The Young Ones Season 1 Episode 3 Boring Reaction

[@DrumsTheWord]

I'm also really pleased you found the racist joke funny as well. As mentioned below, as well as yourself, they were making a statement about the ignorance and low IQ...as well as the racism reported in the police force at the time. The UFO at the end whilst the three bears run out of the house was just another example of how these boys seem to miss anything interesting happening.

[@obsoleteworlds]

You can't really criticise the removal of these words by censoring them in your own reaction video though.

[@squidink3470]

​@@obsoleteworlds Don't blame him, blame youtube's rules.

[@stevensmith426]

Totally agree, it's ridiculing the average racist, showing how silly and ignorant it is to judge a human being not by their value as a person but on the colour of their skin.

[@williamhorton9763]

If you think Neil surviving the skewer is something, wait until you see what happens to Vyvyan in Bambi.

[@raifthemad]

Well, Viv had a pick axe through his head in one of the previous episodes, so I don't see, why this was surprising.

[@Frank75288]

Neil had a number 1 song called , hole in my shoe...is was in the charts for ages, it was even on top of the pops

[@danieleyre8913]

He put out a whole album of him singing psychedelic songs from 1966-9. It includes a version of Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd’s “The Gnome” and “Hurdy gurdy man” by Donovan.

[@charliegeorge9393]

didn't make number 1 but big hit

[@richardbritain7435]

What about tshirts says "Neil says 'who the hell is Frankie ''.

[@MaximusJohal]

When this episode gets shown on tv in the UK they cut the racist cop scene out. Shame as tv shows in the past should stay the way they were intended.

[@hb-fc3jj]

And I think if you asked Lise Mayer, Ben Elton or Alexei Sayle if they think the full scene should get shown on terrestrial TV in 2023 they'd be dead against it. They understand that times change, people aren't as smart or politically in tune as they were in the early 80s in the backdrop of punk, major social change etc.

[@Memoquin]

Exactly why I still buy a fair amount of physical media these days. I don’t believe that people are less aware or in on the joke, but the censors have made everyone ignorant and stupid.

[@tedcrilly1]

I agree with both of you?

[@MichaelM28]

@@hb-fc3jj snowflake

[@halkitchen1838]

The racist language is more shocking today, but I think it’s pretty justified in context of attacking a racist institution. I completely understand why people wouldn’t want to be confronted by that sort of language unexpectedly, but any missed opportunity to call cops racist is a shame.

[@damienyoung751]

You have an excellent understanding of things and brilliant sense of humour.. intelligent fella.. love your reactions.

[@chrisboylan590]

Yes, that was correct Josh, at the time the BBC wasn't giving funding for situation comedy, so they added a band in each episode, which forced the BBC to categorise it as light entertainment and not a sitcom, which ment they could receive the funding they needed at the time

[@quirkymerky]

It was me who gave Josh the links to the uncut episodes, SO glad I did (Michaela - pronounced Mikayla) 😄 And especially before watching this episode with THAT scene 😂 Brilliant reaction to that scene!

[@ernie316]

I think the point of the episode is that all the guys are bored, yet are always just missing out on amazing and interesting things. The free money and s*x, all the weird and wonderful characters that exist in the house when they aren't there or asleep, Neil stopping digging so close to finding the fantasy world, Vyv winning the car, summoning a demon by accident etc Although you did cut my favourite line which is Suggs saying "you hum it and I'll smash ya face in" when Rick asks if they know any Cliff Richard songs.

[@danieleyre8913]

Yes that is the point of this episode. They’re bored. But they’re oblivious to extremely interesting and crazy things happening around them.

[@UFBMusic]

29:25 Just so you know, "meat and two veg" is a euphemism for a dude's junk, so that sentence was way funnier than you intended!

[@roboi2241]

The Lord Scarman the policeman said "need never know" was a politician at the time who led the inquiry into the 1981 Brixton riots where black youth rose up against years of police harassment and abuse, there were riots in Bristol, Birmingham and Toxteth, Liverpool and this episode was made not long after that volatile time in England, highlighting a stereotype of the kind of copper who was giving black youth a hard time. A comedy skit show from around 1980/81 called Not The Nine O Clock News starring Rowan Atkinson has a classic scene with a low IQ racist copper trying to justify his arrest of a black man

[@danieleyre8913]

There was also a big massive race riot on the Broadwater farm estate in North London after this was broadcast around 1985 where a policeman was murdered and several more suffered de habilitating injuries.

