Two shows, one joke | How John Sullivan recycled a gag

Two shows, one joke

How John Sullivan recycled a gag

comedy It’s a bit of double-dealing Del Boy would have been proud of.

Comedy writer John Sullivan managed to get paid for the same joke twice - by selling it to The Two Ronnies as well as including it in Only Fools And Horses.

In 1981, he was writing the first series of what was to become his defining sitcom, while also writing sketches for Messrs Barker and Corbett.

He submitted one gag to the duo, which he was led to believe wasn’t going to be used in their BBC One ketch show, so the ‘ever resourceful’ Sullivan recycled it for Only Fools.

‘They gave him so many of these antibiotics that he sneezed and two other blokes got better,’ Del tells his pals at the Nags’ Head.

But the gag DID eventually get used in the Two Ronnies as well, so a nice bit of double bunce for the writer..

The anecdote is told in The Story Of Only Fools and Horses on Gold at 8pm tonight:

Published: 3 Oct 2017

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.