Little & Large Xmas special 1980. Extraordinary.

[non capisco]

Delighted that this masterpiece of tagging has been restored to it's former glory, although the lack of formatting make it read like one long continuous rambling nightmare of cruelty inflicted on poor Syd by his erstwhile partner.

It's even more like the David Peace novel about Little and Large that I always wanted now.

(Eddie comes on from the back dressed in 'Chinese' clothes shouting "AH SO, HONABLE NEW-AH PAGE-AH!")

[sandpainter 1471z]

Reading through some pages of this and clicking a few video links I started thinking that Eddie must have been quite draining at school, and not in a way that is flattering to him - going on about cars and the Liverpool badge sticker and that. Then I realised I was sort of projecting - it was more that I'd re-read him through remembering draining car- and football sticker-obsessed schoolboys who had modelled themselves on Eddie Large. Which is a thing.

Is this how Alzheimer's starts?

[chveik]

wow these tags are a thing of beauty

[poodlefaker]

How would Boris Johnson start his car? The nation needs to know.

[Bobby Ralgex]

Wwwwwel I - wubble wubble well I- wubble wubble well I -wubble wubble wubble wubble well I- Wubble wubble Brexit brexit BrexaahhI'm a cunt.

[jenna appleseed]

was going to bump the Cannon & Ball thread but don't want to awaken Syward.
Little and Large are inexplicably missing from The Beloved's Hello while Little Richard, Little Nell, whoever the fuck Little Neepsie was & Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball get namechecked.

eta: yay, the tags are back.

[Ian Drunken Smurf]

The tags for this thread are funnier than Syd and Eddie

[jenna appleseed]

They've got a specsavers ad on the radio, alegedly
https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2368923/little-and-large-specsavers-ad-on-magic

[jenna appleseed]

They've got a specsavers ad on the radio, alegedly
https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2368923/little-and-large-specsavers-ad-on-magic

Heard the ad on Absolute 80s (or 90s) yesterday. It's a short ad, premise is Little & Large think they're making a comeback being back together in a studio, only to be disappointed at having to read out a not even trying to be funny line about Specsavers having little prices in a large sale (or something like that). Ad has them going from being jovial and matey to just flatly reading out the line when they realise that's all the job is, and incorporates Syd's rubbish timing - in a way that's weirdly the real him trying too hard to get his timing wrong on purpose. Syd Little being crap is now meta.

[dissolute ocelot]

The tags for this thread are funnier than Syd and Eddie

The URL for this thread is funnier than Syd and Eddie.

[PinkNoise]

Have we had this in the thread yet? Clive James on Christmas TV, The Observer, 1 January 1978

Getting down to the dregs, The Little And Largest Show On Earth (BBC1) showed the inevitable effect of straining a comic turn beyond is natural capacity - the two lads ended up as guests on their own show. Little and Large have one trick, which they work to death. Little tries to sing a song while Large keeps interrupting him with impersonations. Large is a gifted impersonator, but Little's lack of inspiration is scarcely ameliorated by making a point of it. Little is not pretending to be just standing there. He is just standing there. Meanwhile Large knocks himself out. There is a certain terrible fascination to it, like watching two men share one parachute.

Perfection.

[Satchmo Distel]

I'm still gobsmacked that their BBC career lasted from the late 70s to early 90s with an act based on one joke and some bad impressions.

[Gurke and Hare]

Little is not pretending to be just standing there. He is just standing there.

Beautiful. That reminds me of Groucho's "He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."

Is that the same column that slaughters Dick Emery and the Two Ronnies?

[Alberon]

Have we had this in the thread yet? Clive James on Christmas TV, The Observer, 1 January 1978

Perfection.

One paragraph just sums their entire career up with, as you say, perfection.

[bomb_dog]

"It wasn't The Sun or social media or the paparazzi that drove him to it - it was 'the tags'. He'd just got over reading them and was getting on with life, but they came back, only this time with no separating variables. He just couldn't take it any more."

A tribute to Supersonic will be shown as part of tomorrow's show and this thread will be deleted as part of an industry-wide co-ordinated effort to lay blame elsewhere.

[Keebleman]

Have we had this in the thread yet? Clive James on Christmas TV, The Observer, 1 January 1978

Perfection.

My first ever contribution to CaB, in July 2014 and in this very thread, was to quote CJ on L&L!

Is that the same column that slaughters Dick Emery and the Two Ronnies?

