Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes
Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes

Author: Eric Sykes

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2012-05-31

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1448132800

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Eric Sykes is one of Britain's creative comedy geniuses combining personal warmth, superbly observed written and performed comedy and a deeply intimate understanding of what a viewing audience wants. Here he has assembled a comedy hall of fame for those who have inspired, entertained and, most of all, amused him. Including tributes to comedy greats Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Ken Dodd, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and many, many more, this is a beautiful and personal testimony to the wonderful characters who have stimulated Eric's life-long love affair with laughter.

Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes
Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes

Author: Eric Sykes

Publisher: Virgin Books Limited

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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A legend in his own right, in this book Eric Sykes has assembled his very own Comedy Hall of Fame, paying tribute to those who have inspired him, entertained him, and made him laugh. Eric's heroes include: Norman Collier; Tommy Cooper; Les Dawson; Ken Dodd; Charlie Drake; Jimmy Edwards; Bill Fraser; Will Hay; Laurel and Hardy; Dickie Henderson; Frankie Howerd; Hattie Jacques; Jimmy James; Spike Milligan; Peter Sellers; Leon Sherkot; Johnny Speight; Jacques Tatti; Terry Thomas; Julie Walters; Wilson, Keppel and Betty; Rob Wilton; and Victoria Wood. demobbed from the Army after World War II and his old friend Bill Fraser asked him to write some material. Eric quickly found himself in great demand behind the typewriter, producing scripts for both Bill Fraser and Frankie Howerd and going on to write for hit BBC radio shows such as Educating Archie and Variety Bandbox. first scriptwriters. He wrote for Peter Sellers and Stanly Unwin and appeared himself in a number of television variety shows. In the mid-50s he co-wrote some of the famous Goon Shows with Spike Milligan, but he really found fame in his own right when he created, along with Johnny Speight, the first series of his sitcom in which he played a bumbling character called Eric who lived with his sister Hattie Jacques. The show ran to 128 episodes over a period of 20 years. Flying Machines, The Plank and 2002's The Others with Nicole Kidman. He was also named Oldie of the Year in 2002 and received the Bernard Delfont Award for Outstanding Contribution to Showbusiness.

Forgotten Heroes of Comedy
Forgotten Heroes of Comedy

Author: Robert Ross

Publisher: Unbound Publishing

Published: 2021-09-30

Total Pages: 684

ISBN-13: 1783529199

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In this long overdue and affectionate salute, celebrated comedy historian Robert Ross pays tribute to some of the finest, funniest and most fascinating names in comedy from both sides of the Atlantic. Monty Python’s Terry Jones wrote the foreword. With the passionate input of such comics as Tim Brooke-Taylor, Hattie Hayridge, Roy Hudd, Michael Palin, Ross Noble, Chris Addison and Bernard Cribbins, Ross honours these legends of humor who, for a variety of reasons, didn't quite reach the heady heights of stardom or, once they had, couldn't cope with the pressures. Whether it is a favorite from the distant smoke- and ale-stained world of the Music Hall like the great George Robey, or the downbeat poetry of Hovis Presley, who dropped disenchanted bombs on the late 1990s, Forgotten Heroes of Comedy will finally elevate them to the Hall of Fame where they belong. Forgotten, no longer. UK Joe Baker UK Eric Barker UK Alfie Bass UK Michael Bates India (to English parents) David Battley UK Michael Bentine UK Harold Berens UK Wilie Best USA Alec Bregonzi UK Michael Ward UK Douglas Byng UK Marti Caine UK Esma Cannon Australia (but moved to UK) Patrick Cargill UK Jimmy Clitheroe UK Danny Ross UK Billy Dainty UK Janet Davies UK Florence Desmond UK Jerry Desmonde UK Eddie Leslie UK Maidie Dickson UK Charlie Drake UK Jimmy Edwards UK Gus Elen UK Ray Ellington UK Dick Emery UK Pierre Etaix France Barry Evans UK Mario Fabrizi UK Doug Fisher UK Ronald Frankau UK Leslie Fuller UK Dustin Gee UK Peter Glaze UK Tommy Godfrey UK Harry Locke UK Ken Goodwin UK Bernard Gorcey Russia (died USA) Bert Gordon USA Monsewer' Eddie Gray UK Raymond Griffith USA Deryck Guyler UK Brian Hall UK Lloyd Hamilton USA Arthur Haynes UK Richard Hearne UK Dickie Henderson UK Gerard Hoffnung Germany (died UK) Shemp Howard USA Nat Jackley UK Rex Jameson UK Spike Jones USA John Junkin UK Dave King UK Roy Kinnear UK Dennis Kirkland UK Patsy Knox USA Debbie Linden UK Hugh Lloyd UK Malcolm McFee UK Moore Marriott UK Graham Moffatt UK Ray Martine UK Zeppo Marx USA Glenn Melvyn UK Eric Merriman UK Christopher Mitchell UK Albert Modley UK Robert Moreton UK Gladys Morgan UK Lily Morris UK Richard Murdoch UK Tom E. Murray USA David Nixon UK Larry Noble UK Ole Olsen USA Chic Johnson USA Ken Platt UK Sandy Powell UK Vince Powell UK Hovis Presley UK Cardew Robinson UK Joe E. Ross USA Patsy Rowlands UK Derek Roy UK Derek Royle UK Leslie Sarony UK Larry Semon USA Ronald Shiner UK Johnnie Silver USA Dennis Spicer UK Larry Stephens UK Jake Thackray UK Thelma Todd USA Jack Train UK Karl Valentin Germany Liesl Karlstadt Germany Norman Vaughan UK Tom Walls UK Ralph Lynn UK Elsie and Doris Waters UK Rita Webb UK John Wells UK George and Kenneth Western UK Gordon Wharmby UK Bert Wheeler USA Robert Woolsey USA Albert Whelan Australia (died UK) Robb Wilton UK Mike and Bernie Winters UK Georgie Wood UK Dolly Harmer UK Harry Worth UK Mario Zampi Italy (died UK)

Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd

Author: Stephen Griffin

Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books

Published: 2011-06-30

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1843177315

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This is the first complete biography of the last of the great British comedians.