[@thegoose126]

I love how you try to make sense of it all 😂

[@SteffBrockley]

Alexi Sayle’s accent is scouse (from Liverpool) like Lister from Red Dwarf - not Scottish.

[@JackRascal]

Thank goodness you got to see the uncut episodes, as it's very obvious what gets cut out of this one. (I see you watched that bit again) I imagine you've since had answers to these questions, but Alexei Sayle is playing a different (mainly) character every week. They all look alike because... it's Alexei Sayle playing them all. A "Scouse" accent is from Liverpool, there's no Scottish element to his performance, it's just interesting that you're hearing it as a Scottish accent, perhaps due to unfamiliarity. I think this episode is genius, there's so much sociopolitical commentary going on. As for Neil and the UFO, I think you're overthinking it... I think the UFO was just that there was all these interesting things going on (visitations from Hell, time travel, aliens from space) and the characters are all completely unaware of it going on around them. Neil surviving a skewer is just like Vyvyan surviving a pick axe to the head the other week. There might be a few gags missed - Babycham was, at the time, regarded as a "girly" drink, not the kind of thing a punk would drink, and The Guardian was famous at the time for lots of typos.

[@JohnDoe-vy6ju]

re: the skewer in Neil's head and the pickaxe in Vyvyan's head. Nothing supernatural per se. I find it's best to think of The Young Ones as classic Looney Toons style cartoon characters who just happen to be live-action. Similar with all the random cuts; they remind me a lot of Family Guy-style cut-away gags, except live instead of animated, and of course Young Ones did them 20 years earlier.

[@aaronmcmahon7462]

Another series which features Rik, Ade and Nigel Planer (Neil) is Bad News - which is a Spinal tap style mockumentary about a heavy metal band from the UK going on tour. They also recorded a couple of albums ("Bad News" and "Bootleg)", appeared on talk shows and music programs during the 80s, and even played live shows in character with Iron Maiden and the Donington Monsters of Rock festival - which was also filmed in the sequel "More Bad News". The Bad News shows were filmed as part of "The Comic Strip Presents" series.

[@nicklittle8909]

The Devil being summoned by Rik refers to The Guardian’s history of making spelling mistakes in those days.

[@randycunningham7318]

FTMCH

[@boges11]

In the early 90's we named our basketball team "Nmkujll Ftumpsch" just to take the piss out of the announcer for the centre. lmao

[@eldeano9964]

Wait until you hear his south African, vampire accent.

[@5imp1]

The landlord is played by Alexei Sayle who is a brilliant comedian and Scouse means from Liverpool in N.W England. Not Scotland. He did a song called 'Allo John, got a new motor?'. Brilliant and hilarious. I was around 11 or 12 when this was on TV and I wasn't allowed to watch it. I had the Young Ones book though.

[@stevesm4]

And he does have Jewish-Russian ancestry.

[@hb-fc3jj]

​@@stevesm4 No Russian ancestry. His mother's parents were originally from Lithuania, which while it was absorbed into the Soviet Union it also had its own traditions and culture.

[@hb-fc3jj]

Alexei is only equal to Stewart Lee as the country's finest satirist and stand up. His Sandwich Bar radio show and the podcast he does with Talal are absolutely brilliant.

[@stevesm4]

@@hb-fc3jj Yikes. I must have misread something in an interview back in the eighties and believed it ever since.

[@danieleyre8913]

I never thought he was that funny. But horses for courses…

[@falls333]

The whole premise of the episode was that thay were bored and couldn't find anything interesting happening whilst around them things were going on in abundance, fairytale creatures and posters coming to life, siege in the street, winning competitions, secret underground society at the bottom of the garden and summoning the devil and to end the day visitors from outer space and the young ones oblivious to the lot. That's the joke.

[@dun0790]

Haha i can see that Racist police joke just jumping randomly into Josh's head at work or something and bursting out laughing haha Sad that people would get upset at the police joke but it's actually still relevant as the police haven't changed and if anything got worse

[@ross8884]

SO GLAD you understand the police racism joke. This was the beginning of a lot of clever satire in comedy aimed at real issues. I tried to explain this to a few snowflakes recently and all they could say was "yeh but it might offend someone". How do you answer that?

[@oe4927]

I work with someone who tried to say I was being racist because I said "the Africans" once. ironically I was talking to a Nigerian at the time about Africa anyway and he didn't have a problem with it, but this white kid I work with did hahahaha 🥴🤣 You can really see how the younger generation has been indoctrinated into a world where they should be offended by everything. I'm a 90s baby and this kid I work with was born in the 00's.

