The Art of the Pause

Benny's genius was subtraction. He gave the good lines away — to Rochester, to Phil Harris, to Mary Livingstone — and kept the reactions, which is why the audience laughs hardest when he says nothing at all. Comedy programmes are usually written by someone and starred in by someone else; here you can hear a star engineering his own diminishment week after week because it is funnier.

The other thing that survives is the cast as a genuine ensemble. These people have known each other for years and the timing shows it: overlaps, small cruelties, running jokes that pay off a decade later.

The commercials are part of the show and shouldn't be skipped. So is the violin, God help us.