Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.

Respectfully disagree. Strongly.

.....especially the banana peels that Benny might have occasionally used in his sketches. Let me explain:

Benny Hill's brand of humor was from the burlesque/vaudeville/English music hall school of comedy. Broad {including the women and their semi-nude appearances}, "lowbrow", and obvious "silly" gags were his forte. If it was funny, flaunt it!

"Monty Python", on the other hand, was pure "absurdist" comedy, poking fun at everyone and everything, with sharp satire (and occasional "broad" humor, as the kind Benny practiced) and deft writing. Some of it may have gone over viewers' heads, but it was funny [during a sketch about possible usage of magic by English policemen, some of them are seen using a Ouija board, guiding a little device in spelling out a message from the "spirit world"- BOBBIES {in unison}: "U....P.....Y...O....U....R....S..." GRAHAM CHAPMAN: "'Up yours'?? What a rude Ouija board!"].

:tv:

Both have their strong points. I prefer Benny easily. The only thing with Benny was the show ran so long that it often got repetitive. It seemed risque' in the time but is now tame by current standards. Benny could make people laugh with just a facial expression. He was one of the all-time greats in my book.

It's not really fair to compare Benny Hill and Monty Python. Benny Hill is one person. Monty Python is a group of people. So the statement that Benny Hill is the funniest man in the U.K. does not mean that he is funnier than Monty Python. It simply means that he is considered funnier than any other individual person in the U.K. Monty Python, being a group, are in a whole other category.

completely subjective and impossible to "prove".

they're both great in their own ways, problem solved.

hill best indeed

benny called himself benny after jack benny.

they are totally different kinds of humor, Benny Hill never tackled politics, etc..

I prefer Monty Python over Benny Hill anyday, It's like saying The Three Stooges are funnier than The Marx Brothers!

To me, Benny Hill was like The Three Stooges. Low-brow and a lot of slapstick. The Marx Bros. are more wittier and sarcastic (Groucho was more sarcastic, Chico had some wits, and Harpo was The Quiet One).

The Benny Hill Show, actually was a special that ran a few times a year, and was later cut up to fit the 30 minute format for US TV. Whereas Python was a weekly series.

Benny was the UK's greatest comic ever

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
The above mentioned is the best bio on Hill.

To me, Monty Python was more funnier than Benny Hill since they were a group of bright, funny people who wrote and performed their own material, including a large number of female roles in drag. Terry Gilliam added a lot to the shows with his unique animation style.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith. I repeat this message.

I repeat this message.
Both shows were funny in their own way. I laughed at them both equally.

http://i48.tinypic.com/i3rygy.jpg

I absolutely, positively LOVED Benny Hill's Humor. His Limerick - songs were outrageously smooth and Hysterical. His impish naughty boy style was refreshing and original. The show had an energy that made you laugh hard and long. It was risqué comedy with a touch of bawdy vaudeville. I ordered he Un-edited Benny Hill Series of VHS cassttes and haven't stop laughing yet.

Benny simply the best comic.

It is great to come from a show biz family if you are in the biz yourself. Benny did.

Show biz is one field it helps to grow up in to excel at it.

Benny Hill was one in a billion of a great comic.

Funnier or funniest is only a matter of opinion. The opinion of the individual. IMO Python was funnier than Hill It seemed to me that . Benny Hill was more for sexual comedy than Python.

Good thing for Current Biography of 1983.

I do believe very strongly that those who grow up in show biz families (like Hill) make the most gifted performers.

Benny Hill is mostly low comedy, Monty Python is more cerebral, a thinking persons type of comedy. Both shows do a good job with the type of comedy they display, if I would have to pick one I'd say I like Monty Python a little more. Are You Being Served has some funny episodes also.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
Thank God Himself for that CB article of 1983 showing the truth about Benny!

As pointed out earlier, there never was a "Benny Hill Show". He did a series of one-hour specials which were later edited into 30 minute TV Shows, and that's what we in the U.S.A. saw (I first saw T.B.H.S. in the late 70s and early 80s).

Monty Python's Flying Circus was a weekly series, which is totally different. Also (as pointed out earlier) Hill was an individual, Python was a group of several very talented writers and performers.

I loved both shows in different ways. Hill could indeed get laughs with his facial expressions alone... we loved the guy.

But I would have to say that MPFC was definitely a more sophisticated brand of humor. The things those guys did with the English language was mind-boggling. So funny because much of it was absurd, yet it made sense ("The Argument Clinic").

