 > 0:28:23as Vladimir and Estragon's famous inertia in Waiting For Godot.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I honestly don't think that that wonderful writer Eddie Braben,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30who wrote all the Morecambe and Wise scripts throughout the golden age
0:28:30 > 0:28:34of the 1970s will ever be the subject of an A-level text.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38My point is that big, apparently silly comedy does not preclude
0:28:38 > 0:28:42big ideas or philosophical revelation -
0:28:42 > 0:28:45you just don't notice them, which is why they can be funny.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50Consider the forensic clarity of Johnny Speight's character
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Alf Garnett, a searingly illuminating comic exploration
0:28:54 > 0:28:59of the mind of the confused, ignorant, ill-informed bigot.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02They've got nothing of their own, they ain't, them Labourites.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06They ain't got no private fortunes, not like us Tories have.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Oooh!
0:29:08 > 0:29:10'Ere, I've never seen any of it.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13If Galton and Simpson's sublime Steptoe And Son hadn't been
0:29:13 > 0:29:17such high comedy, it would have been recognised as high tragedy,
0:29:17 > 0:29:21for was there ever a more perfect evocation of a mutually destructive,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23emotional interdependency,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26than the relationship between Harold and Albert Steptoe?
0:29:38 > 0:29:41Ugh, you dirty old man!
0:29:41 > 0:29:43What are you doing?!
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Richie and Eddie, in Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall's '90s sitcom Bottom,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51negotiate the pointless nihilism of life with every bit as much
0:29:51 > 0:29:56seedy detail and dark purpose as the characters in any Pinter play.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57But with laughs.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Let's do it properly or not at all.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02All right, then! Not at all!
0:30:04 > 0:30:06God, I hate crosswords.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10We can't go on like this.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Why did they take the telly away?
0:30:15 > 0:30:18And consider the depth of perception that Jennifer Saunders brought
0:30:18 > 0:30:22to the generational battles in which baby boomers struggle to hang on
0:30:22 > 0:30:25to an eternal adolescence while their children,
0:30:25 > 0:30:30born into much less generous times, fear for their future as adults.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33This isn't a rave, it's a happening!
0:30:33 > 0:30:38Don't force me to take it, Pat. I promised Saffy I wouldn't die.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41But she'll never find out. Anyway, she doesn't scare me.
0:30:44 > 0:30:45Mum!
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Keep the noise down!
0:30:51 > 0:30:57In real comedy, proper funny comedy, of any style, truth is a given.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00You don't notice it, which is why it's funny.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04The depth of human understanding lies behind and within the comedy.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08The intellectual value of the work is rightly and properly masked
0:31:08 > 0:31:12by the primal, organic, gut-driven instinct to laugh.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Yet, as we've established,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17it's laughter which so offends those who seek to analyse comedy,
0:31:17 > 0:31:19be they amateur or professional.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Because laughter leaves the critic out of the loop.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24Laughter defies argument.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28The conclusion has already been drawn, the horse bolted.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30You may hate Mrs Brown's Boys,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33but the presence of genuine spontaneous laughter means
0:31:33 > 0:31:36your hatred is not an objective truth,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39something which we all secretly believe
0:31:39 > 0:31:42our own personal prejudices to be.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46No, it's a subjective opinion.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49And what critic, be they professional or amateur,
0:31:49 > 0:31:51wants to acknowledge that?
0:31:51 > 0:31:56And so, they dismiss laughter as cheap and easy.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00What madness. If art is about exposing and exploring our souls,
0:32:00 > 0:32:06the essential pettiness, vanity, snobbery, desperation, selfishness,
0:32:06 > 0:32:11generosity, occasional greatness and quiet heroism,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13inherent in every human heart,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16then we may find it brilliantly and sympathetically betrayed
0:32:16 > 0:32:19in a single look from Captain Mainwaring.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23You stupid boy.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27A long morning with Victor Meldrew.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32I don't believe it!
0:32:33 > 0:32:35And as for quiet heroism,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38pretty much any moment spent in the company of
0:32:38 > 0:32:40the sublime Frank and Betty Spencer.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43- Oh!- It's rocking!
0:32:43 > 0:32:45- Oh!- Right!- Oh!
0:32:47 > 0:32:48It's all right, Frank.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Careful!
0:32:53 > 0:32:54Frank!
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Frank!
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Oh, what did I do?!
0:33:03 > 0:33:05- Betty!- Yes?
0:33:06 > 0:33:07The car...
0:33:08 > 0:33:10I...
0:33:10 > 0:33:11I...
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Oh, where are you?
0:33:15 > 0:33:17It's all right, Betty!
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Frank!
0:33:19 > 0:33:21I might need a bit of help though!
0:33:23 > 0:33:27So what conclusions can be drawn as I come to the end
0:33:27 > 0:33:30of this first BBC Ronnie Barker Lecture?
