HE TRIED BEING FLEXIBLE! Americans React To "Blackadder - S2E2 - Head"

[@nickquantrill985]

Fantastic. Chaps please watch ‘Blackadders Christmas Carol’ - it’s brilliant.

[@benlee8436]

This was written and filmed as the first episode (hence the character introductions), but was switched post production.

[@liamwarner5749]

The line in the song about his fore father being a king for 30 seconds is a reference to season 1.

[@chrisperyagh]

3:15 - I don't know why Miranda Richardson's little squeals of delight are funny, but they are. I had a harp teacher who spoke just like her.

[@bpfromowc]

Blackadder is like a fine wine. It just gets better and better. Beginning with season 2 was a good call. It's my favourite comedy show of all time. Season one was a totally different beast. Season 2 onwards is as good as it gets. The show is so clever, so funny, and littered with historical facts and folklore. As well as writing and acting of the highest calibre. The show (in the UK) is often voted the best comedy serial of all-time. "The Fast Show" is also very very funny. It was a sketch show on the BBC (if you haven't seen it) ? Thanks

[@davidmarsden9800]

Lord Percy character is named after the Percy family who have the Duke of Northumberland as the head of the family. They were granted their title and estate by William the Conquerer after their help and support with the invasion in 1066. The first series of Blackadder had its exterior shots at their Castle at Alnwick (pronounced anick).

[@robertmarriott6767]

Alnwick Castle is lovely. I last visited a few months ago.

[@jasonfazackarley6896]

Gosh, are you a history Professor? So, there was an actual Lord Percy?

[@prestonbhunt2652]

@@jasonfazackarley6896 there is still a Lord Percy, Ralph if i recall correctly - he has just written a history book which i know of courtesy of my recent visit to the Castle.

[@davidmarsden9800]

@@jasonfazackarley6896 No, but the Percy family were Lords then Earls and then Dukes of Northumberland as is the current Duke. Shakespeare wrote about Sir Henry Percy known as Harry Hotspur in his "King Henry V" play.

[@davidmarsden9800]

@@prestonbhunt2652 He is the Duke of Northumberland, the latest of the line. They haven't been Lords since medieval times.

[@jameshumphreys9715]

I love the songs at the end.

[@langdalepaul]

The whole Ploppy thing was a set up for Blackadder to say “the long winter evenings must just fly by”, and your response was “that’s not a coincidence”? What makes this series so quintessentially British is the deep and continuous irony (same as Fawlty Towers). It makes me cringe to see it go so utterly over your head.

[@spearhafoc]

Executioners weren't always as proficient as some people believe. The axes used weren't very sharp and a bungled beheading could be gruesome. Jack Ketch who executed the Duke of Monmouth took between 5 to 8 blows and then had to finish the job with a knife. Ann Boleyn was spared the horror of an axeman. A swordsman from Calais was hired instead. The sword being a bit more efficient than an axe.

[@rkempo]

If I remember correctly this episode was filmed before the first episode. Its why Lord Percy has a beard in this one and not in the first one.

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

Can't count the number of times I've called one of my friends a 'heartless gloater'... :D

[@markyjj]

Am jealous of you guys, you have such good chemistry together and i love watching your reactions, as I laugh along with your reactions

[@djrizla420]

Miriam was in episode 5, which is also the first appearance of Hugh Laurie, so you have that to look forward to. If you ever go back to the first series, Miriam is also in an episode in that and she plays the funniest character, probably the highlight of the first series.

[@kosefix]

Personally I think the interpreter played by Jim Broadbent is a tad funnier. The way he translates between the Infanta and the Queen and Blackadder is hilarious.

[@10thdoctor15]

They are both also in Blackadder's Christmas Carol

[@robertfraser9873]

I can't wait for Miranda Richardson's cameo in BlackAdder goes forth as Nurse Fletcher-Brown. She is a Queen of delivering lines that are as mad as a box of frogs. 🐸🐸❤❤😊

[@miff227]

guys, watching s2 of this was the first thing I did in GCSE History (age 14) at school in 1986. The teacher made us watch an episode a lesson for the first six lessons. Then we did actual Elizabethan history. So, a soft place in my heart (though i never did well at history, too much writing!)

[@robmartin525]

We used Blackadder s4 as a source for our WW1 GCSE 😂 Obviously unreliable, yet gives you an idea of the portayal of WW1 figures.

