genre the blood donor
Prop ___MASK92___ is a ___MASK92___ ___MASK50___ in which performers use humorous objects , or conventional objects in humorous ways . The stages and films term " prop ", an abbreviation of " property ", refers to any object an actor handles in the course of a performance . Though some form of prop ___MASK92___ has likely existed as long as there have been comedians , the ___MASK50___ reached its zenith in the vaudeville era . The vaudeville team Olsen and Johnson used prop ___MASK92___ extensively in their long running Broadway ___MASK58___ " Hellzapoppin ". Are You Being Served ? ( originally styled as " Are You Being Served ?" in ___MASK79___ marks ) is a British sitcom created and written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft ( Croft also directed some episodes ), with contributions from Michael Knowles and John Chapman , for the BBC . Set in London , the show follows the misadventures and mishaps of the staff of the retail ladies ' and gentlemen ' s clothing departments , in the flagship department store of a fictional chain called Grace Brothers . A joke is a display of ___MASK99___ in which words are used within a specific and well - defined ___MASK39___ structure to make people laugh . It takes the form of a story , usually with ___MASK20___ , and ends in a punch line . It is in the punch line that the audience becomes aware that the story contains a second , conflicting meaning . This can be done using a pun or other word ___MASK16___ such as irony , a logical incompatibility , nonsense or other means . Linguist Robert Hetzron offers the definition : Hugh and I is a black - and - white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967 . It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry ' s mother and was followed by a ___MASK26___ called " Hugh and I Spy ". Previously , the two male actors had worked together on stage for many years . Theatre or ___MASK98___ is a collaborative form of fine ___MASK65___ that uses live performers , typically actors or actresses , to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place , often a stage . The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture , speech , ___MASK89___ , music , and dance . Elements of ___MASK65___ , such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality , presence and immediacy of the experience . The specific place of the performance is also named by the word " theatre " as derived from the Ancient Greek  ( théatron , " a place for viewing "), itself from  ( theáomai , " to see ", " to watch ", " to observe "). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the United Kingdom ( UK ) or Britain , is a sovereign ___MASK8___ in ___MASK18___ Europe . Lying off the north - ___MASK18___ coast of the European mainland , it includes the island of Great Britain ( the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole ___MASK8___ ), the north - eastern part of the island of Ireland , and many smaller islands . Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland . Apart from this land border , the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the North Sea to its east , the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south - south - west , giving it the 12th - longest coastline in the world . The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland . With an area of , the UK is the 78th - largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th - largest in Europe . It is also the 21st - most populous ___MASK8___ , with an estimated 65 . 1 million inhabitants . Together , this makes it the fourth most densely populated ___MASK8___ in the European Union . England is a ___MASK8___ that is part of the United Kingdom . It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west . The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest . England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south . The ___MASK8___ covers five - eighths of the island of Great Britain ( which lies in the North Atlantic ) in its centre and south ; and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly , and the Isle of Wight . Duncan Wood ( 24 ___MASK84___ 1925 in Bristol , England  11 January 1997 ) was a ___MASK6___ producer , director and writer . His best - known achievements were to produce all of Tony Hancock ' s " Half Hours " for BBC TV during the late 1950s and early 1960s , and later , also with Hancock ' s former writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson , the classic British sitcom " Steptoe and Son " for most of its run . He also produced the first series of " The Bed - Sit Girl ". Patrick Cargill ( 3 June 191823 May 1996 ) was a British actor remembered for his lead role in the British ___MASK23___ sitcom " Father , Dear Father ". ___MASK52___ is a ___MASK50___ of literature , and sometimes graphic and performing arts , in which vices , follies , abuses , and shortcomings are held up to ridicule , ideally with the intent of shaming individuals , corporations , ___MASK60___ , or ___MASK36___ itself into improvement . Although satire is usually meant to be humorous , its greater purpose is often constructive social ___MASK63___ , using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in ___MASK36___ . A ___MASK87___ or ___MASK78___ is a person who seeks to entertain an audience , primarily by making them laugh . This might be through jokes or amusing situations , or acting a fool , as in slapstick , or employing prop comedy . A ___MASK87___ who addresses an audience directly is called a stand - up ___MASK78___ . `` The Blood Donor '' is an episode from the ___MASK92___ series Hancock , the final BBC series featuring British ___MASK87___ Tony Hancock . First transmitted on 23 June 1961 , the show was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson , and was produced by Duncan Wood . Supporting Hancock were Patrick Cargill , Hugh Lloyd , Frank Thornton , James Ottaway and June Whitfield . It remains one of the best known ___MASK96___ episodes ever broadcast in the United Kingdom , though the title is a retronym . ___MASK50___ ( or ; from French " ___MASK50___ " , " kind " or " sort ", from Latin " genus " ( stem " gener -"), Greek  , " gés ") ___MASK23___ or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome ( black - and - white ), or in color , and in two or three dimensions and sound . It can refer to a ___MASK23___ set , a ___MASK23___ program (" TV show "), or the medium of ___MASK23___ transmission . ___MASK23___ is a mass medium , for entertainment , education , news , and ___MASK59___ . Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek ___MASK9___ from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th - 9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity ( AD ). Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era . Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece , Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC , ushering in the period of Archaic Greece and colonization of the Mediterranean Basin . This was followed by the period of Classical Greece , an era that began with the Greco - Persian Wars , lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC . Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia , Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea . The Hellenistic period came to an end with the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic , which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece , and later the province of Achaea during the Roman Empire . Irony , in its broadest sense , is a rhetorical device , literary technique , or event in which what appears , on the surface , to be the case , differs radically from what is actually the case . Irony may be divided into categories such as verbal , ___MASK48___ , and situational . Verbal , ___MASK48___ , and situational irony are often used for emphasis in the assertion of a truth . The ironic form of simile , used in sarcasm , and some forms of litotes can emphasize one ' s meaning by the deliberate use of language which states the opposite of the truth , denies the contrary of the truth , or drastically and obviously understates a factual connection . ___MASK62___ is the technology of using ___MASK62___ waves to carry information , such as sound , by systematically modulating properties of electromagnetic energy waves transmitted through space , such as their amplitude , frequency , phase , or pulse width . When ___MASK62___ waves strike an electrical conductor , the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor . The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form . Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father - and - son rag - and - bone business . They live on Oil Drum Lane , a fictional street in Shepherd ' s Bush , London . Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965 , followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974 . Its theme tune , " Old Ned ", was composed by Ron Grainer . The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find " Britain ' s Best Sitcom ". It was remade in the US as " Sanford and Son ", in Sweden as " Albert & Herbert " and in the Netherlands as " Stiefbeen en zoon ". In 1972 a ___MASK47___ of the series , " Steptoe and Son ", was released in cinemas , with a second " Steptoe and Son Ride Again " in 1973 . Stand - up ___MASK92___ is a ___MASK78___ style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience , usually speaking directly to them . The performer is commonly known as a ___MASK78___ , stand - up ___MASK78___ , stand - up comedian , or simply a stand - up . In stand - up ___MASK92___ , the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories , jokes and one - liners typically called a ___MASK80___ , routine , or act . Some stand - up comedians use props , music , or magic tricks to " enhance " their acts . Stand - up ___MASK92___ is often performed in ___MASK92___ clubs , bars and pubs , nightclubs , neo - burlesques , colleges and theatres . Outside of live performance , stand - up is often distributed commercially via television , DVD , CD and the internet . Last of the Summer ___MASK24___ is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke that was originally broadcast on the BBC . It premiered as an episode of " Comedy Playhouse " on 4 January 1973 , and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973 . From 1983 to 2010 , Alan J . W . Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show . The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that " Last of the Summer ___MASK24___ " would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last . Subsequently , the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010 . Tom Owen criticised the BBC for not permitting a special final episode . Roy Clarke , however , stated that he was fully aware this was the last series , and preferred the show to have a quiet ending . The final line was said by Peter Sallis , the longest serving actor . Since its original release , all thirty - one series  including the pilot and all Christmas specials  have been available on DVD . Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on Gold , Yesterday , and ___MASK66___ . It is also seen in more than twenty - five countries , including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada . " Last of the Summer ___MASK24___ " is the longest - running comedy programme in Britain and the longest - running sitcom in the world . Frank Thornton Ball ( 15 January 192116 ___MASK84___ 2013 ) was an English actor . He was known for playing Captain Peacock in " Are You Being Served ?" and its ___MASK26___ " Grace & Favour " (" Are You Being Served ? Again !") and as Truly in " Last of the Summer Wine ". The desires , wants , and thinking of the majority of the people  or the collective opinion of the people of a ___MASK36___ or state on an issue or problem  is called public opinion . The English term " public opinion " dates back to the seventeenth century work by John Locke , " An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ", which contains an early consideration of the importance of public opinion in the ordering of politics . The term was derived from the French word " l ' opinion ", which was first used in 1588 by Michel de Montaigne . Political ___MASK52___ is a significant part of ___MASK52___ that specializes in gaining ___MASK35___ from politics ; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime , as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly forbidden . Agon ( Classical Greek ) is an ancient Greek term for a struggle or contest . This could be a contest in athletics , in chariot or ___MASK10___ ___MASK88___ , or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece . In a modern sense , ___MASK92___ ( from the , " kmidía ") refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter , especially in theatre , ___MASK23___ , film , and stand - up ___MASK92___ . The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece . In the Athenian democracy , the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters . The theatrical ___MASK50___ of Greek ___MASK92___ can be described as a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict . Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a " ___MASK36___ of Youth " and a " ___MASK36___ of the Old ". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of ___MASK92___ as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes . In this struggle , the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority , and is left with little choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter . Hugh Lewis Lloyd , MBE ( 22 April 1923  14 July 2008 ) was an English actor who made his name in ___MASK23___ and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s . He was best known for appearances in " Hugh and I " and other sitcoms of the 1960s . ___MASK76___ had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting . Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was " Starlight ", which offered a series of guests from the music hall era , which often included singers and comedians . Similarly , many early United States television programs were variety shows including the " Texaco Star Theater " featuring Milton Berle ; comedy acts often taken from vaudeville were staples of such shows . Anthony John " Tony " Hancock ( 12 May 1924  25 June 1968 ) was an English ___MASK87___ and actor . June Rosemary Whitfield , ( born 11 November 1925 ) is an English actress , well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for her work in ___MASK62___ and ___MASK76___ series . Father , Dear Father is a British ___MASK23___ sitcom produced by Thames ___MASK23___ for ITV from 1968 to 1973 starring Patrick Cargill . It was subsequently made into a spin - off film of the same title released in 1973 . A ___MASK96___ , or sitcom , is a ___MASK50___ of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who carry over from episode to episode . Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch , and stand - up comedy where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience . Sitcoms originated in radio , but today are found mostly on television as one9 of its dominant narrative forms . This form can also include mockumentaries . A film , also called a movie , motion picture , theatrical film or photoplay , is a series of still images which , when shown on a screen , creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon . This ___MASK31___ causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession . The process of filmmaking is both an ___MASK65___ and an industry . A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera ; by photographing drawings or miniature models using ___MASK42___ techniques ; by means of CGI and computer animation ; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects . Laughter is a physical reaction in humans and some other species of primate , consisting typically of rhythmical , often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system . It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli . Laughter can arise from such activities as being tickled , or from humorous stories or thoughts . Most commonly , it is considered a visual expression of a number of positive emotional states , such as joy , mirth , happiness , ___MASK7___ , etc . On some occasions , however , it may be caused by contrary emotional states such as embarrassment , apology , or confusion such as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh . Age , ___MASK27___ , education , language , and culture are all factors as to whether a person ___MASK82___ experience laughter in a given situation . ___MASK17___ is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity which exceeds the boundaries of normal ___MASK21___ . The term arises from a device developed during the broad , ___MASK21___ style known as Commedia dell ' arte in 16th Century Italy . The ' slap stick ' consists of two thin slats of wood made from splitting a single long stick , which make a ' slap ' when striking another actor , with little force needed to make a loud - and comical - sound .