Do British folks fully appreciate just what comic genius Benny Hill was?

Question

His portayals of us (Americans) were hysterical!

Answer 1

I hope so. As a "Yankee", I LOVED his "Saucy" Characters! British Comedy is SO much Better than Ours! I don't know if it's because WE don't have a "sense of Humor"- or we just don't know what REAL Humor IS !  :(

Answer 2

I find him funny, not hilarious laugh out loud funny.  It's nice gentle humour by comparison to what's available today, I think he was unfortunate in Britain because the 1980s saw the rise of alternative humour which very quickly overshadowed the more traditional family humour based comedians.

Answer 3

I couldn't stand him, he always made me cringe, as he was such a dirty old man. Maybe it's a "Woman" thing, but he made my flesh crawl!!!

Answer 4

Dooo do do ,

do do do do do do do do do do do do do .

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do

do do do do do do do

do do dooo

doo do do do do .

..The tune .. Obviously.

Answer 5

Yes, he WAS a funny person, but his comic notoriety is kinda like Main Street 1890's in San Francisco, horse manure all over the place. After a while, surrounded with the futility of the subject matter, you give up and start to find some redeeming element about the guy.

He was funny and as far as British comedy goes, maybe even hysterical, but his was more of the physical kind and I like a more cerebral comedy.

Answer 6

I think the Americans probably liked him even more than the Brits ... his humour was verging on the slapstick which is the type of humour I often see in American comedy shows

personally, being British, I found him funny for all of 3 minutes then he bored the pants off me ... I prefer the more subtle clever humour of the John Cleese and Ronnie Barker type

Answer 7

He's not really got much of a reputation in Britain. He was very much 'of his time' , but if you don't see him as a "quaint Britisher", as an American might, he just seems crude, xenophobic, sexist and a bit sad.

Now, if you want REAL comic genius - Eric Morecambe - THAT'S a comic genius