Haven't watched the video but I wanted to say I am a huge fan of him. His work outside of Mr. Bean and Blackadder (haven't seen it yet!) is hilariously funny to me, and him along with Monty Python were instrumental in my becoming very fond of the English humour and culture and eventually deciding to move here.
I got all of this sketches memorised. There's some kind of deep social intelligence behind his comedy, that's apparent when he's not in character, i.e. during an interview, where it's impossible not to be charmed by his eloquence and demeanour.
I recommend: the "beatings" and the Shakespearean actor sketches.
Definitely check out Blackadder but I would highly recommend skipping the first series. They tried something, it really didn’t work and then they switched it up for the second series and absolutely nailed it.
I felt the first series definitely had some pretty good moments; the episode where Edwin becomes Archbishop of Canterbury in particular is pretty good. I don't think it's as bad as its sometimes made out to be, but it certainly different than the other three series (and specials) they did.
Ah fair, but for someone thinking “I’ll give Blackadder a try, it gets recommended to me a lot…” it’d probably be quite a bad introduction that would likely put someone off rather than encourage them to watch the rest
I concur with this. Whenever I recommend Blackadder to friends or family, I encourage them to start with 2, then move forward, then go back to watch 1 if they become a fan. This was the exact path I took when I became familiar with the series.
In every instance where I know of people who watched 1 first, they are almost always put off by the silliness and don't continue.
I think BA2 will always be my absolute favourite of all as it was the first one I watched, and it also endeared me to the delightful characters that Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry and Tony Robinson brought to the show. Only Hugh Lawrie in BA3 came close.
Each series takes place in a different time frame and with entirely different characters so they each stand on their own. Anyone can watch the episode named "Beer" in the second series and find it funny for a 30 minute show.
I second this recommendation. I've had Blackadder on my library for a long time but never got into it. Then a week ago I saw a reddit post of Blackadder teaching Baldrick how to count with beans[1] and found it damn hilarious. Turns out it is from season 2 and ever since I checked out that episode, I've become a fan of the show to the point coming to like season 1 as well. Rightfully binging now.
And when you're done with series 2, 3, and 4, keep the Christmas Carol special (which includes Robbie Coltrane as, well, a prototype Hagrid) in mind for, well, Christmas. The Back and Forth millennium special is fun to.
I got all of this sketches memorised. There's some kind of deep social intelligence behind his comedy, that's apparent when he's not in character, i.e. during an interview, where it's impossible not to be charmed by his eloquence and demeanour.
I recommend: the "beatings" and the Shakespearean actor sketches.