[@miff227]

@@robmartin525 this is interesting, as we also did WW1, but I see S4 was 1989 and after that course...else I'm sure we would have watched it also. 🙂

[@silafuyang8675]

Why don't Americans watch Season 1? It is the best season. Of course, each subsequent season needs less background knowledge to get it. Maybe that is the reason Season 4 is so popular.

[@bluesrocker91]

There was actually great deal of stigma attached to the role of executioner, and they were usually pretty much shunned by most of society. Outside of executions they usually made a living as knackers (euthanising and disposing of animals), which was another profession regarded with a similar degree of superstition and prejudice. Tony Robinson (Baldrick) actually did a documentary series called 'The Worst Jobs in History' with an episode on executioners and the kind of lives they had to lead.

[@liamwarner5749]

I don't suppose you know if there's any truth to what I was told when younger that rthe executioners hood was to protect their identity and prevent reprisals by family of victims?

[@bluesrocker91]

@liamwarner5749 I don't know for definite, but I have heard that. In the Tony Robinson series, a historian he met said that often executioners had taken on the role to avoid a death sentence themselves. So it's likely a lot of them would have good reason to remain anonymous.

[@liamwarner5749]

@@bluesrocker91 Interesting, thank you.

[@gerardvanwilgen9917]

@@liamwarner5749 Apparently in reality executioners rarely wore a hood, which would not have been very useful anyway since everybody knew who the local executioner was.

[@Trikeboy2]

If you pay attention, you will realise this should have been the first episode but they swapped episode 1 and 2. Percy has a beard in this episode, but he shaved it off in the first one. When Baldrick interrupts Lady Farrow, Blackadder says it was his first time, but he clearly had sex with Kate in the first episode. Also, and you wouldn't know this, the first line of the end song references how the first season ended, showing a direct link between the two seasons.

[@ericwigart2861]

Subtle ironic jokes with a clever hint towards historical events is the whole point of Blackadder as is Monty Python - they are specifically created to pass over people’s heads, which of course makes them even more funny. It’s a British speciality😂

[@tobytaylor2154]

My 8th times grt grandfather was one of the Queen's father (Henry VIII) high constables.

[@jakell99]

It's in this episode we see how scary Queenie can be. Not because she has the power of life and death but because she has the mind of a child. I'm sure the real Queen Elizabeth was nothing like this though.

[@spearhafoc]

The real Elizabeth was very intelligent and educated. She could speak quite a few languages as well.

[@dianeshelton9592]

She was also vengeful and bitter and terrorised the court , no one could get married and she imprisoned and even executed many of her relatives

[@bigkuriboh3814]

​@@spearhafocalmost all members of the nobility spoke more than one language.

[@andrewsneacker1256]

If you implying Queen Elizabeth had a mind of child - then what that makes you? A braindead lobotomised bum? Whats up with that constant shitting on history of England?

[@CorinneDunbar-ls3ej]

Guys, have you tried the series 'Father Ted'....? Funniest series ever! 😂🇬🇧😂

[@charliegeorge9393]

Brilliant that you've took this on. Still the go to Reactors and yes I'm from the Oasis era and still here.

[@jameshumphreys9715]

This was the first to be filmed, and the first episode was meant to be second

[@chrispalmer7893]

If memory serves, it’s not that the guy who invented the guillotine was killed by his invention, but the guy who introduced it to Scotland did end up being executed by guillotine.

[@Concreteowl]

One of the problems of watching the second series first is you miss the gag that Blackadder and Baldrick swap roles. Edmund starts off as an idiot and Baldrick is actually quite smart.

[@TheGinglymus]

One of the advantages is that series 2 & 3 are much better than the other series

[@mlee6050]

I love the drink Baldrick makes during the war

[@CTheRobot]

That was never “the gag”, that was a genuine change that they made to improve the show, along with the change of writer. And time has clearly shown that decision to be the right thing to do.

[@Concreteowl]

@@TheGinglymus that’s not an advantage. 2 and 3 are the best but if you watch one and like it (and there is a lot to like) you will get even more of a buzz from 2 and 3 and 4 which is also good. Skipping 1 is like skipping Star Wars because Empire is better.

