The Two Ronnies: Dr Death

The Two Ronnies
Series Five (1976)
The first sketch of, in my eyes, The Two Ronnies' finest series.
I do not own the contents of this video. No copyright infringement intended.

[@mzytryck]

"There were complications you see... Well he died, that was one of the complications." His cheerful, matter-of-fact delivery of that line was perfect.

[@sirdigbyminge1639]

Mr Barker's timing was deadly.

[@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw]

Have you seen Peter Sellers as Dr Pratt in "The Wrong Box" ?

[@rob9994]

This is how comedy is done!! Excellent from start to finish.

[@jasonayres]

In Australia, we really did have a politician in charge of the Health department, named Dr. Blewitt.

[@ianmontgomery7213]

When i worked in Victoria Barracks in 1974 the Army doctor was a Dr Death.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Knew a shrink by the name of Brain, and a pathologist named Blood! Auto suggestion in choice of profession ? I wonder

[@Shanzha23]

one of my doctors was called Dr Stiff

[@junewebb-baptiste2409]

I had surgery in the UK many years ago. The surgeon was named Mr Savage. Hes was wonderful

[@BadgerBotherer1]

Reading Football Club once had a goalkeeper called Steve Death. He's dead.

[@dr.leemcalister513]

The Dr Death seems oblivious to everything dying around him. I do miss the Two Ronnies, but nothing can last forever.

[@goigus]

One of the best sketches ever. Just love how it picks up the pace towards the end

[@edwalsh6883]

Paw patrol

[@commentfreely5443]

you will see me soon, that's the broom cupboard.

[@EditorOfSL]

When Ronnie Corbett comes in, he is literally at Death’s door! 😂

[@marcellepesek3038]

These two chaps are just superb! No matter how often I watch them, I love them and their wonderful talents! Lucky for us, these shows were taped! RIP, dear ones, and thank you for all the great times you gave us.

[@johnmelling9950]

So simple and harmless yet such genius in the wording and timing.

[@cBearTV-]

RIP chaps, your work will bring laughter to many for many years to come. ✝️

[@larissakravcova8626]

Great British Comedies! I agree 100%!💐 But, with the other part, I disagree because many younger generations Never seen these comedies, they more interested in how to get ££££ and Nothing else, sadly...👈😪

[@dishybear]

Pure Gold. Sadly they will never make them like this again.😢

[@tansleypotts9486]

👍 No they won't comedy today if you can call it comedy is boring

[@eugenberzani1216]

yes, because you are sitting on youtube instead of doing humor : D

[@JohnFraser-n3k]

On the day that Henry Kissinger died. The original Dr Death.

[@TheMightsparrow]

Never again will we see the likes of them........ Rest in peace you giants of Comedy

[@robertomonanni801]

LOL, the watering plant thing made me laugh so loud! :D

[@hemipemi]

"I'll see you soon" "Yes you will see me soon that's the broom cupboard" LOL

[@MoskHotel]

“I’ll see myself out. No need to come down!” “No, I won’t. That’s the laundry chute.”

[@petermallia558]

"Name dropper" a brilliant piece of fast thinking improvisation there, improvised right up to when Ronnie Barker says "Three drops a day in your ear" during performing in front of a live Audience and left in after filming and editing. You can tell it's improvised because he gives everyone a clue by saying, "Name dropper, I'll write that down", because it was good Ans something to maybe use in another sketch.

[@ElvarMasson]

"Fast thinking improvisation" ? Was there no script at that time ?

[@gaggymott9159]

It was a superb piece of ad libing, and picked up by Corbett like only a partner could! I'm so glad they kept it in 👍

[@Strontyum]

So when Barker spontaneously laughed, was that in character, or a rare glimpse of the real Barker?

[@jjakiefte2165]

@@Strontyum l think you're barking up the wrong tree....

[@quizmaster85]

There was a book of _Two Ronnies_ sketches which confirms this (although the book erroneously referred to that ad-lib as "Must treat for name dropping").