[@roboi2241]

I'm of a brown skin hue but remember this scene from 1982 when first broadcast, it was hilarious groundbreaking comedy and came out of nowhere in the episode which made it more funny and anyone at the time would know the context of a copper being portrayed that way. Unfortunately we now live in an age of people who know the 'offense' of everything and the context of nothing.

[@NecramoniumVideo]

Here is the thing about being offended, yes, you can be offended, but there is no law broken being offended.

[@SuddenReal]

@@roboi2241 The problem is that there's a blanket "ban" on offensive material. Satire used offensive material to expose a problem while now that problem is covered up since you can't highlight it anymore.

[@SuddenReal]

@MarcoPolo That's pretty simplistic and (dare I say) completely wrong. There's a difference between purposely offending someone and using offending material to expose a problem. The former is just plain wrong while the latter sparks conversation.

[@aphelanofficial]

Haha, you’re usually so composed when you deliver your sign off, but remembering that scene made you rip it to shreds!

[@niallrussell7184]

love seeing the slapstick interactions between Mayall and Edmondson - improving with Dangerous Brothers and eventually Bottom.

[@rj8877]

The "Oh Crikey!" TV show was a parody of typical BBC comedy at the time, which was what The Young Ones railed against. Similar to the punk rock movement the ethos was to tear up the rulebook of idealised middle-class life that didn't really depict the experience of everyday people. People who struggled under unemployment, corrupt police force and apathetic government were being spoonfed twee "ooh, don't let the vicar see you with your trousers down!" types of sitcom whereas something like The Young Ones in all of their meandering anarchy actually more accurately depicted life at home where people were eating sugar for their tea and burning furniture to keep warm. For those who lived through that time this was everything that they needed to see to let them know they were being seen. It's a little harder to take nowadays but the show, in series 2 especially, does hit a more timeless stride that carries over more strongly, especially as more guest stars start to come in and give the main cast and their trademark attitudes something to deflect off. PS: The Babycham that Vyvyan orders is a sort of cheap booze - it's been a while but I believe it's a kind of sparkling perry type drink. I guess the joke is it wasn't really considered a hard man's drink, it had a very innocent Bambi-looking deer on the label

[@mthraves]

As always Josh, you get it. I wish more people would see the message behind the jokes.

[@northernpunx1978]

Full episodes! Wwwwright on! Also you nailed it with the cop joke.👍

[@ArsLonga1967]

The police skit was a dig at the Met. (Metropolitan Police Force, the London police force) who at the time were notoriously racist... They're not much better these days. Alexis Sayles is a Scouse which means he hails from Liverpool and that's his accent.

[@UFBMusic]

I used to work in a builder's merchant in East London. A lot of older black guys had stories of being scooped up by the met, given a good fucking kicking, and then being dumped in the street.

[@HowardChegwyn]

So, it was 82, maybe 83... We as kids then weren't allowed to watch "The Young Ones".

[@MD-1982]

But we turned out ok 👌🏼

[@briz1965]

I was 17, and as we had the TV Times & Radio Weekly or whatever, everyone knew it was coming on well before hand. Everyone knew Rik & Ade long before so lots of people were hooked from day 1. My Dad & Mum loved it. Look what happened since.

[@Foebane72]

I've always been impressed by the skewer in Neil's head and how he pulls it out and it falls with a clatter - I wonder how they did that?

[@pupface]

CGI

[@Foebane72]

@@pupfaceIn the 1980s? On the BBC? Don't be silly!

[@pupface]

​@@Foebane72yes, I'm being silly 🙄

[@JackRascal]

Possibly the clatter was dubbed in live, like they do with the punches?

[@Foebane72]

@@JackRascalYou can see him visibly pull the skewer out of his head, hold it up and drop it. Maybe it was not metal, but an object was obviously positioned on his head, maybe behind?

[@Naylte]

11:00 No, but it is a pastiche of Terry & June, which is actually another BBC sitcom. 15:36 Babycham. It's a fizzy perry. 23:00 Concerto for a rainy day. 28:50 That's strange. The censoring I saw was cutting from the first ring of the bell to the demon appearing.

[@Engist18]

So Vyvyan ordered a Babyscham which is is a sparkling Perry but with only 6% alcohol.

[@mistakenot...4012]

And it was very much a ladies drink. All of the marketing at the time was based on that presumption.

[@lad1981uk]

My nan used to drink it in the 80s

[@noelienoelie8425]

Yea man I get a lot of my video game ost from Internet archive. Mario kart, streets of rage, street fighter ect ect. You can even get books and stuff. Not pdf but actual book scans.

