Brian Wheeler BBC News Online

The internet is awash with comedy.

Everything from The Benny Hill Show to Auf Wiedersehen, Pet seems to have its own discussion forum and online video store.

The latest addition to the genre is ClassicComedy.net, created by Richard Bentine - son of the late Goon Michael Bentine.

The Dead Parrot sketch is on offer

Richard Bentine says he grew tired of trying to persuade TV companies to show his late father's material so on 1 April 2002 he put it on the internet.

He also managed to secure the rights to classic Benny Hill and Monty Python material, which has been chopped up into easily-downloadable 10 second clips.

This is where the site really scores.

Catchphrase

Perennial favourites like The Dead Parrot Sketch and The Upper Class Twit of the Year exert a powerful pull on people of a certain age and the best bits are here to view any time of the day and night, for all eternity.

As so much British comedy is based around catchphrases - for example, "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink" and "And now for something completely different" - it is perfect for this soundbite format.

And soon you will be able to e-mail videograms of your favourite clips to friends.

Many remember Bentine for Potty Time

Richard Bentine is in the process of securing the rights to the work of other performers, from comedy's golden years right up to today's cutting edge stand-ups.

If nothing else, he has already succeeded in raising the profile of his late father's work.

People who grew up in the 1970s will chiefly remember Michael Bentine for Potty Time, where he always seemed to be surrounded by small furry creatures firing cannons at each other.

Zany

His humour is old-school zany. Not to everyone's taste, possibly. But judging from the responses on the site's message board there is more of an appetite for Potty Time, The Bumblies and other Bentine creations, than even his son might have thought.

He has already begun adding longer clips from his dad's back catalogue.

ClassicComedy.net has fewer bells and whistles than some of the comedy sites out there, particularly the Monty Python ones.

But it is put together with obvious knowledge and affection.

If, as promised, it builds up into a library of classic comedy clips it could be really something.

Definitely one to watch.