Without question, the all-time "Rosetta Stone" of comedy and timing, television or otherwise. Every student of acting should immerse him or herself in "The Honeymooners" as should anyone interested in public speaking or performing in any way.Add to that anyone interested in being interesting. It is the essential master class in timing; on learning to hold a pause and on how to be genuinely funny. It has no equal.

Poor bus driver Ralph (Gleason), he's got all these little guy dreams in a big guy world. But no matter how many times his big dreams fail, he's ready to try again. Good thing he's got his Alice (Meadows). She's the sensible bedrock holding things together, even that dumpy little flat where nothing is put between us and the characters of this classic comedy series. In fact, her deadpan face-offs with a bellowing Ralph are real hoots. But she better be a rock because "sanitation engineer" and upstairs neighbor Norton (Carney) falls for every one of Ralph's cockamamie schemes. It doesn't matter how loony they are, good old Ed will go along, a real buddy. Together, the two of them get a ton of laughs out of the kind of unlovely jobs that hold us all together. And shouldn't overlook Trixie (Randolph). She's there to support Alice and keep Ed from spiraling off with Ralph. Maybe there's not many laughs from Trixie, but there is a lot of good solid support. No doubt, it may be the men we laugh at, but it's the women we respect. And if there was ever better chemistry, more underlying pathos, or more laughs in a comedy series of any decade, I haven't seen it. A genuine blue-collar classic from an unlikely white-collar decade.

I remember some of Jackie Gleason's movies, but find that the television series Honeymooners showcased his true talent: making people Laugh till they split sides.There are a few memorable scenes in the series; Alice taking a babysitting job to pay for phone and Ralph thinking she is cheating with another man; the angry Ralph thinking his mother-in-law is coming over and finding out it is his own mother I feel the most hilarious episode was the "young at heart" skit, where the Kramdens and Nortons try to rekindle youth and go skating. the Honeymooners will remain one of the most endearing shows and the funniest ever.

The Honeymooners will be something that I'll watch whenever it's on. Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph deliver superb chemistry in this stellar production.Gleason had full control of this show, and it wouldn't be anything as mythic if someone else was the boss. Despite all the restrictions of the 50's, The Honeymooners are still way more funnier than today's sitcoms and still bear innumerable viewings. The talent of the 50's knew how to entertain.Gleason plays Ralph Kramden, a bus driver in New York who lives in a tacky apartment in Bensonhurst with his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows). They have their neighbours Ed Norton (Art Carney) who works in sanitation and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph), a former burlesque entertainer. A lot of the episodes dealt with regular life, as well as occasional get-rich schemes planned by Ralph. The belly-laughs and roll-in-the couch hilarity comes from the great chemistry between Ralph and either Ed or Alice. In the Ralph/Ed situations, Ed's goofiness and looseness always clashed with Ralph's temper and impatienceness. Who couldn't forget all the different ways Ed could agitate Ralph until he was told to leave.Ralph/Alice was even better, for a reason. Although these two loved each other very much, they had some helacious arguments. Alice would take shots at him with jokes about his weight until Ralph threatened to "give her a shot, right in the kisser. To the moon, Alice". But we know Ralph would never hurt his wife, he loved her too much and would always make amends to her at the end. Alice always accepted the apology and said "I Love You, Ralph"! He'd always reply "Baby, You're The Greatest!" and the episode would end with them embracing. I was always clapping, smiling, or even in tears after that, it was so poignant. Let's see today's sitcoms show us some "poignancy".All the episodes are great; my favorite is the one where Ralph goes on a game show called "The $99,000 Answer" and he chooses "Popular Music" then has three days to prepare. He buys a piano and sheet music in hopes of winning it all. He gets Ed to play the songs while he guess them. However, Ed always starts his songs with a snippet of Stephen Foster's "Swannee River" as a warm-up, yet Ralph thinks it's some mindless music that Ed came up with. He goes on the show and they ask him "Who composed Swannee River?" Ralph goes completely white; he doesn't know. They play the music for him and it's the song Ed plays at the beginning of all the songs he played on the piano. Ralph then answers "Ed Norton?" That's what comedy is and should be! Bravo!