Single Entendre Comedy

An experiment here...can I have completely honest opinions on this sketch please? Love? Like? Hate? Detest? Completely honest.

1. INT. THE "ARE YOU BEING SERVED" SET. DAY.

A SPOOF TRAIL FOR A NEW UPCOMING COMEDY. ALL THE REGULAR "SERVED" CHARACTERS ARE ASSEMBLED, PEACOCK, HUMPHRIES ETC. MRS SLOCOMBE COMES OUT OF THE LIFT.

CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER:
Starting next Friday on ABC, it's the world's first single entendre comedy!

MRS SLOCOMBE:
Sorry I'm late everyone, my heater broke and my pussy was frozen solid!

SHORT PAUSE AS EVERYONE STARES.

MRS SLOCOMBE:
And by that I mean my vagina.

EVERYONE REACTS IN A "OOO, SAUCY!" KIND OF WAY.

CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER:
It's the single entendre smash, "Are You Being Shagged?"!

MR HUMPHRIES MINCES OVER TO MR LUCAS

MR HUMPHRIES:
I was just in the furniture department resting my feet on a pouffe.

MR LUCAS SNIGGERS DIRTILY

MR HUMPHRIES:
Next I'll be resting my feet on a homosexual man!

CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER:
Only one meaning, one layer, and one track mind!

MISS BRAHMS WALKS BY HOLDING A PEAR.

CAPTAIN PEACOCK:
Ah, good morning Miss Brahms. What a large pair you have.

MISS BRAHMS:
(HOLDING UP PEAR) What...this?

MR LUCAS:
He's talking about your bosoms.

CAPTAIN PEACOCK:
Yes. Your breasts. Titties. Bristols.

MRS BRAHMS SMILES AND WALKS OFF.

CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER:
It's single entendre comedy at its finest, on "Are You Being Shagged"

MRS SLOCOMBE RUNS IN, SCREAMING.

MRS SLOCOMBE:
I've just seen a stiff in the lavatory!

MR RUMBOLD:
What, somebody's died in there?

MRS SLOCOMBE:
No, Mr Parker was having a wank.

CONTINUITY ANNOUNCER:
Are You Being Shagged? 10:15 next Friday on ABC.

MR HUMPHRIES IS ON THE PHONE

MR HUMPHRIES:
Oooo I do love a nice hard penis up my bottom!

END SKETCH

The Are You Being Served single entendre comedy is a bit of a classic.

And I don't think you do anything very new with it.

Also it's pretty predictable and that announcer annoys after a while.

There's no real punchline to it either.

I have to say Lee it's the first thing you've written I wasn't a fan of.

Would you be awfully offended if I put up an alternate version?

Quote: sootyj @ October 27 2008, 10:37 AM BST

The Are You Being Served single entendre comedy is a bit of a classic.

And I don't think you do anything very new with it.

Also it's pretty predictable and that announcer annoys after a while.

There's no real punchline to it either.

I have to say Lee it's the first thing you've written I wasn't a fan of.

Would you be awfully offended if I put up an alternate version?

View original

Cheers Sooty - I just want to gauge a few other reader's reactions first. As I said, this is an experiment...

Hmmmm. I think Are You Being Served was a bit too much of an easy/obvious target for something like this (Carry On films would be too easy as well!). I'm sure I've seen at least one spoof of it before where the Mrs Slocombe's pussy joke was stated outright as being about her vagina (presumably Graham Norton or Alan Carr).

Apart from that, the continuity announcer wasn't really in any recognisable style so it didn't quite work.

Mind you, I'm sure there's something in the idea of using single entendres. I just don't think this was it. Worth exploring though.

Mr Humphries' last line made me laugh.

The final line made me laugh a lot, but I'm pretty sure something similar has been done before.

The last line of the first one made me laugh too, but again I thought it seemed familiar?

What about a subtitled version of the show for those who don't understand inneundo? (the 'inneundoly challenged'?) E.g
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Slocombe:
The heater was broke and my pussy was frozen.

SUBS - It's cold in my house and I had a cold vagina. I may also be hinting that I'm frigid.

------------------------------------------

Is that a crap idea.....?????

Like the others, I was left feeling like I'd seen something similar before. Can't pinpoint where though. If you don't care about it being a bit of a cliche, maybe you should record it as a radio piece and test the waters that way.

Okay cheers guys. And so to the big reveal. I didn't write this sketch at all. It's actually a sketch from a VERY successful Australian show called The Chaser's War On Everything.

This particular sketch is seen as one of their most successful. When I saw the clip I also thought it was very funny, but it occurred to me that I bet it looks rubbish on paper, so as a little experiment I wrote it out as it was performed. I think I was right, it looks nothing on the page.

But it just goes to show what good performances and a lot of money can do for an average sketch, no? Here's the clip: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yaqvqslvGYY&feature=related

Yeah but do prefer sootyJ's version?

Putting your appalling deception aside, the problem, I think, is that Are You Being Served? has been sent up so many times it's a dead target now. That said, perhaps when this aired the ground was a little more fertile. As to why you find it so funny in this day and age, well, we all know your weakness for a nob gag don't we, Lee?

Quote: David Bussell @ October 27 2008, 11:37 AM BST

Putting your appalling deception aside, the problem, I think, is that Are You Being Served? has been sent up so many times it's a dead target now. That said, perhaps when this aired the ground was a little more fertile. As to why you find it so funny in this day and age, well, we all know your weakness for a nob gag don't we, Lee?

View original

Ah yes but I'm allowed to laugh at this because it's a nob gag poking fun at a nob gag in an ironic way, and therefore I maintain the moral high ground. So there. With nobs on.

Has Are You Being Served been sent up before? I can't think of an instance.

UPDATE:
Ah, Shooting Stars did it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OPfYOpR1mw&feature=related

Quote: Lee Henman @ October 27 2008, 11:41 AM BST

Ah yes but I'm allowed to laugh at this because it's a nob gag poking fun at a nob gag in an ironic way, and therefore I maintain the moral high ground. So there. With nobs on.

Has Are You Being Served been sent up before? I can't think of an instance.

View original

Yes, your nob gags are practically in orbit.

Well Harry Enfield covered in his recent series.

Where the elderly foreginers watch shows and are highly literal about enjoying them.

It was quite funny.

But watching the clip it was fun, but pointless and not funny.

So glad to have criticised it.

Interesting to see how little writing can influence final production.

Meh. I still think there's a good sketch lurking somewhere in the idea of single entendre. Maybe you should go for it anyway.

The problem with the sketch for me is it's mis-sold. It isn't single entendre comedy, because each time something like pouffe, pussy, pair is mentioned, the character has to explain it... which I think means it was a double-entendre in the first place. If it was single entendres they wouldn't have to explain. Or they would just say homosexual, vagina, tits, etc. So if Mrs Slocombe entered saynig her vagina was really cold, that might work better. Er... I think.