The Dinner Party

## Bio

The **Dinner Party** is a social gathering party held by the McGees (Henry McGee and Anna Dawson) with four friends. The setting seems to be a flat in an expensive British apartment house.

When their servant has to head to Scotland to care for her sick mother, Mrs. McGee has to hire a servant for her dinner party, and Chow Mein shows up to fill the position. However, his weak understanding of English and unprofessionalism very soon becomes apparent to his employers. Mrs. McGee briefly takes his reference to her flat to her being "fat" and when she questions his qualifications, he starts getting frustrated with the language barrier. His card says he's a handyman which to Chow Mein means he's handy because he lives around the corner. When she asks if he can be a valet, he screams back, "Yes, a valet good waiter."

The confusion continues when Mr. McGee tries to teach Mein how to serve drinks, but he thinks it's an invitation to freely start drinking. Eventually, the guests start arriving, who Mein calls "customers," further exasperating Mrs. McGee. As Mein continues drinking, he starts getting intoxicated, making the situation even more strained than it already is. The first guests are Mr. and Mrs. Nichols (Jon Jon Keefe and Lorraine Doyle), a husband and wife. However, because Mrs. McGee asks him to apologize for the place being disorderly, he instead announces it and invites them to meet her in the bedroom. He also introduces them as "Mr. and Mrs. Knickers." When Mrs. McGee recommends drinks, Mein uses it as an excuse to start drinking again.

The next guests are George and Margaret (Sue Upton and Johnny Hutch), who are dating each other. He tries to get Mein to take his hat, but Mein confusingly thinks its a gift and throws it away. When they go to get drinks, Mein doesn't understand the names of the drinks. Getting even more drunk, Mein is sent off to serve dinner with his employers yelling orders from the dining room. After the Beaujolais wine is served, Mr. McGee gets so disgusted he briefly departs to call for a replacement for Mein, who ends up pouring the minestrone soup out on the stove. Confused over what he's doing wrong, Mrs. McGee hits him with a metal soup ladle. Without the soup, they try to make do with the main course, a duck dinner which Mein accidentally dumps on the floor and scoops up with menus, even stepping on it at one point. Without another duck to serve, all the McGees have left to serve are the canapes, but Mein unfamiliar with the term tries matching it to everything from a can of peas to a canopy.

By this point, Mr. McGee has had enough and throws him out of the apartment after yelling a volley of insults, but the mostly inebriated Chow Mein confusingly thinks he's trying to apologize.

In the remains of the gathering, Mein's replacement Mamud Ramsun arrives, who also barely speaks English himself, but he's good-natured and friendly. When Mein returns to get his suitcase, they recognize each other as good friends and retreat to the liquor to drink with each other.

## Trivia

* This sketch is a bit of a departure from the sight gags and verbal humor of Benny Hill; it instead resembles the surrealistic satire from the American series, "The Carol Burnette Show."
* The "canapes/canopy" confusion was previously created in the Fanny and Johnny Craddock spoof on March 24, 1976.

## Gallery

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