Fawlty Towers: Season 2, Episode 2 The Psychiatrist Reaction

[@DannyWood7989]

The thing that makes British comedy so unique is the ever-growing disaster complex. In US-style comedies, there is usually a problem that needs to be solved, so the characters band together, and after a few laughs and failed attempts, it all works out okay. However, the same can not be said for British-style comedies. Following the same scenario as before, there will be a problem that needs to be solved, and the characters will band together to solve it. Except, everything that could go wrong, does. And in the final moments, when you think they've finally fixed it, it all falls apart, spectacularly. Stephen Fry did a great analysis of this. The video is on KZbin.

[@kevinbingham157]

Love these pure classics,never failed to have me in stitches. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@souldreamer9056]

This episode shows how similar comedy can be to music. Like a symphony, the first part of the episode patiently lays down the different threads, the foundations. In the second half those threads are masterfully woven together. Tension gradually builds to repeated climaxes, each one greater than the previous. It all culminates in an explosive finale. This episode is a masterclass is comedic structure.Thats why this is my favorite episode.

[@JedBullet]

Agree mate, comedic genius

[@googleuser2609]

My favourite as well!

[@fedup3449]

With the obvious exception of the last 2 sentences in your comment, I really wish what you say could be re-directed toward an observation on my sexual prowess. Alas.........

[@cnccnc1738]

The best one. Chain reaction of jokes.

[@jamesstewart8846]

Good point! It is pretty much my fav episode too. I just didn't know why.

[@tamzin031208]

I used to deliver fish to the real faulty towers Hotel.. called Glen eagles..in Torquay ..Devon ..its since been pulled down.👍

[@gailcrook2687]

Shame

[@lizcollinson2692]

Aww

[@diomedes8791]

Fantastic! Do you have any juicy anecdotes or personal encounters to share about its owner. Donald Sinclair (the man Basil Fawlty was based upon)?

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thats awesome man thanks for sharing.

[@Yewchoobarkontz]

Luan Peters one of the most gorgeous actresses of the 1970"s. RIP.

[@MrDaiseymay]

I've just read her biography on Wikipedia. A surprisingly full and varied life in show business. Talented as well as beautiful. Her death wasn't made public for nearly 6 months.

[@zimjun7]

What happened to her??!!! June

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

This still stands up 45yrs later, but imagine back in the late 70’s.. this must have been the best thing on TV by a mile.

[@MrScottev]

Exactly, there were only 3 channels at the time too.

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

@@MrScottev I wasn’t quite around then but in my childhood and my country there were only 5 and all stopped broadcasting at like 12am, so different from today’s ‘self schedule’ streaming set up that kids must take for granted.

[@davidz2562]

But FT's viewing figures were low at first & the critics didn't think much of it. The viewing figures improved greatly & the critics changed their minds.

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

@@davidz2562 thanks for the info - maybe because it was so ahead of it’s time ? Maybe the BBC didn’t support comedy like it did drama back then. I’m just guessing and not from the UK.

[@paulinemakepeace4582]

yes it was so well written so sad that Sybil (Prunella Scales) has demensia sorry can't spell you all know what I mean

[@CMDRRustyDog]

Probably my favourite episode of the 12. The timing of everything is sublime and Cleese is just brilliantly manic.

[@eoinreilly3925]

It's great no doubt, there's no duds in the 12 but for me it's the Hotel Inspector

[@jen6879]

Ah dear Nicky Henderson (playing Mr Johnson) who sadly passed in 2019. A really lovely guy and apparently one of John Cleese’s closest friends.

[@kermitTheFrog466]

keep up the great work, creeping up towards the 100k mark! well deserved when it comes

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thank you! I am so excited! Take care and have a great week!

[@colhamilton9682]

Superb! Always difficult to work out my favorite episode, but the pace in this one is sublime.

[@electronash]

Useless trivia: The maid "Polly" was John Cleese's wife IRL. (Connie Booth - his wife until 1978, at least.)

[@GrilloTheFlightless]

It’s also interesting to note that the had already separated by the time they did series two, but were getting along very well on a friendly basis.

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thanks bud, I believe they were divorced when the show was going on.

[@JonathanReynolds1]

Connie Booth also co-wrote Fawlty Towers with John Cleese.

