Beyond The Fringe

Over the weekend, I finally got around to watching “Beyond The Fringe,” the filmed version of a stage show written by and starring Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller. It was shot on the last night of the show’s run in London’s West End in 1961, before moving to other countries, including the US, where it played on Broadway in 1962.

While not all of the satirical material holds up 61 years later, there were two sketches that had me laughing out loud, thanks to brilliant writing and clever wordplay. The first featured Bennett and Cook.

The second was this one performed by Cook and Moore, who kept it in their repertoire for decades, including at the the 1965 Royal Variety Performance. I first saw it in 1973-74 as part of their Broadway revue, “Good Evening,” and then again on a 1976 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” They even reprised it in London at a 1989 charity show called “The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball.”