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Mike and Bernie Winters doing their thing

Started by Keebleman, May 04, 2022, 08:12:19 PM

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Keebleman

Fifty minutes of archetypal 1973 light entertainment.  Dancing girls, guest stars, a pop group I had never heard of and lots and lots of really lame material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bV4kN8OjI

jamiefairlie

Ah that's great, cheers! I love this weird era where there's still a bit of psychedelic Carnaby Street hanging on but still to develop fully into mid-70s hairiness.  It's incredibly poor entertainment though, my god it's awful :-)

shiftwork2

Compelling rubbish.  The clothes are fascinating I agree, I think my nan's telly had a knob to turn down the intensity of Mike's tie. Bernie's big comedy move appears to be that thing he does with his teeth.

Apocryphal probably and well-known certainly but in case you didn't know: Eric Morecambe was asked who Morecambe and Wise would have been if they hadn't got into comedy.  He replied 'Mike and Bernie Winters'

Keebleman

The other classic Mike and Bernie story has them appearing at the Glasgow Empire.  Mike goes on first and his song is greeted by a storm of grumpy indifference.  Then Bernie pokes his head through the curtains doing his "Eeeeehhhhh!" face and a voice comes from the stalls, "Oh Christ, there's two of 'em!"

Brundle-Fly

It's thin gruel, isn't it? My favourite bit was the tap dancing brothers and Mike's clarinet playing with Lovejoy Sasha Distel.

dissolute ocelot

Wow. The terribly 70s pop group was Design: they do a medley of Day By Day (from Godspell/The Simpsons), My Sweet Lord, and Oh Happy Day. All a bit religious for my taste, but I guess the audience were a lot closer to God. According to Wikipedia, Design were on every 1970s light ent program you can name.



Sasha Distel doing People Tree (made famous by Sammy Davis Jr). Unsure if that's Gallic cool or not giving a fuck. And Lionel Blair's tribute to classic Hollywood movie musicals. Then Mike pulls out his clarinet and it's like something from Anchorman.

I can only imagine an audience of 70 year old women going wild for this.

the science eel

Quote from: shiftwork2 on May 04, 2022, 09:01:54 PMApocryphal probably and well-known certainly but in case you didn't know: Eric Morecambe was asked who Morecambe and Wise would have been if they hadn't got into comedy.  He replied 'Mike and Bernie Winters'

I hadn't heard it, and that is absolutely fucking wonderful

poodlefaker

I can imagine Kenneth Williams sitting at home watching this with his mum and fuming, filling his diary with spleen, but he actually says BW was one of the most kind and warmhearted men he'd ever met.

Brundle-Fly

This is still Bernie Winters finest moment. "I'm fucking off now." he may just as well have said. Class.

Glebe posted this clip back in 2013 and it's still one of my favourite things ever.

WARNING: Del Boy being as creepy A F.


kalowski

Quote from: shiftwork2 on May 04, 2022, 09:01:54 PMApocryphal probably and well-known certainly but in case you didn't know: Eric Morecambe was asked who Morecambe and Wise would have been if they hadn't got into comedy.  He replied 'Mike and Bernie Winters'
I've heard this, maybe even seen it.

shiftwork2

Yeah, 'apocryphal probably' is almost certainly wrong on reflection.  You can just imagine Eric saying that.


George White

Astonishingly, Cubby Broccoli tried to make Bernie Winters a movie star.
Gave him a  four-film contract worth 250 grand in the late 50s, appeared in films for Broccoli's pre-Eon Warwick company, who were mostly a British annex of Columbia.
I'm not saying he could have been Bond, but he might have been Leiter, if things worked out differently.

Fambo Number Mive

Just started watching it and with the dancers at the beginning the camera zooms in on one of the women's bottoms.

Fambo Number Mive

Nice clarinet playing from Mike Winters but the pair are fascinating in how unfunny they are.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

What about that song at the end, where all the guests assemble together to go " Eeeeeh" in reference to Bernie Winters ' trademark comic thing? That's what he did: beared his teeth and went "Eeeeeh" ( he first does it in the show in that song at the start to avoid saying " knickers"). He also had within his comic arsenal" the hilarious catchphrase " I'll smash your face in.". Fucking Hell.

pigamus

Quote from: George White on May 06, 2022, 08:14:20 AMI'm not saying he could have been Bond, but he might have been Leiter, if things worked out differently.

