#comedy influences

[detrixsta]

Charles Sellon as Mr. Muckle  & W.C. Fields as shopkeeper Harold Bissonnet (It’s pronounced “Biss-o-nay”...) in “It’s A Gift” (1934). 

John Cleese has claimed shopkeeper Bissonnet was a direct comic influence on Basil Fawlty & there certainly is a “Fawlty Towers” vibe in that shop...

[oldshowbiz]

Jack Benny's main inspiration. Benny and his writer Harry Conn essentially based the format of The Jack Benny Program - and its characters - on the work of Phil Baker in vaudeville and early radio.