@ Steve, Nah, Benny Hill was just embarrassing - which I guess is why the Americans seem to (still) like him more than we ever did.
I liked Benny Hill. Most people did. It’s only people with foibles who don’t. [sniff]
Foibles, shmoibles. It was quaint, charming, chuckleworthy, and Veddy English. The last gasp, really, of classic music hall/vaudeville. The only time I really didn’t like it was when he tried to do contemporary pop songs. Those were epic fails: no concept of the vagaries of the bluesy third interval. In all honesty, that made me grit my teeth. But, maybe that was by intention. As a Merkin, I have no way of knowing.
I’m with Jem on this one. And here’s a really damning fact about Benny Hill: the Germans found him hilarious.
Oh, dear. Just like our own Jerry Lewis and the French. 
Very funny! Thank you.
Benny Hill was just on all the time when I was a kid and cable just came out so instead of 4 channels (we lived closed to Pittsbugh), we got 12 channels. There wasn’t much to choose from and sadly, he was a better choice.
I really don’t know why foreigners think of Benny Hill when they think of British comedy. It’s just not typical. Look at Blackadder, Red Dwarf or Faulty Towers if you want to point at something more representative.
… or To the Manor Born, The Good Life and Keeping up Appearances (all slightly dull, to my taste, but still, representative). For my money, the best, most enduring British comedy ever is, by a very long way, Dad’s Army, which has me in stitches every time.
I think Benny Hill, Monty Python, Keeping Up Appearances, The Good Life and Are You Being Served were the early British comedies that came on in the US on our Public television stations…and I’d not be surprised if that wasn’t the case in other foreign markets as well. I think you’d need to blame BBC for chosing which Britcoms to market to other countries instead of those of us who in the US who watched them.
To a preteen and young teen boy, there were certain, um, qualities of Benny Hill which were greatly entertaining and most involved scantily clad women running around.
I much prefer the likes of Black Adder, Red Dwarf, Hardware, Black Books, Father Ted and Faulty Towers, but I confess to a fondness for The Good Life.
Difficult not to like The Good Life, isn’t it? Worthy though it was. Penelope Keith absolutely made it, of course.
I had quite the crush on Felicity Kendal when I first saw the show (I was about 14).
Jerry and Margo both made the show in my opinion. Their interactions to the farm world beside them, and to each other, were hilarious.
I’ve never seen Dad’s Army…I must find a way to get a hold of it. Thanks for the tip.
Eric
yep, Benny got air time
of the others that I’ve seen
they have all been via NetFlix
well, except Red Dwarf on a PBS fund drive 
wasted that day 
Guys, guys… it’s Fawlty Towers! As in Basil Fawlty. It’s a homonym/pun scenario.
No list of great British comedy would be complete without 3 political masterpieces
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister, and The Thick of It.
However, the Yanks gave the world The Simpsons, Frasier, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which we should be eternally grateful.
m.d.
What about “Only Fools and Horses”.
…I was almost tempted with the flute (remember it?)…but measuring 65’ long I don’t think I would have the reach to play the thing. 
The Simpsons is comedy? I thought it was documentary! 
And things like Friends, Frasier and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, whilst quite clever and certainly amusing at times, definitely come under the Yank toe-curling, sick-bucket-reaching-for school of sit-com humour… Maybe because (generalisation alert!) they lack the irony and self-deprecation of their Brit equivalents?
And again, I find myself with Jem… ‘Friends’ and ‘Frasier’ had some fantastically sharp dialogue, but they always had to resort to the stuff of farce. Having said that, a couple of episodes of ‘Fawlty Towers’ also have toe-curling stuff, such as Polly disguising as a sick Sybil; or the manic hunt for Manuel’s “hamster”.
One classic Brit comedy so far unmentioned that never went sentimental or farcical, and was always sharp and witty: ‘Porridge’. Timeless.
Although my all-time favourite has to be ‘Black Books’, largely due to the genius of Irish comedian Dylan Moran. Go check it out on YouTube, or buy the obscenely cheap box set.
D’ya know, I absolutely couldn’t stand Black Books. I kept trying it because people I know said it was brilliant and for me just to give it one more go. I tried. I really tried. Every time I had to switch it off after … well, I think my record was 5 minutes.
Friends is watchable pap. Frasier, OTOH, was great, IMHO. Not just clever, brilliantly funny and slick. Oh, apart from the ludicrous accent of Daphne’s brother. I have no idea what that accent was supposed to be. You’d have thought it should be Machester, but it sounded like a cross between South African and New Zealand. Certainly nowhere near any British accent I’ve ever heard.
Well, it would be difficult to have product placement in an upper class setting doing that now, wouldn’t it.