0:33:30 > 0:33:32Well, I certainly... I'd like to make the plea
0:33:32 > 0:33:36that when we write about comedy, be it in a newspaper or in a tweet,
0:33:36 > 0:33:38we shouldn't leap to judgment.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41I don't think any comedy should be judged on its first outing,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43particularly a sitcom which, by its very nature,
0:33:43 > 0:33:48needs to establish its credentials and then bed in for the long haul.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50I honestly don't think The Young Ones would survive
0:33:50 > 0:33:54in today's critical environment. It was big and it was brash,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and confrontative and very rough around the edges with,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01I have to tell you, as many or more misses than hits in its gag count.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Had Rick, Vyvyan, Neil and Mike arrived in a world
0:34:04 > 0:34:07of instant opinions, formed and tweeted
0:34:07 > 0:34:09while a show is still on air,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12I don't think they'd have been given the grace to grow
0:34:12 > 0:34:14as they were back in the day.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Imagine if they'd had Twitter on the first night of Hamlet.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21Act one, scene one, "bored already".
0:34:22 > 0:34:25"Get over yourself, you grumpy Danish bastard."
0:34:25 > 0:34:28"Oh, there's a ghost! Marlowe did ghosts in The Jew Of Malta.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30"Get your own ideas, Shakespeare!"
0:34:31 > 0:34:35So let's not be so hard on people trying to be funny.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Even if we think they've failed.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Because if nobody's allowed to fail,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41then no-one will think it's worth trying,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and the BBC and other companies won't feel it's worth commissioning.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49And without people trying to be funny, really, really trying,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51we would never have had this.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53I've just taken a sample to test.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55A sample? How much do you want then?
0:34:55 > 0:34:58- Well, a pint of course.- A pint?! Have you gone raving mad?
0:34:58 > 0:35:00That's very nearly an armful.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04I think we're on a winner here, Trig.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06All right? Play it nice and cool, son.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Nice and cool, you know what I mean?
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Your name will also go on the list!
0:35:14 > 0:35:17- What is it? - Don't tell him, Pike!
0:35:17 > 0:35:18Pike, thank you.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29I have a cunning plan, sir.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32PHONE RINGS
0:35:32 > 0:35:344291?
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Oh, it looks great!
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Funny has nothing to do with fashion.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47Funny is just funny.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Self-conscious minimalism and underplayed naturalism can be hilarious,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55and I love so much of what is going on in modern comedy.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57But it's not the only way to be funny,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00and no comedy practitioner would ever claim it was.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03And that's why, tonight, I'm doing a big shout out
0:36:03 > 0:36:07for live, studio-based, laughter-filled sitcom.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I certainly think Ronnie Barker would have approved
0:36:10 > 0:36:12that the first lecture in his name makes that point.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Because it's not a tired and cheesy format at all.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18It's a great, popular art form.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21An original television art form.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25A form which I suggest has created a community of audience,
0:36:25 > 0:36:29a collective affection and a store of shared memories,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32which is unparalleled in our culture.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Well, that's my piece and I've said it.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39The Ronnie B story I started with, it's got a happy ending.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41As I say, I got to know him quite well towards the end,
0:36:41 > 0:36:42and we were quite friendly.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46My wife and I got to know Ronnie and Anne Corbett quite well
0:36:46 > 0:36:49when Ronnie amazingly agreed to revive
0:36:49 > 0:36:53his wonderful chair monologues for a stand-up show I did in the '90s.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Then, I guess, Ronnie C must have told Ronnie B that I was all right,
0:36:57 > 0:37:02because Ronnie B and his wonderful wife Joy started inviting me
0:37:02 > 0:37:04to their annual parties at the Mill.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08They were wonderful, wonderful occasions - magical summer events,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10held at the Barkers' country millhouse,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12with lots of food and wine,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14an old-style jazz band that was always there
0:37:14 > 0:37:17with striped waistcoats and straw boater hats.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Proper old showbiz parties.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23I got to talk to David Jason all afternoon,
0:37:23 > 0:37:25so you could imagine how thrilled I was.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28And I got to know Ronnie and we talked quite a bit.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31And, you know, he did mention our first meeting,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33and he laughed about it and I laughed about it.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36I didn't care, I was just basking in the company of the great man.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Still a fan.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41Well, Ronnie B's gone now, as has Joy.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44So there's going to be no more parties at the Mill.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46But I'll leave you with a moment
0:37:46 > 0:37:51from one of Ronnie B's own studio sitcoms, recorded over 40 years ago.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54So, most of the people you'll hear laughing are,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57like Ronnie B, long gone.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02But the genuine happy laughter that they gave us is caught in time,
0:38:02 > 0:38:06and it still rings down to us, across the years.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11So here's Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' incomparable Porridge.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15What became of the soil that was excavated from the tunnel?
0:38:15 > 0:38:17- Christmas present. - Christmas present?
0:38:21 > 0:38:23You want to know how they disposed of the soil?
0:38:23 > 0:38:26- Simple as that.- I'll tell you. - I thought you might.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29They dug another tunnel and put the earth down there.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Thank you, Ronnie Barker,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41and thank you to the BBC.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43My name's Ben Elton. Goodnight.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46CHEERING AND APPLAUSE