Funny, Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill

by Mark Lewisohn

Book Overview

Benny Hill's saucy smirks at underdressed women are relished the world over. Yet the comedian cut an unlikely figure of global admiration: unmarried and emotionally enfeebled in his few relationships,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0283063696
• ISBN13: 9780283063695
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: MacMillan UK
• Length: 515 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

All of Benny Hill is exceptional

Good but slightly flawed I bought this book not only because BCCA started to run the half-hour series again, but because I remembered reading a story in the paper a number of years ago how Benny Hill died alone in a sparsely furnished apartment, unloved. What I got was a tremendous insight into English vaudeville and its morphing into radio and then television. I also got a tremendous amount of information about Hill's life, as other reviews note. I would, however, like to focus this review on the author's highly critical look at Benny Hill's work after he brought together the Hill's angels. The author unabashedly takes the feminist line that these programs were sexist, and there's no doubt that while the programs themselves were probably enough to get the feminists atwitter, now that BBCA is showing the uncut hour long shows, Hill's on air ridicule of the feminists was what really did it. I hadn't seen the hour long shows when I read the biography, so I more or less took the author at his word. Now that I've seen them, I have two comments. In no way are the Hill's Angels in any way objectionable. The author's comment, what did they have to do with comedy, is misdirected because they had everything to do with framing the skits that were carried within the performances. I think some of Hill's best work was done in these years. My second comment is more of a revelation. I've always wondered exactly what it was that set Hill apart, the quality that no one else could or ever will duplicate. I realized watching these later shows that Hill had done something no one else had ever been able to do. He brought vaudeville, in its true form, to television. From childhood, he was steeped in, although unsuitable for, vaudeville. Television gave his strength, an acute eye for vaudeville, and his weakness, an inability to project beyond the tenth row of seats, the perfect format. It happened once, and that's the only time it will ever happen. Finally, as to his death alone in a sparsely furnished room. The picture of Hill dead looks pretty bleak. However, the author makes one thing clear. Benny Hill did in life exactly as he pleased, lived his life exactly the way he wanted to live it, and knowing he was going to die soon, died exactly the way he wanted to die, eating candy bars, drinking, and watching his beloved TV. He had no regrets about anything in life and he was surrounded by people who loved him dearly. Even his failed romances weren't romances, but attempts to reach for unattainable women so he never had to make a commitment that would limit his freedom to do as he pleased. The one time he was expected to make a commitment, he ran fast. Hill did what he wanted in life, and to do that, he had to live and travel alone, and that's exactly what he did. Definitely buy this book, but don't let the author's prejudices dissuade you from enjoying all of Hill's work. As to the author's hope the British return to an appreciation of Hill, it'll never happen,

We only knew the laughter...

This book is a tremendously thorough examination of Benny's life, and there are some surprises here for those who are only aware of him through his television shows. Lewisohn pulls no punches and leaves very little unturned, both good and bad. It is unfortunate that Benny is now almost taboo in his own country. Having read this book, I will appreciate his comedy in a different light.

good evening viewers!

An excellent biography of the funniest man who ever stole a gag from another comedian. Yes it's Benny Hill, a man who took a name because is sounded Jewish and wrote some of the funniest songs ever using the most recycled of jokes. His humour was what the people wanted in the seventies, coarse slightly obscene and saucy. He deserved the title of the the worlds most popular comedian. It was a shame that Benny ended up as a target for feminists and other politically correct groups and was eventually sacked for his humour. The people that hounded him must have been very humourless, cold hearted people indeed. The book is great though there are few mistakes here and there with respect to show titles and content. I recommend anyone who is interested in British actors and theatre read this book. Tim Brimelow Melbourne Australia

An exemplary biography of a misunderstood man

This is one of the finest biographies I have read in years -- it penetrates deeply into the formative experiences and motivations of this strange and reclusive figure, and brings him vividly to life. Many interviewees discouraged the author from this task, but he persevered, and we have much to thank him for. All Benny Hill fans will now watch and enjoy his familiar sketches -- shamelessly recycled over the years -- with an added appreciation for their origins and rationale. Lewisohn helps us to delve into the psyche of this mysterious man, at once the embodiment of little Englishness, yet also a sensitive soul and a student of foreign cultures and languages.The book is not unblemished. Benny's 50s farce, "Who Done It", is not nearly as abysmal as the author suggests (it's adequate slapstick with a few laughs -- how many 50s British movies has Lewisohn seen, there are many worse!). Benny's frugality is surely comprehensible in a man who had withstood wartime privations; and that character trait, combined with the much-hyped locker-room chit-chat with Bob Monkhouse, was regrettable but entirely standard male behavior for the 1950s. Despite all the conventional wisdom to the contrary, Benny did evolve. And--again with respect to Lewisohn--Benny scaled some of his finest heights of inspiration during his latest years with Thames. I am thinking of the Chubby Dodds documentary, and Murder on the Orient Express, and the "Family" skit, which bring smiles and laughter without fail, though I know them back to front. Of course, he was a comedian who operated rather too comfortably within his decent but clearly defined artistic parameters. Yet what was comforting for Benny was also reassuring for us... Lewisohn is right that Benny Hill's work will return to favor some day. It deserves to.

Absorbing, Recommended

This is a fascinating, first-rate biography of one of the twentieth century's most beloved comedy figures; a man who is now largely overlooked in his home country despite having been its most successful comic export outside of Charlie Chaplin. Benny Hill was a complex man who led a simple (if somewhat peculiar) life, and this book provides tremendous insight into not only his personal foibles and professional endeavors, but also the motivations and reasons for his intriguing private behavior and public rise and fall. Drawing on extensive research and fresh interviews with many of the key figures in Benny's life, Mark Lewisohn's writing combines warmth, empathy and humor with analysis, objectivity and attention to detail -- the comic inventiveness and outright stealing of other artists' ideas; the abnormally excessive frugality; the sexual indulgences and hopelessly failed relationships... whether you want to know about the man's career, his love life or the fact that he just loved a quick game of Kalooki, it's all here. Buy this book!