Fawlty Towers: Season 1, Episode 6 The Germans

I admire and respect your reasoned and rational opinion regarding the racism in this episode. Shame more people don't share it. As a white person I've lost count of how many times another white person has used racist language around me assuming that I wouldn't mind because I'm white. I always put them right though!

dlwha

That analysis of the scene backs up to me, a more insidious British trait of late, that being to play down and almost apologise for any victory....the "It's not the winning but the taking part" bollocks mentality so many idiots have.

Rob Walters

He jumped back when he saw the doctor - because he was black lol =/

Super Mega Giga Chad

You mean the resurgence in racism the radical left have invented with identity politics? People didn't go to bed one night and wake up racist. It was the same with Brexit, oh so racist to want self determination and to maintain your national independence? That was another invention of the left, it is all projection. No rational person is racist because judging somebody by their race or skin colour requires incredible ignorance, they exist but they are a tiny minority. I love how Josh understood the context of this but I agree it is still hard to watch.

David Broome

Thanks man appreciate it!

After Work Reactions

Also as someone else said, the scene with the Germans is making fun of how we British are obsessed with the fact that we won the war.

Simon Groom

Your interpretation of the racial things is absolutely right and I wish more people could see it how it's intended instead of getting offended right away. As you said, it is the Major's ignorance that is the joke in that scene.

Simon Groom

Nothing has been taken away. They did a review of this episode and then they put it back up again. The only people I see complaining are people worried about censorship that doesn't exist

Gareth Jones

i hate the fact that we have to pay the price of losing good comedy just because people might get offended, i think most of these people just want something to complain about and they're not really offended, any normal person would understand its just comedy and not to be taken to heart.

martyn dodds

Your reading of the contrast between the Major’s overt racism and Fawlty’s involuntary racism is spot on. It is very nuanced writing by Cleese and Booth.

Leon Tallis

I knew you wouldn't be offended. It's racist to assume people can't understand context because of their skin colour. It's only a few dumb people who don't get this!

Louis Hessey-Antell

Being offended on Josh's behalf reminds me of the thing Reginald D. Hunter once said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA8k5uj8AyA

Z is for Zed

I live in Torquay, can confirm, this town is something like 98% white. Make of that what you will!

antlermagick

‘The same one’ like he’s a stray cat or something 😂, delete this dude

Dan

😂awesome episode mate, u the man josh 👍

Dan

Supporting the EU isn't progressive, every country has the right to be independent. Also it was just an economic trade group at the time, the EU is a political body that controls your laws.... its evolved into something entirely different.

Interesting and nuanced take on the racial issues, Josh. Happy to hear your perspective. It still makes me rankle (that's a word, right?) when it's said - same with Gareth in The Office talking about the bloke in the Dambuster's dog with the name with a hard-R. You might then enjoy the How Not What to Look Like sketch on Mitchell and Webb because it's a similar issue. There's also some blackface controversy in the Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen with Papa Lazarou, as well as Little Britain/Come Fly With Me. I think around the mid-2000's we'd decided as a culture that we were passed the issues around racism and it had been basically defeated in the UK. It comes off a little naïve now looking back with such a resurgence of racism as somehow the hairy-backed cavepeople started learning to type and were allowed access to the internet a few years back. Tell you what's interesting (and kind of sad) that you might not have picked up on, is the "we're now on the continent - I didn't vote for it but we should make the best of it" - that's referring to the fact that we'd recently voted to join the EEC which became the EU. So there's that little historical context.

Ian Webster

It's strange, because my Grandad was well known as someone who despised racism and racists, constantly being critical of the South African Apartheid for example. Yet he would continually state how much he hated the Japanese because a few of his best mates died or were tortured in Japanese Prisoner of War camps. I know deep down that he wouldn't have hated anyone Japanese on a personal level, but that experience with his friends tortured and murdered drove him to have that knee jerk hate for the Japanese in general. It's a very strange thing, that I don't think anyone would understand unless they were in that situation.

