“Oh for God’s sake, have a laugh!” – Margaret Wilson (1922-2014)

This was the type of psychological advice that our Mum would give us in the 60’s and 70s! When you’ve looked after 9 kids and fostered a couple more, time was of the essence so sitting down and workshopping our woes wasn’t much of a priority! Instead, it was “be grateful for what you’ve got and have a laugh!” I saw what Friday night comedies like Dave Allen and The Two Ronnies did for my Dad, a tortured WW2 veteran and that cemented my love for comedy and how profound an effect it can have. In the darkest of times it has always been those words (which are on our Mum’s gravestone) that have dragged me into the light.

To come up with only 27 comic influences on my life is tough, much like trying to pick a top 50 albums so I decided to go with those movies/TV shows/Artists that I’ve watched and listened to the most over the past 57 years. I understand there are a plethora I haven’t seen that have huge raps, such as Veep and The Larry Sanders Show, but one only has so much time on their hands. I hope there is something here that might spark some interest if you haven’t connected with it in the past.

Sincere apologies to:  The 3 Stooges, Billy Connolly, Fleabag, Extras, The Late Show, Woody Allen, F Troop, George Carlin, Aussie movies The Club, Malcolm and Death in Brunswick, The Two Ronnies, Gavin & Stacey, Hard Quiz, What we do in the Shadows, The Thick of It, Yes Prime Minister, The Four Lions, Stewart Lee, Lead Balloon, The Mighty Boosh, The Simpsons, Blackadder, Miranda, Portlandia, Broad City, Absolutely Fabulous, Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, The IT Crowd, Slapshot, Father Ted, Would I Lie to You?, Spaced, Galaxy Quest, Flight of the Concords, Frontline, People Like Us, Man Down, Caddyshack, and Richard Pryor Live.

#8 – Peter Cook (1958-1995)

Peter Cook has often been labelled the “Father of Satire” and along with Spike Milligan perhaps the most ingenious and original comedian of all time. He’s certainly one of the most influential, especially with British comedy such as Monty Python, Not the Nine O’Clock News and any modern satire program such as Mock the Week. In fact it’s hard to not hear threads of Peter Cook whenever any comic starts “taking the piss.” Cook’s masterful anti-establishment scripts were bitingly funny and came from his own experiences  growing up in an upper middle class childhood with a diplomat for a father.

At Cambridge University he met Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore and they produced a revue,  Beyond the Fringe which made it to the stage in NYC and also onto television. He continued working with Dudley Moore for the next 15 years on and off. Dudley was a virtuoso  jazz and classical pianist who was the perfect foil for Cook and they had a very successful TV show in the 60’s, Not Only But Also, a touring stage show, Good Evening, as well as delving into movies like Bedazzled.

Cook had his own comedy club in London and NYC devoted to satire called The Establishment, his own satirical newspaper, Private Eye and was the darling of the talk show circuit due to his sparkling wit and intelligence. He was a prolific writer for others such as David Frost and had scant regard for what critics  thought of him. Having read 3 x biographies of him, 2 of which that were written by two of his three wives, I got the impression Cook was the consummate artist, committed to his craft and never distracted by the money. 

His lack of ambition was what separated Cook and Dudley Moore when Dudley headed to Hollywood for a few years, before they reunited under the guise of  Derek and Clive, which was simply the 2 x of them in a studio,  drunk and telling stories. I first heard their album Ad Nauseam, as a 16 year old and to this day it’s frankly the most disgusting thing I have ever heard, but gee it’s funny!  It’s so over the top with gratuitous profanity that it’s impossible to ignore and easy to laugh at. It was the complete opposite to the articulate Cook and Moore of the 60’s and it was definitely ground breaking!  I have a few friends including my partner Lynda who will reprise a Derek and Clive routine occasionally but we are almost like a secret society these days!  The album cover of Ad Nauseum says it all and there is no way I could a post a sketch on this blog! If you haven’t heard Derek and Clive before, go to youtube but you’ve been warned!

Cook sadly passed away in 1995 at the young age of 57 from complications of alcohol abuse. The Guardian ran a poll in 2005 with 300 x of the world’s leading comics, producers and directors throughout the English speaking world and Cook was ranked number 1 as the “Comedian’s Comedian”. 

The following are some of my favourite sketches and if you’re a reader I would highly recommend “Tragically I Was an Only Twin”, a collection of his finest work and the following double cd which someone has kindly put on youtube so it’s effectively now a 2 x hour podcast. It is written and narrated by the great Monty Python, Michael Palin and is a beautiful, detailed tribute to Cook’s life by one of his biggest fans.

This clip is from the hugely popular Clive Anderson show on the BBC. This is a year before Cook’s death and he plays 4 x different characters on the one night. There’s Norman House, who claims to have been abducted by aliens, my personal favourite Alan Latchley a failed soccer manager, Judge Sir James Beecham, and music guru, Eric Daly.

Cook was one of the chief organisers of the Secret Policemen’s Ball, a fundraiser for Amnesty International which were held a few times in the late 70’s. This sketch, The End sees Cook as the prophet and his followers contain a “who’s who” of British comedy.

John Cleese describes the next sketch as the highlight of his career working with his hero on “Interesting Facts”.

The classic Tarzan sketch or One Leg Too Few from the early 60’s written by Cook when he was aged 18.

This is Cook doing his classic interpretation of an English upper class father discussing sex education with his son in “A Bit of a Chat”.

My favourite character has always been Sir Arthur Streeb Greebling. I’ve always been attracted to tragic, unashamedly under achieving comic characters and Sir Arthur is the greatest. A privileged, entitled, blue blood fool is probably the best way to describe him. This is the “Teaching Ravens how to Fly Underwater” followed by my all time favourite sketch from anyone, “The Frog and Peach”. (The final statement from Sir Arthur in this sketch heads the front page of my blog and is my favourite quote of all time). Also included is a brilliant 50 minute interview by satirist Chris Morris with Sir Arthur shortly before Cook died and was released by the BBC called “Why Bother”. It’s as brilliant as it is bizarre. 

I’ll always love Peter Cook, not just for his body of work but for laying the foundations for others. He was someone who gained pleasure from seeing others succeed and constantly challenged your thinking. A master of the English language and the turn of phrase, I’m sure he’s terrorising the bourgeois in Heaven as we speak.