[@robertwright7937]

OMG WHERE DID YOU FIND A COMPLETE COPY? I've not seen that racist copper bit for years! It should be left as it was. It was a comment on racism in the Metropolitan Police, Lord Scarman did an inquiry if I remember. It's no better today sadly.

[@Horsley-Green]

The original version of the episode is available on DVD

[@robertwright7937]

@@Horsley-Green I've got a DVD copy, but it's the cut version. Most of the music is missing too. I'll have to keep an eye out for the full versions.👍

[@Horsley-Green]

@@robertwright7937 Is your DVD just the first series? In 2007 they released both series together for the 25th anniversary. The 25th anniversary box set is uncut. 👍

[@robertwright7937]

@@Horsley-Green I've got a boxset with both series and all three series of Bottom. (Three quid the lot! Charity shops are magic.) I'll keep an eye out for that that one though, thanks for the tip mate.👍

[@TerrydanielDavidson]

The original version is available on Google TV.

[@johnloony68]

RIP David Rapaport

[@jameshiggins1990]

I've watched young ones on gold and the scene hasn't been cut out as it shouldn't be. It's a joke and I'm happy the joke has been seen as a joke

[@memyselfandi2506]

LOOK OUT FOR THE EERIE 5th HOUSEMATE IN SERIES ONE. She’s in all the episodes

[@memyselfandi2506]

Google “young ones 5th housemate”

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Oh ok lol

[@obsoleteworlds]

Nice to see one of the Time Bandits show up.

[@tonylawrence2448]

The Landlord is from Liverpool England, hence a Scouse accent

[@DanielWebb-jn8ku]

15:32 he ordered a babysham which was like fruit flavoured champayne quite popular in the 70s and 80s

[@MrEAus]

Well you've just helped answer Neil's question from Season 2: (Do you think they really do make it out of babies?)

[@croftstickcroftstick4333]

He is just random members of the landlords family

[@IanDarley]

Your laugh had ne crying 🤣🤣

[@paulinemakepeace4582]

Alexis Sayle just doing his stand up comic routine as loads of different characters.

[@matthewclarke4127]

You should react to the 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' sketch about the racist police officer, starring Rowan Atkinson.

[@daviel6595]

1 greatest TV shows ever

[@MabDarogan2]

It's another name for a Liverpool accent. The same as Lister, but stronger.

[@GeoWoolls]

If you watch this on TV in the UK, the racist copper scene gets completely neutered with all the racial slurs cut out, rendering the joke completely nonsensical. Completely tone-deaf and performative, and no understanding of context. Glad someone gets the joke. It's throwing punches at police racism.

[@simes1969]

I feel that in the early 80's, the spirit of Punk ideals and anti-establishment sentiment could still be found in cutting edge UK comedy.

[@danieleyre8913]

Don’t forget that these guys were in their early-mid 20s in the 1982 when this was made. Which means that they were in their late teens in 1977 when the punk scene exploded in the UK. A lot of this show is laughing at things from the 70s.

[@retrowatches1655]

You did amazing to get through that racist bit. Think you have awesome sense of humour. Love your channel and alway look forward to hearing you laugh. Thank you.

[@croftstickcroftstick4333]

That bit with the copper is to highlight the police's racist attitude back in 80s England, alternative comedy sprang up because people like Rik and Ade was sick of older comedians like Bernard Manning and their racist jokes

[@andrewq159]

Bernard Manning wasn't racist in real life. He played a character onstage as a parody.

[@croftstickcroftstick4333]

@@andrewq159 don't be so ridiculous, firstly he was born in 1930s England everyone was racist, and he said he was a racist on Mrs Merton and didn't like that a woman was talking to him like she was, and the only reason I said Bernard Manning's name was because he's probably the best example of that era before alternative comedy and whenever anyone connected to the young ones talks about it his name is mentioned by them.

[@andrewq159]

@@croftstickcroftstick4333 He played that character in interviews as well. It was satire & parody. His family, friends & other comedians said he was very different when not performing. It's like Al Murray when playing his Pub Landlord character compared to his real self - very different.

[@0okamino]

Well, “the white man’s electricity” is still quite… shocking. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

[@BridewellSeniorTube]

He's a scouse and actually from Liverpool England, not Scottish ;)

[@stuartframe-zl8vv]

Scouse is from Liverpool dude

[@VincentNajger1]

There is also _A HIDDEN 5TH FLATMATE_ .....and also...no Niel isnt an alien....hes just an empty headed hippy that is a decade behind the trends (he doggedly believes that jeans with Flares fashion will soon come back)

[@callumheatherly]

The police.with sunglasses on is so racist but hilarious aswell. I bet alot of black people in the 80s were so offended by it. But still people watch it. 😂

[@lukespooky]

scouse accents are from Liverpool (England) not Scotland

[@craigwallis5014]

How many of you skipped to 20:05?