[@luismorgan2422]

The laugh of Sybil is based on the real life laugh of Connie Booth (Polly).

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thanks for sharing bud.

[@ianinkster2261]

@@AfterWorkReactions Almost manages to make Connie Booth sound not hot.

[@noonav]

This show was classic British TV comedy. Still watch the reruns!

[@paulmccloud9395]

Him yelling at Sybil was my favourite part of the whole series, I'd been hoping for him to do that for a long time. Was looking forward to that bit :P

[@dizzyrascal5015]

As an Australian I love British comedy

[@Bazroshan]

11:03 Aging Brilliantine stick insect. Brilliantine is an old-fashioned hair dressing for slicking the hair down.

[@benbastianiartmusic1421]

8:30 the set kept wobbling when she slammed the door which is why the audience jeer a little. Hilariously, John Cleese stayed in character the first time this happened and started 'checking' the walls xD

[@travelingman6511]

as you can see this is the second take thats why the camera zoomed in

[@ashbridgeindustries]

This is my absolute favourite episode of the show. Sybil walking in on Basil "feeling for the light switch" has me in stitches every time!

[@jameshurley4959]

As ever mate I'm so impressed with your content love seeing these vintage programs I grew up with

[@tonywilkinson6895]

This one and Basil the rat are my two favourites.👌👏🏻

[@lizcollinson2692]

I love the bits with the moose, Manuel and the Major. A favourite to quote when we were kids on long journeys. Yes we mnew most of it by heart.

[@bunpeishiratori5849]

My two favorites also! I also love the Mrs Richards one.

[@DannyWood7989]

...Basil...

[@johnmc3862]

Dragonfly.

[@kathleenrayner1234]

Thank you sharing this 💕💕💕I’m here in the early hours choking on laughter 😂😂😂😂

[@lanceg2215]

Thanks Josh for reacting to this episode. I’ve been waiting patiently for season 2. Fawlty Towers was my favourite show when it came out. It will never be dated. It will stay funny forever, just like Only Fools & Horses. My favourite to come out of America is Curb Your Enthusiasm. Oh my, Larry David is a comedy genius. Did you know, that show is only 5% scripted. The stories are so well written, they just have to act out the story. That was said by Jeff Garlin aka Jeff Greene. There’s me assuming your a fan of the show, and know what I’m going on about!! 🤪👍🍻🐸

[@AfterWorkReactions]

I have only seen a very little bit of that show a long time ago but I keep hearing it is really good so I will have to check it out at some point.

[@stewartcohen-jones2949]

I’m sure Larry David was very aware of Fawlty Towers when he made curb. The structure of the shows are similar and the twist in the last scene is a big part in both shows.

[@agamemnonpadar5706]

It is fun to watch with you. All best from Germany

[@Kavala76]

My favourite FT episode. A classic.

[@haleyrichardson8818]

"I'm fed up with you, you rancorous, coiffured old sow!" 😂😆🤣😅

[@garyclarke9685]

Great episode. It always puzzled me how the grandma checked in so quickly. Impeccable timing

[@josephbabbs645]

Love the fact you totally get our sense of humour, are you sure you're not British?

[@vitothepizzaguy7475]

''You continental cretin!!''

[@loquayrocks]

a young Prunella Scales was absolutely gorgeous (see her in the movie Hobson's Choice)

[@gingerbill128]

" the cover up is always worse than the crime " , very funny episode

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

“Very nice … oh I mean your charm .. in the middle” .. lol the middle… the middle of what ? ! Hehe. Awesome job editing it too.. sometimes condensing it doesn’t translate well but did really well with this onez

[@sspsfivefivefive]

Haha love it. That episode never gets tired, fabulous reaction x

[@vilebrequin6923]

"Ageing, Brilliantined stick insect". Brilliantine was an old-fadhioned hair pomade.

[@stephenusaf6315]

Thank you for pointing that out!! I’ve seen this episode numerous times and I never knew what she said (it sounds like “brigantine,” which is a kind of sailing ship) or what she meant by it.

[@kingstumble]

She go crazzzy!

[@davidz2562]

S2 e2, The Psychiatrist is the longest & I think the best ep.

