Best Blackadder Moments #6: The Macbeth Ritual (Sense and Senility)

Macbeth!

For my second pick from Blackadder the Third, I'm going to go with a more slapstick-oriented joke.

Blackadder has prepared a speech for The Prince Regent to give as part of his father's royal  birthday celebrations, and the Prince seeks elocution lessons from thespians David Keanrick and Enoch Mossop, played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Connor. Blackadder has nothing but contempt for actors, but nonetheless agrees to seek them out.

However, he gets a kick from an actors' superstition in which it is bad luck to say the name "Macbeth" outside of rehearsals or performances. If someone does mention Macbeth, the actors must perform a special ritual which consists of patty-cake and arm winding motions while saying an incantation, concluding with them tweaking each other's noses. Blackadder casually winds the name into the conversation at every opportunity, prompting the actors to perform the ritual six times in one scene.

There has been one of many unusual internet debates over what exactly they say during the ritual. The general consensus (what it said on Wikipedia last time I checked) seems to be "Hot Potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends." The first and last parts are clear enough, but the middle part is the subject for debate. It sounds like "off his drawers" or "off the shores".

Anyway, flame risk aside, I think it's a great example of comedy stemming from somebody else's pain.

Macbeth!

Best Blackadder Moments #5: The Dunny-on-the-Wold By-election (Dish and Dishonesty)

Sorry Mr Biggun

We're now in the third series, and following the most ruthless incarnation of Edmund Blackadder. And now I'm needing to provide a little more background as the writers get more accustomed to episode-length stories.

The petulant teenager William Pitt the Younger has become Prime Minister, and seeks to strike the Prince Regent from the Civil List. Parliament is deadlocked on the issue, so Blackadder attempts to tip the balance by leaning on an MP named Sir Talbot Buxomley. Sir Talbot pledges his support for the Prince...and promptly dies, triggering a by-election in his constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, a rubber button rotten borough in which the landowner controls the voters and the MP. Blackadder proposes a scheme to have Baldrick run in the by-election against the Prime Minister's brother, Pitt the Even Younger.

Baldrick becoming a politician. The jokes practically write themselves, especially with the by-election coverage which spoofs contemporary British election coverage. They even got former BBC political commentator Vincent Hanna to make a guest appearance as "his own great-great-grandfather". He practically steals the scene with his deadpan delivery of such absurd lines.

There's also Ivor Biggun running for the "Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party", whose policies include the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives, and the abolition of slavery. For the international readers of this blog, we do have candidates who run for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, such as one who recently ran in Stoke called The Incredible Flying Brick. As much as I like asparagus, I don't want it every day. Particularly if it's out of season.

There's also some historical irony in the scene, as William Pitt himself was actually elected through a rotten borough. On top of that, Pitt the Even Younger is mentioned to be running for the Whigs, who acted as the left-wing party in Parliament for a long time before the Labour Party appeared in the early 20th Century. Pitt the Younger was with the right-wing Tory party.

The episode this scene appears in has become so popular that it's often repeated whenever there's an election being held. It's absolutely sublime, and one of the best comedic moments.

Best Blackadder Moments #4: Hiring Captain Rum (Potato)

You have a woman's link, my Lord!

I'm really piling on the guest appearances for these moments.

Lord Blackadder is disdainful of Sir Walter Raleigh's recent return, and attempts to upstage him by claiming to be preparing an expedition around the much-feared Cape of Good Hope. The captain who is purported to know the safe route is Redbeard Rum, played by Tom Baker.

Unfortunately, Redbeard is completely deranged and delightfully over-the-top. He claims that every part of Blackadder's body is a woman's, because it has not been exposed to hardships of maritime life. Exposure which sounds really exaggerated. This wears thin on Blackadder, leading to the captain's disdain until our protagonist insults him.

While we're following a more dashing and intelligent Blackadder in this series, it's kind of funny that he doesn't really have a witty retort to being called "a lapdog to the slip of a girl".

Other than "Better a lapdog to the slip of a girl than a...git."

However, this works, and Redbeard takes the job as captain. Following another ridiculous story about having a woman's legs, Blackadder tempts fate and calls out Redbeard's claim...only for one of the funniest payoffs which I'll leave the attached link to show.

While Tom Baker has said this may not be his favourite role, he provides most of the comedic gold in the episode from his ridiculous stories to the later reveal that his sailing expertise is not even minimal.

Best Blackadder Moments #3: Blackadder and Kate's Wedding (Bells)

Enter the Best Man

We're now moving to the second season of Blackadder. Ben Elton has replaced Rowan Atkinson as a writer, and the roles between Blackadder and Baldrick have been reversed.

