Least fiery
Ronnie and Also Ronnie was a smash on UK screens for many years. There was a small Ronnie and a larger Ronnie. The larger Ronnie retired first, leaving the small Ronnie to perform one final festive special with Bruce Forsyth. Both Brucie and the small Ronnie appeared briefly in NEMS. You don’t need to go and find them. This is a debut for the larger Ronnie.

Awww. This is nice.
I assume from the yellow eyes that the heat pump is pumping the heat from the future, when the planet’s warmer.
Nemulaircon
… or maybe it’s pumping the heat from the past to the present, and that’s why it’s hotter than it used to be…
Claire would probably get into more trouble for having matches in the house than the condom she somehow acquired.
Condoms are kept next to all the faucets in the Little household, just in case anyone needs to improvise a water balloon to extinguish a small fire at distance.
Indeed. Claire’s pyromania really makes more sense now as her form of psychological rebellion from her family.
Why on Earth would she get in trouble for having a condom?! As a parent I would certainly hope my kids used protection!
You’d think condoms would be pretty trivial to enquire but Mafness’ “House of Fun” has convinced me that in England this isn’t so.
To the contrary, you can go down the road any time you want and walk into Harry’s and hold your head up high and say in a loud, steady voice, ‘Harry, I want you to sell me a condom. In fact, today, I think I’ll have a French Tickler, for I am a Protestant.’
Keep in mind that in some places, you need to prove it by showing your copy of the Book of Common Prayer or excoriating the Pope.
They sell them in shops, you know
Keeping one’s matches in the refrigerator strikes me (sorry) as next-level fire prevention.
I’m imagining the matchbox is normally stored in the freezer, shielded between the hollowed-out halves of a big block of ice, maybe wrapped in in a fireproof blanket as well. Cant be too careful.
The Two Ronnies’ “Fork Handles” and “Mastermind” are still absolutely top-of-class in sketch comedy
A while ago I broke the handle of a garden fork and I kind of regret not taking the opportunity to visit my local hardware shop and ask if they sold “‘andles for forks”
I remember Ronnie and Also Ronnie best for their famous catchphrase “I wish you a good night” followed by the other one saying “And I also wish you a good night on his behalf.” And how they made the little one sit in a chair that was too large for him while he struggled to remember how stories went. It’s no wonder I was obsessed with Britlish comedy as a child.
🎵 Come on Claire-y light his fire!
When Python broke over here in the 70s, they somehow held the door open for all kinds of British comedy to sneak onto American public TV, including the aforementioned multiples of Ronnie. WGBH in Boston, one of the PBS keystones, actually ran the Goodies in 1976, which means that the lost original version of Kitten Kong may actually be in someone’s forgotten Betamax collection in Massachusetts.
I have vague memories of watching The Goodies on PBS as a kid (WTVS in Detroit).
I recall an episode which involved a chasm in their sitting room and a potholing suit. Beyond that things are fuzzy.
The Ecky-Thump episode will live forever in my mind.
Wait, Kitten Kong has been lost? I might have it on Betamax (in Atlanta)
There were two versions of Kitten Kong; the one originally broadcast is thought lost. The extant version is an extended version created for the Rose d’Or (Montreux) television awards (a sort of Euro-Emmys).
No idea how that’s possible, but Glenn seems both extremely happy and extremely sad at the same time. While Claire seems quite happy and extremely dangerous. Maybe it’s time to go at Mildred’s home and setting things on fire with her.
I think that’s just how his face do.
That final panel would make a great T-shirt. Or just the “Claire” image on a “meet the cast” page.
I loved watching The Ronnies when I was in the UK back in the day. I especially loved te Ronnie in the Chair segments!
Ronnie and Also Ronnie were hugely popular on NZ TV in their time, so this traditional English Yuletide is similar to a ’70s NZ Yuletide but with fewer barbecues. We also had reruns of The Goodies, who seem to have faded from UK consciousness through lack of Python-levels exposure.
The first panel of the next page: Tackleford is ablaze.
It’s where we find out Glenn realizes his inner pyro, fully encouraged by Claire
I love the looks on Glenn and Claire’s faces in the last two panels. However I think sparklers are more of a New Year’s eve thing maybe? I’m not sure how it is for UK Commonwealth countries. On our side of the pond we only really use sparklers for the 4th of July.
Sparklers are most commonly seen on Bonfire Night in the UK. But the date that they’re most commonly used is irrelevant to Claire’s pyromania.
Typo in the third panel! It should to be spelt “four candles”.
He smiles!
The heat pump’s appearance explains the most esoteric Christmas Tree decoration from the title page… and it appears to be Fishman Industries branded!