British Comedian pwns Chaucer

    Bill Bailey is an English comedian best known for his roles in such television shows as Black Books (2004), Spaced (2001), Hot Fuzz (2007) and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (1996)—many of which are somewhat obscure to North American audiences,but very popular in the UK.

    In the below clip, Bailey is combining a traditional pub-style joke, a “three men go into a pub” joke, with an imitation of Chaucer’s Middle English and verse.    

    The combination works well considering the crass nature of the “three men go into a pub” genre and Chaucer’s sometimes-raunchy humor, typified in the Miller’s Tale and The Wife of Bath. Also, both the “three men go into a pub” joke and the Canterbury Tales itself begin in a pub. Although certain elements of the joke are purposefully anachronistic, overall, it isn’t really all that far from the kind of altered traditional tales that Chaucer composed for the Canterbury Tales. (Thusly, have we ruined Bailey’s joke, explaining away its intelligence.)

    Also, note the added “e’s” and the pronunciation of vowels. Teehee.