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WOLF HOWLS | 0:00:22 | 0:00:24 | |
Ken Dodd, you're one of Britain's best-loved comedians. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
Some would insist that you're our greatest stand-up comic. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:57 | |
What do you feel just before you go on stage? | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
Er...very, very excited. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
Very, er... It's very thrilling. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
It's, er, a bit frightening, a little bit, er, little bit scary. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:12 | |
Depending on the, er, the occasion, but very... | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
Looking forward to it - I'm completely stage-struck. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
I just...just want to get on there and, er... | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
Is it as terrifying as it used to be? | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
Not quite, no. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
At one time I used to be terrified all the time. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
Now I'm just frightened some of the time. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
What's the first thing that you have to do to win over an audience? | 0:01:32 | 0:01:39 | |
The first... I think the first... | 0:01:39 | 0:01:42 | |
Ooh, the first 30 seconds is the most important part of the act. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:47 | |
You, er, you have to get through to the audience right away. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
I think actors call it establishing a rapport. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
Gracie Fields used to say it was a silver thread went from the performer | 0:01:54 | 0:01:59 | |
to the audience, and I call it building a bridge - | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
you build a bridge between yourself and the audience. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
You try to make friends with them, you try to say, "Here I am, folks. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
"I'm harmless. I'm just going to tickle you, | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
"tickle your minds and, er, try to make you laugh." | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
Does it take longer to warm some audiences up than others? | 0:02:14 | 0:02:19 | |
Depending on the... It's nothing to do with geography. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
It's nothing to do with where in the country, it's to do with the... | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
And it's nothing to do with the... | 0:02:25 | 0:02:26 | |
Sometimes it's to do with the weather. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
It's quite, er...funny sometimes, when you're playing a big theatre, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
like the Blackpool Opera House, | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
and, er...and it's been raining during the day | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
and you can actually see steam rising from the audience, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
like a little cloud above them. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:42 | |
But some audiences, er... Some audiences are harder, | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
if you like, than others - sometimes for no reason at all. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
I did two shows in the Southeast just last week - | 0:02:50 | 0:02:54 | |
Canterbury and Gravesend. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
One was... One was absolutely uproarious, | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
and the other just took a little bit more time to work on. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
And so you have to try just a little bit harder and, er, | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
remember your timing and remember... | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
Just... Just gauge when to, er, go for the laugh. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
A bit like, er... A bit like, er... | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
A bit like a bullfighter, actually! | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
Is it a wooing process of the audience... | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
- Yes. - ..or is it an assault on them? | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
Oh, no, no. It's very much a wooing. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
It looks like an assault. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:23 | |
You start off with the quite... quite loud and... | 0:03:23 | 0:03:27 | |
as you would, you go in with all guns firing | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
and you go in with a lot of, er, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
a lot of facial expression and arm movements. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:39 | |
Most of this is instinctive. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
It's not, er... You're just trying very, very hard. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
Maybe I'm trying too hard. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:48 | |
And then you... As you feel the audience... | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
An audience... No two audiences are alike. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
I've been 40 years in show business | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
and obviously I've never done the same show twice. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
Because every audience is different - | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
a different permutation of personalities. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
And you can see where the audience is quiet, where the audience are, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
you know, quite lively, so you have to coax these people | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
and just keep this lot... keep them on the boil. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
Are you trying to control them? | 0:04:12 | 0:04:14 | |
Yes. Yes, very much. It's, er... You're part... | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
You're part-comedian, part-actor and part-orator. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
And what are you trying to do by controlling them? | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
Try to, er... Try to give them a laugh. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
I always say you can't make anybody laugh, but you can give people... | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
Laughter is inside everybody. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
Everybody has this laughter inside them. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
It's just waiting for you to try and just release it. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
So, you just have to coax them and sometimes you have to be, | 0:04:39 | 0:04:44 | |
er...very, very well-mannered and other times, you can be quite cheeky | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
and be a bit, you know, a bit hard-faced | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
and, er, chide them a little bit. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
You're only... It's all... It's all done joshing, it's all mock. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:58 | |
You go on quite a long time, sometimes, don't you? | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
I do have a reputation of running a few seconds over, yes. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:05 | |
This is because I... | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
I love it so much and I love... making an audience laugh, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
giving an audience laughter, hearing...hearing laughter. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
Laughter is the most beautiful sound in the world, | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
