Jokes you don't understand pt. 734

[Utter Shit]

Couldn't see a recent topic on this and I didn't want to bump an old one as per the rules.

In the Fawlty Towers episode 'Basil the Rat', there is the following exchange between Manuel and Terry when Manuel is trying to feed his pet rat with some steal from the kitchen.

Manuel: Terry, Terry, let me have a bit.
Terry: That's fillet.
Manuel: Si, he like it, please.
Terry: Want some bearnaise with it?
Manuel: No, is chostelerol! [Big grin]

What's the joke there? It gets a big laugh but beyond the mispronunciation of cholesterol I don't understand it. Even pronounced correctly, why would he respond with that?

[poodlefaker]

The idea that he's feeding fillet steak to a rat and is worried about its cholesterol levels; being overly precious about an animal usually considered verminous.

[Utter Shit]

Ahhh...that now seems incredibly obvious. Thick. Cheers.

[David Pielingtonburygrot]

Up until this very moment, i thought he was mispronouncing "castor oil"

[Endicott]

The idea that he's feeding fillet steak to a rat and is worried about its cholesterol levels; being overly precious about an animal usually considered verminous.

Combined in with this, the idea that you'd even think about adding bearnaise sauce to meat that you were feeding to a rat, is also funny.

'Bearnaise' raises a titter, 'cholesterol' tops it off.

[Billy Brown]

The Day Today's pro-Britain crisis film: is there anything more to Wabznasm than just being a silly word? I feel like I've been missing something incredibly obvious for decades, and I'm ready to be put out of my misery.

[wrec]

This, shared by someone I follow who usually shares good stuff

Doctor to my family: she doesn't have long, maybe a few hours to say goodbye

Me: I never knew... which was Hall... and which was Oates...

Doctor: I'll give you ten seconds to say goodbye

https://twitter.com/Pork_Chop_Hair/status/1612199815647223808

[idunnosomename]

Hall and Oates are funny

Maybe you're just.... out of touch

[SpiderChrist]

This, shared by someone I follow who usually shares good stuff

https://twitter.com/Pork_Chop_Hair/status/1612199815647223808

Is it a reference to the song 'She's Gone' by H&A?

If so, still not funny.

[Pseudopath]

This, shared by someone I follow who usually shares good stuff

https://twitter.com/Pork_Chop_Hair/status/1612199815647223808

I know Hall & Oates did of Gladys Knight's Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye), but I wouldn't say it's particularly well-known so it seems a bit of a stretch.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

persons regrets are trivial/boring so the doctor shuts them up

[dissolute ocelot]

There was a Hall and Oates album called No Goodbyes, and a song called Had I Known You Better Then, but none of it works.

[Langdale]

Never quite got the 'friend' thing in that episode of the Inbetweeners. Does Jay get the hump just because Simon, Will and Neil are taking the piss because he has a mate outside of their usual clique? Or is there something else going on?

[wrec]

persons regrets are trivial/boring so the doctor shuts them up

That makes sense. Mildly amusing but doesn't quite work.

[The Bumlord]

Never quite got the 'friend' thing in that episode of the Inbetweeners. Does Jay get the hump just because Simon, Will and Neil are taking the piss because he has a mate outside of their usual clique? Or is there something else going on?

No, that is literally it. Plus saying it in a high voice and giving a thumbs up makes it more annoying.

[neveragain]

The Day Today's pro-Britain crisis film: is there anything more to Wabznasm than just being a silly word? I feel like I've been missing something incredibly obvious for decades, and I'm ready to be put out of my misery.

I'd say silliness. The preceding Manford Thirty-Sixborough has an amusing Little Englishness to it but that one's just a funny word. The Day Today is full of them in terms of the reporters' names.

[Captain Z]

Wabznasm and Manford Thirty-Sixborough have always struck me as pretty well-observed parodies of some genuinely strange village names you find dotted around the UK. Just scroll around Cornwall on Google maps for example.


Re: thread title, I had one of these just the other day but didn't think it worth starting a thread for. Forgotten it now.

[Scuba Diver]

From Fry and Laurie's Special Squad sketch:

Stephen: Well now Mrs Popey, we may be stupid, but we're not clever. How do you come to have a son without having a husband. That sounds mightily ingenious.

Deborah: He was a sailor.

Stephen: Mmm. In the Navy?

Deborah: No, with the Nat West.

