It may come as a surprise to some to learn this but I am not really an avid fan of 'The Two Ronnies'. Already I can vision your jaws opening 'Tex Avery' style in amazement. Don't get me wrong, some of the sketches I find genuinely well written and performed, others I feel are overlong and unfunny.Each episode commenced with Barker and Corbett sitting before a studio audience, cracking off gags ( which Barker prefaced with ''And in a packed programme tonight!'' ) before moving on to sketches and musical items. Some of the best sketches included Corbett walking into an ice cream parlour and asking for such ludicrous flavours as salt and vinegar or cheese and onion, much to the bewilderment of the proprietor. A very funny 'Mastermind' spoof had Barker as Magnus Mackisson and Corbett as a contestant whose chosen subject is 'Answering Each Question Before Last'. There was also a hilarious 'Top Of The Pops' spoof entitled 'Plop Of The Flops' which featured a blacked-up Barker in drag as Big Momma belting out 'I'm Your Big Fat Momma And I'm Blacker Than A Black-eyed Pea!'. The best of all of course was 'Four Candles' in which a none too bright customer asks a shopkeeper for fork handles but the shopkeeper mishears him and thinks he is asking for four candles. The comic misunderstanding escalates from then on. 'The Two Ronnies' was also home to the famous 'Phantom Rasperry Blower Of London Town'.Less amusing were many of the musical items, as well as Corbett's dire armchair monologues. Appearing as guests were Robin Bailey, Stratford Johns, Claire Nielsen, Josephine Tewson, John Clesse, Julia McKenzie and Patricia Routledge to name but a few. Musical acts included The Nolan Sisters, Elton John, Barbara Dickson, Chas & Dave and Lyndsey De Paul. Ronnie Barker wrote many of the sketches himself under the pen name Gerald Wiley.There was no denying that 'The Two Ronnies' was hugely popular but personally I could only take it in small doses. Even so, it is miles funnier than some of the more recent guff that taints our screens today, namely 'Little Britain'.

I very much doubt we will see a sketch show of the quality of The Two Ronnies, which ran for 17 years and attracted audiences of 19 million at its height. Classic sketches such as Fork Handles( no, handles for forks), Cheese and Onion Ice Cream and the send up of Mastermind will still be hilarious decades from now. Also hilarious were the news bulletins at the start and end of each show, the musical pieces( my favourite is where Barker and Corbett dress up as tea ladies and join the BBC orchestra), and the serials that ran in each series such as The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town and The Worm That Turned. Some reviewers aren't so keen on this part, but I always found Ronnie Corbett's chair monologue very amusing and clever.Also the show's musical guests were of a high standard and The Two Ronnies helped to make stars of Lynsey de Paul, the guest singer in the 1972 series, and the Nolan Sisters, who were regulars on the 1977 show. Later on, Phil Collins would appear between Genesis tours.One enduring trait with the Two Ronnies is, unlike many modern so called comedians, their shows are refreshingly free of bad language and are suitable for all ages and if there are any references to sex, it is done in clever innuendo.As a boy, always a must see show and I'm glad most reviewers still think highly of The Two Ronnies.

When Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones spoofed 'The Two Ronnies' in a 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' sketch entitled 'The Two Ninnies', it didn't work because a) it wasn't funny and b) it was inaccurate. Ronnie Barker's beautifully crafted song parodies did not use words like 'titty' and 'bum', and never did. Smith and Jones brought out the dire 'Morons From Outer Space' in 1985, and can count themselves lucky they weren't on the receiving end of similar abuse from Corbett and Barker. Its twenty years since the series ended ( barring compilations ) but 'The Two Ronnies' is still a joy to watch. These gentlemen had an unmistakable on-screen chemistry. My favourite bits were the filmed items, such as the 'Piggy Malone' and 'Charley Farley' serials. Some of the humour hasn't aged very well admittedly, but its stood the test of time a lot better than 'The Young Ones' and 'Not The Nine O'Clock News'. Must throw in a quick mention of 'Four Candles' - has me in fits each time!

For sixteen years, big Ronnie Barker and little Ronnie Corbett hit hard on the nation's funny bone with their gently subversive, often wonderfully rude comedy routines, which lampooned countless aspects of British life - pompous authority figures, eccentric middle class guests at dreary cocktail parties, shabby men (with distinctly surreal private lives) putting the world to rights over a beer or ten, ghastly restaurants with rude waiters and incompetent chefs, bumptious politicians, leery rock stars and deeply suspicious doctors. Although often regarded as a "safe" series, The Two Ronnies' best sketches often strayed toward decidedly bizarre and ridiculous Monty Python territory, which isn't surprising as several of the Pythons (together with genius upstarts like Marshall and Renwick) wrote for the series - that's when the great Ronnie Barker wasn't providing the bulk of the material himself under a number of unlikely pseudonyms! (Remember Gerald Wiley? That was him.) The musical numbers can seem dated to modern eyes, but the country and western parodies from 'Big Jim Jehosophat'(Corbett) and 'Fatbelly Jones'(Barker) were always a joy, wrapping dozens of double-entendres around some genuinely catchy tunes, as were the lesser-seen spoofs of Chas and Dave, Status Quo and even Kid Creole and the Coconuts! As with many of the 'old school' comedians, the Two Ronnies' work has endured far better than many of the 'alternative' comedians who tried to push them aside - not only that, they're still being repeated. So where's Ben Elton now?