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Fools and Horses Voted Funniest Sitcom

John Dingwall The Daily Record, 5 November 2005

THE Two Ronnies have been voted the greatest ever comedy duo.

The late Ronnie Barker and his partner Ronnie Corbett beat Morecambe and Wise, Laurel and Hardy, Reeves and Mortimer and Abbott and Costello to the title.

And another great British double act - Del Boy and Rodney - helped Only Fools And Horses clinch the title of funniest sitcom.

The survey of 4000 comedy fans was carried out by the internet bank Smile.

Peter Kay was named funniest living Brit and best stand-up comic, ahead of John Cleese and Jack Dee respectively.

Billy Connolly took third place in the funniest Brit category and fourth in stand-up.

Only Fools And Horses was also voted the best comedy theme tune, beating the Morecambe And Wise Show and Friends.

Only Fools, which made national treasures out of characters Del Boy (David Jason) and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) was launched in 1981 and ran for a total of 64 episodes.

The survey was dominated by British humour and the only category which the US came top in was funniest film.

That went to the disaster movie spoof Airplane, starring Leslie Nielsen, which pipped Monty Python's The Life Of Brian.

Christine Petyt, director of operations for smile.co.uk, said: "The research shows that there have been some fantastic comedians and comedy shows over the years.

Memorable "It's also clear that good comedy is sustainable, with many of the catchphrases and memorable sketches now decades old.

"That spells good news for comedy lovers as we can look forward to many more memorable repeats on TV for years to come.

"It will also ensure that for all those fans of the late Ronnie Barker, it certainly won't mean 'a good night from him

SITCOM

1.Only Fools And Horses 2.Friends 3.Fawlty Towers 4.Porridge 5.The Office 6.Blackadder 7.Father Ted 8.One Foot In The Grave 9.Rising Damp 10.Dads Army

THEME TUNE

1.Only Fools And Horses 2.Morecambe And Wise Show 3.Friends 4.One Foot In The Grave 5.Monty Python's Flying Circus 6.Dad's Army 7.The Benny Hill Show 8.The Office 9.Blackadder 10.The Good Life

COMEDY DUO

1.The Two Ronnies 2.Morecambe and Wise 3.Laurel and Hardy 4.French and Saunders 5.Ant and Dec 6.Reeves and Mortimer 7.Abbott and Costello 8.Abbott and Costello 9.Fry and Laurie 10.Baddiel and Skinner

FUNNIEST BRIT

1.Peter Kay 2.John Cleese 3.Billy Connolly 4.Ricky Gervais 5.Jack Dee 6.Eddie Izzard 7.David Jason 8.Lee Evans 9.Rowan Atkinson 10.Dawn French

STAND-UP

1.Peter Kay 2.Tommy Cooper 3.Jack Dee 4.Billy Connolly 5.Eddie Izzard 6.Jo Brand 7.Bill Bailey 8.Bill Hicks 9.Dave Allen 10.Jimmy Carr

FILM

1.Airplane 2.Life of Brian 3.Blazing Saddles 4.American Pie 5.Dumb and Dumber 6.Some Like It Hot 7.Bridget Jones' Diary 8.Austin Powers - International Man Of Mystery 9.Wayne's World 10.Four Weddings And A Funeral