and when you've really got them... you've really got them rolling, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
it's a shame, really, to break up the party, but we don't go on... | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
All audiences, they love to feel | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
they're getting that little bit extra. It's, er... | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
I think in an age when everything is sort of pre-packaged | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
and you know exactly what you should be getting, it's nice to... | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
It's nice to get a little, er... | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
In the old days, you know, when they used to sell a loaf, there used to be | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
a little knob on the top, and so, | 0:05:39 | 0:05:40 | |
up north, they used to call it the jockey on the loaf. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
And it was a little bit extra. A baker's dozen, er... | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
I like to give them a little bit extra, | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
and they appreciate... the audience appreciate it. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
How long can you go on? | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
Oh. Ah. Well, that's... | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
I once did a marathon, er, for a charitable...for a charity, | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
and I think we went just on about four hours. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
But is it a sort of macho thing, saying, "I can go on and on and on"? | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
- No. - No? | 0:06:05 | 0:06:06 | |
Oh, no. No, no. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:08 | |
It's not a battle in which you're trying to...? | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
Oh, no. No, no. Cos you should've... | 0:06:10 | 0:06:11 | |
You should've won the battle very early on. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
If you haven't won the battle in the first five minutes... | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
But I've heard you say, "I've beaten you," you know, "You're giving in." | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
Oh, that's a gag. That's a gag. "Give in" is a gag. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
Give in, it means... It's like little boys say to give in. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
They all shout, "No!" | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
I say, "Well, you better had - I'll give you a Chinese burn." | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
You know, Chi... You know, with the wrist. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
You sometimes go very quickly. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
Yes, yes. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:35 | |
I try to get as, er, as many laughs as I can in the time available. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:40 | |
Er, I do mostly one-liners, mostly patter, er, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:45 | |
and...one or two - not very many - joke stories. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:49 | |
And even the joke stories have got one-liners in them. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
We try to work on about...well, if we can get seven laughs a minute, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
we're doing...we're OK. We're motoring. | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
I would think so! | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
Is a pause the most difficult thing you could try to do? | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
Can you ever slow down? Do you ever slow down on stage? | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
Oh, yes, sometimes you have to. Sometimes you have to. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
As I say, it's very, er... | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
It's very like oratory, very like acting, | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
that you have to know when to... | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
Before the tag line comes in, you have to know when to pause - | 0:07:17 | 0:07:21 | |
that is timing. Timing is the bits in between the gags. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:26 | |
How do you learn timing? | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
Mostly instinct, I think, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:29 | |
and mostly trial and error and practice. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
I've been practising now to be a comedian for 40 years, so, er... | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
- You're still practising? - Yes. Still very much so. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
I think one of the most wonderful things in your life | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
is to know that you've learnt something new. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
- You were born in Knotty Ash. - That's it. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
- Near Liverpool. - Yes. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
When were you born? | 0:07:50 | 0:07:51 | |
Now, I've read different dates, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
so I'm going to ask you to tell me when you were born. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
Well, a lot of people say, you know, "How old are you?" | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
And I tell everybody, "I think I'm 35." | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
Yeah, but you're not! | 0:08:01 | 0:08:02 | |
I think I'm 35, because I think a man is as old as he thinks he is, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
and my brain is 35, and I feel like I'm 35, | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
and when I was 35, I had some marvellous times | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
and my...my...my personality and my conscious life was wonderful. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:18 | |
So I'm 35. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
You're not going to tell me when you were born. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
I was, er... | 0:08:23 | 0:08:24 | |
If you ask... | 0:08:24 | 0:08:25 | |
When you ask a comedian a question, you might get two answers - | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
you'll get the comedian's answer, | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
because he desperately wants to, er, impress you | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
and desperately wants to make you laugh, and then you'll get the truth. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
So the comedian's answer - I was born... | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
I was born at a very early age, so I should be near to my mother, | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
and, er, I was born one day and... | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
we were so poor the lady next door had me. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
I was a clever sort of... I was very clever. Clever baby. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
When I was six months old, I could walk. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:54 | |
The bottom fell out of the pram. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:55 | |
You said... The implication of that is that there are two people - | 0:08:57 | 0:09:01 | |
- the comedian and the real you. - Yes, indeed, yes. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
- Is that right? - Yes, that's correct, yes. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
How different is the real you from the comic? | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
Er, I think he'd like to be like the comic. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
He'd like to be, er, sort of... the hail-fellow-well-met. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
