TV's 25 Greatest Insults

[Panamark]

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...-10229,00.html

[Panamark]

INSULTS from Captain Mainwaring's "You stupid boy!" in Dad's Army to the acerbic lines of Edmund Blackadder have been chosen as the top 25 TV put-downs.

British sit-coms and US soap operas have all been mined for the scorn-filled gems, complied by TV critic John Naughton for Britain's Radio Times magazine.

Spoof talk-show host Caroline Aherne is up there with the best for her questioning of Debbie McGee, the young wife and stage assistant of Paul Daniels, one of Britain's most successful magicians, in The Mrs Merton Show.

Smile fixed firmly in place, she asked Debbie "So what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"

The critic had plenty of material to sift through from Blackadder, before selecting Rowan Atkinson's line about the stunningly dim Lord Percy "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Perce?"

Men Behaving Badly,The Royle Family, House, Absolutely Fabulous and even The Muppets all supply stinging rebukes.

US putdown that made the grade include JR Ewing's withering dismissal of his half-brother in Dallas: "Ray was never comfortable eating with the family; we do use knives and forks."

Dynasty's Joan Collins would not be outdone by Larry Hagman's vile alter ego as she quipped to one hapless character "I'm glad to see your father had your teeth fixed - if not your mouth."

David Croft, co-writer of the hit British situation comedies Dad's Army and Are You Being Served?, says the put-down has become much crueller over the years.

"I think there is a lot more unkindness in comedy than there used to be," he said.

"What I think is just as funny is the way the character reacts to a put-down. That is often where the laughs are."

Here are the other lines from the list:

Basil Fawlty - Fawlty Towers. To Sybil: "Oh dear, what happened? Did you get entangled in the eiderdown again? Not enough cream in your eclair? Hmm? Or did you have to talk to all your friends for so long that you didn't have time to perm your ears?"

Roseanne Conner - Roseanne. To husband Dan: "Your idea of romance is popping the can away from my face."

Father Jack Hackett - Father Ted. "Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!"

Carla - Cheers. Cliff: "I'm ashamed God made me a man." Carla: "I don't think God's doing a lot of bragging about it either."

Patsy Stone - Absolutely Fabulous. "One more facelift on this one and she'll have a beard."

Jim Royle - The Royle Family. Nana: "Is this hat too far forward?" Jim: "No. We can still see your face."

Malcolm Tucker - The Thick Of It. To a junior minister: "All these hands all over the place! You were like a sweaty octopus trying to unhook a bra! It was like watching John Leslie at work!"

Statler and Waldorf - The Muppet Show. Statler: "Wake up, you old fool, you slept through the show." Waldorf: "Who's a fool? You watched it."

Inspector Monkfish - The Fast Show. To a bereaved woman: "I realise this must be a very difficult time for you, so put your knickers on and go and make me a cup of tea."

No Offence - The Fast Show. "I notice you're not wearing a wedding ring which, given your age, means you're divorced or a lesbian."

Rupert Rigsby - Rising Damp. To lodger Alan, who complains his room is too cold to study in: "The only thing you study is your navel. You even shave lying down."

Nan - The Catherine Tate Show. Describing an encounter with an overweight hospital volunteer: "She said to me last time, 'You look bored, Mrs Taylor. I've got three words for you: Barbara Taylor Bradford.' So I said, 'Yeah? I've got three words for you too: calorie controlled diet."'

The Professor - The Mary Whitehouse Experience. "I have here a copy of your book, Origins of the Crimean War. It smells of poo." "That's because it's been inside your mum's bra."

Alf Garnett - Till Death Us Do Part. "You Scouse git!"

Dr Perry Cox - Scrubs. Dr Elliot Reid: "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation here. I am dangerously close to giving up men altogether." Dr Cox: "Then on behalf of men everywhere - and I do mean everywhere, including the ones in little mud huts - let me be the first to say thanks and hallelujah."

Dr Gregory House - House. "You can think I'm wrong, but that's no reason to stop thinking."

Gary Strang - Men Behaving Badly. "Let's face it, Tony, the only way you're gonna be in there is if you're both marooned on a desert island and she eats a poisonous berry or a nut which makes her temporarily deaf, dumb, stupid, forgetful and desperate for sex."

Arnold Rimmer - Red Dwarf. "Look, we all have something to bring to this discussion. But I think from now on the thing you should bring is silence."

Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm. "Switzerland is a place where they don't like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate."

Sam Tyler - Life On Mars. To Gene Hunt: "I think you've forgotten who you're talking to." Sam: "An overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline-alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding?"