[@NecramoniumVideo]

For someone with eye issues like me, it was hard to watch with the censorship filter over it. You can btw make less bars appear and it would be watchable.

[@wildwine6400]

He has full uncut reactions on Patreon. Tons of good stuff on there

[@adamdenby1282]

We're the lesson in that I don't think there is one in any ep of the young ones haha

[@livestocknetwork320]

Oh Crikey and Bastard Squad are not real...

[@wildwhippet]

Ullo John gotta new motor?

[@itsmegareth9663]

You should watch the IT crowd. It's the same writer who wrote black books

[@louisemagill8295]

He has done! He loved it

[@wildwine6400]

It was one of the first shows he watched probably a year or 2 now. He has lots of stuff on Patreon

[@MD-1982]

I've [sort of] been dreading you watching this episode, Josh - primarily because of the language by the copper It seems though that you did find that scene hilarious

[@briz1965]

It's goofy, nothing but Goons or Monty Python in the way of bizarre before. The last bit (fully playable in Canada) with the sunglasses is very funny, as you may not believe it, but racism was very scarce at the time, it was a play on the media, not real life. That's why it was so funny. It was all a joke, not possible today.

[@JamesBrewerDJ]

Great epsiode....but just that one scene.....little bit...not quite good these days!

[@Jacob_Junge]

What's bad about making fun of stupid, racist cops?

[@Gangstajod]

Don't worry about it mate the landlord character is not funny

[@AfterWorkReactions]

Thanks bud.

[@ernie316]

Racist copper who steals the Ford tippex was in the old BBC vhs releases, missing from the first dvds , but restored on the recent 40th anniversary blu Ray set.

[@USCFlash]

most of Alexei Sayle's jokes don't land at all. he has always slowed the show down for me.

[@danieleyre8913]

Yeah I never thought he was that talented & funny. When I first saw this (when it was rerun in the early 1990s) I thought he was the weakest part of the show. The only thing he did that I liked was the “doctor martens boots” song.

[@USCFlash]

@@danieleyre8913 totally agree with you....the boots song was great....all downhill from there...

[@royalwelsh5227]

This was alternative comedy. Before in the 1970s jokes were. Mother in law jokes. Racist. And homophobia jokes. Which was weird. Cause there were tons of obvious but not out gay people on TV. Definitely a British peculiarities

[@danieleyre8913]

Not true. I’ll have you know that sexism humour was also part of the repertoire. Just look at “on the buses!”! Remember Monty python’s flying circus was around about a decade before this. And they had their own revolutionary humour. Although much of it would now be seen as racist or sexist. There was also some sitcoms that took the standard formula to the extreme like Reginald Perrin or Fawlty towers.

[@elaineshakeshaft2830]

👌😂😂😂❤

[@royalwelsh5227]

There was terrible racism in the met. Regards the famous Stephen Lawrence case in the 1990s. The police. In the met. Right now. Are in the headlines in the UK. After murderer police officers. Its still going on right now in London. Hugely constraversail now

[@mistakenot...4012]

This aired the year after the Brixton riots so racism in the police was a reasonably hot topic

[@ashbridgeindustries380]

"was"

[@MrEAus]

That racist cop from some angles looks to me like a young Sacha Baron Cohen 🤨

[@westham647580]

It may have been groundbreaking but seems to have dated really badly. This seems a particularly crap episode. If you aren’t cracking up then it must be bad.

[@auto2112]

Was never a fan of Alexei Sayle and I'm from Livrrpool! He's just not funny, and I always thought the joke with him being in this is BECAUSE he's not funny.

[@randycunningham7318]

I think he is whimsical and unique and bizarre.

[@MabDarogan2]

I haven't seen this since I was a kid. It's still funny, but the racial words seem shocking now.

[@terrypussypower]

That entire police officer section, which, in my opinion, is one of the funniest, and most politically apt, parts of the whole Young Ones run, has been almost entirely cut from BBC iplayer! It ruins the whole point of the joke, which was a commentary on the Lord Scarman enquiry into the 1981 Brixton Riots, which found the Metropolitan Police to be racist. The BBC have a really bad habit of treating us all like children. And this is just another example.