Hive Mind: "...and why not?" in The Young Ones

[Grant Goggans]

I wondered whether y'all could explain an ancient pair of jokes to me.  I've always loved The Young Ones (we got it in the US Sunday nights on MTV 1986-88), but there's a character who completely baffles me.  I was reminded rewatching a couple of episodes recently.  He shows up in the pre-credit sequence of "Nasty" playing chess with Death, saying "Checkmate!  (Turning to the camera) And why not?" before Death replies "Checkmate?  Hmmmm!  Bollocks to this!"  He shows up again in "Time," explaining that his crime is being both Scottish and Jewish, again saying "And why not?"

Who is this guy?  Some '70s variety show comic that the Young Ones crowd are lampooning, maybe?  What does his catchphrase mean?

[mogzilla]

you're trying to make sense of the young ones???

dont. get pissed and just watch it!

[Nap Normal]

His name is Arnold Brown. A Scottish and Jewish comedian who's catch phrase is "and why not"

[Grant Goggans]

Thanks, Nap!  Just looked him up on YouTube.

Couldn't believe this darn DVD.  It restored several cuts made to the MTV broadcasts - including a whole interstitial scene in "Boring" with one awful racial epithet after another that was (unsurprisingly) not shown in the US - but chopped Jools Holland and Friends' version of "Subterranean Homesick Blues."  Even Neil singing the single line "Hello, darkness, my old friend" in "Nasty" was cut out.

MTV ran the show every Sunday night for three years - 12 episodes shown ten or eleven times each before the license expired.  We had plenty of time to get used to every beat of each episode, so any cut, or restored swear word or scene, stands out like a beacon.  Even if some of the culture-specific gags or guest stars didn't make much sense to us, it was much loved!

[Woolly]

Might want to look out for this new DVD box set...



No cuts that i've noticed, all the music included, and we even get some extras!
Bargain at a tenner too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Ones-Complete-BBC-DVD/dp/B000VA3J70/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1298830348&sr=1-1