httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a23irJlpjT4

No case needs to be made for the genius of John Cleese’s portrayal of Basil Fawlty as a study in anger mismanagement, and anybody who knows Fawlty Towers will have their favorite moment or two.  But I defy anyone to come up with a funnier moment than this one from “Gourmet Night.”  Technically, it’s a little masterpiece, something that’s nothing on paper but brilliant in execution: a stalled car, a single stationary camera, a flood tide of verbal abuse from someone who, for a good portion of the sequence, we can hear but cannot see.  And then the payoff. . .

If this whets your appetite, you can watch the full episode here.