LENNIE BENNETT (of LENNIE AND JERRY) helmed this flimsy half-arsed rip-off variation on Hollywood/Celebrity Squares. Nine celebs, perched in precarious-looking square vertical arrangement, e.g. NORMAN COLLIER, MIKE REID, MIKE READ, BARBARA WINDSOR etc., delivered punchlines to jokes instead of answers to questions. So it’s a different show entirely! See?
The Mother-in-Law
July 24, 2009 at 8:46 pm
One of the funniest things Adrian Juste ever did was a sketch where Jeremy Beadle was on the lowest tier of the Punchlines celeb line up, and above him were heavyweights like Cyril Smith and Bernard Manning which resulted in the whole thing crashing down on Beadlebum’s head.
Droogie
February 24, 2023 at 10:38 pm
Punchlines and Lennie Bennett are etched in my memory as a kid. Lennie briefly looked like he was going places as a newer comedian with his tight perm and fast delivery. That didn’t happen. What I also remember from Punchlines were the celebrity guests were mainly newish acts that never became household names. Fogwell Flax and Rose Marie come to mind .
Droogie
February 24, 2023 at 10:39 pm
Punchlines and Lennie Bennett are etched in my memory as a kid. Lennie briefly looked like he was going places as a newer comedian with his tight perm and fast delivery. That didn’t happen. What I also remember from Punchlines were the celebrity guests were mainly newish acts that never became household names. Fogwell Flax and Rose Marie come to mind .
David Smith
February 25, 2023 at 8:47 am
Also a pre-Chalk Dust/Allo Allo Roger Kitter, Bryan Joan Elliott (an American comedian, and a woman) and the late Judy Gridley who later played Percy Sugden’s niece in Corrie. I think later series had more recognisable celebs, from what I can remember.
Droogie
February 26, 2023 at 12:14 am
Roger Kitter was a strange cat. He was old enough to appear on Who Do You Do doing decent impressions of Dave Allen et all. Then had the 80’s novelty hit with the John McEnroe parody. And then dipped his toe in alternative comedy by playing himself on an episode of The Statesman opposite Rik Mayall as B’stard on a quiz show parody. He’s also in the front row of the classic An Audience With Ken Dodd. ( And he’s a dead ringer die Steve Coogan . )
Sidney Balmoral James
February 26, 2023 at 9:26 am
Ironically given the discussion, Roger Kitter appeared in a celebrity quiz show scene in the New Statesman (I programme I couldn’t stand), when introduced by Nicholas Parsons he told a ribald gag about Princess Margaret, and I’ve often wondered if Roger Kitter improvised it himself.
Glenn Aylett
February 25, 2023 at 4:53 pm
Whither Jerry Stevens, who must have thought he had finally hit the big time when he was given a series on BBC1 with Lennie Bennett and the duo were hailed as the new Morecambe and Wise, only to see the partnership dissolve after two years and Stevens to fade into obscurity. While Bennett did very well without Stevens on Punchlines, last I heard of Jerry Stevens was he ran celebrity golf tournaments in London.
George White
February 25, 2023 at 11:10 pm
I did notice that Brendan Grace (as big and beloved comedian as you could get in Ireland, but across the sea, purely known as Fr. Fintan Stack) did a few eps, presumably trying to break the UK market. Presumably telling his ‘Chinese takeaway’ routine (just as dodgy as you’d think – ‘why are the counters so tall when the people so small?’ and his Krusty the Klown-esque ‘Waayoowaan’?).
Droogie
February 25, 2023 at 11:27 pm
Jerry Stevens briefly had a cheapo TV quiz show on BBC2 in the early 80’s called Telly Quiz where the winners answering the most trivia questions won a TV set. Reading his wiki page is bonkers. Anyone who puts winning the Bob Hope UK Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament in 1981 as an amateur on there is a loon.
Glenn Aylett
February 26, 2023 at 10:43 am
@ Droogie, Stevens was a mediocre comedian at best and was out of his league when offered a peak time comedy show, but his fall from fame was just as rapid as his rise, and golf did keep him away from the dole queue in his later years, as he arranged Variety Club celebrity golf tournaments. Lennie Bennett at least had game shows and after dinner speaking to keep the money rolling in.
Richardpd
February 26, 2023 at 1:02 pm
As mentioned in a few other threads here the early 1980s seemed to be a minefield for upcoming comedy acts, with a few hopefuls being given a chance then struggling to cope.
Glenn Aylett
February 26, 2023 at 4:41 pm
@ Richardpd, the BBC had lost Morecambe and Wise to ITV in 1978 and were desperate to find the next big thing. Lennie Bennett and Jerry Stevens didn’t work as they weren’t a double act and their material was slight and Lennie Bennett decided to walk on the BBC after two years as he knew the partnership wasn’t working. Game shows seemed to work a lot better for Bennett as his quick fire wit and delivery were ideal for shows like Punchlines.
Richardpd
February 26, 2023 at 9:59 pm
A few partnerships are around this time were tipped to be the next Morecambe and Wise.
Droogie
February 27, 2023 at 4:01 pm
If you thought Little & Large were poor, you should’ve seen an act called Cheese & Onion. I know I can’t share other website links here, but Google their name and the website comedy comedy.co.uk for a gobsmacking piece on how they were plucked out of the Phoenix Nights circuit for their own Tv show when they only actually had 20 minutes of material, resulting in a lightning quick return to obscurity. They had a brief resurgence in interest a few years back from the excellent Inside No.9 episode Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room when they’re briefly mentioned by the fictional act Cheese & Crackers
Tom Ronson
February 28, 2023 at 2:50 am
I saw Barry Cheese and Mike Onion at Great Yarmouth’s Wellington Pier theatre during the summer season they got off the back of their one and only ITV series, Funnybone. ‘Awful’ is charitable. The deathly silence that greeted vast stretches of their act spoke volumes.
Droogie
February 28, 2023 at 11:14 pm
@Tom Ronson. Oh my. I’d have loved to see Cheese & Onion have a tricky gig at a summer season. There’s something about those old school acts who can’t break the 4th wall or improvise and acknowledge they’re dying a death onstage that is priceless.