He'd like to be the laughing chap all the time, you know? | 0:09:15 | 0:09:21 | |
Full of # Happiness... #, all that. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
But, of course, it isn't, because life has its trials and tribulations, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:28 | |
and I do like to think seriously about certain things. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
Very seriously. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
Yeah. Now, you're not going to tell me when you were born - | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
whether it was '31 or '29 or 1927, | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
but you are going to tell me who your father was. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
- Yes. - Who was he? | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
Arthur. Arthur Dodd. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:46 | |
What did he do for a living? | 0:09:46 | 0:09:47 | |
He was a coal merchant. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:48 | |
What sort of person was he? | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
Wonderful, marvellous. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
You say that about your dad, don't you? | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
He was a very, very funny man, a loving man, a warm man. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:59 | |
I had a marvellous childhood and, er, he was always... | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
He would make things for us, he would make... | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
He was very, very clever with his hands and making things. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
- I'm useless. - Was he a hard-working man? | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
A very, very... I never saw anybody work as hard as that man. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
Well, maybe you work as hard as he did. Was he a driven man? | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
He was driven because he had three children and a wife. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
And, er, times were very hard | 0:10:22 | 0:10:24 | |
and he lived through the coal strike of nineteen-twenty... | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
- Six. - ..six. 1926. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
He also, for a time, was a professional musician... | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
during that coal strike, | 0:10:33 | 0:10:34 | |
and, er...he had a wonderful sense of humour. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
He was a great clown. He had a very, very, very, very funny face. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
He could pull faces and, er, he was a lovely man. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
Having said that, I think... | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
during your life and in the later part of your life, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
you realise what a complex relationship father and son are, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:54 | |
and you have to, er... | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
You have to... | 0:10:56 | 0:10:57 | |
You learn that some of the times | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
when perhaps you found life difficult - | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
the relationship with your father - | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
was sometimes due to some of the things | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
you're now experiencing yourself. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:07 | |
Sometimes, er, your health. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
Sometimes the fact you're growing older, | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
sometimes that you're in the autumn of your life. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
There are many, many... There are many things you wish you... | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
What were the difficulties in your relationship? | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
Oh, only... Only that... | 0:11:20 | 0:11:21 | |
I think every son argues with his father. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
You don't argue with your mother, you argue with your father. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
- Tell me about your mother. - She was lovely, she was wonderful. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
She was a small lady, so I tell everybody I had a mini mum. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
And she was very optimistic. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
My father was more, er... | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
He was more... He insisted that you get things right, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
but my mother was very optimistic and always... | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
She said to me when I first started | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
being an entertainer, as a child, and... | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
..whenever I would go, she would help me to pack my things together | 0:11:49 | 0:11:54 | |
and she'd say... | 0:11:54 | 0:11:55 | |
I remember she said to me once, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
"I don't care what you do, Kenny, as long as you wear a clean shirt." | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
When you were a very small baby - | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
18 months old - you were very, very ill. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
- Is that right? - Yes. Yes. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
Did that... Were you aware of that? | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
You obviously weren't particularly aware of it at the time. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
Were you aware of it later on, that you'd been so ill? | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
Yes, I was quite, er... Quite...quite thin, | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
and, er, I've always had this sort of, the wheeze. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
And, er... But... | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
But did your parents feel that there was something special about you | 0:12:23 | 0:12:28 | |
because you'd survived this terrible double pneumonia as an infant? | 0:12:28 | 0:12:31 | |
I think so, yes. I think so, yes, yes. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
We, the three of us - I've got an older brother, Bill, | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
and a younger sister, June - | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
and we all got equal shares of love and attention. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
I'm sure we did. Absolutely, we insisted on that. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
You were surrounded by love. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
- Oh, very much so, very much so. - Does a comedian, | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
out there on the stage, need to be surrounded by love? | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
Yes. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:54 | |
Is that what wooing an audience is about? | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
Yes. Yes. You're really... | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
There's part of you that's still a child, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
that's asking for appreciation, asking for... | 0:13:01 | 0:13:05 | |
Asking for approval, asking for love. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
There's part of you that's really asking for approval all the time, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
and the terrifying thing is the fear of rejection. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
If an audience rejects you, that's terrible, that's awful. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
So, all the time you're trying to say, | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
"Please, please, please accept what I'm doing." | 0:13:23 | 0:13:27 | |
