IN MUCH THE same manner that the "Fab Four" from Liverpool, the BEATLES' arrival on the shores of our folks here in "the Colonies" spawned a full invasion of British Pop Stars, so too the appearance of MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS over Public Broadcasting System's affiliated stations had a similar effect.
ONCE WE Americans had acquired a taste for "the Lumberjack Song", the Dead Parrot Sketch" and "Silly Walks", the PBS big shots were chomping at the bit for more. Soon we were treated to THE GOODIES, THE TWO RONNIES, NO HONESTLY and, of course, BENNY HILL.
IN THE MIDST of this, we found DAVE ALLEN AT LARGE, a half hour hosted by an Irishman, whose preference seemed to be the somewhat lost art of the story. In short, he was good at telling jokes. That surely was his strong suit; although he did participate in the show's sketches.
DRAWING ON HIS own life experiences, the show features a lot of "Catholic Funnies", as well as a liberal dose of situations involving the Age Old Irish-English feud.
OTHERWISE, WE FOUND this Dave Allen guy to be a fine host, who made us feel right at home in front of our TV sets, right in that time slot that followed MONTY PYTHON on Channel 11, WTTW,PBS in Chicago. It was on Sundays at 11:00 PM.
ONCE WE Americans had acquired a taste for "the Lumberjack Song", the Dead Parrot Sketch" and "Silly Walks", the PBS big shots were chomping at the bit for more. Soon we were treated to THE GOODIES, THE TWO RONNIES, NO HONESTLY and, of course, BENNY HILL.
IN THE MIDST of this, we found DAVE ALLEN AT LARGE, a half hour hosted by an Irishman, whose preference seemed to be the somewhat lost art of the story. In short, he was good at telling jokes. That surely was his strong suit; although he did participate in the show's sketches.
DRAWING ON HIS own life experiences, the show features a lot of "Catholic Funnies", as well as a liberal dose of situations involving the Age Old Irish-English feud.
OTHERWISE, WE FOUND this Dave Allen guy to be a fine host, who made us feel right at home in front of our TV sets, right in that time slot that followed MONTY PYTHON on Channel 11, WTTW,PBS in Chicago. It was on Sundays at 11:00 PM.