[@halesrubie8604]

Note to self : Don't watch while drinking water 😊

[@resnonverba137]

Brilliant! Another sketch I'd not seen before.

[@RS250Squid]

"Well it's high pressure I was going!" I love it!

[@karanfield4229]

😂😂😂😂😂💦

[@GrezH]

I remembered that from first seeing this in the 1970s. Classic line delivered in true Ronnie Corbett style.

[@jamesgirdller2842]

This is comedy gold, how many jokes can you fit in one sketch! That ad-libed section was amazing. "Dead on time as usual" superb! Wish I was around in this era, though the joys of youtube have helped, more views people this is real comedy.

[@MaskedMan66]

Ad libbed? It was in the script.

[@jourwalis-8875]

How do you know? Have you worked with The Two Ronnies?

[@commentfreely5443]

i think the fish drowned too

[@MaskedMan66]

@@jourwalis-8875 I don't need to have; the bird fell out of the clock on purpose, and the line was in response to it.

[@andrewcarson5850]

@@MaskedMan66 The name-dropper bit was ad-libbed, I think.

[@janeclarkson8471]

How on earth are there thumbs down disliking this. Someone without humour I’m sure. Fantastic clever and very funny sketches. We all meet these characters in life! How I miss their shows and humour. What a legacy 🤣🤣🤣🤪🤓😬🙃 ❤️❤️❤️

[@peternagy-im4be]

Just more of today's humourless little babies.

[@user-gl2eq2ly4g]

Jokes just keep coming ...... One of the best skits ever

[@PhilJonesIII]

'Are single or buried?' love it.

[@rorymckernan8594]

ha ha. "Cuckoo, dead on time". "plenty of time to kill" 😂

[@sameyers2670]

There were complications, he died. Classic.

[@GudieveNing]

Like COVID.

[@ChadQuick270W]

“Hello, Death speaking” ha ha!! I love it. Haven’t seen this one before. More priceless comedy from the Two Ronnie’s 👍

[@golden.lights.twinkle2329]

"Are you single or buried?"

[@bazcuda]

I used to live in Ruislip Gardens at about the time these two were on TV . I never realised it had got a mention on The Two Ronnies 😀

[@midnightteapot5633]

As a boy I went to a Dentist called Dr Payne for many years , never struck me at the time

[@Shanzha23]

one of my doctors was called Dr Stiff

[@jasonmcdaniel345]

But he struck you afterwards?

[@midnightteapot5633]

@@jasonmcdaniel345 only with the bill !

[@charlesachurch7265]

This is the acme of this comedy duos performances. It's a shame such simple humour is so rare nowadays.

[@jaswerner419]

I can dig up a couple of friends

[@rinsedpie]

Awwww why cant we have these sort of things on telly anymore. I recall sketches like these in the late 80s and early 90s. Good times!!

[@peternagy-im4be]

I stopped watching television over 10 years ago. Mind numbing garbage.

[@rinsedpie]

@@peternagy-im4be ha ha actually same with me here.. actually i stopped many longer than this. very little quality now; i dont know how reality TV like Big Brothers can be conisdered as entertainment

[@jaym6501]

I love classical British comedy. 👏👏👏👏👏

[@niebieskiptak4523]

They are fantastic! 😂😂😂 Will dig up a few friends 😂😂😂😂

[@moirawatson-pickering7228]

Thanks for sharing! Pure gold. 🙂

[@oddjob7821]

Totally unbelievable. How did he manage to get an appointment to see a doctor?

[@gdok6088]

😂

[@DUCKDUCKGOISMUCHBETTER]

Even more unbelievable, how did he get an appointment with one of the few with English as his native tongue?

[@AP-nj1mr]

This particular doctor is registering new patients.😱

[@andrewmorrice9139]

There were a few last minute cancellations.

[@gardenlover9663]

Never trust a doctor with a shovel in his office.

[@reevethomas1083]

The clock and the cupboard/chute killed me. Absolu..............