Would other comedians agree with that description of what it's like? | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
I don't know. I don't know. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
Er, I think so. I see behind their eyes. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
I watch other comedians. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
I love watching comedians, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:39 | |
I will go anywhere to watch a comedian, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
cos every comedian has a good night and a bad night, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
and if you get them on a good night, | 0:13:44 | 0:13:45 | |
it's marvellous - you feel part of them, you know, | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
you're sharing their triumph. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
And on a bad night, if a comedian is, well, dying, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
you feel so sympathetic for them, you really want... | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
You're willing them to do something that's going to make things right. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
So, yes, I think they are... | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
Once again, I think they're asking for appreciation, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:05 | |
asking for people to like them, asking for friendship, | 0:14:05 | 0:14:08 | |
asking for love. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
When did you first find out you could make people laugh? | 0:14:10 | 0:14:15 | |
I started... | 0:14:15 | 0:14:16 | |
Oh, I was one of these little boys that used to... | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
My father used to take us to variety theatres - | 0:14:19 | 0:14:21 | |
well, all sorts of theatres, but mostly variety. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
He loved variety and he loved comedians | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
and he used to take us every week to perhaps one | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
or even two variety shows. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:28 | |
And as a small boy, you know, boys watch railway trains | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
and they always want to be the engine driver. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
But it always seemed to me that | 0:14:35 | 0:14:36 | |
the engine driver in a show was always the comedian. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
He was the top fellow, the top of the bill, so I wanted to be a comedian. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
Well, I couldn't do it right away, | 0:14:43 | 0:14:44 | |
cos I was only about seven or eight years old, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
and I used to read these books called The Wizard. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:48 | |
Comics - The Wizard, The Hotspur, The Rover - | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
and they were always about heroes, and I wanted to be a hero. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
I wanted to be a hero, I wanted to discover some new land. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
I wanted to be... I wanted to be... | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
You wanted to be loved for being... for doing something marvellous. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
I wanted to be a hero as well! I had a lot of ambition. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
And I used to read these advertisements | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
at the back of these comics, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
and one day I saw these... | 0:15:09 | 0:15:10 | |
Always about a firm here in London, | 0:15:10 | 0:15:12 | |
and they used to sell things like, er, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
itching powder and a Seebackroscope, | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
which is thing you put in your eye | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
and you can see if an assassin is creeping up behind you, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
which is very essential for a boy of eight. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
- In the playground? - Uh-huh. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
So I saw this advertisement one day and it said, "Fool your teachers, | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
"amaze your friends, send 6p in stamps, become a ventriloquist." | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
So I did, didn't I? Yes. See? | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
And I... | 0:15:33 | 0:15:34 | |
My father bought me this, er, ventriloquial figure | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
and I started doing little concerts. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
My first was at an orphanage just near, er, | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
Knotty Ash, where I live. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
My dad wrote the script and that was my first show at about eight, | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
and then I did everything - any school concerts... | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
oh, Froth-Blowers' hot pots, dockers' soirees. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
I met these people - | 0:15:56 | 0:15:58 | |
a lady called Hilda Fallon - in Liverpool, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
who ran a concert party and I joined their troupe and I did sort of, er, | 0:16:00 | 0:16:06 | |
any kind of show we could. Any show, we'd get a show. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
You worked as a salesman for a living at one point in your life. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
I helped my father in his business | 0:16:13 | 0:16:14 | |
for a while with my brother Bill, and then I... | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
Once again, I wanted to be a hero, so I struck out on my own and I had | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
this sort of hardware business, | 0:16:21 | 0:16:22 | |
and I think that's where I learned... | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
Pots, polishes and lotions and stuff? | 0:16:25 | 0:16:27 | |
That sort of thing, yes. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:28 | |
And that was on the knocker on the door? | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
At first, at first, and then I had a shop and I used to... | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
That's how I learnt to sell things. Well, really to sell yourself. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
You learn how to look people in the eye and try to sell things to them, | 0:16:36 | 0:16:41 | |
and I think, er... | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
Could you sell me a pot of something if you set your mind to it? | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
- Yes. - You could? | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
- Yes, I think so, yes. - How did you get your start | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
in show business proper? | 0:16:50 | 0:16:52 | |
I, er... As I say, I was doing all these local shows, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
and then I did one or two shows in theatres. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
Er, I did a show, for instance, in New Brighton, | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
an RAF Benevolent Fund show once, | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
on a Sunday, and an old chap there saw me - | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
a man called Dan Slater, who had been a comic | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
and also been a theatre manager. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
And he sort of took over my management for a while | 0:17:13 | 0:17:16 | |
and got me some theatre shows, | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
just within sort of 50 miles of Merseyside. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
