rjw63 Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 6 minutes ago, MNVillan said: I’m not that young, I’m 27 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peckham Wanderer Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 47 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: KW was a talkshow hosts dream back in the 70/80s, arguably bested only by Peter Ustinov. Both absolutely blessed at spinning a yarn. Ustinov was sublime 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Just now, Peckham Wanderer said: Ustinov was sublime The Parky interviews are all on YouTube. Could listen to him all day long. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2021 33 minutes ago, MNVillan said: I’m not that young, I’m 27 I've got underpants older than you. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddywhack Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 12 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: I've got underpants older than you. Whose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Sid James is one of my comedy heroes. But its amazing how unfunny he was in real life. If he had a script he could deliver perfect lines. But he had very little natural wit. Kenneth Williams would exploit this. I remember seeing one a clip where Kenneth went off on one his unscripted rambles. Sid just stared at him and said "I've warned you before. Don't do that." I would heartily recommend listening the the 50s radio show Hancock's Half Hour with Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr and Sid James. Genius. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2021 Another comedy hero is Spike Milligan. There is a wonderful story regarding the first time he met Harry Secombe in the war. Due to a series of unfortunate events an artillery piece being manned by Milligan had fallen down a cliff. It narrowly missed Secombe who was at the bottom of the cliff. Milligan arrived at the scene of absolute carnage and asked "Has anyone seen a gun?" Secombe replied "I don't know. What colour is it?" 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted August 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Sid James is one of my comedy heroes. But its amazing how unfunny he was in real life. If he had a script he could deliver perfect lines. But he had very little natural wit. Kenneth Williams would exploit this. I remember seeing one a clip where Kenneth went off on one his unscripted rambles. Sid just stared at him and said "I've warned you before. Don't do that." I would heartily recommend listening the the 50s radio show Hancock's Half Hour with Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr and Sid James. Genius. Charles Hawtrey was another who was very different off camera compared to on. Visually similar to KW (and just as 'happy') and often fulfilled similar-ish roles but was by all accounts a total arsehole off camera, very rarely gave interviews (which is fair enough in isolation) and was very difficult to work with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 6 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Sid James is one of my comedy heroes. But its amazing how unfunny he was in real life. If he had a script he could deliver perfect lines. But he had very little natural wit. Kenneth Williams would exploit this. I remember seeing one a clip where Kenneth went off on one his unscripted rambles. Sid just stared at him and said "I've warned you before. Don't do that." I would heartily recommend listening the the 50s radio show Hancock's Half Hour with Tony Hancock, Bill Kerr and Sid James. Genius. Screen ones drama "Hancock " was quite good , seems all of them , James , Hancock, Williams were troubled souls 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted August 12, 2021 2 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Another comedy hero is Spike Milligan. There is a wonderful story regarding the first time he met Harry Secombe in the war. Due to a series of unfortunate events an artillery piece being manned by Milligan had fallen down a cliff. It narrowly missed Secombe who was at the bottom of the cliff. Milligan arrived at the scene of absolute carnage and asked "Has anyone seen a gun?" Secombe replied "I don't know. What colour is it?" Milligan was a one-off. I think most comedians who followed cite him as a hero or inspiration to some degree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BOF Posted August 12, 2021 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 minute ago, tonyh29 said: Screen ones drama "Hancock " was quite good , seems all of them , James , Hancock, Williams were troubled souls The film was a big let down. I thought Will Smith was badly mis-cast. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 12, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted August 12, 2021 4 minutes ago, BOF said: The film was a big let down. I thought Will Smith was badly mis-cast. Yeah, Hancock's half hour would have been too long for that movie. There is a blue plaque in a house at the top of the road where I grew up in Hall Green with a Blue Plaque for Tony Hancock who was born there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted August 12, 2021 2 minutes ago, sidcow said: Yeah, Hancock's half hour would have been too long for that movie. There is a blue plaque in a house at the top of the road where I grew up in Hall Green with a Blue Plaque for Tony Hancock who was born there. Inception plaque. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 I remember "Hancocks half hour" but my favourite comedian has got to be Basil Fawlty.,not forgetting Manuel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 27 minutes ago, BOF said: Charles Hawtrey was another who was very different off camera compared to on. Visually similar to KW (and just as 'happy') and often fulfilled similar-ish roles but was by all accounts a total arsehole off camera, very rarely gave interviews (which is fair enough in isolation) and was very difficult to work with. In his later years Hawtrey was openly gay and lived a hedonistic lifestyle. He had a particular fondness for sailors. Kenneth Williams despised him for it. We forget is that people like Williams and Hawtrey lived in an era when homosexuality between men (but not women) was a criminal offence. It wasn't until 1967 that it became legal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 5 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: In his later years Hawtrey was openly gay and lived a hedonistic lifestyle. He had a particular fondness for sailors. Kenneth Williams despised him for it. We forget is that people like Williams and Hawtrey lived in an era when homosexuality between men (but not women) was a criminal offence. It wasn't until 1967 that it became legal. so you could say he had a fondness for sea men ... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 12, 2021 Moderator Share Posted August 12, 2021 2 hours ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: Who, dear? Kenneth, dear? Gay, dear? No, dear! The 70s were a strange time. TV was full of "camp" gay characters like John Inman and Kenneth Williams. But the papers would regularly "out" someone as being gay and portray it as shameful. But Morecombe and Wise could share a bed together on TV and no-one gave it a second thought. If someone was outed by the press it could mean they would never work again. Williams' biography is undoubtedly written with his own viewpoint and in a manner that protected his career. Not so sure about the KW story covering up his sexuality. I think it's possible he may well have been an abstainer from sex no matter what his actual feelings. I remember an interview with Parky iirc where he was describing his absolute fear of germs, he used to go everywhere with these paper circles to put over toilet seats (many years before they became a thing), he wouldn't use a toilet without them and given that I suspect that the germs involved in bodily exchanges may have made it rather impossible for him to enjoy sexual encounters 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, PussEKatt said: I remember "Hancocks half hour" but my favourite comedian has got to be Basil Fawlty.,not forgetting Manuel 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troon_villan Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 8 hours ago, Seat68 said: How best to explain. He is Kenneth Williams, a comic actor on both radio and film. Most widely known for being in a series of films called the Carry On series (carry on doctor, carry on Henry etc). They were relatively popular in the 60s and 70s and full of old fashioned double entendres. Kenneth William in particular when hearing a double entendre would pull a face or sometimes look to camera to acknowledge it. He was also gay so full of innuendo from that too. He is considered, rightly, by some as a comedy legend. This is an example of Kenneth in action. I often wonder if sketches like these were genuinely laugh out loud funny at the time to viewers. Whenever I read "comedy" I think back to my early exposure to the genre; growing up in the 90's I had the emergence of risky and 'extreme' comedy and legendary sketch shows like The Fast Show and Harry Enfield. I can't imagine the Carry On movies raising anything more than a smirk....and the occasional erection, of course. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted August 12, 2021 Author Share Posted August 12, 2021 Just now, troon_villan said: I can't imagine the Carry On movies raising anything more than a smirk....and the occasional erection, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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