Bounder!
Bounder!

Author: Graham McCann

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2011-12-01

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1845137566

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With his sly little moustache, broad gap-toothed grin, garish waistcoats and ostentatious cigarette holder, Terry-Thomas was known as an absolute bounder, both onscreen and off. Graham McCann’s hugely entertaining biography celebrates the life and career of a very English rascal. Born in 1911 into an ordinary suburban family, Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens set about transforming himself at a very early age into a dandy and a gadabout. But he did not put the finishing touches to his persona until the mid-1950s with his groundbreaking TV comedy series How Do You View?, a forerunner of The Goon Show and Monty Python. Terry-Thomas went on to carve out a long and lucrative career in America, appearing on TV alongside Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Lucille Ball, and in Hollywood movies with Jack Lemmon, Rock Hudson and Doris Day. He became every American’s idea of a mischievous English gent. After a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, he died in 1990 in comparative obscurity, but his influence lives on. Basil Brush was a polyester tribute to Terry-Thomas, and comedians including Vic Reeves and Paul Whitehouse hail T-T as a role model. ‘Dandyism is the product of a bored society,’ D’Aurevilly observed. Terry-Thomas cocked a snook at the dull sobriety of post-war Britain with his sly humour. As he would say himself: ‘Good show!’

Do You Think That's Wise?
Do You Think That's Wise?

Author: Graham McCann

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 2010-09-25

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1845136527

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Best known for Dad’s Army, in which his Sergeant Wilson played the languid, rakish foil to Arthur Lowe’s pompous, chippy Captain Mainwaring, John Le Mesurier was one of Britain’s favourite and most recognisable character actors. The epitome of insouciance and languor on screen, in real life this charming, quietly-spoken bon viveur was plagued by private turmoil and heartbreak. Married three times, he saw his first wife succumb to alcoholism, his second – the comedy diva Hattie Jacques – move her lover into the family home, and his third enjoy a passionate dalliance with troubled comic Tony Hancock. As Graham McCann reveals in this fully authorised and moving biography, as an actor John Le Mesurier was a key ingredient in the success of Britain’s greatest sitcom, but as a man he was far more courageous than Sergeant Wilson was ever meant to be.

Inside Comedy
Inside Comedy

Author: David Steinberg

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2023-06-06

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 0813197570

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David Steinberg's name has been synonymous with comedy for decades. The Canadian-born comedian, producer, writer, director, and author has been called "a comic institution himself" by the New York Times. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 140 times (second only to Bob Hope), and directed episodes of popular television sitcoms, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, The Golden Girls, and Designing Women. From 2012–2015, Steinberg hosted the comedy documentary series Inside Comedy, which featured such comedy greats as Billy Crystal, Chris Rock, and Gary Shandling. In this entertaining history of comedy, Steinberg shares insightful memories of his journey through his career and takes the reader behind the curtain of the comedy scene of the last half-century. Steinberg shares amusing and often hilarious stories and anecdotes from some of the most legendary comedians in the industry—from Groucho Marx, Carol Burnett, Mel Brooks, and Richard Pryor to Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Tina Fey. Inside Comedy presents in-depth portraits of some of the most talented and revered comedians in the world of comedy today.

Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers

Author: Graham Mccann

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published: 2012-03-15

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1444717758

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Fawlty Towers was only on our screens for 12 half-hour episodes, but it has stayed in our lives ever since. The Major; 'Don't mention the war!'; 'He's from Barcelona'; Basil the Rat -- everyone has a favourite line, moment or character. In this, the first biography of the show, Graham McCann holds up to the light each of the unpredictable elements - the demented brilliance of John Cleese, his creative partnership with Connie Booth - that added up to an immortal sitcom, beloved all over the world, even in Barcelona.

Carrying On
Carrying On

Author: Ian Fryer

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2023-09-17

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13:

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Carrying On presents the complete story of the Carry Ons which have made Britain laugh for generations on film, television, and stage, and of the unique British filmmaking partnership of producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas. Writer and film historian Ian Fryer takes us on a journey into the glorious days of classic British humour, bringing to life the Carry On films and the vibrant, fascinating world of comedy from which they sprang. This lively and entertaining book presents detailed histories of the thirty Carry On films, revealing a cinematic legacy which is often more clever and complex than expected; from the post-war optimism of Carry On Sergeant and Carry On Nurse, via mini-epics such as Carry On Cleo, all the way to the smut-tinged seventies. Carrying On also turns the spotlight onto the host of other productions the Rogers and Thomas partnership brought to the screen along with detailed biographies of legendary Carry On stars such as Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, and Barbara Windsor who have brought fun and laughter to millions for decades.