Hill would use sexual situations in a sophomoric kind of way (ladies' skirts blown up in the wind, etc), but because of the slapstick manner of those films, it was funny (I was also in H.S. and college at the time, so lots of silly things were funnier then). Python actually showed a nude lady during one sketch ("The Dull Life of a Stockbroker"). This boring stockbroker guy went to the newsstand to buy a paper, and the girl working at the stand was naked. The dull stockbroker bought the paper and showed no reaction to the naked lady...just so we could all see how dull he was. Later, during that same sketch, the stockbroker was standing in the front of a line to get on a bus... while everyone was waiting for the bus, a Frankenstein-like monster started killing all of the people who were standing in line behind the broker, one by one, starting at the back of the line. And just when the monster is about to kill the stockbroker, the bus shows up and he boards it, having no idea what just happened behind him.

While Hill may well have been the funniest individual, I think MPFC was a better show...but I loved them both.

But it's also true that Hill had a great way with the language, and performed some hilarious songs during the run of his "show"

I prefer Monty Python over Benny Hill anyday, It's like saying The Three Stooges are funnier than The Marx Brothers!

To me, Benny Hill was like The Three Stooges. Low-brow and a lot of slapstick. The Marx Bros. are more wittier and sarcastic (Groucho was more sarcastic, Chico had some wits, and Harpo was The Quiet One).

:thumbsup:

Not in a trillion years will there be another quite like Benny Hill!

Hill was king among comedians the world over!

Benny Hill was essentially a one-joke character -- the letch, in a variety of costumes.

Python, on the other hand, was all over the place in terms of what they did and how they did it. Python didn't always hit the mark, but they at least experimented and weren't afraid to be different.

I believe I have to vote on Benny Hill. Yeah, he might have been "low-brow". But at least I understand what he was doing, while I often don't get Monty Python at all.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
This may be mentioned in other books too!

Much of Python was incredibly mean-spirited, strident, snarky and thoroughly unpleasant in tone (a forerunner to the likes of Ricky Gervais or Russell Brand), not to mention certain things (notably the ostensible Sam Peckinpah "parody" "Salad Days") that were simply not funny (having seen people in certain particular distress, I can tell you that there is nothing funny about bleeding profusely - especially if you or a friend or loved one went through it). Also, with some bits such as "Dirty Vicar" or the "Visitors" sketch, there was the kind of "degrading to women" aspect for which, had Mr. Hill done them, they would have really crucified him - but, being the Pythons did those, they were given a free pass by many of those who were among the "hate Benny" brigade - and their elite educational background (as amongst the so-called "Oxbridge Mafia") being cited as why they should have gotten such a free pass. And that's not counting some of their more famous moments (like "The Lumberjack Song") where the Pythons seemed more intent on making a statement (and a point) than making people laugh.

The best of Mr. Hill's TV and film parodies rank right up there with Carol Burnett's more celebrated (i.e. "Went With the Wind") movie takeoffs. His blooper sketches - which became passé after the first of a series of true blooper compilations called It'll Be Alright on the Night aired - seemed to remind me of a recurring bit on the U.S. 1971-77 children's show The Electric Company which parodied certain commercials of the time where the actors messed up their lines and the director (played by a beret- and jodhpur-wearing, megaphone-waving Rita Moreno, in her "Hey you guys!" delivery) ran onto the stage yelling "Cut! Cut!" Much of his "interview" sketches - mostly Fred Scuttle, but also some other characters like Mervyn Cruddy or Chow Mein - I to this day appreciate his puns, malapropisms, and such. I long preferred, in the bigger picture, his 1969-78 period within his Thames run (though I also have taken to certain of the things he did over his period before that with the BBC - where his film cameraman, James Balfour, later did such lensing for Python in its first two seasons); afterwards, especially upon Dennis Kirkland assuming the reins as producer/director in 1979, the show, quite literally and figuratively, "jumped the shark," with the ratcheting-up of the "T&A" via the creation of "Hill's Angels" as one major symptom (and in their structure, a tad too derivative of Tex Avery's 1940's string of cartoons for MGM with a lascivious wolf lusting over a redheaded nightclub singer, with special emphasis on his over-the-top reactions intermixed with her performances).

So in that overall sense, one could understand the logic behind the "Benny Hill is funnier than Monty Python" canard.

And that's not counting some of their more famous moments (like "The Lumberjack Song") where the Pythons seemed more intent on making a statement (and a point) than making people laugh...
That might actually be the only MP sketch, that I actually found funny. You just have to love the look on the faces of the choir, when they had to sing about how the lumberjack uses to put on women's clothing!