I don't know if 'Nat West' should actually be written as 'Natwest' but that's the way it's presented here.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

From Fry and Laurie's Special Squad sketch:

Stephen: Well now Mrs Popey, we may be stupid, but we're not clever. How do you come to have a son without having a husband. That sounds mightily ingenious.

Deborah: He was a sailor.

Stephen: Mmm. In the Navy?

Deborah: No, with the Nat West.

I don't know if 'Nat West' should actually be written as 'Natwest' but that's the way it's presented here.

Mishearing of 'sailor' as 'saver', presumably.

[neveragain]

Or possibly sarcasm in a 'of course the Navy, where else would he be a sailor?' vein.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Or possibly sarcasm in a 'of course the Navy, where else would he be a sailor?' vein.

Yeah, that could be it too. Depends on the delivery, I suppose.

[Bennett Brauer]

It being a mishearing doesn't make sense. Popey's mother clearly says sailor, Fry says, In the Navy?

It's just a daft non-sequitur - the sketch is filled with them.

Baby Popey was Laurie's real-life baby son </fun fact that probably everyone knows>

[Gob Shine Algorithm]

OK.

I _think_ I understand it, but I'm not sure. Need input from comedy scholar.

Alexei Sayle: "Didn't you kill my brother?"

Cornered victim, incredulous, "No?"

Alexei Sayle: "Must have been me, then".


The humour comes from three separate angles that all work in conjunction? 1) That he actually murdered his brother himself but there's some kind of bizarre mental black-out -- but it's all of throwaway importance anyway? 2) The randomness of suddenly cornering someone and accusing them of such a melodramatic crime in the first place? 3) The idea that he believes the person actually murdered  himself and he's now a kind of Solaris-esque phantom?

[Terry Torpid]

You may have seen this viral video from some CBBC show featuring "Hacker T Dog" and his human co-presenter corpsing. There's a twitter account that tweets it every day. Lots of people tweet it as a reply. There are t-shirts of it. The comments are full of people who say it's the funniest thing they've ever seen.

It is quite funny to see her lose her composure like that, but the start of the conversation has been cut off, so I don't know why the "normal men" line is funny. Can anyone provide some context? I've watched some other bloopers from the show which I thought were funnier, for example there's a bit where the puppet "jumps" but gets stuck on the edge of the camera, and a crewmember has to quickly pull him off (oo-er missus), so the puppeteer can frantically put him back on, but those other bits haven't made the same impact online.

[madhair60]

i think it's just that it's a really strange sort of yearning thing for a puppet to say

[beanheadmcginty]

You may have seen this viral video from some CBBC show featuring "Hacker T Dog" and his human co-presenter corpsing. There's a twitter account that tweets it every day. Lots of people tweet it as a reply. There are t-shirts of it. The comments are full of people who say it's the funniest thing they've ever seen.

It is quite funny to see her lose her composure like that, but the start of the conversation has been cut off, so I don't know why the "normal men" line is funny. Can anyone provide some context? I've watched some other bloopers from the show which I thought were funnier, for example there's a bit where the puppet "jumps" but gets stuck on the edge of the camera, and a crewmember has to quickly pull him off (oo-er missus), so the puppeteer can frantically put him back on, but those other bits haven't made the same impact online.

This is a weird one, because I find it really funny but genuinely have no idea what is funny about it.

[Old Nehamkin]

Yeah unless there's more context to that cbbc clip I think it's just an inexplicable non-sequitur pulled out of the air by the puppet operator that probably doesn't really fit the dog character but he then doubles down on it because he knows the presenter is on the verge of breaking.

[mjwilson]

Yeah that's it. This is a few more seconds of context but doesn't really explain anything:

The dog said on Twitter

No I just made it up on the live link it was the randomness that made Lauren laugh

https://twitter.com/Phil_Gluvets/status/1615281270455508997

[Thosworth]

Lauren talking to Acaster: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjPaROVDj0s/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

Puppet man:

[neveragain]

There's a recurring discussion on Twitter about "innocent men" and someone famous who made a Not All Men Are Rapists type comment, using those words. I don't know if that's got anything to do with it but it adds a darker edge.

Also, I definitely think...

Alexei Sayle: "Didn't you kill my brother?"
Cornered victim, incredulous, "No?"
Alexei Sayle: "Must have been me, then".

The humour comes from... he actually murdered his brother himself but there's some kind of bizarre mental black-out -- but it's all of throwaway importance anyway?