Jay

An interesting point about this episode. John Cleese always wrote Basil Fawlty as an old fashioned regressive character, as Cleese himself was generally critical of this type of mentality. During the episode, Basil Fawlty mentions that he is against Britain joining the EU, to highlight Basil Fawlty's regressive thinking. Oddly enough, Cleese has recently supported Britain leaving the EU, which shows that in his old age he's weirdly turning into Fawlty himself. Life imitating art it seems.

Jay

To be honest, I think you get to a certain age and you just don't see the point in keeping up with the world. It changes so quickly (and the rise of technology only spreads the changes even faster) that you reach a point where you spend more time trying to keep up with what's culturally acceptable than actually enjoying yourself. I mean, it's highly likely that even the most fastidiously PC person is going to be baffled by what's considered right or wrong in 30 years' time, so unpredictable are humanity's cultural ebbs and flows, so maybe the answer is just to laugh.

Jason

To be fair I don't know who thought you would be offended by this episode but I think most people who have watched your reactions know that isn't something that is going to happen easily. I also agree with your assessment that these kind of people existed in these times and to have nobody use racial terms just wouldn't be a true reflection of life, it is how they are portrayed that is the key I would go even further and say Basil could get a pass for it as he himself is portrayed as an irrational shitty person so it wouldn't be out of place for him to use racial slurs. Also I have heard people bring up the scenes with the Germans being offensive as it looks like they are being mocked when John Cleese has said the opposite is actually true and he was mocking the British and their inability to get over the war. I think because self-deprecating humour is more common in the UK people from elsewhere don't recognise it as much so some of the comedies can be seen as racist or xenophobic to them. As long as these comedies/dramas or whatever don't come across as endorsing these peoples actions then I don't see what the problem is personally, poking fun at racists/xenophobia is actually one of the best weapons against it.

Also the black guy shocking faulty is a pretty valid reaction not just because he was a doctor but because in england the black population is a lot smaller than America. Even now it's only 3%. The town I live in there's only 1 black dude (I mean there are probably more but I only ever see the same one walking down the street or in the gym). He works at a outdoors shop called blacks ironically lol. Cool guy, built like the hulk as well.

Tmini

A series I found funny which had race issues in it was Love Thy Neighbour. That was also an old series and goes to show how much things have changed.

David Szoke

Brilliant reaction to the best episode in Season 1, What you were saying about reference to the N bomb is exactly what John Cleese was saying recently when he was defending the episode. The aim was to laugh at the Major’s uneducated views, not with him. My absolute favourite is the next episode, the start of Season 2. “Communication Problems” Think you’ll like it. Keep up the great work 🙂

Gary Tamblyn

Great episode and great reaction 😀 was looking forward to this today. I didn't think you'd be offended at all to be honest, you have a really healthy outlook on that kind of thing. Yep I suppose Basil was shocked because the doctor was a black guy, for anyone else it would be a massive over reaction but everything Basil does is over the top so it matches his mad character I suppose lol ;) The 'yes you did, you invaded Poland!' is still so perfect however many times I've heard it. Thanks Josh, hope you and Tay are both well.

BelladonnicHazeyJaneII

I don't lose sleep about that segment being cut, it definitely makes for uncomfortable viewing despite the major being the butt if the joke, but it's the best episode, so not to run it at all or remove it entirely because of this scene is another thing entirely.

lemmy101

It's unfortunate that the world is embracing the cancel culture narrative where something is deemed as being offensive because its triggers someone's insecurities or anger, without heed being given to the broader context of what is being expressed, and where actual intention is superseded by the implied or imagined intention of the offended. Comedy has always been used as a vehicle to challenge the status quo or to reveal and lambast ignorance and extremism. When the PC brigade censor comedy for fear of offending, freedom of speech and expression take a significant kick in the teeth. I applaud Josh's intelligence and maturity, and just wish there were more like him in this insane world we now live in.

