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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox television
{{Infobox television
| image                    = The_Dick_Emery_Show.jpg
| image                    = The_Dick_Emery_Show.jpg
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Frequent performers included [[Pat Coombs]], [[Victor Maddern]], [[Deryck Guyler]], [[Roy Kinnear]], [[Joan Sims]] and [[Josephine Tewson]].<ref name="BBC Comedy"/><ref name='BBCDE'/>
Frequent performers included [[Pat Coombs]], [[Victor Maddern]], [[Deryck Guyler]], [[Roy Kinnear]], [[Joan Sims]] and [[Josephine Tewson]].<ref name="BBC Comedy"/><ref name='BBCDE'/>


The principal writers of the programme were David Cummings, John Singer, and John Warren. Additional contributions were by [[w:David Nobbs|David Nobbs]] and [[w:Peter Tinniswood|Peter Tinniswood]].<ref name="BBC Comedy"/><ref name='BFI'>{{cite web|title=The Dick Emery Show|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1192094/index.html|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|accessdate=3 August 2020}}</ref> Other writers included [[Dick Clement]], [[Barry Cryer]], [[w:Selma Diamond|Selma Diamond]], [[Esmonde and Larbey|John Esmonde]], [[Marty Feldman]], [[w:Lucille Kallen|Lucille Kallen]], [[Bob Larbey]] and [[w:Harold Pinter|Harold Pinter]].<ref name='BBCDE'>{{cite web|title=The Dick Emery Show|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/dickemeryshow/|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=3 August 2020}}</ref> The American comedy writers [[w:Mel Brooks|Mel Brooks]] and [[w:Mel Tolkin|Mel Tolkin]] contributed sketches in the early years of the show.<ref name='BFI'/> The nature of the show with its rapid sketches was initially inspired by the American sketch show ''[[w:Your Show of Shows|Your Show of Shows]]'' starring [[w:Sid Caesar|Sid Caesar]] that was broadcast between 1950 and 1954 on [[w:NBC|NBC]].<ref name='BBCDE'/> Emery later developed his own characters for sketches.<ref name='BBCDE'/>
The principal writers of the programme were David Cummings, John Singer, and John Warren. Additional contributions were by [[w:David Nobbs|David Nobbs]] and [[w:Peter Tinniswood|Peter Tinniswood]].<ref name="BBC Comedy"/><ref name='BFI'>{{cite web|title=The Dick Emery Show|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1192094/index.html|publisher=[[w:British Film Institute|British Film Institute]]|accessdate=3 August 2020}}</ref> Other writers included [[Dick Clement]], [[Barry Cryer]], [[w:Selma Diamond|Selma Diamond]], [[Esmonde and Larbey|John Esmonde]], [[Marty Feldman]], [[w:Lucille Kallen|Lucille Kallen]], [[Bob Larbey]] and [[w:Harold Pinter|Harold Pinter]].<ref name='BBCDE'>{{cite web|title=The Dick Emery Show|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/dickemeryshow/|publisher=[[w:BBC|BBC]]|accessdate=3 August 2020}}</ref> The American comedy writers [[w:Mel Brooks|Mel Brooks]] and [[w:Mel Tolkin|Mel Tolkin]] contributed sketches in the early years of the show.<ref name='BFI'/> The nature of the show with its rapid sketches was initially inspired by the American sketch show ''[[w:Your Show of Shows|Your Show of Shows]]'' starring [[w:Sid Caesar|Sid Caesar]] that was broadcast between 1950 and 1954 on [[w:NBC|NBC]].<ref name='BBCDE'/> Emery later developed his own characters for sketches.<ref name='BBCDE'/>
 
The show became anachronistic with the advent of the 1980s, being perceived as homophobic, racist, and sexist{{Citation needed|reason=Hardly. In the early 80s it was no different to The Benny Hill Show. Possibly a retrospective comment?|date=May 2022}}. In an appraisal of ''The Dick Emery Show'' the BBC wrote that none of the show's sketches would 'seem out of place' on the 2000's BBC sketch show ''[[w:Little Britain|Little Britain]]''.<ref name="BBC Comedy"/><ref name='BBCDE'/>


