And my final point: Comedy requires brilliant writing. It does not matter how talented the performers may be if the scripts are mediocre.
Perhaps the pairing of Ted Ray and Kenneth Williams really was unworkable from the start, but whatever the reasons for the show's failure, it is certainly the case that 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' is not an example of classic British radio comedy.
#BettyWitherspoon #TedRay #KennethWilliams #BBCRadio4Extra #comedy
Some of the dialogues tried to use the 20-year age difference between Ray and Williams to generate humour.
Williams, however, was already approaching his late 40s when 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' was created, so Williams was himself 20 years older than the new generation of British comic performers coming to the fore in the 1970s.
The dialogues present two mismatched performers who seem woefully out-of-touch with the times and each other.
Not all 'classic' radio comedies are classics. Case in point: 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' starring Ted Ray and Kenneth Williams, currently being rebroadcast on #BBCRadio4Extra.
I have tried three times to listen to episodes and have never made it through the opening dialogue between Ray and Williams. The dialogues are painfully unfunny, with Ray in his typical persona and Williams, well I'm not sure what he was trying to do.
('Toot' continues.)
Michael Meckler