Rob Thompson

Honestly don't feel so. The only way the doctor was played for laughs was with basil's weird reaction, he seemed to be portrayed as a proper straight doctor, I read it as it was probably just a hokum technique for putting confused head trauma people to sleep

lemmy101

Blimey, there was me, commenting before watching this episode (first reply), going purely of memory from when I watched this decades ago and remembering that the Major hates Germans, and thinking that would be a sticking point in this episode, thus wanted to try and put some context as to why in his experience, he would have that hate.....However. I had absolutely no recollection of him dropping the N Bomb and the Indian slurs in this. Josh I praise your understanding here and what you said at the end, because no comedy is worthy of this. the BBC is right in not re-running this anymore.

Publico

I have a question,can anyone tell me,the scene where the doctor was spinning Fawltys head and whispering get as much sleep as you can,was that a purposely done joke implying to him being a witch doctor or a voodoo doctor cause he was black? or did I just read that wrong

Andrew

I think you are bang on with Basil's reaction to the black doctor. I think Basil was just surprised to see a black guy. I know at least where I grew up in the late 80s and into the 90s I knew of like one black family that's it. Probably would have been even less common in the 70s in Torquay I'm guessing

Danny

I've seen it in multiple formats over the years and that was everything. He doesn't say it much, he says initially then just comes back to it once later in the conversation. that's all

Danny

From memory, I think there was still some cuts to the Major's scene. Interesting what they left in and what they cut out. Also, the fire retardent gloves Andrew Sachs was wearing in the fire scene weren't as effective as they should have been and he apparently had some fairly bad burns to his hands.

Robin Brown

I LOVE the fire drill scene. It's always funny. It's like a comedy of errors. Love the Major keep bringing up about burglars and he not listening. And Basil losing it when the phone rings. Then you got Manuels ridiculous comedy flailing ,setting everything on fire haha. It's great. That scene to me could have been enough to end the episode on, could have sacked off the Germans and made that another episode

Danny

This is my favourite episode by far! There's still a good few big classics ahead but this is the pinnacle for me! I honestly didn't expect you to be offended, for the reasons you describe at the end, you've always seemed pretty chill about racism being expressed in comedies in the right context. I guess people can't help what they are offended by, but it does make me sad that the Always Sunny ep most critical of blackface that actually makes a really good point of how insensitive blackface is is then removed for being racist. IMO comedies can be used to explore uncomfortable ideas and educate people without them feeling they are being lectured to so it always felt like people were censoring something for actually expressing and helping people understand the same issues they were concerned about in the first place, albeit in a context that was funny. It's odd.

lemmy101

Excellent episode. The "Don't mention the war" is the common highlight but I think the fire drill scene is about as good as any sitcom gets. I don't like to raise or even create any kind of expectations but I think the second series is genuinely better than the first one. You're in for a treat.

Jonny Mullins

The Major! Not the colonel haha. You summed it up perfect for me, people bringing up old stuff and getting offended for the sake of it is one of my pet peeves.

Martyn

Again, something that would never get air time on the BBC in 2020, but the Major reminds me so much of my Grandad and everything he went through to keep the UK free in the second World War. He hated the Germans till the day he died, but he had bloody good reason to, watching his friends die next to him.

Publico

I’m guessing the Major was a Battery Commander in the Royal Artillery (judging by the tie) in WW2, and he’s made references to being in France in 1918 too

Kieran B

Don’t think you’ll be able to comprehend just how much & just how long I’ve waited for this reaction. Arguably one of the greatest episodes in TV history in my opinion. I grew up watching all these older UK shows due to my mums obsession with them & this episode is certainly the episode that we always consider to be the best (as hard of a choice as it is). Can’t wait to show her this tomorrow. Continue the great reactions & have a great day.

Luke Hodgkinson

Been waiting up for this one man. Perfect timing for me to watch before I go to bed :-)

Jack Morgan

Hope your having a great day Josh! Love your reactions to fawlty towers and only fools.

AWR93