The Two Ronnies vs Morecambe & Wise Page 4

A fair enough question, I suppose, if we're discussing which programme we prefer - in the same way as discussing whether, for instance, one prefers Ever Decreasing Circles or One Foot in the Grave.

However, if we're looking at it from a "double act" point of view, we're surely not comparing like with like. Morecambe & Wise were a classic stage double act whose act transferred successfully to tv; the Two Ronnies were never a double act - they were just two comic actors who happened to do a series of programmes together.

If we want to compare like with like, the comparisons should surely be between Morecambe & Wise and, say, Mike & Bernie Winters, Little & Large or Cannon & Ball and between the Two Ronnies and, say, Terry Scott & June Whitfield or Tony Hancock & Sid James.

Agree..........stupid post from someone who hasn't been on here for nearly three years. Not worth dragging it up.

Two Ronnies were funnier than Morecambe and Wise. Ronnie B and C both had good solo careers, Barker was good in shows like Porridge whilst Corbett was excellent as Timothy in Sorry! They did both shows whilst they were doing The Two Ronnies whereas Wise was lost without Morecambe. Wise wasn't funny on his own whereas Corbett and Barker we're funny in their own right.

Maybe; maybe not. But that's what double acts do. They feed off each other. Ernie Wise was, of course, originally a song & dance man and that was one of the skills he brought to the act, particularly in its original variety days.

The Two Ronnies weren't a double act - they were, as you intimate, two separate comedy actors who happened to perform together in a particular programme.

There is no reason that these two completely different types of act should be compared or that one should be declared better than the other.

We may just as well discuss the relative merits of Hale & Pace (a double act) with Eric Sykes & Hattie Jacques (two comedy actors who happened to perform together in a particular programme) or Cannon & Ball (a double act) with Terry Scott & June Whitfield (two comedy actors who happened to perform together in a particular programme) or Little & Large (a double act) with Tony Hancock & Sid James...

Well put BB.

Consistency wise, Two Ronnies sketches win this debate easily

On an average episode of The Morecambe and Wise show (ie not a Christmas special) - some of the sketches were frankly rubbish). One in ten would be good

Whereas with The Two Ronnies you may get one mediocre sketch per show and the rest would be great

Morecambe and Wise were a superb double act - but sketches were not their forte

Have you seen the monk sketches?? Terrible!

I prefer the Two Ronnies but that isn't to say they were better. I agree that they can't be properly compared.

I think both were better.

I thought three of them were legends. But I never got Ernie Wise. What was his charm ?

Ernie Wise was a number of things, song and dance man, traditional straight man, foil for Eric, and funny in his own short fat hairy legs/play wot I wrote ways.

Another way to look at it if you can't see it is that Eric at his peak could have worked with anybody; he stayed with Ernie.

Quote: Firkin @ 17th February 2017, 12:47 PM

I thought three of them were legends. But I never got Ernie Wise. What was his charm ?

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You have both asked the question and given the answer in the same post. You admit that Eric Morecambe was a legend. But how could he have become a legend without his partner? He was one half of a double act, he was not a solo artist nor a stand-up comedian.

There is, of course, an art to being a "straight man". He needs to set up the situation to enable his partner to get the laughs. And he needs to do so without any hint of ego or envy whatsoever. Any attempt to steal the laughs for himself would be fatal. And he needs to do it all with impeccable timing. And to have the full trust of his partner. There were occasions when one or other of them fluffed their lines and you can see the other coax him back on-script with an ad-lib, which they were then able to turn to their mutual comedic advantage. And you could see the warmth between them. It clearly wouldn't have worked if they had brought someone in off the street to accompany Eric. And it clearly couldn't have worked for Eric on his own.

And of course you couldn't have had, for example, the much acclaimed "Singing in the Rain" sketch without Ernie Wise.

So, to have Eric Morecambe the admitted legend, you had to have Ernie Wise, his partner. As Eric Morecambe said, "It was fate. I pulled the Christmas cracker and he was in it".

I don't think Eric would have been as successful as a solo stand up comic,he needed Ernie.
Unlike Eddie Large,what he thought Sid Little brought to his act is a mystery to me.

Quote: wigwam willy @ 17th February 2017, 7:23 PM

Unlike Eddie Large,what he thought Sid Little brought to his act is a mystery to me.

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Sid didn't half make Eddie look funny! I actually think that was quite an achievement.