[@Concreteowl]

@@CTheRobot if you watch all of them all there is a weird logic to how the characters change. You see it illustrated most in Hugh Laurie’s characters. Which makes sense when you see the last episode of each season. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil it for the boys. I also prefer smart working class people vs toffs. As it’s logical. You don’t survive on nothing without brains. Being middle class I can see how Curtis and Elton would gravitate towards the later set up of middle class people being clever. Watching them in order having Baldricks plans get more demented was better than jumping straight into the state they are here.

[@patriciaburke6639]

Unfortunately, executioners were not all as skilled as you assume. Beheading on the first chop was not always an assured outcome.

[@mirceapintelie361]

its not true that the inventor of the guillotine was executed🧐.but the guy who unleashed the terror during the french revolution was

[@robertfraser9873]

I'm so glad that they missed out the first series as it really is not good. Until they make BA the funny/"cunning". And Baldrick - Well the balldric. ❤❤.

[@Mezamesasu]

Fun guillotine fact: the last state execution in France by guillotine occurred when Star Wars was showing in the cinemas! 😲

[@andyflip2858]

Guillotin died of old age.

[@jen6879]

Big glaring historical error in this one - Elizabeth’s sister Mary wasn’t executed. She died from natural causes, most likely ovarian cancer. Great reaction 👍🏻

[@frozengamer3030]

I have a cunning plan Mr b

[@vallejomach6721]

...a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel?

[@corringhamdepot4434]

Where is everybody?

[@ROBERTSHUMAN-b2h]

A lot of the executioners were french. They were considered more professional

[@apollo1015]

I hope that you got the care box I sent to your p.o box of 2 wrist watches & amazon vouchers

[@philwilde5076]

If you love Brendon Gleason then you need to watch The Guard.

[@polythenewrappedme6102]

Sorry about the bag, I did not have time to shave.

[@frogletx]

Execution by Guillotine was considered at one point to be a merciful death, considering the hacking of previous times. An executioner could take half a dozen strokes before finally taking off a head.

[@Burt1811]

Wasn't the guillotine French??

[@Dave-r4u]

@@Burt1811....Nope! QUOTE.....Its origins date back to the Middle Ages. The name “guillotine” dates to the 1790s and the French Revolution, but similar execution machines had already been in existence for centuries. A beheading device called the “planke” was used in Germany and Flanders during the Middle Ages, and the English had a sliding axe known as the Halifax Gibbet, which may have been lopping off heads all the way back to antiquity. The French guillotine was likely inspired by two earlier machines: the Renaissance-era “mannaia” from Italy, and the notorious “Scottish Maiden,” which claimed the lives of some 120 people between the 16th and 18th centuries. Evidence also shows that primitive guillotines may have been in use in France long before the days of the French Revolution.

[@frogletx]

Actually, yes and no. There were other earlier, similar devices@@Burt1811

[@paulguise698]

Hiya Spencer and Daniel, I thought this episode was quite poor compared to the rest, I never laughed at any of it not really, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England

[@charleshowie2074]

Can I come in for a gloat? 😁😁😁

[@jometcalf8991]

Off immediate topic but where are you guys that is so hot? I initially thought you were unwell!

[@slytheringingerwitch]

Can I come in for a gloat?

[@thomasmain5986]

Not really true Elizabeth the 1st was more moderate than previous monarchs, and introduced laws such as the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity. Bringing all church matters under the control and protection of the monarch, not devout herself she hated the killing of people on the grounds of faith. She angered the Protestants of course.

[@megdelaney3677]

🪓

[@thecornedbeefcouncil9792]

All the episodes of Blackadder are great but the one with Miriam Margoyles is probably the best.

[@Concreteowl]

The Queen of Spain's Beard is one of the best episodes of all 4 series and it's in the season everyone tells reactors to avoid.

[@thecornedbeefcouncil9792]

@@Concreteowl you just need to get over it Skywalker

[@templestark4779]

Why so many cuts? It's a little hard to watch rather than being smooth.

[@templestark4779]

Ah, now I see. Because Boobs. Sorry, Because Patreon

[@vallejomach6721]

Copyright infringement/strike avoidance I would imagine.

[@robertmarriott6767]

Executioners were the celebrities of their day and treated and paid more. A bit like footballers nowadays.

[@andromeda232]

i watched these for the fisrt time when i was 8, the good thing about watching them as an adult i understand all the jokes now 😂

[@duncanwyer2460]

😅