I saw a couple of Marx Brothers films on TV recently, but the sublime idiocy that never failed to entertain me when I first discovered them now seems to have lost its magic. The films (Duck Soup and Horse Feathers) came over as just a stringing together of rather faded bits of business. Given that their act developed out of vaudeville, this dependence on comic business isn’t surprising, but I’m sad that they have lost their appeal – for me at least.

It is I suppose a measure of their influence on comedy that they appear so faded now. The Crazy Gang would probably not have existed without them, nor would countless ensemble TV and film comedies like Dad’s Army or ‘Allo ‘Allo.

It is probably only the greatest art that is timeless, that can be discovered anew for each generation. Alas that seems not to include Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo.