October 04, 2005
Ronnie Barker has died.
Star of The Two Ronnies, Open All Hours and my fave, Porridge, died today aged 76. Ah.
Sorry for the newsfilter, but he was a top funny chap.
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So, it's goodnight from him. .
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Now then, Fletcher! *Does that Mr Mackay thing with my neck*
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Now I'm naffed off .
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G-g-g-g-goodnight G-g-g-g-renville.
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(; ;) .
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. that's very very sad - porridge was fantastic, and I loved all his other stuff too.
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Never heard of those other shows, but The Two Ronnies was funny stuff. This is sad.
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I remember staying up late to watch Open All Hours on PBS - it was hilarious. I'll miss him.
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What is interesting to me is that he wrote very many of the funniest bits for the Two Ronnies under a pseudonym - particularly the long word-play sketches that Barker used to do to camera. Those were actually my favorites, I didn't care much for the music-hall style bit they would invariably do at the end. He was an extraordinarily talented character actor, which I think few comedians tend to be (Palin springs to mind as another example). He could be chameleonic. The difference between Fletcher and Arkwright - plus all the other characters he'd do on the Two Ronnies - were quite vast. That was really the measure of his talent, for my mind. (Went to school at one point with Ronnie Corbett's daughter. I remember him driving a Jag propped up on a pillow in the driver's seat so he could see over the dash.)
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*goes to light four candles*
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What? What the heck? Damn, first Maxwell Smart and now Ronnie Barker? It's been a funny old day. /cries
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Oh, fuck, you reminded me, I had this incredible long dream about Don Adams.
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Bizzare.
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Patrick Caufield too! Bloody hell...
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Consciousness does not die.
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Caulfield! Dude! I just saw a retrospective of his prints at the Albright Knox! Shit...
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Albright Knox! So many happy hours spent there sketching in my teens... Also many happy hours watching The Two Ronnies.