That might actually be the only MP sketch, that I actually found funny. You just have to love the look on the faces of the choir, when they had to sing about how the lumberjack uses to put on women's clothing!
That was funny and I loved their cartoons. Benny wasn't as mean spirited and he was more cheerful as you can see in sketches.

http://splitsider.com/2013/05/thats-not-funny-thats-sexist-the-controversial-legacy-of-benny-hill/

The Benny Hill Show towered over even Monty Python in terms of worldwide appeal and popularity in its hey day, which is just astounding. However, history rewards the victors and while Monty Python looms large over sketch comedy even today, Benny Hill has been reduced to a curious footnote in comedy history. While both share an enthusiasm for absurdity, Monty Python’s sketches often featured a healthy dose of cerebral satire buried within the anarchic foolishness. Hill, however, strikes modern viewers as broad and cartoonish, avoiding subtly altogether.

Make no mistake; Benny Hill was a huge comedic presence for twenty years (1969-1989) during the run of his titular The Benny Hill Show. The show was produced by Thames Television and was distributed to a worldwide audience of 93 different countries. The show consisted of a variety of sketches in which Hill gropes a girl, and then gets slapped and then they run around to the tune of “Yakety Sax”, which if you are familiar with Benny Hill at all is a song that is already rolling around in your head. You’re Welcome!

Of course, that's not the only reason Hill has been left behind in the dustbin of history. Often, when people speak about Blazing Saddles, they'll say something along the lines of “That movie could never be today.” Which isn’t quite right. If anything, the success of Quention Tarantino’s Django Unchained proves that modern audiences are more than willing to accept a certain amount of politically incorrect material, but like Blazing Saddles it must be made pretty clear that the film is siding with the oppressed and not the oppressor. Having said that, I believe it would be very difficult for The Benny Hill Show to thrive today, as many of the gags tend to be made at the expense of women and often walk the line between sexism and outright misogyny.

Now, I want to make it clear that I am not explicitly saying that Benny Hill is either sexist or misogynist. There are a lot of earnest young people out there taking to the blogs to give their opinion about what goes over the line. Frankly, it's ridiculous when critics get angry at comedians for saying something offensive. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “He or she is like a person who puts on a full suit of armor and attacked a hot fudge Sunday.” Hell, even Jim Gaffigan was targeted last week for making a joke about nails on Twitter.

So, the real question is, “Is Benny Hill funny?”

Well, no less than Charlie Chaplin was a fan and was rumored to have a collection of Benny Hill tapes in his film library. It is easy to see why the master of the silent film era would enjoy Hill’s work. The Benny Hill Show had quick one liner jokes dispersed throughout an episode, but he is mainly remembered for his long silent scenes consisting of broad physical comedy and visual gags.

While many of the bits in the above video are anachronistic to the modern comedy viewer, one simply cannot dismiss the sheer amount of jokes that are squeezed into the three and half minutes. And while there is certainly a number of leering, groping gags involving women, they are no more lascivious than the antics of silent Marx Brother, Harpo.

While these silent bits are what Benny Hill remains known for, he was also adept at playing different characters throughout the run of the show. He was able to slip between characters seamlessly and had a face that was expressive and commanding, not unlike John Belushi (though the two comics used their talents to considerably different ends). Here he plays a stable boy in a Lady Godiva sketch (a subject that was tackled by many comedy shows throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, due in part to the explosion of the sexual revolution during that time).

While The Benny Hill Show was extremely popular during its twenty-year run, this was by no means Benny Hill’s first foray into television comedy. He became a staple on British radio during the 1940s and 1950s and soon made his way to television. However, British public television never quite knew what to with him. Often his ideas were censored and it was not until after fleeing the BBC and joining Thames Television that he was given free reign to do what he wanted to do as a television comic.

Although Hill may felt restrained during his time at the BBC, it was there that he found his comedic voice. One of the reasons he became so popular in the UK at this time is because he was one of the first British comedians to take full advantage of the medium of television. Not unlike Ernie Kovaks in America, Hill exploited film techniques that allowed him to produce surreal comedy pieces like “The Fastest Film Director in the World”.

In many ways, this piece is not unlike the great, underrated exploitation parody movie, Black Dynamite from a few years ago, complete with intentionally bad edits and audible off camera mistakes, which is yet another reminder that there is truly “nothing new under the sun.”

I will admit, that I didn’t know much about Benny Hill before starting this article and had always dismissed his show as the UK’s answer to Hee-Haw, but the more I read about him, it seems that he was much more creative and ambitious than I had imagined. By all accounts, Hill was a dedicated craftsman and his entire life was wrapped up in his show. While a millionaire several times over, Hill lived in small apartments and spent very little of the money he had accumulated. He also never married and, though he did propose to three different women throughout his lifetime, only to be rejected. Perhaps it was his inability to connect with women that provided fodder for his frustrated and lecherous character onscreen.

