The Two Ronnies was originally released on LP in 1976. Anyone listening to this and having never seen The Two Ronnies TV series will be forgiven for thinking that the majority of the duo's sketches revolved around word play as that's what seems to feature most prominently on this CD. Personally this was always the weakest segment of any show for me, and as a consequence I didn't particularly enjoy this collection.

These sketches all seem to revolve around the same basic joke - misunderstanding of pronunciation or delivery, or rhyming:

The Strange Case of Mrs. Mace (in which two police officers discuss a crime in rhyme - my god I'm doing it now); Jolly Rhymes (employees of a greeting card firm speak in verse to each other); About a Bout (two well spoken individuals have a chat where the pronunciation is the main focus of the jokes); Dr Spooner Re-visited (in which Spoonerisms form the central jokes); and Plain Speaking (the Minister of Communications has a problem with where to pause when delivering speeches).

The only sketch I actually rather enjoyed (even if the ending is flat) was The Complete Rook. Here Ronnie Corbett and his partner venture into The Complete Rook restaurant for a meal. Ronnie Barker plays the waiter who obviously hates his job and has absolutely no enthusiasm. The main joke here revolves around the fact that the restaurant's main ingredient is rook.

Even Ronnie Corbett's usual amusing monologue is a little on the flat side

This is one for those that bought the original album and are looking for a trip down memory lane - everyone else will probably find the majority of the sketches a little dull.

3

Darren Rea