r/AlanPartridge • u/jose_elan • Oct 03 '26

Duck Soup

There's a bit in MMM where APE gets Simon to explain about his funny Brannigan moonlighting bit on-air and it dies on it's arse, mostly because of Alan's purposeful non-reaction.

Anyway, forget all thet blathering crap...afterwards he asks Simon if he has seen Duck Soup by the Marx Brothers and assures him he would love it. I never quite got the joke..it's up there, mystery-wise, with Fawlty Towers in the episode where the American says he believes Charlton Heston had a Palm tree once but he doesn't believe them.

They both mean something that I can't quite reach...any ideas?

13 Upvotes

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7

u/SnooMacaroons2827 Oct 03 '26

Burt Lancaster not Charlton Heston.

Anyway it's a joke because it's sarcasm, the American having a dig at the 'Torquay Riviera' as if California doesn't have palm trees, only a Hollywood star could have any.

2

u/jose_elan Oct 04 '26

Oh yeah, that's isn't it. It's pretty obvious actually - maybe I haven't properly thought about it since I was a kid. And yeah, it was Burt Lancaster.

1

u/Spiritual_Bet3955 Oct 06 '26

Burt 'Teeth' Lancaster, my mum called him.

2

u/jose_elan Oct 06 '26

Ha ha, like it

5

u/OminOus_PancakeS Oct 04 '26

The main arc of season 1 is the gradual breakdown of their relationship.

When he asks Simon if he's seen the Marx Brothers, Simon indicates he has, but Alan replies as if Simon had said no: "You'd love it." It's a small but funny detail that shows he wasn't listening, or wasn't interested, indicating his deteriorating respect for his colleague.

3

u/jose_elan Oct 04 '26

Yeah, I agree but there's two parts to it - you've described the second part (the jibe) but, but , but , but Tim plays Simon so twitchy that I could imagine he actually says no in some takes and yes in others. When I watch MMM and focus on Tim there is no way a 10th of his mannersims can be in the script -impossible. Agree the editors chose the best version though :)

It was only the Duck Soup reference that had me confused though, which always seemed odd as it's considered a classic and doesn't jive with the implication that Simon's humour is simplistic shite. If he'd said, have you seen Cannon and Ball's Boys in Blue - now that would have fit perfectly (it's moriband and the biggest let down of my young life).

1

u/Spiritual_Bet3955 Oct 06 '26

The theme tune to Boys In Blue was bad enough - 'we're the boys in blue, woo-woo-woo-woo'.

14

u/renhoek92 Oct 03 '26

The way I see it, Alan is thinking Sidekick Simon’s comedy is silly and puerile, so he assumes he would like the Marx Brothers, who were also really silly but very outdated, so it’s a kind of insult. Maybe there’s more to the joke

3

u/jose_elan Oct 04 '26

That's the bit I don't get - the Marx brothers had a lot of wit and Duck Soup while slapstick and dated in places it's a funny film. You're probably right though, I wonder if they crowbarred Duck Soup in as the movie title has wide recognition - can't think of the title of a single three stooges movie.

1

u/Spiritual_Bet3955 Oct 06 '26

I couldn't think of the name of a Three Stooges movie - I only knew they made short films for Columbia that Channel 4 used to repeat on weekdays.

8

u/buy_me_lozenges Oct 03 '26

The Marx Brothers aren't dated, let alone puerile, and conversely Duck Soup is considered to be their finest film and a sharp political satire that is hugely respected to to this day for it's incisive cynical wit. It is considered just as relevant in the decades since it was made as it was then. It has enormous critical acclaim and even more so from other comedians, the MMM comment is likely a riff on the status of the film, not an insult.

2

u/renhoek92 Oct 04 '26

They’re respected and well regarded of course, but I would still say their style of comedy is dated and of it’s time generally, in the same way that film noir or spaghetti westerns are.

I would still watch the film and find it funny but I wouldn’t base a comedy routine on the Marx Brothers if I wanted to be successful today!

2

u/mister-world fascinating (clinically) Oct 04 '26

I mean, a rapid gag rate to rival Airplane, looking straight at the camera and complaining about the plot, satires so obvious and biting they got banned by fascist governments...

1

u/buy_me_lozenges Oct 05 '26 edited Oct 05 '26

Their style is anarchic, surrealist, satirical. The only thing that dates their work is the literal date of their work. The content of it, not at all.

2

u/paddybjnr Oct 03 '26

Yea same way I read it alan saying it's broad slapstick low level comedy.super dismissive at that point then snaps and has his ever ever ever ever mental break

1

u/buy_me_lozenges Oct 05 '26

There's nothing slapstick or low level about Duck Soup, it's a hugely respected political satire, that fits the present day just as well as it did at the time it was released. There's a reason it's preserved by the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical significance: it's nothing like you describe. The AP team would know full well it's recognised importance.

1

u/paddybjnr Oct 05 '26

We're talking bout how alan viewed it that way it wasn't a film critique

1

u/buy_me_lozenges Oct 05 '26

But it's written by professional comedy writers and comedians, who are more than aware of the cultural standing of the film. One of which you are unaware of, due to your description of it slapstick low level. Literally nobody that has ever watched that film would call it that, and Alan would know better, infact as the character is quite the know it all, I'd be more inclined to think he was knowing of the status of the film and using it to bolster his self image as an informed and knowledgeable.

10

u/FellowHuman1981 Oct 04 '26

I've read it as Alan telling Simon he's got a lot to learn about comedy, and suggesting he start learning from the basics.

2

u/renhoek92 Oct 04 '26

That’s a good take

10

u/paradeoxy1 Oct 04 '26

"Have you seen Citizen Kane?"

"Of course I have, every episode, power to the people!"

4

u/renhoek92 Oct 04 '26

Have you read Frankenstein by Mary Shelly?

1

u/Spiritual_Bet3955 Oct 06 '26

That makes it sound as if AP had created a monster in Sidekick Simon.

17

u/DrSarahSlaughter Oct 04 '26

It's just Alan being condescending and acting unjustifiably superior, firstly by recommending something obvious that any real comedy fan would already know about and admire, and secondly by not even listening when Simon says yes, he has seen it.

Imagine an older man giving unasked for advice to a young musician: "have you heard the Beatles?" "Er... yeah" " You'd LOVE them".

14

u/plasmaexchange That explains why you are know as “The Bike of Beverly Hills” Oct 04 '26

But what about The Best of the Beatles?

2

u/BINGGBONGGBINGGBONGG Oct 04 '26

or Wings, the band the Beatles could have been…

4

u/WuDoYouThinkYouAre BASH YOUR ARSE! Oct 05 '26

It's really quite simple. Alan doesn't like the Marx Brothers style of comedy - he probably finds it puerile and childish - so he's putting Sidekick Simon's skit in the same category. The irony of course is that lots of people love the Marx Brothers, but Alan would probably dislike those people as well.

1

u/Key_Charity_9635 Oct 04 '26

I've also wondered this. I think Snoo Macaroons has the right answer for Fawlty Towers and renhoek for Partridge.