[@briandavid6879]

'Come back here Mr Billet, plenty of time to kill...'

[@MM0SDK]

I wonder if Harold Shipman watched this, i can only imagine what he must have been thinking.

[@RenaissanceEarCandy]

Eerily, they did mention someone called Grundy who died of an ingrowing toenail. Which was also the name of one of Shipman's victims.

[@landyman97]

Much as I liked Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper and others....The two ronnies was another level, fantastic!

[@MariaLacsamana-ik3in]

This sketch makes me so joyful really hilarious indeed I miss the 2 Ronnie's!!!!😅😅😅😅😅

[@paulwhitlock4443]

Very clever with words & how they used them, Ronnie Barker always did it for me tho, so witty. Thanks for uploading this.

[@edgarporter9333]

Paul Whitlock gg

[@GARYBLONDER]

Four Candles is great but this sketch is my fave - has me howling with laughter every time! : D

[@hemipemi]

Four Candles was one of those sketches like the Only Fools & Horses classics (falling through the bar and the chandelier scene): If you've never seen it before it's absolutely side-splittingly funny, but once you know what's coming, not so much so.

[@richardturner4848]

Ice cream shop is my favourite and it's not on youtube, I only have the memory. Barker showed his unbelievable talent in that sketch, wish it was up.

[@TheConorsmithusa]

the cuckoo bird dying had me dying 😆

[@GudieveNing]

Dead on time. Priceless!!

[@colinhoward74]

This is one gag they were dying to tell !

[@alancombo06]

Legends

[@FishingtonBurpPuzzle]

Incredible machine gunning comic timing.

[@philjamieson5572]

I bet they would have been a superb live act.

[@LiveInSydney]

So well written

[@jaswerner419]

What a great sketch 😂

[@ИКАГРИН-ф2з]

Excellent bit of comedy! What a pleasure to watch it ❤Thanks for uploading this masterpiece 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@Andrew.quigley]

God they were bloody good.

[@clemstevenson]

Used car salesman was his previous occupation. There were no complaints about the faulty brakes, because dead people are unlikely to complain.

[@aranerem3767]

Brilliant

[@ninarizzo7312]

They are always so funny. Love them to bits❤❤❤❤❤❤😊👍🥇🏆🤗💯👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@jacksta84able]

Harold Shipman loved this sketch

[@mgdwcb1]

I wonder if that "namedropping" segment was ad-libed? the name card falling on the floor seemed a genuine mistake.

[@quizmaster85]

Yes it was; a book featuring Two Ronnies sketches makes mention of that moment.

[@ratherryan]

Brendan Richards Was that really ad-libbed? If so, that was a perfect recovery.

[@davidgillettuk9638]

Definite adlib, you can tell by the way they looked at each other. Pure genius.

[@WilliamRoscoe]

This was the result of a BBC initiative for young comedy writers to submit their ideas for sketches in exchange for £25 if it was turned into an actual sketch. Well £100 quid in all but since it was me and three mates then we got £25 each. That was good money in those days for a 14 year old. We submitted about thirty sketches to the Beeb and four of them were made and broadcast. Barker and Corbett improved on our original script immeasurably but kept that line of mine about the barometer and my friends' lines about the causes of death. Happy days.

[@kokamoa]

According to the Two Ronnies book mentioned above, the sketch is credited to Garry Chambers. Maybe the BBC paid to use the sketch but got other writers to polish up a good idea.

[@kafeelnazar4691]

My god,he was doctor DE ATH after all.

[@dwaugh2215]

I'll see myself out. No need to come down! *opens the door and walks in*

[@tedthesailor172]

Laughed out loud watching this.

[@MaskedMan66]

One fish still survives!

[@neveralonebytimhedges1840]

The last part got me laughing so much so I couldn’t stop when he went down the laundry chute ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[@henrybyrd5402]

surprised that they delivered the lines without "corpsing!"

