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A Few Well-Frozen Worms
With a fondness for spoonerisms and double entendres, Ronnie Barker is one of the UK's greatest comics. Gathered together in this second "best of" volume is a cocktail of his sketches and monologues from every strand of his long and brilliant career.
336 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2014
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About the author
Ronnie Barker
72 books7 followersRonald William George Barker, OBE was an English actor, comedian, writer, broadcaster and businessman. He was known for his roles in various British comedy television series, such as The Frost Report, Porridge, The Two Ronnies and Open All Hours.
Born in Bedford, he began his acting career in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to performing comic roles. Barker gained his first acting successes at the Oxford Playhouse and later in various roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. During this period, he became a cast member on BBC radio and television comedy programmes such as The Navy Lark. Barker got his television break with the satirical sketch series The Frost Report in 1966 where he met future collaborator Ronnie Corbett. He joined David Frost's production company and was to star in a number ITV shows including a short film during this period.
However, it was after rejoining the BBC that he found fame with the sketch show The Two Ronnies (1971—1986) with Ronnie Corbett. After the series of pilots called Seven of One, he gained starring roles in the sitcoms Porridge, its sequel Going Straight and Open All Hours. Apart from being a performer, he was noted as a comedy writer both under his own name and the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, which Barker adopted to avoid pre-judgements of his talent. Barker won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times, amongst other awards, and received an OBE in 1978.
Later television sitcoms such as The Magnificent Evans and Clarence were less successful and he decided to retire in 1987. After his retirement, he opened an antiques shop with his wife, Joy. After 1997, he appeared in a number of smaller, non-comic roles in films.
Barker's writing style was "based on precise scripts and perfect timing." It often involved playing with language, including humour involving such linguistic items as spoonerisms and double entendres. He "preferred innuendo over the crudely explicit, a restraint that demanded some imagination from the audience and was the essence of his comedy." He "never liked sex or obscenity on television, but there was no shortage of frisky gags in The Two Ronnies". Corbett said he had "a mastery of the English language".
Born in Bedford, he began his acting career in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to performing comic roles. Barker gained his first acting successes at the Oxford Playhouse and later in various roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. During this period, he became a cast member on BBC radio and television comedy programmes such as The Navy Lark. Barker got his television break with the satirical sketch series The Frost Report in 1966 where he met future collaborator Ronnie Corbett. He joined David Frost's production company and was to star in a number ITV shows including a short film during this period.
However, it was after rejoining the BBC that he found fame with the sketch show The Two Ronnies (1971—1986) with Ronnie Corbett. After the series of pilots called Seven of One, he gained starring roles in the sitcoms Porridge, its sequel Going Straight and Open All Hours. Apart from being a performer, he was noted as a comedy writer both under his own name and the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, which Barker adopted to avoid pre-judgements of his talent. Barker won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times, amongst other awards, and received an OBE in 1978.
Later television sitcoms such as The Magnificent Evans and Clarence were less successful and he decided to retire in 1987. After his retirement, he opened an antiques shop with his wife, Joy. After 1997, he appeared in a number of smaller, non-comic roles in films.
Barker's writing style was "based on precise scripts and perfect timing." It often involved playing with language, including humour involving such linguistic items as spoonerisms and double entendres. He "preferred innuendo over the crudely explicit, a restraint that demanded some imagination from the audience and was the essence of his comedy." He "never liked sex or obscenity on television, but there was no shortage of frisky gags in The Two Ronnies". Corbett said he had "a mastery of the English language".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 6, 2017
Quite funny in parts this book is a compilation of sketches and skits.The ones where he is with Ronnie Corbett are enjoyable. Not really a book to read from front to back but rather a pick up and select a few to read each time.
January 6, 2018
I love the Two Ronnies, but I guess this proves that a big part of any comedian's charm and reception is in the visual as well. The scripts were funny, but I needed the wonderful chemistry of Ronnie Barker & Ronnie Corbett to watch for the full funny experience.
March 20, 2017
This shows what a clever writer Barker was.
I'm not sure that I appreciated this book as much as I expected. Perhaps it would have been more entertaining as an audio book, read by Barker himself.
Reading it myself, with my own internal reader's voice, could not convey the same effect of the words. This is the same if someone reads Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch, but without doing an impression of John Cleese.
I'm not sure that I appreciated this book as much as I expected. Perhaps it would have been more entertaining as an audio book, read by Barker himself.
Reading it myself, with my own internal reader's voice, could not convey the same effect of the words. This is the same if someone reads Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch, but without doing an impression of John Cleese.
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January 28, 2016Vol: 2 - Still can't get enough.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews