Fawlty Towers

Edit – Why was Manual spanish if not to laugh at furriners?

I think the humour relied on the amusing consequences of misunderstandings -  a very basic tenet of humour.

And it can work quite well if two people aren't very good at speaking each others languages.

I am assuming that you didn't have a problem with an Englishman being portrayed as an arrogant and violent bully?

I found it cringeworthy.  🙂

Yay! another Tj and Ernie know best thread.

See ya!

I am assuming that you didn’t have a problem with an Englishman being portrayed as an arrogant and violent bully?

where’s the humour in that? For a large chunk of the world, it’s how Englishmen have been experienced for centuries.

I found it cringeworthy

I get the impression that you didn't understand the humour behind it:

"I found the humour cruel – laughing at people."

Yeah that's how humour often works - by laughing at people.

A lot of TV humour does yes - and I loathe it.  I prefer the humour that laughs with people - that is affectionate and kind.  Billy Connolly being a great exponent of this and if you want to see a sit com that is not cruel then try "Still Game".  The laughs are at the situations ordinary folk find themselves in not at the individuals ( apart from perhaps Ida)

I found the Cleese character cringeworthy.  thats my opinion

Well if he’s got six million followers he’s obviously doing something right.

Comedy is subjective shocker.

The Cleese character was supposed to be cringeworthy. That's the whole point. See also, Alan Partridge, David Brent etc etc.

I just checked the dates the series was made and as a result I withdraw "dated" as it was on a par with many others around that time in social attitudes.  I thought it a decade later

I did/do like the series but it relied on Cleese  having a mad amount of manic energy for much of the humour and he just isn't young enough to pull that off now.

Additionally, I'm just not keen on the guy anymore.

What Poops said /\/\

As Dudeofdoom seems interested:

Spain at the time was immediately post Franco. Franco had tried to dilute the Catalan population so Manuel was as likely Madriano as Catalan. Phonetically he'd say què rather than qué if he were Catalan. If I could understand they weren't speaking Catalan.

Never heard of “spanish practices”?

Nope.

Edit – Why was Manual spanish if not to laugh at furriners?

The butt of the joke wasn't Manuel, it was Basil's impatience and arrogance.  Fawlty Towers was far more a parody of English middle-class exceptionalism than it was 'look at the silly foreigners.'

So why was manual portrayed as clueless?  If it had been intended to be as you say then Manual would have been capable

So why was manual portrayed as clueless?

Wheelie clueless?

Manuel portrayed as a bit clueless isn't necessarily racialist. Not everything is racist. Having worked in a lot of restaurants I have seen a lot of clueless staff. Of all nationalities. And have indeed been clueless myself, especially when not paid much or when dealing with an irritant of a manager/supervisor.

Manuel was there to set up and frustrate Basil surely. A 'foil' is it?

Edit: Cougar said it better up there. The joke was on Basil.

Manuel isn't portrayed as clueless,  he is portrayed as constantly confused by Basil Fawlty's totally irrational demands.

It is to highlight Basil Fawlty's intolerance and harebrained plans that make no sense.

He doesn't appear confused when super- rational Polly speaks to him. On the contrary, despite his poor English Manuel always seems to understand Polly perfectly well.

Sybil also has less problem communicating with Manuel and when problems do occur it is invariably because she has told him to do the complete opposite of what Basil has told him to do.

As an aside, how cool was his wife? What was her name? Everyone fancied Polly was it, Penny? the waitress? Me too, but I also fancied his wife because she was so awesome and calm next to her bumbling fool of a husband.

Kind of wanna rewatch it now. Loved the Waldorf Salad 🙂

Manuel isn’t portrayed as clueless,  he is portrayed as constantly confused by Basil Fawlty’s totally irrational demands.

It is to highlight Basil Fawlty’s intolerance and harebrained plans that make no sense.

He doesn’t appear confused when super- rational Polly speaks to him. On the contrary, despite his poor English Manuel always seems to understand Polly perfectly well.

Sybil also has less problem communicating with Manuel and when problems do occur it is invariably because she has told him to do the complete opposite of what Basil has told him to do.

Good point.

Sybil, that's it!

"Basil!"

Everyone fancied Polly was it, Penny? the waitress?

Polly, played by Connie Booth, co writer of the show and married to Cleese at the time.

Some of you might remember there was a sequel to the show planned a good couple of decades back I think.

It was to be set in Spain with Manuel owning the place. Anyone remember that? Never happened of course.

I think the episode I always loved the most was the escaped hamster or whatever it was, with the rat poison on one of the cuts of meat and the health inspector there.

Remember the cat throwing up the fur ball and Basil's reaction? Excellent stuff.😁

Yeah, Polly, absolutely stunningly beautiful and talented writer, he punched well above his weight there.

Not a hamster, it was Manuel's escaped pet rat which was named Basil.

ernielynch
Free Member
Not a hamster, it was Manuel’s escaped rat which was named Basil.

Ah yes, Basil!😂

Fawlty Towers was far more a parody of English middle-class exceptionalism than it was ‘look at the silly foreigners.’

Which I think will be the problem with the remake.

The original was laugh at Fawlty and the major etc being stereotypes stereotyping others but with the modern Cleese I am not sure it will work too well.

Even with the old version there have been quite a few laughing at the stereotyped others.

Well thanks to this thread I've gone back and watched a couple of Yes Ministers.

Win.

Having considered the Spanish/Catalan stereotype, how about the French ones? Flirty female in Faulty Towers and rude male in the Holy Grail. Both "harmless fun" but an expression of underlying prejudice.

In the light of more recent "jokes" about Britain's neighbours it looks like Cleese was using the "in jest" cover for his true views.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Elderberryist!

it relied on Cleese  having a mad amount of manic energy for much of the humour and he just isn’t young enough to pull that off now.

What might work is to have someone younger set up as Basil's nephew etc. who takes over the hotel, with Cleese as a cranky old uncle constantly meddling and offending people. Or just do the Cheer's trick of the business gets bought out by a corporation who send someone in to manage the place alongside the old owner - new business school graduate and cranky old fool undermining each other and the staff having to sort out the mess.

Or more realistically the hotel is suffering from a chronic shortage of staff as all the qualified comprtant employees went home post Brexit and Cleese (still Bassil) has a load of stereotypically lazy and dishonest Brits working on zero hours contracts who couldn't give a ****. The hotel becomes a hotbed of prostitution and drug dealing. Regular visits from stereotypical police/H+S/public health before the place gets shut down, Bassil goes bankrupt and the hotel is sold off to be demolished and build a care home.

Yeah, that would work too. Might be a bit too subtle though.

it was Manuel’s escaped pet rat which was named Basil.

Ee iss filigree

Or more realistically the hotel is suffering from a chronic shortage of staff as all the qualified comprtant employees went home post Brexit and Cleese (still Bassil) has a load of stereotypically lazy and dishonest Brits working on zero hours contracts who couldn’t give a ****. The hotel becomes a hotbed of prostitution and drug dealing. Regular visits from stereotypical police/H+S/public health before the place gets shut down, Bassil goes bankrupt and the hotel is sold off to be demolished and build a care home.

pretty much summed up a few of Torquay’s actual hotels there .

although the more lucrative option on the owners part is to sack all the staff and then rent the place out to the home office for them to fill with migrants 😉