I've seen every Fawlty Towers episode 10 times by now, but for me the "HE PUT BASIL IN THE RATATOUILLE?" scene still cracks me up!
It's spelled Raymond Luxury Yacht, but it's pronounced 'Throat-Warbler Mangrove'
Today, 'Oh not pigs, pigeons, like your English'
or 'Get me a hammer' 'Que?' 'Oh hammer sandwich', 'my hamster? 'How can I knock a nail in with your hamster? well I could try...'
Blah blah, I could go on for ever...
Assumption is the Mother of all feck ups.
Any conversation between Basil and Mrs Richards. Especially the scene at the counter. As she can't hear, Basil writes her a note, and as she hasn't her reading glasses on, she can't read. And the scene goes on and on and there's layer upon layer of jokes. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, it still cracks me up, every time. "Is this a piece of your brain?" etc... I guess John Cleese must've met someone like Mrs Richards in real life, because she really got on Basils nerves.
^ That whole episode with Mrs Richards was brilliant.
"May I ask what you expected to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...?"
And also the scene when Manuel's practicing his English behind the counter and the Major thinks the moose head is talking to him.
"My uncle once punched a man so hard his legs became trombones!"
Polly (trying to make money selling one of her drawings): "It's for my sister's eye operation... (the guy walks away)... you bastard."
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
Pretty much the whole of Gourmet night - so many great lines.
sharePolly (trying to make money selling one of her drawings): "It's for my sister's eye operation... (the guy walks away)... you bastard."
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Yeah, that line always makes me giggle.
L.
IMHO Mrs. Richards was the best foil for Fawlty
Fawlty speaking to Mrs. Richards
Is this a piece of your brain?
I wish you were a rat...I'd drown you.
I shall visit you in the small hours and put a bat up your night dress.
Mind you, these quotes are permanently etched into my brain
and I use them frequently.
notripod
...before the dark times, before the prequels.
Haha yeah Mrs.Richards is such a jerk! She stands for every difficult customer who stays at hotels.
"First they give me a room without a bath, and then there's no lavatory paper!"
I still can't speak that whole line without breaking out laughing.
Also her confusion with Manuel's spanish speaking was classic.
His screaming at the car and beating the hell out of it with a tree branch in Gourmet Night. "Start you vicious bastard."
You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; s**t happens.-Angelina Jolie
In 'The Germans' where Basil is trying to explain the difference between the burglar alarm and the fire alarm, he is shouting at all the guests in the lobby, and the phone rings for about the third time, and Basil shouts at it "WE'RE HAVING IT!!" not even stopping to think that it may or may not have been Sybil calling from the hospital.
shareYes. That too, for me, is just great. John Cleese must have been exhausted after filming those hysterics.
share> Basil shouting at the car, walking away, then coming back to attack the car with a branch.
> Basil mentioning the war and imitating Hitler.
> The rat appearing in the biscuit tin.
"I'm a doctor and I want my sausages!!" always does it for me, but so do loads more scenes in every episode.
"Oi loike a woman with spirit!" another.
"Basil, if you're going to grope the guests do have the common courtesy to stay in the room with them!"
When Basil has the oil on his hands and grabs that woman (thinking she's the girl the guy has sneaked into his room), Sybil sees his handprint on her chest and Basil grabs her again ("Sorry, I got confused!").
That never fails to crack me up.
"Sir, let those laugh that win."
I have a tie between two lines:
Basil: He's from Barcelona. You might as well ask the cat!
Manuel: (after hauling the basket with the dead lady in it) Meester Fawlty, I no want to work here anymore!
It's called a BRAIN. ~USE IT!
The fire drill scene in "The Germans", where he accidentally sets off the burglar alarm as well and then argues with the guest about the difference between the fire alarm and the burglar alarm.
Still cracks me up after all these years.
When I said I wanted to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. Well, they're not laughing now!
The fire drill scene in "The Germans", where he accidentally sets off the burglar alarm as well and then argues with the guest about the difference between the fire alarm and the burglar alarm.