[@scotpak100]

You are only 1 episode away from my favourite episode, "Waldorf Salad"!! 😊

[@lizcollinson2692]

Celery Apples Walnuts Grapes, in a light mayonnaise sauce. The only reason I have any clue.

[@jloae820]

Amazing episode! Can't wait!

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Awesome!

[@csb7376]

"She go crazy"🤣

[@malmachine]

Damn I wish I could watch these now not having seen them. Watched them so many times I know nearly every line. Fawlty towers is a masterpiece.

[@volbeatdbv9846]

Brilliant, one of my favourite episodes (after Germans of course)...

[@zimjun7]

The guy in the beginning with the gold necklaces and brown leather pants is the real life son of the psychiatrist.

[@cpnlsn88]

This episode is great. You can understand it on any level but there are some deeper strands that, I think, elevate it to the level of classic. One thing I note is the presence of Freud is never far from the surface in this episode. Sybil Fawlty refers to the life force and death force. The young guy is a patent display of sexuality, leading to Basil making various unflattering gestures and jokes - his easy sexuality irritates him and Sybil flirts with him. There is a reference to the taboo against incest when Sybil says 'Lucky Mum' for having to share with him and she approves of his easy approach to his own attractiveness to women (you're only single once - implying it all goes away when you're married). Some of these motifs are repeated in the Wedding reception episode. Others' sexual enjoyment has an impact on him leading to hostility, whereas Sybil is quite happy to let the unmarried couple have the double room. The Freudian motif is already fully present here then 2 (or maybe 3!) Doctors arrive. One turns out to be a psychiatrist whose wife talks about psychiatry starting out with Freud. Sybil is unfazed by there being a psychiatrist in the hotel and likes the idea of a good old chinwag and the thought a psychiatrist could understand women, whereas Basil becomes hostile just knowing there's one present (Sybil is open to there being deeper drives and motives in life; in Basil he doesn't want to acknowledge such a possibility). Then, to make everything complete is the Australian visitor who Basil clearly finds attractive (Sybil obviously knows this and on finding a bag left in reception makes sure she rushes up to hand it in - doubtless to check on her husband, only to find him fondling her). The guy with the good looks and charisma is of course likely to seek out female company and does so leading to the major gag in the episode (I tell her, you're crazy about the girl - you try to see in girl's room - the 'crazy' a further invitation to think about the psychiatrist). And of course he is crazy about her. Sybil can find ways of showing her attraction to the young guy and feeling OK about him having fun with others just as she did with the young couple in the wedding reception episode. In Basil's case his desire and knowledge of others' enjoyment drives him crazy, precisely when a psychiatrist is staying in the hotel, who gets to observe some of his Freudian insanity (e.g. multiple Freudian slips - there you were talking about sex, I was talking about walks..... and of course the voyeurism and unintended (at least consciously) fondling of the Australian visitor). And of course in the episode both his desire and his sexual frustration lead him to do crazy things. Well thought through, well executed, hilariously funny.

[@mathewsamuel4309]

He never gets redemption 🤣

[@AfterWorkReactions]

LOL

[@JujuUpTheMountain]

OMG FINALLY!!! 😂😂😂

[@azzyinthebrambles5649]

Gourmet Night and Kipper and the Corpse the best eps I think. But have you watched Blackadder Goes Fourth? Pound for pound the funniest writing in British sit com history I think. 6 episodes of absolute comedic mayhem and a beautiful end.

[@aaronmicalowe]

That's why I keep getting single - cause every time a woman talks to me like that I divorce them. 😂

[@Scotty19]

Hey love your reaction to fawtly towers past few months this episode is so funny and there a episode called the anniversary so funny to 😁😁

[@porflepopnecker4376]

Funniest sitcom ever. No contest.

[@davidz2562]

Polly does far more work than the others. Basil & Manuel are incompetent for different reasons; Sybil prioritises gossiping.

[@lizcollinson2692]

Polly was the only symaphetic character... shocking she was his wife. Yet his writing of a wife ... hmmm

[@AfterWorkReactions]

LOL so true that seems about right.

[@lizcollinson2692]

@@GarethColquhoun polly had autocorrected

[@souldreamer9056]

Yes!!!!! The best episode.

[@thetruth2640]

Funny as heck 🙏

[@Ian-lx1iz]

Superb, dude.

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thanks bud.

