However much you love your child, and the feeling being strongly reciprocated, there is always the ‘generation gap’. Nowhere in entertainment is the gap more evident than in music. The close equal-seconds are movies and humour. Occasionally, however, there is evidence of the gap being eliminated, with enjoyment shared simultaneously; even by a multi-generation audience and in the same room at the same time.
With that in mind, allow me to draw your attention to a sitcom series of the 1960s. No, not the 1860s; I don’t go back quite that far. Following a number of popular movies that included the global classic, ‘Mary Poppins’, an entertainer by the name of Dick van Dyke was given his own sit-com series.
That was a humorous show in a realistic, everyday-type setting, usually with the same group of characters to whom the TV audience became very attached in one way or another. The show was so successful that it lasted many seasons and later gave rise to his wife of the series, Mary Tyler Moore, being given her own show, itself lasting many years.
I mention especially the Dick van Dyke Show, without any fear whatsoever of being labelled a ‘square’ – a rather archaic term for someone out of touch with the latest, most popular style of music. I stumbled upon the show when researching the life of this remarkable guy, Dick van Dyke, who – fingers crossed – will celebrate his 100th birthday on December 13, 2025. This was a man who could act any part, but could entertain in a manner as popular with children as old people. He was also known for his remarkable displays of agility, dancing and other physical activities during the shows.
What was especially appealing about the Dick van Dyke Show? Quite simply it captured, so humorously, life in a husband-and-wife relationship that is as realistic today as it was in those days. It transcends the age-defining black and white screen and there isn’t a cellphone in sight. It finds humour in scenes that are as relevant to the present day as they would have been 60 years ago.
Nowhere in that sitcom do you see the special props and other features of today’s movies and sitcoms. Never is there some wild inebriate reversing at speed up a no-entry street or a pilot steering his aircraft into a crash landing. You don’t need to. You are presented with family comedy in its simplest and most natural form. Additionally, you can sit and watch it with anyone. Absolutely no cause for embarrassment.
It is, of course, sad that our earthly lives must come to an end and that they are invariably accompanied by pain and solitude. It might be more appealing if we started very old and infirm and steadily got younger and younger, learning about and living life backwards, so to speak. However, that’s not to be and makes no sense anyway. Dick van Dyke has chosen to live his life to the fullest and at 99 years of age can be seen at functions, laughing his head off and joining in with the camaraderie of the day.
He even goes down the gym every morning, very nobly showing no respect for the limitations of age. He must hurt somewhere. No one gets to that age without any permanent pain or discomfort. However, some just don’t complain about it, and Van Dyke obeyed no limitations to a happy and productive life.
Perhaps, in one key respect, the ultimate test of showbusiness humour is where the comedy actors can present humour without bigotry, blasphemy or excess vulgarity nor the need for brutal human behaviour. In effect, it is the show that can be shared with all members of the family. Why do we need to watch movies of people shooting each other or crushing an adversary in the crudest manner imaginable or throwing someone out of a tenth storey window? We can get all that at home! (just joking).
One cannot be mentioning someone as unforgettable as Dick van Dyke without including another actor and his special movie – James Stewart and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ The famous message in it was, ‘God is sovereign, each life is precious, each person has a divine purpose and the grand story, in which we all play a part, is still unfolding’. It’s a story of self-sacrifice and community spirit. Voted by many in the showbusiness world as one of the very best films of all time, especially at Christmas when its relevance is so clear and moving.
Into the present day? The one comedian, who stands out supremely from a host of very talented humourists, is Tim Vine. That guy has the golden touch. Armed to the teeth with a stack of superb one-liners and delivered in the warmest manner. On one occasion he reaches down into a large box, then says, ‘aaah’ in a deeply sympathetic manner, as he happily retrieves the letter ‘R’ from the box.
Nobody can justly argue that good comedy disappeared last century when you have comedians like Vine. Watch him sing and act out, ‘The Ladder Song’ and if you don’t fall out of your seat laughing, you’ll … remain seated. It is creative humour of the present day. Great comedy never dies and while it makes relatively innocent fun of the challenges of human interaction, especially the domestic version, it should never be considered out of date.
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