The Class Sketch
First broadcast in 1966 on The Frost Report, The Class Sketch remains one of the sharpest and most observant pieces of British television comedy ever written. In barely two minutes, it manages to expose the absurdities and cruelties of the British class system with a precision that many longer dramas have failed to match.
Performed by John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the sketch uses height as its central visual joke. Cleese’s tall, patrician figure represents the upper class, Barker’s average build the middle class, and Corbett’s small stature the working class. Their physical positioning does most of the work before a word is spoken.
The dialogue is deceptively simple. Each character explains how they view those above and below them, culminating in Corbett’s perfectly judged line: “I know my place.” When the others list what they “get” from the class system — superiority, status, security — Corbett’s character quietly concludes: “I get a pain in the back of my neck.” It’s a punchline that lands because it’s funny, but also because it’s painfully true.
What makes the sketch so enduring is its economy. Written by Marty Feldman and John Law, it avoids topical references and instead focuses on something deeply ingrained in British culture. The humour doesn’t rely on fashions or politics of the moment; it relies on attitudes that, for many viewers, still feel familiar.
More than half a century on, the sketch continues to be referenced because Britain’s relationship with class has never quite loosened its grip. Accents, education, wealth and background still shape opportunity and perception. The idea that people instinctively “look up” or “look down” remains embedded in everyday life, even if the symbols have changed.
That’s why The Class Sketch still feels relevant today. It has been cited in discussions about politics, inequality and even football, and it continues to circulate online among audiences far younger than its original viewers. Its brilliance lies in how effortlessly it reveals a system that many would rather pretend no longer exists.
Ultimately, The Class Sketch endures because it does what the best comedy always does: it tells the truth quickly, clearly, and with a laugh. It is not just one of the funniest sketches ever made, but one of the most perceptive — a reminder that while Britain has changed in countless ways since 1966, its uneasy relationship with class remains stubbornly intact.
How It Looked vs Felt
Tastes Change
I have read that a woman on a birth control pill is attracted to men with a different scent than when she is not on birth control. So while the post is humerous, there could be an element of truth in it. LOL!
You Never Know Where You Stand With A Woman Until…
What Is Your Biggest Fantasy?
Covid Lament
You Haven’t Lived
Not Alzheimer’s
A Royal Chuckle
A funny and true story about the Queen:
Around 2005, the Queen and her Personal Protection Officer, Dick Griffin, were walking alone one afternoon in the hills near the Scottish royal castle, Balmoral.
Two tourists approached them, and engaged in conversation. Griffin recalls:
“There were two hikers coming towards us, and the Queen would always stop and say hello.
“They were two Americans on a walking holiday.
“It was clear from the moment we stopped that they hadn’t recognised the Queen, which was fine.
“The American gentleman was telling the Queen where they came from, where they were going next, and where they’d been in Britain.
“I could see it coming, and sure enough, he said to Her Majesty: ’And where do you live?’
“She replied: ’Well I live in London, but I’ve got a holiday home just the other side of the hills.’
“He said: ’How long have you been coming up here?’
“She replied: ’I’ve been coming up here ever since I was a little girl, so over 80 years.’
“You could see the cogs whirring, so he said: ’Well, if you’ve been coming up here for over 80 years, you must have met the Queen.’
“Quick as a flash, she said: ’I haven’t, but Dick here meets her regularly.’
The hiker then asked Griffin what the monarch was like in person.
“Because I was with her a long time, and I knew I could pull her leg, I said: ’Oh, she can be very cantankerous at times, but she’s got a lovely sense of humour.’
“The next thing I knew, this guy comes round, puts his arm around my shoulder, and before I could see what was happening, he gets his camera, GIVES IT TO THE QUEEN, and says: ’Can you take a picture of the two of us?’
“Then we swapped places, and I TOOK A PICTURE OF THEM WITH THE QUEEN.
“And we never let on, and we waved goodbye.
“Afterwards, Her Majesty said to me: ’I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows those photographs to his friends in America, and hopefully someone tells him who I am’.”
RIP, Your Majesty