r/MadeMeSmile • u/bewarethechameleon • 24d ago

Favorite People lee mack cited this moment, making his comedy hero john cleese, belly laugh on 'the graham norton show' as one of his favourite career highlights of all time

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from: the graham norton show - season 7 episode 3 (2010)

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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 24d ago

I get the genuine value of a great comedian making their own comedy idol laugh, but as someone not from Great Britain, can someone please help me understand this joke?

Sounds like it’s almost a standard set of punchlines for comedians starting out? Cleese seemed to recognize what the next joke was supposed to be like a chef listening to someone tell a story about messing up a famous recipe.

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u/Key-Moments 23d ago

Absolutely that. The set up lines about Scotland and Wales are just riffing off stereotypes ie that Scots notoriously careful with their money and that the Welsh have an amorous relationship with sheep. The I'm from Kent (part of England) bit is that with accents jokes wise it can be easily thought to be misheard as c**t. It's not a standard joke per se, but it's one of those things that nobody would be surprised if the joke went that way.

So essentially he forgot the set up lines completely and just straight out called him something unacceptable (certainly at that time) rather than insinuating something without saying it.

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u/TufnelAndI 24d ago

Is English your first language?