Just A Minute

 
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Benefit of the Doubt

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Robert L. TorresFeb 5, 2008
 

 
After gaining some rather insightful information as to the origins of
the phrase 'hoist with his own petard', I thought I might address the
notion of another overly used phrase in Just a Minute.... 'Benefit of
the Doubt'.

this is a phrase that seems to get tossed around more often nowadays,
more like an excuse for Nicholas to leave a subject with someone
regardless of whether the challenge that someone made was correct or
not.

sometimes a great deal of comic value has been attributed to this
notion of getting the 'benefit of the doubt'. there was one show in
which Tony Hawks made a running gag, to which Nicholas was unfair to
him on a challenge early in the show and planned to find an
opportuntiy give him the 'benefit of the doubt' in order to redress
the balance. and Tony would make frequent references throughout the
show that he still had that 'benefit of the doubt' in his pocket,
saving it up or something like that.

There was another episode when Ross Noble got a huge laugh and a
round of applause when he challenged someone who was speaking by
saying to Nicholas 'there's 20 quid for the benefit of the doubt',
after Nicholas had so ludicrously stated moments before that people
bribe him to get the 'benefit of the doubt'.

a very early example of the hilarity induced by this phrase arose in
an episode that featured Clement, Derek, Kenneth, and Andree Melly.
I forget the subject, I think it was over a series of subjects, one
of them being 'building an igloo', it seemed that each time Nicholas
would not take the subject away from Kenneth, even though he was in
clear violation of the rules, it was because Nicholas was giving
him 'the benefit of the doubt', even though Nicholas vehemently
denied that he was doing so.

Nicholas seems to throw this phrase out so often that it's lost all
meaning for me, when anyone else says 'benefit of the doubt', all I
think about is that its some commodity people use in Just a Minute.

any thoughts?

 
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