There Will Never Be Another Comedian Like Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean. He is a man who needs no introduction. He became one of the most recognizable people in history, far before memes, TikTok or even YouTube existed. This man wasn't just famous, in the 1990s he was literally everywhere. Airing over 190 countries worldwide, to this day he can't go anywhere without being recognized. Mr. Bean is the type of guy to walk into a room, accidentally commit several crimes and somehow walk away like nothing happened. No matter your race, your country or your age, he is one of the few people who could make the whole world laugh. So today, I'm going to show you why there will never be another comedian like Mr. Bean. Also, if you want to get some epic merch from your movies and directors, check out our webshop because we are fully stocked again. First, we need to get a better understanding of the man behind Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson. Like Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson is not your average human being. Because before becoming Mr. Bean, he studied electrical engineering at Oxford, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. This just goes to show that it takes a true genius to play It was during his time at Oxford that he started developing the character that would eventually become Mr. Bean. In his first year at university, he was asked to do a sketch at a one night show At that time, Mr. Bean wasn't yet Mr. Bean. In an alternate universe, Mr. Bean would have gotten a completely different name. In 1990, Rowan Atkinson proposed his first sketch to the BBC, a simple clip of a man walking down the street who bumps into a tree. The sketch got denied at first because the producers thought it was too simple, but after some reconsideration, the producers decided to give it a try. Mr. Bean did things in a completely different way, his own way, and so did Rowan Atkinson. Ever since Rowan Atkinson was young, he has had a stutter disability, which gave him a tough time in his childhood and at the start of his career. But maybe it's also the reason for his success, developing a genius comedic language that did not require a lot of speech. Some fun facts about Rowan Atkinson, as you know Mr. Bean is a big fan of his car, and so is Rowan Atkinson, who is actually quite a skilled racer. He even beat Tom Cruise's record during his appearance in Top Gear. Also, for the movie Johnny English, he asked Rolls Royce to build a custom Rolls Phantom with a V16 engine. In 2012, Mr. Bean even played the main character in the opening ceremony of the Olympics. However, even though Atkinson has been associated with Mr. Bean for over 35 years, believe it or not, he does not like him at all. The first episode of Mr. Bean was released in 1990, starting as a TV show. People think that there are hundreds of Mr. Bean episodes, but in fact there is only 14 episodes and two movies that are played over and over again in our heads. The show was created by Rowan Atkinson, of course, in collaboration with Richard Curtis, and the premise was simple, no punchlines, no monologues, just physical comedy. Mr. Bean could be anywhere, in a church, a dentist chair, an art museum, all ordinary places where within five minutes he would destroy everything around him. And that's the magic, it worked basically everywhere. But how did Mr. Bean become so funny? Well, the core idea was inspired by none other than Charlie Chaplin, who once said, life is a tragedy in close-up, but a comedy in long shot. By simply framing the shots wide and having an overview of the situation, ordinary things start to become a lot funnier. If you sit back visually on a situation, it automatically becomes funnier. I mentioned, which is a French comedian called Jacques Tati, who said that comedy begins in the legs. I'm a great believer that you've got to sit back, you've got to shoot things wide, so you can see as much of the body as you can at any one time. You get this feeling that you are trapped in that room with Mr. Bean, you're being forced to watch him in this very voyeuristic, rather embarrassing way, and it's sort of, but it sort of generates a laughter, I think, I think it does. Mr. Bean's comedy is all about the comedy of not much happening. Most of the times there are no fires breaking out, or police cars, or people doing weird stuff. The situations were all very kind of uneventful. A producer once said, the simpler it is, the more extraordinary Rowan Atkinson is. In one of the very first Mr. Bean sketches, Mr. Bean falls asleep in the church. The joke is so simple, it can be told in one line. Man can't stay awake. That was the entire script. And you, and you read it and you think, well, you know, it might be funny, but what's funny about it? And what's funny is the sort of truth of it, is the fact that you can see yourself there, and you think, yes, actually, you know, if I was slightly less self-conscious, and slightly less aware of myself, if I had slightly less self-control, then I would be like Mr. Bean, and I too would be on my head on the floor with my feet in the air. Mr. Bean is basically what we would be if we let our intrusive thoughts win. Another element that makes Mr. Bean so funny is what Rowan Atkinson calls the comedy of personality. Because it's not about doing funny things, it's about doing something quite normal in a funny way. Most of the episodes are centered around Mr. Bean doing everyday stuff, like shopping, laundry, or housework. But the humor arrives from how Mr. Bean fails to interact with the outside world. Mr. Bean is deeply