'Slaughters' is a bit strong, but yes:

The Dick Emery Christmas Show [was] an extravaganza which left you wondering whether it wasn't time to abolish Christmas entirely...Most of Emery's alleged humour was about poo, pee and buggery.  "Peter, I want to have a peep at Uranus."  "Surely you want a telescope for that."  "I want to have a look at Mars as well." Somewhere on the soundtrack, a lady died laughing at that one...The Two Ronnies tried hard...the show was reasonably diverting and for a wonder it was not untill the last item that the stars appeared in female attire.  The idea of either Ronnie, but especially the large one, coming on in drag is meant to be amusing because of the otherwise heavy emphasis on heterosexuality.  But if it strikes you that all the stridently proclaimed interest in tit and bum is pretty hysterical anyway, then the frocks look unsurprising rather than otherwise.

And the same column contains the wonderful description of Perry Como as looking like

a man who has been simultaneously told to say 'Cheese' and shot in the back with a poisoned arrow.

[Bad Ambassador]

either Ronnie, but especially the large one

Big laugh at that.

[Gurke and Hare]

Yeah, slaughters is probably a bit strong for the Rons, but less so for Emery given "an extravaganza which left you wondering whether it wasn't time to abolish Christmas entirely" I reckon.

[Cuellar]

Was finally going to watch this and the video's gone

[non capisco]

Was finally going to watch this and the video's gone

The 1980 Christmas special  can now be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNys08sBIzs

SPOILER: It is fucking shit.

[Alberon]

Not sure if these have been posted before[nb][/nb]It's impossible to keep this immense thread in my mind.[/nb]

Musical Youth on Little and Large, but an absolutely cracking sketch from the comedy gods before that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWpkHlwk1Jk

The Flying Pickets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMs92QYc8uc

I don't get the sketch at the beginning, but I think that's because it isn't complete rather than being blinded by comedy genius.

Helen Shapiro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXnUC8idd30

The Nolans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyuJhjmdY5E

A bit of the local news from 1989, the weather and some promos for upcoming programmes including, of course, Little and Large, who were on just after Jim'll Fix It.

https://youtu.be/3r0Sgw5DWAU?t=215

[DrGreggles]

Of course, it was only a matter of the time until L&L's heyday got those big advertising bucks rolling in:
https://youtu.be/kmyZEFWh41E?t=26

[Andy147]

The Flying Pickets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMs92QYc8uc

I don't get the sketch at the beginning, but I think that's because it isn't complete rather than being blinded by comedy genius.

Presumably "RJ" offered "Pam Ellen" $5000 to sleep with him (or similar), then paid her with the money he borrowed from "Flake".

[PinkNoise]

My first ever contribution to CaB, in July 2014 and in this very thread, was to quote CJ on L&L!

[Eddie voice]: SORRRRR-EEEE!

[Cuellar]

The 1980 Christmas special  can now be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNys08sBIzs

SPOILER: It is fucking shit.

YES!!!!

[Satchmo Distel]

The Not The Nine O'Clock News Two Ronnies parody was long overdue given that CJ had set up the premise 3 years earlier. I'm surprised thay never got round to L&L. I imagine Rowan Atkinson as Little, who's a Mr Bean of comedy stooges, and Mel Smith doing a car starting in a Deputy Dawg accent. OTOH the Ronnies had a modicum of talent that could be parodied whereas L&L really is one bloke just standing there while the other bloke does all the work with a set of weak impressions.

I think their success was because they copied enough Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello moves to fool people that they had worked at the craft and studied the greats but really they were just idiots who got lucky on a talent show when the Beeb needed a back-up act in case a big act left for ITV.

The tags are L&L getting involved in Operation Spanner.

[kalowski]

Eddie did Deputy Dawg! No one was doing Deputy Dawg. He was an innovative performer.

I have nothing to say about Syd.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

the Ronnies had a modicum of talent

Messrs Barker and Corbett had more than a modicum of talent. They were excellent comedy performers; Barker in particular was a hugely versatile comic actor.

[beanheadmcginty]

I note that there is no, and as far as I can tell has never been, any thread on here dedicated to the actual Deputy Dawg, so who had the last laugh really?

[Satchmo Distel]

Messrs Barker and Corbett had more than a modicum of talent. They were excellent comedy performers; Barker in particular was a hugely versatile comic actor.

But I think the reaction to them by 1978 was that they had started to settle into a complacent tits and bums routine because nobody was pushing the writers to give them anything with depth or edge. Their talents were being wasted.