[@elaineshakeshaft2830]

This one's a good one it's so funny I love it👌😂😂😂😂👍

[@AfterWorkReactions]

I agree it was so hilarious.

[@annmonaghan4360]

Poor Basil, bless him

[@Salfordian]

He was like that with the Germans due to the head injury hence the bandage

[@dannythedoodle]

If you look up 'double-down' in the dictionary, it'll give you a link to this 😂

[@davidbush8341]

How often can you and your wife manage it? 😉😅 classic

[@AfterWorkReactions]

LOL that was great.

[@MrDaiseymay]

iT'S A WONDER JC DIDN'T HAVE A HEART ATTACK, EASILY THE BEST OF THE BUNCH.

[@RocksterOO1]

"Cole Bluddit"

[@duanepipe5277]

You’ve gotta watch the episode called the kipper and the corpse

[@Maugirl2]

My dad laughed so much at that episode, that he gave himself an angina attack !

[@101steel4]

So you're three doctors? 😂😂😂

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

Don’t watch big brother bro - it’s like the OG of reality shows but it wouldn’t really work with a reaction format !

[@swannvictor1388]

This was the first episode of FT I ever saw, mostly by chance, as the BBC didn't really promote the show that much. I was about 12, I think and I was rolling on the floor, never saw anything that funny before. Fun fact: each 30-minute episode could have a 120-page script. The average for a sit-com is 30 pages....

[@SpaceCattttt]

The banana joke was a humiliating way of cock-blocking Sybil's interest in the "hot guy" with the leather pants by suggesting that she spends her time pleasing herself with fruit, rather than with her husband.

[@tonykichenside8443]

Brilliant comedy

[@Toomaletoopaletoostale]

“I will not leave until you swear on the eyes of your child that you will subscribe” - play on Borat ‘campaigns with republicans’ skit. But seriously, sub !

[@SA-zoom1]

In 2021 Basil would have been charged with 2 counts of sexual assault and 1 count of voyerism. Have to say though this episode is one of my favourites.

[@bananasaregood8655]

one of the best episodes, but i get annoyed that basil is right all along but by the end he every1 still thinks he was wrong lol

[@rachelhudson8362]

Have you watched faulty towers?

[@samhilton4173]

Love how lead characters in british shows are inherently unlikeable.

[@steviekeane]

Connie booth and john cleese became an item but split up before season(series) 2 i heard.🤔

[@GrilloTheFlightless]

Not only were they an item, they were married at the time of doing series one and divorced a year before series two, although they still got along very well. When discussing it in an interview once, Cleese said “all relationships come with a clock attached”.

[@darylnorman5861]

Some mothers do ave them and one foot in the Grave and steptoe and son

[@bryan4251]

You should react to “driving with Goldbridge.” You will not be disappointed

[@triciasomogyi5431]

❤️😄👍

[@lizcollinson2692]

Fawlty Towers exibit one that we can make anything sexual? Exhibit 2 Allo Allo (second because its less veiled)

[@ii2654]

Borat 2

[@nadineboyle4195]

Please react to still game flittin or burnistoun mad uncles

[@jamesharland5137]

Man its been to long

[@joshuagarnham9703]

Can you check out Allo Allo after this. It’s absolutely hilarious.

[@wendythomas742]

Always considered both Fawlty Towers and John Cleese overrated; As a writer, he was the weakest of the Monty Python troupe.

[@davidz2562]

Which sitcoms are better than FT?

[@wendythomas742]

@@davidz2562 Father Ted Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Red Dwarf Blackadder Dad's Army Steptoe and Son Black Books Drop the Dead Donkey Porridge Rising Damp The Goodies Hancock's Half Hour I'd think of more, but I have something called a life to be getting on with. Comedy, like all art is subjective, and this is of course only my personal preference. Others will disagree, at least I hope they do. Without some disagreement, there can be no progress.

[@davidz2562]

@@wendythomas742 Are there ways in which FT could have been improved?

[@charliegeorge9393]

@@wendythomas742 The Goodies hasn't aged well, Wendy.

[@johnmc3862]

Fawlty Towers overrated! Theres an unpopular opinion. Cleese was easily one of the best of Python along with Michael Palin. You mentioned great sitcoms there but very few are written as cleverly written as FT. You must have some beef with Cleese.