whats the deal with mr bean

[koutalied]

how can something so weird be so obscenly funny although he did come up wiht the best ever way to paint room
paint pot and a firework classic

[InABanana]

Ahh Mr. Bean, a classic comedian. The acting of Rowan Atkinson is amazing. I think it was seen as funny because he was different and strange.

[Icewalker]

Oh, good times. I can barely remember them any more, except that they are hilarious.

[Charity]

It's what Rowan Atkinson did after he forgot how to be funny, check out Blackadder, the secret policemans ball or not the nine o'clock news if you want to see the man be funny.

[evisiron]

Hehe, I get the image of that one where he does the exam quickly, looks really smug, then finds another part 2mins before the exam ends, every time I take a test. :smallsmile:

[Leon Stormchild]

Ah, Mr. Atkinson. One of my favorite comedians, although I vastly prefer Black Adder to Mr. Bean...

[DraPrime]

Oh man, I love Mr. Bean. It's a reminder of why British comedies are the best comedies.

[koutalied]

ok i conceed that mr bean wasnt the best work mr atkinson did and i put it to you all htat blackadder probaly still remains one of the best comedies known to man the episode where baldrick using the skills of alchemy makes green
good times

[dish]

It depends on your definition of 'best'. Without a doubt Rowan Atkinson is one of the most talented comedians of his generation. If you look at his early work, and pay attention to interviews with his earliest collaborators (such as Richard Curtis) you will realise that he has always had two main comedy characters.
The first is the evil, sarcastic bast*rd - you can see him in the 'Devil Welcomes you to Hell' sketch, as well as various horrible school-masters - but this character became famous as 'Blackadder'.
Then there is the silly, and largely silent, little man. He can be seen in the 'How to impress girls' sketch from Atkinson's first live tour. This character later became famous as 'Mr Bean'.

'Blackadder' is very verbal - you need a good command of English to appreciate it, and at least some grasp of British history is also helpful. Thus Blackadder has always been most popular in the UK. (Though I believe it has seen some popularity in some of our ex-colonies.)
'Mr Bean' is mostly non-verbal and relies on clowning and mime skills. Also 'Mr Bean' is less culturally specific, and thus has seen tremendous popularity world-wide. I've seen Mr Bean DVDs being sold in the darkest depths of Asia to people who have no English comprehension whatsoever, and yet they still love him.

[Klose_the_Sith]

Oh man, I love Mr. Bean. It's a reminder of why British comedies are the best comedies.

Black Books, Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf etc

The British are the only people capable of making a sitcom funny

[Charity]

I've seen Mr Bean DVDs being sold in the darkest depths of Asia to people who have no English comprehension whatsoever, and yet they still love him.

Yeah they are next to the Manchester United cup final DVD's.
Mr Bean is much later than Blackadder and not owned exclusively by the Beeb, that is why it is more widely known... also slapstick comedy apeals to the LCD another winner as far as popularity goes... I'm not convinced by your reasoning.

[Eldan]

Well, I've seen a not-too-bad german translation of Blackadder going around, but it's true that Mr. Bean is vastly more popular over here. Probably because few people even know Blackadder.

[banjo1985]

Ah Mr Bean, a British institution. It's decent physical comedy, but not a patch on the aforementioned Blackadder.

[Dihan]

I love his Invisible Drum Kit and Welcome To Hell sketches. :smallbiggrin:

[koutalied]

you jsut have to love the fact he uses idiots in most of his humour though it makes it easier to laugh at i mean alot of his joke sin blackadder revolve around baldrick not understanding and thierfore making an errorr or blunder
and other times he uses his mastery of the english language to bewilder his dim witted compaions or example when baldrick comes up with the world war being stared becasue a ostrich got hungry

[Sneak]

I haven't seen Blackadder, but I've heard it's good. Mr. Bean, though, I'm not a huge fan of. Too much over-the-top ridiculousness and not enough actual humor for me. Shrug.

[SilentNight]

Yeah, I really need to see blackadder too. My friend was raving about it a couple years back. I think the mini-golf episode has to be one of my favorites though.

[UglyPanda]

Hehe, I get the image of that one where he does the exam quickly, looks really smug, then finds another part 2mins before the exam ends, every time I take a test. :smallsmile:
I've done that. In ninth grade biology, I was the first to finish a test with half the period left. It turned out that there were five more questions on the back of the last page and I had to finish the test during my lunch.

I've always found Mr. Bean funny and many of my relatives love him as well. It's because you don't need to know much English to catch the jokes.

[Tom_Violence]

It's what Rowan Atkinson did after he forgot how to be funny, check out Blackadder, the secret policemans ball or not the nine o'clock news if you want to see the man be funny.

And yet oddly enough its one of the first (if not the first) things that he came up with. Personally I used to love Mr Bean when I was a kid, but these days it completely washes over me. I think its a testament to Aktinson's comedic skill that he's able to make incredibly adult humour (such as his live stuff and a lot of the Not The Nine O'Clock News, which was just an amazing show overall and everyone should gladly wrestle their own mother for a chance to see it), and stuff for kids (such as Mr Bean), and also stuff that's kind of inbetween (such as Blackadder).

[The Evil Thing]

If you want a good idea of Atkinson's writing ability, you should have a look at the first season of Blackadder. It plays like a slightly dirty selection of Mr. Bean episodes and isn't terribly good. It's in the subsequent seasons that Atkinson really shines since Ben Elton starts writing for the show, and gives the guy some proper material to work with.

Atkinson is certainly a great actor but I'm a little doubtful that he's funny when he comes up with his own stuff.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Mr Bean is funny, but I think that there is plenty funnier. Personaly I wouldn't try and catch it if I missed it, Mr Bean is OK, but as a Brit I am used to Brilliant comedy.

Now the Invisible Drum Kit, CLASSIC.

[Tom_Violence]

If you want a good idea of Atkinson's writing ability, you should have a look at the first season of Blackadder. It plays like a slightly dirty selection of Mr. Bean episodes and isn't terribly good. It's in the subsequent seasons that Atkinson really shines since Ben Elton starts writing for the show, and gives the guy some proper material to work with.

Atkinson is certainly a great actor but I'm a little doubtful that he's funny when he comes up with his own stuff.

Apart from his Live shows, I agree completely. Conversely, Ben Elton is one of the least funny people on the planet when it comes to anything he's done in person, but writes extremely well. And Richard Curtis (the other author of Blackadder) is a perfect example of what happens when a great talent sells his soul to the RomCom Devil.

[RMS Oceanic]

Round here, Mr Bean is like Marmite: you love it or hate it. That said, the Holiday movie was much better than the 1997 movie.

Of course, Blackadder blows it out of the water, although I can see how Mr Bean is more universal. Not unlike WALL-E.

[Pocketa]

I saw Holiday in the NZ and then my friends in the states saw it long after it had left the NZ theaters...

[Gygaxphobia]

Black Books

Top marks for mentioning that one.

[Avilan the Grey]

If you want a good idea of Atkinson's writing ability, you should have a look at the first season of Blackadder. It plays like a slightly dirty selection of Mr. Bean episodes and isn't terribly good. It's in the subsequent seasons that Atkinson really shines since Ben Elton starts writing for the show, and gives the guy some proper material to work with.

Atkinson is certainly a great actor but I'm a little doubtful that he's funny when he comes up with his own stuff.

I have always really liked the first Series (the British does not do Seasons, usually :P ). It is different, and it is not as good as the other three series, but it is not bad. It just fades in comparison.

...Btw is anyone else but me really liking the Thin Blue Line?