Then he introduced me to a marvellous man - | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
a wonderful agent called Dave Forrester - | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
who took me on and took me from the Wigan Hippodrome, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
where I did one of my very first shows where he saw me... | 0:17:32 | 0:17:36 | |
I was a guest artist in a show there. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
Actually, it was... | 0:17:39 | 0:17:40 | |
I didn't know when I signed the contract, it was a nude show, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
and I was put in as a sort of guest artist in the second half. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
And they boasted that they had the only moving nude in the business, | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
cos in those days, they weren't allowed to move, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
and a young lady was pushed across the stage on a bicycle. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:56 | |
So she was a moving nude, and I was on in that show | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
and he signed me up then, on a six-month probationary contract. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
And he... | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
It lasted until two or three years ago, when he passed away at age 90, | 0:18:05 | 0:18:10 | |
but I always think he was 100 and kept 10% for himself. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
But he... He... | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
Perhaps he was... | 0:18:15 | 0:18:16 | |
He took me from Wigan to the Palladium. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
And where you had that amazing, successful run. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
But you were fortunate, it seems to me, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
that in those days - however long ago those days were and, again, | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
we're getting to the point | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
where you ought to be able to identify these dates - | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
you were fortunate to be working when the music hall tradition | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
in this country - such as at the Wigan Hippodrome... | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
- Yes, indeed. - ..was still alive, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
was still happening. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
You could get out there on the boards and work. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
People call them music halls because... | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
They were variety theatres, | 0:18:47 | 0:18:48 | |
and music hall was a bit before that - | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
music hall was where people actually sat in the audience... | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
- OK, variety theatre. - More like the clubs, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
but the variety theatres | 0:18:54 | 0:18:55 | |
and the giant... The big ones, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
the big Moss Stoll tours were gradually | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
coming to the end of their life, | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
and I was very, very lucky and I turned professional in 1954 - | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
September 27th 1954 - at the Nottingham Empire, | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
and the next week was Leeds | 0:19:10 | 0:19:11 | |
and the following week was Sunderland, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
and then up to the house of terror - | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
Glasgow Empire - | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
and down to Birmingham, Brighton. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
And I played all these wonderful, marvellous theatres | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
and worked with some great stars, some big, big stars. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
My second week was... | 0:19:26 | 0:19:27 | |
The first week was with Kenny Baker - the famous trumpeter - | 0:19:27 | 0:19:31 | |
who is still very much Kenny Baker, the famous trumpeter. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
Then the second week was Suzette Tarry, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
a wonderful lady who taught me how to take bows. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
She said on the second night, on the Tuesday, she said, | 0:19:40 | 0:19:42 | |
"Young man, you have quite a good act, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
"but you can't take bows for toffee. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
"Would you like me to show you?" "Oh," I said, "Yes, please." | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
She said, "I shall be here every night when you come off the stage, | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
"and you do exactly what I do, what I tell you to do." | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
And so, every night for that week, as I came off, she told me | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
when to go on, when to hold back, when to take a long bow, | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
and she taught me how to take bows. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:02 | |
Who else did you learn from? | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
I learned from... I had wonderful heroes to look up to. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:07 | |
I think when you're trying to learn anything, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
when you're trying to study any particular art, | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
I think you sort of look to the best, | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
and I worked with some of the best and some of the kindest people. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
Jewel and Warriss, who were absolutely wonderful to me. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
Little Arthur Askey, who was my hero! | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
So much energy, it was like seeing a firework display go off. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
I worked with Ted Ray, who I think | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
was the best stand-up comic of them all. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
I worked with Max Miller in Brighton. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
I met Max and he was a wonderful person. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
He was getting rather old then, but he was still a giant. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
And Tommy Cooper... All the greats. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
Where could you, or where could a successor to you, start now? | 0:20:44 | 0:20:49 | |
It would be a very different apprenticeship, wouldn't it? | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
Very. Even... | 0:20:51 | 0:20:53 | |
Even allowing for the fact that I believe there are now more theatres | 0:20:53 | 0:20:57 | |
in this country than there were 40 years ago - | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
that's an amazing fact, isn't it? | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
A lot of people think the theatres are all gone. No. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
There are more theatres now, | 0:21:03 | 0:21:04 | |
but they're all smaller theatres - they're all 500-seater, 1,000-seater. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
Every town, every city worthy of its salt - or gritting - | 0:21:08 | 0:21:12 | |
has its own civic theatre or a theatre run by a trust. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
And there are thousands - hundreds, certainly - | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
probably thousands of theatres all over Britain. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