[@HRKFUNNYMOMENTS]

How'd You Perish Lad? Laundry Chute. How'd You Meet Your End? Laundry Chute.

[@josephilsley3028]

Mr. Tompkins's skeleton will be waiting for Ronnie Corbett at the bottom of that same laundry chute I presume.

[@innovativeinnovation6629]

To think that this actually really happened in real life. Dr. Harold Shipman---now he is the real Dr. Death

[@jordanrowland6269]

Never seen that one before, brilliant! I was looking for one when Ronnie B is playing a computer doctor on a TV screen but I don’t think it’s been uploaded.

[@briananthony4044]

I wonder if that was the laundry shute that killed off his other patient they're having a funeral for?

[@KohaAlbert]

We had Dentist named Dr. Hell btw it means gentle in native language

[@moonmelder2965]

5:15 .... death by laundry chute! LOL

[@HRKFUNNYMOMENTS]

Looks Like Death Won't Be Need'n His Scythe Anymore.

[@darrellsimpson6966]

Stuck in bed with covid, yet laughing out loud. God it hurts.

[@jrgboy]

When I worked at the MOD at the 60's there was a Dr Death, rhymed with Heath...

[@Triadii]

if he's still around, you should send him this.

[@wrz5468]

Just a slip of the scalpel🤕😬

[@Woodland26]

We had a Dr Death (pronounced Deeth) who is a geriatric specialist.

[@AnneRoberts-m3v]

They were the best comedy duo ever

[@peternagy-im4be]

Hale and Pace? No? Thought not...

[@chickedee1085]

Good clean comedy.

[@larissakravcova8626]

If I would have watched this comedy before I would Never visited Doctors, who are killing me for years and Now too!..

[@funkafize]

1:24 "kick the bucket"

[@WYIT0]

I missed that one! XD

[@insanityrulestheday]

I've heard of the Midas touch, but Dr Death beats all :-)

[@pp-tx3bt]

brilliant

[@StarboyXL9]

"Are you single or buried?" Brilliant. They're the same thing anyway! Once a man is married you might as well put him in the ground already!

[@Irunwithscissors63]

Joel Gawne Really? So I take it you’re divorced? I mean, if you’re married, that statement is hypocritical and disrespectful to your wife. If you’re widowed your statement is plain crass. If you’re single then your statement is idiotic as you’re making a judgment on something you know nothing about.

[@Saucyakld]

Hahahahaha, can't stop laughing !

[@Wintro]

Awesome! :) A huge LOL! :D

[@aranerem5569]

I could dig up a couple of friends and bring them along

[@ArmyofLove]

I went to secondary school with a Jonathan de'Ath

[@eileenlocke7877]

Great . RIP r o n n I e s

[@pamelahackner7421]

Hilarious 😂

[@errolstewart5155]

Classic🖤💛❤️🇦🇺😂😅😆👍

[@imachynn]

High pressure to go!

[@muhammadhumayun8050]

Perhaps the most successful showbuisness duo second only to, Laurel and Hardy. Anyone else agree?

[@peternagy-im4be]

Hale and Pace? No? I thought not

[@balasmj]

Just a slip of the scalpel 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@rodbenson219]

Wow great sketch but sadly it now has a dark tinge to it as I could not help but think of Dr Harold Shipman throughout.

[@peternagy-im4be]

Good old doc Shipman?

[@naushaadkhan7226]

COMEDIANS ARE THE MOST INTELLIGENT HUMANS

[@emmacastiel2187]

Anyone remember a sketch where it say “what did he die of” “a Tuesday” I remember it but I can’t remember which one

[@PeterOHanlon-u5s]

I would walk in and go straight out the door good luck 🤞

[@SceneArtisan]

Maybe Dr. Harold Shipman had seen this and decided he'd do it for real.

[@yamato9790]

You may wonder how NHS GP looks like This is it since the victorians toll nowadays. All you get is black and white letters , pain killers and urine samples Don't mention the hostility at reception

[@picardbs]

I dig up a couple of friends 😁