Character
Ebenezer Blackadder
Ebenezer Blackadder in Blackadder (1983), played by Rowan Atkinson.
Ebenezer Blackadder runs a modest shop in Victorian London and is, by universal agreement, the kindest man in England. He gives away his stock, forgives every debt, and endures a parade of relatives and swindlers who take shameless advantage of his good nature, all while insisting, with a patient smile, that kindness is its own reward.
The joke is the inversion: centuries of scheming Blackadder ancestors produce one descendant who is simply, catastrophically nice, and Atkinson plays the niceness completely straight, which makes it funnier than any smirk could. Watching goodness get systematically punished, and watching this particular actor hold his composure through it, is the whole delicious engine of the thing.
Ebenezer Blackadder was the main character of the Christmas special and the fifth Blackadder shown in the series. For most of his life he was the black sheep of the Blackadder Family, having none of the personality traits of any male member of his family and was described as the "kindest and loveliest man in all England", and his kindness is constantly taken advantage of by everyone he knows.
Read more about Ebenezer Blackadder on The Blackadder Wiki at Fandom
Played by
Appears in
Blackadder1983