Handsome women and English comedy

I work with an internationally diverse group of people and we always talk about the most interesting things. I don't know how it happened but my English colleague and I found ourselves on the topic of "handsome" women. He had never heard the term before and in my effort to explain I used Julia Child as an example. I thought I was in the clear but, to my dismay, he had never heard of Julia Child. Now I was in trouble. Not only was I on the hook to define handsome in the context of women, I was now on the hook to explain who is Julia Child.

Never shrinking from a challenge I sought to give my definition in terms that an Englishman could understand. I said, "Julia Child is a large-ish, motherly looking woman with a shrill quality to her voice; a lot like the typical male English comedian who does his bits in drag". "That's what a handsome woman is", I said. Now he understood.

I must have triggered some fond memories for my friend. We kept the discussion going by talking about his favorite English comedians. He ended up telling me about a popular comedy couple called Reeves and Mortimer. He sent me a YouTube link to educate me about Reeves and Mortimer.

Double clicking the link I was instantly slapped in the face by the image of two grown men in polyester clothes, singing impossibly ridiculous songs. I could understand the words but I just didn't get it. On my own I searched for more Reeves and Morimer stuff on YouTube. I was able to find a near endless supply of R&M skits and bits, all of which left me a bit puzzled.

I told my friend about watching a few R&M skits on YouTube. He giggled to himself and said, "they're brilliant!" He went on to say that most of their stuff was based on a variety of characters. I replied, "are any of them funny?"