What do you think? I remember watching his performances when being a schoolboy and his sketches made me and every kid from my class roll with laughter and discuss his pranks at school.
I guess, they are certainly suitable for children, being a hundred times better and innocent than today's vile TV rubbish. He was a clown with a refined taste.
But maybe I'm wrong?
Thanks,
Andrei
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Entirely suitable, and as you say, a hundred times (at least) better than even some of the programming which is aimed directly AT children these days.
Sure, there are the visual double entendres and a lot of cheeky innuendo, but just like the same sort of jokes in a "Carry On" movie, the youngest kids won't see the alternate meanings but will just laugh at the funny side of the sketches.
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> I would tell your kids not to pinch girls butts while at school though.
That's precisely how far Benny went, as I recall it. Mild sexisms, but never on the level that too many new comedies are on. "Mostly harmless." And funny, especially for kids I think.
Yes! I used to watch this show all the time with my grandpa and I turned out ok. ;)
Bimbo Boy
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Its okay for them . Benny Hill , Monty Python flying Circus and
Faulty Towers Warped my sense of humor in a good way.
First off I want to say just how much I agree with you that Benny's sketches are "a hundred times better and innocent than today's vile TV rubbish".
I would add to that, though, that the only half decent forms of comedy on "the box" today are aimed towards adults rather than family audiences. It's a great shame.
Benny's shows were cheeky to be sure, but not offensive or vulgar. Very much like the CARRY ON movies, THE TWO RONNIES, and ON THE BUSES (both TV and spin-offs), along with the popular sitcoms of the day (STEPTOE AND SON, ARE YOU BEING SERVED? and so on), the humour is derived from innuendo, some of which is rather cleverly delivered in the form of wordplay on the English language. Benny is one of the few comedians I can think of who can do things like switching letters of an alphabet in a poem or monologue and effectively re-write the entire meaning of the said piece of literature. Benny also made his show different through the heavier emphasis on slapstick and physical humour that could appeal to kids as well as adults at the same time. The aforementioned forms of comedy didn't really have the same focus on appeal to kids as Benny's humour did. And also, Benny set a very strict rule of "look but don't touch" upon himself as he wrote and delivered the sketches. Children (well boys anyway) could learn something important from this - a bit of self-discipline.
To answer your question directly - you are not wrong.
It all depends on how easily offended/uptight the viewer is. A lot of people in the US would say absolutely not. After all many of these episodes contain scantily clad women and we can't expose children to that type of thing, can we? If I recall, there were actually a few episodes with brief nudity in them. Of course we talking about boobs and butts here, but some people think that even a brief glimpse of such things is damaging to a child, even though the Internet is full of that stuff.
My vote history: http://us.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=9354248