Leonard was a great mechanic of comedy. He knew the nuts and bolts of it. He knew how it worked. He knew scientifically how a laugh was elicited from an audience. Neil Pearson
He [Leslie Crowther] won a place at the Royal Academy of Music. The Unforgettable Leslie Crowther
Yes, it’s Crackerjack! ibid.
Leslie Crowther died on 29th September 1996 at the age of 63. ibid.
That charm of performance. Michael Grade, re Leslie Crowther
The Price is Right completely rejuvenated his career. William G Stewart
About the nicest person I ever met. William G Stewart
For once Bob Monkhouse didn’t see the funny side today. A thief has stolen two of his joke books filled with gags and sketches from the past twenty-five years. ITN News 1995
They all laughed when I said I’d become a comedian. Well, they’re not laughing now. Bob Monkhouse
He [Terry Scott] was a perfectionist. June Whitfield, Terry’s co-star & friend
A pioneer who changed the nature of broadcasting. Sir David Frost: That Was the Week that Was, BBC 2013
Politics, satire and entertainment. ibid.
The host of the BBC’s That Was The Week That Was in 1962. ibid.
He was the only person to interview seven consecutive American presidents. ibid.
The Frost Report brought together those who would go on to transform British comedy – members of the future Monty Python team and the Goodies cut their teeth here, and Ronnie first worked with Ronnie. ibid.
In 1967 he successfully spearheaded the bid to launch London Weekend Television. ibid.
The Nixon interviews took place over thirty hours, with Watergate forming just four hours of the total time. ibid.
‘We’d won the greatest gamble of our lives’ ibid. Frost, re Nixon interviews
I was very very nervous of performing. Dick Emery, The Parkinson Show, 1979
In the 1970s and ’80s Rod Hull enjoyed success as one of Britain’s best-known and loved entertainers along with a temperamental and much-feared sidekick. The Unforgettable Rod Hull
Emu performed an anarchic encore in the royal receiving line. ibid.
I really lost my temperature with him. Michael Parkinson, re Rod Hull
In the late ’80s and ’90s BBC2 had a whole range of double acts with their own shows all fighting for prominence. 50 Years of Comedy on BBC, 2014
Comedy had lost its way really. Comedy before Alternative Comedy I think was either drunken racists in working men’s clubs or whoever went to see Billy & Jasper. Alexei Sayle, interview The 100 Greatest Stand Ups 2010
You can’t do comedy with a beard. Alexei Sayle
People often say to me, Alexie, what is Alternative New-Wave Marxist Comedy? And I say, Sod off, you lazy bastard. Alexei Sayle
Ben Elton: do you know this guy? He started out as an alternative comedian, railing against Thatcherism and the like, and now earns a fortune writing the librettos for truly awful West End musicals. I mean, his name has become a byword for shameless hackery. He’s the biggest sell-out of his generation. Toby Young
He was this arch-political comedian ... What’s the man [Ben Elton] doing? It’s a disgrace. John Moloney, comedian
Shite. There’s not a fucking word that would describe Jo Brand to me. The unattractive, fucking awful unfunny leftie fat cow. Jim Davidson, interview The 100 Greatest Stand Ups 2010
cf.
The fact that he’s being so horrible about me and other people obviously means he’s very threatened by us. And that makes me very happy. Jo Brand
‘I wanted to become a comedian because I thought the hours would be good. You get up at lunchtime, go an hour’s work then head out to the pub.’ Imagine … Jo Brand: No Holds Barred, BBC 2019
‘She was so revolutionary at the time.’ ibid. Mark Lamarr
‘I actually went on the pill when I was 16. Put on on four stone. So that proved to be a very effective contraceptive, thank you.’ ibid. Jo
Back in the 1980s one of the pioneers of female stand-ups on the British comedy circuit. ibid.
Jo Brand has been venturing where many others fear to tread for three decades. ibid.
It actually made young people connect with political issues. Arena: Whatever Happened to Spitting Image? Marcus Price, programmer, BBC 2014
Woman: Would you like to order, sir?
Thatcher: Yes, I will have a steak.
Woman: How do you like it?
Thatcher: Oh raw, please.
Woman: And what about the vegetables?
Thatcher: Oh they’ll have the same as me. Spitting Image
One dummy run which didn’t make it out of the starting block was Madness: The Pilot ... Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. The Comedy Vaults: BBC2’s Hidden Treasure, BBC 2014
In 1973 Ronnie Barker made seven one-off pilots for BBC2. Called Seven of One it gave us two classic comedies in Open All Hours and Porridge, originally called Prisoner & Escort. ibid.
The middle-class strand of alternative comedy began to dominate on television and radio. Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture III, BBC 2012
At its peak Viz sold in excess of a million copies an issue. ibid.
I think comedy and satire are a very important part of democracy, and it's important we are able to laugh at the idiosyncrasies or the follies or vanities of people in power. Rory Bremner
Such was the kind of theatre Sheridan encountered when he arrived in the 1770s: one dominated by actors, hashed-up revivals of Shakespeare, and soggy, genteel, middle-class comedies. Admittedly, fellow-dramatist Oliver Goldsmith did his bit to change all that. In 1773 he published a famous critique, Comparisons Between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy. Michael Billington, Sheridan’s Irish Wizardry: The Rivals and The School for Scandal
The same year Goldsmith put his theories about Laughing Comedy into practice with She Stoops to Conquer. ibid.
Sheridan went further: he advanced the notion that comedy should puncture hypocrisy and satirize the manners of the age. ibid.
But the key fact about Sheridan is that he found English comedy tame, tearful and sentimental and that he left it boisterously alive. ibid.
Have you fork ’andles [four candles]? The Two Ronnies, Hardware Shop sketch
That was brilliant. Shame about Cliff Richard. What? Are you trying to be funny? The Young Ones s1e1: Demolition **** Rick to Neil, BBC 1982
Bad Karma! Again! Guys, there’s some dinner on the floor if you want it. And if you don’t like that that would also be cool. ibid. Neil
I’ve written a poem and I think perhaps it might help you:
Oh, Cliff
Sometimes it must be difficult
Not to feel as if
You really are a cliff.
When fascists keep trying to push you over it.
Are they the lemmings or are you, Cliff? ibid. Rick to Neil