Not so sure about Benny Hill. As an American, I couldn't see what the Brits found so funny about him. The keystone cop sequences of naked women chasing him, etc. and the silly situations he concocted (which required spoken language). Whereas Mr. Bean was truly universal situations and effectively no spoken words.
Not sure if you'll find many Brits under the age of 60 trying to defend Benny Hill or make a case for his comedy. I'm in my 40s and I don't remember a time when he wasn't seen as naff, and from some distant time before comedy got clever...
Sad fact: Benny Hill died penniless in a shabby council flat, his body wasn't found until two weeks after he died. Naff or otherwise, no-one should go like that. :(
There were amazing scenes just the other day when someone blasted Yakety Sax outside of Parliament as the government was collapsing. Made for some wonderful TV - and apparently was due to a suggestion by Hugh Grant, no less.
I was going to say something snarky about Hugh Grant and Pierce Brosnan and other charming Englishmen in suits getting to embrace the full national experience with Benny Hill, except evidently Pierce Brosnan is actually from Ireland. Today I learned.
Yakety Sax[1] :) but everybody knows it as the Benny Hill theme song.
Benny Hill helped popularize it but it was there earlier, and itself inspired by Yakety Yak (which is a name of Ubuntu release 16.10 - now we're full circle :))