Peri Bradley critiqued the show in the chapter "The Politics of Camp" in ''British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade''. Bradley examined how [[w:Camp (style)|camp]] could "operate as a political and liberating force" in the 1970s; and felt that Emery's characters "comprised representations [which] instigated" a "transformation of consciousness" as described by the gender theorist [[w:Judith Butler|Judith Butler]].<ref name="ForsterHarper2009">{{cite book|author1=Laurel Forster|author2=Sue Harper|title=British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smakBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA125|date=14 December 2009|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-1838-4|pages=125–}}</ref>
Peri Bradley critiqued the show in the chapter "The Politics of Camp" in ''British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade''. Bradley examined how [[w:Camp (style)|camp]] could "operate as a political and liberating force" in the 1970s; and felt that Emery's characters "comprised representations [which] instigated" a "transformation of consciousness" as described by the gender theorist [[w:Judith Butler|Judith Butler]].<ref name="ForsterHarper2009">{{cite book|author1=Laurel Forster|author2=Sue Harper|title=British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smakBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA125|date=14 December 2009|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-1838-4|pages=125–}}</ref>
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==Vox pops==
==Vox pops==
Contrived [[w:vox pop|vox pop]]s with the show's characters were a notable feature; this would later be featured in the shows of [[w:A Bit of Fry & Laurie|Fry and Laurie]].<ref name='BFI'/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/500399/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Bit of Fry and Laurie, A (1989-95)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> The format was developed by David Cummings and the interviewer was played by [[w:Gordon Clyde|Gordon Clyde]]. Each character played by Emery would be asked the same question by the interviewer. The vox pops that featured Mandy, a 'very friendly blonde bombshell', would end with her perceiving a [[double entendre]] in the innocuous question of the reporter and then after giving them a 'friendly but over-forceful push' and saying her catchphrase, "Ooh, you are awful, but I like you".<ref name='BBCDE'/> The popularity of Mandy's catchphrase would see it included in the ''[[w:The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations|Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations|]]'', described as 'Mandy's habitual protest'.<ref name="Knowles2007">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Knowles|title=Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjLTsncFKCgC&pg=PA60|date=23 August 2007|publisher=[[w:Oxford University Press|]]|isbn=978-0-19-920895-1|pages=60–}}</ref>
Contrived [[w:vox pop|vox pop]]s with the show's characters were a notable feature; this would later be featured in the shows of [[w:A Bit of Fry & Laurie|Fry and Laurie]].<ref name='BFI'/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/500399/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Bit of Fry and Laurie, A (1989-95)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> The format was developed by David Cummings and the interviewer was played by [[w:Gordon Clyde|Gordon Clyde]]. Each character played by Emery would be asked the same question by the interviewer. The vox pops that featured Mandy, a 'very friendly blonde bombshell', would end with her perceiving a [[double entendre]] in the innocuous question of the reporter and then after giving them a 'friendly but over-forceful push' and saying her catchphrase, "Ooh, you are awful, but I like you".<ref name='BBCDE'/> The popularity of Mandy's catchphrase would see it included in the ''[[w:The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations|Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations|]]'', described as 'Mandy's habitual protest'.<ref name="Knowles2007">{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Knowles|title=Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjLTsncFKCgC&pg=PA60|date=23 August 2007|publisher=[[w:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-920895-1|pages=60–}}</ref>


==Home Media==
==Home Media==

Latest revision as of 12:06, 24 January 2023

The Dick Emery Show
The Dick Emery Show.jpg
The Dick Emery Show opening title sequence.
Created byDavid Cummings
StarringDick Emery
Pat Coombs
Deryck Guyler
Roy Kinnear
Joan Sims
Josephine Tewson
Arthur English
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series19[1]
No. of episodes166[1](85 missing)
Production
Running time25–50 minutes[1]
Production companyBBC[1]
Original release
NetworkBBC1
(1963-64, 1969-81)
BBC2
(1965-67) [1]
Release13 July 1963 (1963-07-13) –
7 February 1981 (1981-02-07)[1]

