YMMV / The Two Ronnies

• Hilarious in Hindsight: The show was famously (and controversially) parodied by Mel Smith and Gryff Rhys-Jones on Not the Nine O'Clock News, who pointed out its over-reliance on double-entendre and a format that had remained unchanged, and rather stale, since 1971. Years later, the Two Ronnies (still popular) came back to present the compilation 'The Two Ronnies Sketchbook'... only to have the format copied by Smith and Jones for 'The Smith and Jones Sketchbook'!
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • A blonde in a 1986 episode is played by Andrée Bernard, who would later be best known for playing Liz Burton in Hollyoaks.
  • Barbara New, who would later be best known for playing Mabel Wheeler in You Rang, M'Lord?, appeared in 5 episodes between 1973 and 1980.
  • Josephine Tewson, who would later be best known for playing Elizabeth Warden in Keeping Up Appearances, appeared in 5 episodes between 1971 and 1981.
  • Madame Vivian Bultitude from a 1983 episode is played by Patricia Routledge, who would later be best known for playing Hyacinth Bouquet in Keeping Up Appearances.
  • A girl in a suitcase in a 1975 episode is played by Penny Irving, who would later be best known for playing Miss Bakewell in Are You Being Served?.
  • Rikki Howard, who would later be best known for playing Betty Whistler in Hi-de-Hi!, appeared in 4 episodes between 1977 and 1980.
  • Otto from a 1983 episode is played by Robin Parkinson, who would later be best known for playing the third LeClerc in 'Allo 'Allo!.
  • Vicki Michelle, who would later be best known for playing Yvette Carte-Blanche in 'Allo 'Allo!, appeared in 5 episodes between 1976 and 1980.
• Values Dissonance:
  • In the "Accountant Bore" sketch, the titular character (played by Ronnie Barker) is mentioned to have two children and another on the way. When Corbett's character says "that's three times you haven't been boring at least!" the accountant mentions that his lady wife "was asleep at the time", which was intended to humorously emphasise how boring he is, but nowadays it just sounds like rape. It doesn't help that the sketch ends with him grabbing the tea lady and audibly "making love" to her offscreen.
  • The second episode of "The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town" contains a scene involving blackface, and one where Benjamin Disraeli is played as a Jewish stereotype. These were edited out of the 2005 repeat.
  • The show also had some racist sketches as well, one good example being the infamous "Sheik in The Grocery Store" which has Ronnie Corbett playing the title Sheik by darkening his skin tone and acting in a stereotypical Sheik manner.

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