The humour of the first episode shown retains the Shakespearean aspect of the previous season with a story similar to Twelfth Night. A woman named Kate poses as a boy called Bob to find work as a servant in Lord Blackadder's employ. After Blackadder becomes attracted to "Bob" and the truth is revealed, he soon wishes to marry her.

I've heard the writers were challenged to get more laughs in the last five minutes of the episode than anywhere else. And that's accomplished with Blackadder's best man, the boisterous and arrogant Lord Flashheart. Played by Rik Mayall, Flashheart parodies the heroic image of the archetypal swashbuckler which accentuates the flaws of such archetypes, and is a highly promiscuous and narcissistic womaniser.

Anyway, Flashheart arrives late at the wedding, but makes a spectacular entrance. He immediately throws Percy out, seduces Nursie and the queen (and even Baldrick, who was acting as the bridesmaid), insults Melchett, and promptly elopes with Kate.

Flashheart's dialogue and over-the-top presence is pretty much comedic gold, accentuating how full of himself he is. My favourite line is definitely when he says to Melchett "Still worshipping God? The last I heard he's started worshipping me!"

While the reduced budget of this series shows when he nearly takes the set down by throwing Percy through the doors, I still think that adds to the humour.

Rik Mayall gave off such a good performance that he would later return with a much larger role in Blackadder Goes Forth, applying the same style of parody to a World War I flying ace.

Woof!

Best Blackadder Moments #2: Don Speekingleesh (The Queen of Spain's Beard)

Clip

Wow, Jim Broadbent looks really young in this episode.

Prince Edmund is arranged to marry the Spanish Infanta, played by Miriam Margolyes, whom he soon discovers to be...not as beautiful as many speculated. She also happens to be very sexually voracious, to the Black Adder's terror. Most of this episode involves him trying to get out of the marriage with constantly backfiring results.

Anyway, the funniest part of the episode involves Jim Broadbent as the Infanta's ever-present translator, whose name is revealed in the credits as Don Speekingleesh. The main source of humour stems from his word-for-word translation of everything the Infanta says. I'll pick their introductory scene for this moment, in which the Infanta's declaration of love is being translated and Edmund believes that the translator is trying to woo him. Well, he did say that he was the Infanta.

Anyway, that's the weaker series out of the way. Tomorrow I'll start looking at my favourite moments from Blackadder II.

Best Blackadder Moments #1: The Profit Areas of the Church (The Archbishop)

Relics

Yes, I'm going to be looking at the first season of Blackadder. Even if it is mostly Shakespearean in-jokes and the rubber-faced buffoonery which Rowan Atkinson would later put to better use in Mr Bean, it still gets a fair share of laughs.

Anyway, my first pick (I'm going in chronological order) is from the episode in which Prince Edmund is appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury (the fourth person to be appointed that year), in the hopes that he will convince dying nobles to bequeath their lands to the Crown rather than the Church. The episode features a strong religious satire, and draws heavily on the events surrounding the death of actual Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, who was assassinated after conflicting with King Henry II over matters of the Church.

After actually winning his father's favour for once, The Black Adder and Percy learn from Baldrick about the four major profit areas of the church: curses, pardons, relics, and "selling the sexual favours of nuns" (to foreign businessmen and other nuns, apparently).

I've included a link to a clip in which they discuss relics, including Shrouds from Turin, numerous works of carpentry produced by Jesus (including pipe racks and coffee tables), not to mention an array of body parts belonging to Saints. Edmund coins on fairly quickly that none of it is genuine, which dismays Percy. He claims to have a genuine relic in the form of a finger bone of Jesus, which even Baldrick is amazed at...because they normally come in boxes of ten.

Richard Curtis has gone on record saying that the first season is more akin to sketch comedy, and this is a key example of this. It's a relatively self-contained sequence, which doesn't really need what happens before or after to back it up. However, it's still a great sketch. I think this was an early look at the historical satire the show would later become famous for in subsequent seasons. I also think it's great to see Edmund on top for once.

Although I'm not too sure about the four ducat curse they had on offer. Yes, he has turned orange in hue, and I'm sure God will hate him and all of his kind, but I'm still waiting for his head to fall off at an inopportune moment. I might have to ask for my money back.

I'll see you tomorrow for my second pick from The Black Adder.

Best Blackadder Moments

Well, I'm halfway through Freshers' week, and I thought I might take a bit of time to do some blogging.

I've mentioned before that one of my favourite TV shows is Blackadder. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a Twitter page was asking people for their favourite Blackadder moments. I couldn't decide on a single moment, but instead picked two from every series.

With that in mind, I decided to go into more detail. Starting tomorrow, I'll be sharing my two favourite moments from all four seasons of Blackadder. Yes, even the first season.

Watch this space. I have a cunning plan.