We all like our food mate, don't be a cunt

poodlefaker

When they split up Bernie was faced with the eternal problem of the solo double-act comic, which he solved brilliantly by replacing his brother with a dog. Gave him another ten years' work at least. David Walliams currently trying the same thing.

Jittlebags

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on May 06, 2022, 08:40:07 AMNice clarinet playing from Mike Winters but the pair are fascinating in how unfunny they are.

TV's Clarinet Man.


gilbertharding

Someone in the comments reckons that they were related to Bernard Delfont - but nothing in the wider world even refers to that. It would explain a lot, if it was true...

Being born in 1969 in a house where ITV was hardly watched, I was completely unaware of Mike and Bernie Winters. So when I happened to see a lunchtime programme hosted by this odd bloke and a massive dog (I can't remember what the show was, but IIRC he just sat in a chair and talked - perhaps it was 'Bernie' (1978)), I was *baffled*. It definitely wasn't funny... I even asked my mum, who told me the bloke used to be a comedian - which didn't really help (did I say he wasn't funny?).

One of the by-products of the Mike & Bernie split was Bernie's flop single "It's Bernie", which was supposed to sell the public on the idea of him as a solo performer, but has a somewhat sinister lyric which is very ambiguous about what Bernie is actually going to do for/to you:

Just relax now, leave it to me
Let it happen naturally
We'll have a party, just you wait and see!



Fambo Number Mive

Footage of Mike and Bernie Winters performing to a load of people in bonnets, shown on BBC 4, attracts the following comments:

QuoteWhen the Mike and Bernie winter's show was on, we always looked forward to the adverts.

And the uploader replies with

QuoteTHANK YOU BRIAN FOR YOUR VIEW AND COMMENT.

Also:

QuoteBernie could pull the birds like nobody's business. Just look at 7:03 in the video and see where Bernie has just clocked some woman in the audience. Watch that quick flick of his head as Bernie smiles shyly at the woman and then turns his head away and then quickly turns back to have a second quick glance at the woman. No wonder Mike once said that Bernie had undone more bra straps than any man in history.

Women loved Bernie and
Bernie loved women.

Judge for yourself:


Gurke and Hare

I like the bit where a hand comes in to stop the countdown clock falling over.

pigamus

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on May 06, 2022, 04:19:05 PMI like the bit where a hand comes in to stop the countdown clock falling over.

Have you said this just so I'll check and feel stupid? Because it hasn't worked.

Why do they count in with letters rather than numbers?

Gurke and Hare

No, I said it because it was literally the best bit of the whole thing. Well, maybe not, it's always good to see the ATV ident too.

That was really bad though, Mike might have less charisma than Syd.

DrGreggles

From a message board about memorable heckles

QuoteOne of the classics is Mike & Bernie Winters performing in Glasgow... their routine was for Mike would come on first and sing a few songs and tell a few gags before being joined by Bernie for the rest of the performance. On this night the audience is especially stone-faced and obviously not enjoying Mike's opening numbers, at which point Bernie comes on stage, to a call from the audience, "Oh fucking hell, there's two of them..."

Twonty Gostelow

Quote from: Keebleman on May 04, 2022, 09:07:49 PMThe other classic Mike and Bernie story has them appearing at the Glasgow Empire.  Mike goes on first and his song is greeted by a storm of grumpy indifference.  Then Bernie pokes his head through the curtains doing his "Eeeeehhhhh!" face and a voice comes from the stalls, "Oh Christ, there's two of 'em!"
Quote from: DrGreggles on May 06, 2022, 05:11:21 PMFrom a message board about memorable heckles

QuoteOne of the classics is Mike & Bernie Winters performing in Glasgow... their routine was for Mike would come on first and sing a few songs and tell a few gags before being joined by Bernie for the rest of the performance. On this night the audience is especially stone-faced and obviously not enjoying Mike's opening numbers, at which point Bernie comes on stage, to a call from the audience, "Oh fucking hell, there's two of them..."
Oh Christ, there's two of them.

pigamus

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on May 06, 2022, 04:54:47 PMNo, I said it because it was literally the best bit of the whole thing. Well, maybe not, it's always good to see the ATV ident too.

That was really bad though, Mike might have less charisma than Syd.

Ah, it's the bit before the ad break isn't it - I was watching the bit at the beginning.

Brundle-Fly



Was there a single light entertainer in the 1960s that didn't perform a silly comedy routine with The Fabs?