The Dick Emery Show is a British sketch comedy show starring Dick Emery.[2] It was broadcast on the BBC from 1963 to 1981.[1][3] It was directed and produced by Harold Snoad.[4] The show was broadcast over 19 series with 166 episodes.[1][3] The show experienced sustained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. The BBC described the show as featuring 'a vivid cast of comic grotesques'.[5]

Frequent performers included Pat Coombs, Victor Maddern, Deryck Guyler, Roy Kinnear, Joan Sims and Josephine Tewson.[1][5]

The principal writers of the programme were David Cummings, John Singer, and John Warren. Additional contributions were by David Nobbs and Peter Tinniswood.[1][3] Other writers included Dick Clement, Barry Cryer, Selma Diamond, John Esmonde, Marty Feldman, Lucille Kallen, Bob Larbey and Harold Pinter.[5] The American comedy writers Mel Brooks and Mel Tolkin contributed sketches in the early years of the show.[3] The nature of the show with its rapid sketches was initially inspired by the American sketch show Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar that was broadcast between 1950 and 1954 on NBC.[5] Emery later developed his own characters for sketches.[5]

Peri Bradley critiqued the show in the chapter "The Politics of Camp" in British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade. Bradley examined how camp could "operate as a political and liberating force" in the 1970s; and felt that Emery's characters "comprised representations [which] instigated" a "transformation of consciousness" as described by the gender theorist Judith Butler.[6]

Out-takes of corpsing from the series were subsequently included in the show in a section called 'The Comedy of Errors'.[3]

Characters

Characters portrayed by Emery included: Bovver Boy, a hapless skinhead whose father was played by Roy Kinnear; the camp and cheerful Clarence; First World War veteran Lampwick; and Mandy, a 'very friendly' middle-aged blonde bombshell.[3][6] Some other characters were College (an intellectual tramp); the 'menopausal would-be-maneater' Hetty; and Ton-up Boy, the biker.[1][3] Hetty and Mandy were both played by Emery in drag.[3][1]

Vox pops

Contrived vox pops with the show's characters were a notable feature; this would later be featured in the shows of Fry and Laurie.[3][7] The format was developed by David Cummings and the interviewer was played by Gordon Clyde. Each character played by Emery would be asked the same question by the interviewer. The vox pops that featured Mandy, a 'very friendly blonde bombshell', would end with her perceiving a double entendre in the innocuous question of the reporter and then after giving them a 'friendly but over-forceful push' and saying her catchphrase, "Ooh, you are awful, but I like you".[5] The popularity of Mandy's catchphrase would see it included in the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations|, described as 'Mandy's habitual protest'.[8]

Home Media

An 85 minute compilation titled Comedy Greats: Dick Emery containing the very best sketches from The Dick Emery Show was released on UK PAL VHS by BBC Video on 11 October 1999.[9]

This was re-released on Region 2 DVD on 11 July 2005 by 2 Entertain Video BBC Studios titled: The Best of Dick Emery.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "The Dick Emery Show". BBC Comedy Guide. 2 December 2003. Archived from the original on 26 April 2004. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  2. ^ "The Dick Emery Show[04/12/64] (1964)". BFI.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Dick Emery Show". British Film Institute. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Harold Snoad". BFI.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "The Dick Emery Show". BBC. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b Laurel Forster; Sue Harper (14 December 2009). British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 125–. ISBN 978-1-4438-1838-4.
  7. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Bit of Fry and Laurie, A (1989-95)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  8. ^ Elizabeth Knowles (23 August 2007). Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations. Oxford University Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-19-920895-1.
  9. ^ "Comedy Greats:Dick Emery [VHS]". Amazon.co.uk. 11 October 1999. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  10. ^ "The Best of Dick Emery [DVD[". Amazon.co.uk. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 24 November 2021.

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Dick_Emery_Show&oldid=32872"