Sadly, very little will be known about what drove Benny Hill. Off screen, he tended to keep to himself and, while those who worked with him never had a bad word to say, he never truly let his guard down. Hill was crushed when his show was canceled in 1989, and though he did create a one-off special in 1991, Benny Hill in New York, he died shortly afterwards at the age of 68. While his show is little remembered by the mainstream today, YouTube videos attest to the lasting influence he has to fans all over the world. He is gone, but has not been forgotten.

I don't think Benny Hill was sexist/misogynist. After all, the women always defended themselves against his groping! :lol:

That was an interesting article, by the way.

I believe I have to vote on Benny Hill. Yeah, he might have been "low-brow". But at least I understand what he was doing, while I often don't get Monty Python at all.

I want EVERYONE to read the quote above. This ladies and gentlemen, is the MAIN reason why Monty Python could NEVER, EVER be funnier than Benny Hill. Hill's jokes were flat-out funny. Monty Python's jokes took thought and reflection: and even then there was no guarantee you'd get it. This case is closed. Moderator, you can now feel justified in closing this thread.

Thank you! :lol:

Thank you! :lol:
I just want to say when the Marx Brothers were mentioned in article. I think they were more clean than Benny Hill but just as funny. Harpo did chase the women but he didn't grope them. I know that Benny got his inspiration from them. He was always funny no matter what.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
Thank God Himself for that CB article!

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
A bio-documentary on Hill would be just awesome!

One look at my avatar/username tells you who I prefer :D

My personal preference is Python, hands down. But I have a warped and twisted sense of humor, so that makes sense.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
That book is great!

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
Great and true CB article!

you sound like a very bad shill; we get it - you like Benny Hill, you can stop now.

Proof is the 1983 Current Biography on Hill showing he was considered the funniest man in the UK. TV stations like WOR considered Hill funnier too. This is mentioned in the bio The Benny Hill Story by John Smith.
Hill had possibly the greatest natural comic talent ever!

you sound like a very bad shill; we get it - you like Benny Hill, you can stop now.
It was what the TV stations said as well. Not just me. And the book The Benny Hill Story. I invented none of this. I just agree!

Hill had possibly the greatest natural comic talent ever!

There are quite a few people that might fit in that category.

I want EVERYONE to read the quote above. This ladies and gentlemen, is the MAIN reason why Monty Python could NEVER, EVER be funnier than Benny Hill. Hill's jokes were flat-out funny. Monty Python's jokes took thought and reflection: and even then there was no guarantee you'd get it. This case is closed. Moderator, you can now feel justified in closing this thread.


I loved them both in different ways but to me there is no doubt that Monty Python was far superior.

Unfortunately, there are some people that for whatever reason have their egos so wrapped up in these types of things that they can't take people disagreeing with them.

I loved them both in different ways but to me there is no doubt that Monty Python was far superior.

Unfortunately, there are some people that for whatever reason have their egos so wrapped up in these types of things that they can't take people disagreeing with them.

Points of viewpoint are so subjective to each persons perspective. I totally agree with you on one thing: That there are people who can't take other people disagreeing with them / and yet, I totally and completely disagree with you on the other point: It was Benny Hill's comedy that was far superior, NOT Monthy Pythons'. But I respect and acknowledge your right to diagree with how I feel.

Points of viewpoint are so subjective to each persons perspective. I totally agree with you on one thing: That there are people who can't take other people disagreeing with them / and yet, I totally and completely disagree with you on the other point: It was Benny Hill's comedy that was far superior, NOT Monthy Pythons'. But I respect and acknowledge your right to diagree with how I feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

Outside of both being British, it's very different types of comedy. Both are funny. But it's all purely subjective, everyone finds different things funny which is why we have so many types of comedic styles. Trying to make something that is subjective into fact is silly.

His style was fast pace and hilarious.

Outside of both being British, it's very different types of comedy. Both are funny. But it's all purely subjective, everyone finds different things funny which is why we have so many types of comedic styles. Trying to make something that is subjective into fact is silly.

I know people in real-life who are like Fox News in that they present their opinions as facts. And if you say you don't like something they're really passionate about, they take it like a personal insult.

You are right, Python and Benny Hill are both British, but it's two different types of humor. It's subjective and while I may not like Benny Hill as much as Python, I respect those who do.

But I do love "The argument clinic" because...well, it's just frickin' funny! ;)