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Trivia / The Two Ronnies

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  • Accent Depundent: In the Four Candles/Fork Handles sketch, a customer at a hardware shop with a working-class London accent asks for "fork 'andles." The shopkeeper hands him four candles, thinking this is what he wants, but the customer then clarifies that he wants "fork 'andles - 'andles for forks note ." The rest of the sketch is based around the customer asking for various items and the shopkeeper misunderstanding what he wants, with the shopkeeper eventually becoming exasperated and accusing the customer of "having him on." The sketch works because the customer drops his H's, making "fork handles" sound like "four candles."
  • Creator Backlash: Ronnie Barker admitted that he was never happy with the ending of "Four Candles", feeling the "billhooks"/"bollocks" pun was a bit too obscure and coarse. He later came up with a Revised Ending when preparing for a stage performance, in which a female assistant comes out, reads the shopping list and asks, "Right sir, what kind of knockers are you looking for?"
  • Dueling Shows: With Morecambe and Wise, although Ronnie C. was always quick to point out that this was only in the eyes of the media and that they were always friendly with each othernote .
  • Genre-Killer: The Not the Nine O'Clock News "Two Ninnies" sketch which pointed out how old, unchanging, and stale the Two Ronnies format was getting. Arguably, this contributed to the end of T2R. Ronnie Barker was incensed by this (perhaps because it was his writing that was being attacked, as well as his performance). Ronnie Corbett was more generous and wondered if the young iconoclastic upstarts might have a point.
  • The Other Darrin: In The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town, Sergeant Bowles is usually played by Ronnie Barker. Halfway through one scene, Spike Milligan takes over the role; halfway through the next scene, Ronnie Barker takes over again.
  • Referenced by...: In the ZX Spectrum text adventure Shadows of Mordor, Sam's reaction on seeing Shelob is "It's big, and black, and hairy, and I be afraid of it!" — paraphrasing a line from the Piggy / Charley serial "Stop! You're Killing Me!".
  • Uncredited Role: AndrĂ©e Bernard as a blonde in a 1986 episode.

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