Don't Mention the War! | Fawlty Towers | BBC Comedy Greats

BBC Comedy Greats · 5.1M views · 2009 · 1:54

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Film & TV clipsStand-up & sketch comedycomedy

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN mentions it mainly as a joke reference or as an example of humor that many Germans reportedly find funny.

What it is

The classic Fawlty Towers scene in which Basil Fawlty tries not to mention the war while serving German guests, ending in goose-stepping and mocking. It is a two-minute BBC comedy clip with John Cleese.

Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2014 to 2021.

What Hacker News said

Cites throwablePie · 2020-06 · on “Fawlty Towers 'Don't mention the war' episode removed from UKTV”

> The original broadcast included a scene in which Major Gowen, a regular guest at the hotel, uses very strong racist language in relation to an anecdote about the West Indies cricket team. A decade ago many broadcasters began editing out this part of the programme, although the racist language can still be heard on the version hosted by Netflix. [LINK] I'm African American and I'd prefer not to be turned into a perpetual victim by people who mean well. Rather than infantilizing censorship, I'd like to have the option to watch to watch this classic episode in its entirety. An embedded disclaimer wouldn't be inappropriate. Apparently, many Germans find this scene very funny: [this video]