DVD Review: The Two Ronnies

Recently I’ve been revisiting some of the great comedy acts from the past. The Two Ronnies must stand around as one of the best. Some of the sketches really have you in fits of laughter. The combination of two of the greatest comedians Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and their unmistakable brand of humour. Whilst they both went on to do lots of different shows it is when they were together in the Two Ronnies that I will best remember them.

I was a little dissapointed by the First volume of “The Best of the Two Ronnies”, whilst it had some very funny sketches some of the really good ones were still missing, and some of the others were. The best of the first DVD for me is the Morris Dancers with the classsic “Poor Cow”.

I found volume 2 much better. This is not what you normally expect from a best of where the 2nd best get delegated to the 2nd volume. I found the first couple of sketches a bit predictable and not very funny, but then after that it had me in stitches. It’s hard to choose a favourite from the 2nd volume, but “The Day after Tommorrows World” was excellent.

Throughout both DVD’s there are some of the classic Sketches where Ronnie Corbett sits in a chair and “tells a story”, and the fun he has joking about himself and the producer is just hilarious.

There are still many other sketches I’d like to see again, but I guess that they just couldn’t possibly includes everyone’s favourites, which varies as much as the different characters they play.

For me (and I’m sure many other fans) the best sketch of the Two Ronnies is “Four Candles”, which is unfortunately not on any of The Best of the Two Ronnies DVDs. It is however included in the BBC Great Comedy Moments, where they appear alongside other classic comedy such as Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder and Morcombe and Wise. It included some excellant sketches including the infamous Hancock’s blood donor session.

The Great Comedy Moments DVD includes some great clips, particularly if you are familiar with the comedy. I did find there were a few that I didn’t follow such as Step Toe and Son, but this is probably because not having seen them in a full show I didn’t understand the characters. As well as being able to play in the predetermined order they DVD also has the option to list them by series which is good.