it was the way they told them !
It wasn't so much the material with Morecambe and Wise , the interaction between the pair was funny. The unscripted bits were probably funniest . They still crack me up ( unlike Ben Elton, whose material was probably good, but delivered a bit too much smug right-on git - loved him at the time but kind of cringe watching the stuff back now)
The interaction between them has never seemed funny to me. I prefer Vic and Bob and certainly Vic and Bob have taken far more risks than Morecambe and Wise ever did.
As for Ben Elton, satire never ages well. To many at the time, it seemed like that Thatcher gov't was the scum of the earth. The fact that Ben Elton became the dictionary definition of a cliquey champagne socialist and Blair ended up being much the same, dulls the edge in hindsight.
The 'I feel your pain, eh girls!' routines about tampons and thrush seem very cringe-worthy and eager to ingratiate himself with his female audience. However, Ben Elton was among the first to bring those subjects into comedy at a time when advertisers couldn't even advertise sanitary towels or condoms. Seemed quite outrageous at the time, seems a bit embarrassing now.