awkward, socially strange, and almost alien. He walks into a room and instantly makes everybody uncomfortable. And yet somehow we root for him. We laugh at his struggles and suffering. Making a character more real and more sympathetic and more identifiable doesn't necessarily make him funny. Because in many ways, what's funny about Mr. Bean, for example, is his complete sort of selfishness. And he's a natural born anarchist. So he's a child trapped in a man's body. However, on the other hand, the humor does not only come from Mr. Bean himself, but the line between him and society. Precisely by breaking the rules and doing things in his own unique way, Mr. Bean is revealing our silly little rules and societal norms. So the joke isn't always Mr. Bean, a lot of the time, it's us. Looking at Bean initially feels like watching a weirdo doing abnormal things. Like who uses a gun to turn off a light. Or who uses fireworks to paint a room. But the more you watch him, the more we start to sympathize with him. And the more we realize his ideas are actually quite smart. They are just extremely unusual. This just shows how humor and intelligence are very closely linked. It's worth noting that besides Mr. Bean, there are a few main stars in the show. First we have Teddy, his best friend that he takes everywhere, he talks to and even puts him to sleep. Another star of the show is his car, the iconic green mini. Bean treats it like a living being and it quickly becomes a character of its own. It's his partner in crime and the engine behind many of his disasters. And of course, there's also the mysterious blue car that keeps popping up, who is the only returning antagonist of the show. And lastly, there's Mr. Bean's girlfriend, Irma Gob, who is the only real returning character. Mr. Bean's innocence and childishness, especially towards women, becomes very evident in his relationship with his girlfriend. That's also why we sympathize with Mr. Bean, we feel for his innocence and pain. But at the end of the day, he always knows how to turn the tables and make us laugh. Mr. Bean revolutionized comedy, precisely because his jokes bypassed language barriers. Before Mr. Bean, physical comedy was something you associated with Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, which were all brilliant in their own right, but not of our time. Mr. Bean dragged that legacy into the modern world and gave it an entirely new face, breaking the rules of the sitcom, simply because it had none of the standard TV rules. Over the years, Mr. Bean has become the most globally beloved character in TV history, airing over 190 countries worldwide with no subtitles required. This man is literally more recognizable than Cristiano Ronaldo. There have been discussions about what Mr. Bean actually is. The opening titles show Mr. Bean dropping out of a light beam, creating theories that he is an alien who has been beamed down to Earth. Maybe Mr. Bean is not an alien fallen from space in the literal sense, but more figuratively. He is a being that was created with the purpose of revealing mankind's absurdity, awkwardness, and mannerisms in a funny way. Mr. Bean doesn't really make sense as an actual human. He appears to be completely incompetent at everything he does. Sometimes you wonder how a man like this could have even passed his driving test. Mr. Bean is a character you simply can't replicate. Rowan Atkinson has stated that Bean wouldn't work if you pitched it now, not because audiences have changed, but because the industry has. Times have changed. TV networks today want high-concept, fast-paced content with dialogue, arcs, and a guaranteed hook in the first 10 seconds. Streaming platforms rely on algorithms and viewer retention charts. And that's the saddest part, because what makes Mr. Bean special wasn't just that he was funny, it's that he was the last of his kind. After more than 30 years of playing Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson said that he will not be bringing the character back. But here's the truth. Mr. Bean will never really leave. His compilations will continue to circle around on the internet with hundreds of millions of views, and in TikTok clips that you watch at 2am when you cannot sleep, cementing himself in the modern age. Mr. Bean will forever be a clown without the circus, an outsider in every room. Yet somehow, he is a lot like all of us. Perhaps Mr. Bean reminds us of simpler times. Even though a lot of us are adults right now, everybody still has that child inside of them. Speaking for myself, even though I recently became a dad, I still feel like a child sometimes. And I am certain a lot of people older than me have that same exact feeling. Because essentially, grown-ups are just kids in grown man's bodies. And Mr. Bean represent that child inside of us all. Before we wrap it up, I highly recommend checking out Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence in their new film Die My Love, directed by Lin Ramsay, which is currently showing in cinemas. Die My Love is a very interesting psychosexual drama told with shades of horror and dark humor, diving deep into the mind of an untamable woman. It explores how her environment and relationship fuel a dark descent into madness, with both Jennifer Lawrence and her man Robert Pattinson delivering some pretty award-worthy performances. This film is brought to you by our trusted partner MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from all around the world. You can try MUBI free for 30 days at MUBI.com slash DoCinema. That's MUBI.com slash DoCinema for an entire month of great cinema, completely free.