I made a vow that I would play every one, | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
and I'm still probably only halfway through. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
- Have you kept count? - Yeah. Well, not count. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
Well, I could, I suppose, if I went through my date sheet, | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
but it's a lot. I've played some strange ones. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
Some up in Shetlands, er... | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
oh... | 0:21:35 | 0:21:36 | |
in the Theatre in the Forest in the Lake District. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
But all these theatres. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
I was very lucky I was able to play all the big theatres | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
before they closed. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
I, er... | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
I've played some very strange ones, too. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
What's your comedy about? | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
My comedy is about giving people laughter. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
Yeah, but what's the subject matter of it? | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
Happiness. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:57 | |
No, that's the end effect you're trying... | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
You're saying the targets? | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
- What are you trying to achieve? - The subject matter? | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
No, what do you make jokes about? | 0:22:03 | 0:22:05 | |
Jokes about, mostly... | 0:22:05 | 0:22:06 | |
All comedy, all humour, all jokes, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
reflect the lives we live. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
It reflects our lifestyle. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
That is why a lot of jokes, a lot of American humour - | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
some American humour, a lot of American - doesn't travel very well | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
and a lot of our humour doesn't travel well over there. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
And European humour, but it all reflects that... | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
So my jokes are about family life, er... | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
I start... | 0:22:29 | 0:22:30 | |
My act is like a kaleidoscope, if you will. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
I go on first of all and I try to build the bridge | 0:22:32 | 0:22:35 | |
and I talk about the most important thing in the world - themselves. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
- What's that? - Themselves. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
- Right. - Then I talk about the place. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
I josh the place, I have a little... | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
Tease them about the town they live in, | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
the city they live in, about the traffic systems and I say, | 0:22:50 | 0:22:54 | |
"This traffic system, | 0:22:54 | 0:22:55 | |
"you must be very proud - nobody'll ever find you now." | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
And that works in every city in Great Britain, cos every city | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
and every town in Great Britain has a traffic problem. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
Then I talk about... | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
And gradually, you ingratiate yourself into their confidence, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
so that then they trust you, they trust you with their minds. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
They trust you with their sense of humour, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:14 | |
cos people are very proud of their sense of humour, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
and they won't just let anybody tickle them. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
Then, through the act, | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
you gradually get to the stage | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
where you can talk about being very... | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
very, er...surrealistic. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
You can talk about men's legs | 0:23:27 | 0:23:28 | |
getting very lonely in their trousers, | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
in the dark all day. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
How important is the fantasy language that you invent, as well? | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
I very rarely... | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
The fantasy language - the tattyfilariousness | 0:23:38 | 0:23:40 | |
and the discomknockerating - | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
that really is another...is another department. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
That was more for, mmm... | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
More for the zany part of it, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
and particularly in the children's humour section - the family audience. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
I'd been professional about, er... | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
well, only about six months | 0:23:56 | 0:23:57 | |
and I discovered a brand-new audience. | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
When I started off, I was a front-cloth comic. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
That's a comic that, er, goes on when the... | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
you know, the liberty horses are behind. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
And, er, then I discovered a brand-new aud... The family audience. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
The family audience of pantomime, the family audience of summer season, | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
where mums and dads took the children, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
and their aunties and the uncles | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
and the grannies, and you have to find a completely new approach. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
New subject matter, so I invented... | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
That's the language and the Diddymen. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:27 | |
I invented these little Diddymen for the children, | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
and the discomknockerating and the tattyfilariousness. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
It's all trademarks - the hair, the teeth, the fingers, the eyes - | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
they're all trademarked to make you different | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
than any other humorist, different than any other comic. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
You have to be different. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
Can a comic be good-looking? | 0:24:42 | 0:24:43 | |
If he is, he has to do something about it. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
And he has to... | 0:24:47 | 0:24:48 | |
- The teeth are deliberate. - I've always been cursed... | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
The teeth are deliberate. You could have had the teeth fixed. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:52 | |
- Oh, yes, yes, yes. - But it would, er... | 0:24:52 | 0:24:54 | |
I didn't know that. I didn't know that until about, er... | 0:24:54 | 0:24:56 | |
about ten years ago. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
I was sitting in a dental surgery here in London, and he said, | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
"Well, that's it, Mr Dodd. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
"Anything else we can do?" | 0:25:04 | 0:25:05 | |
Laughing, I said, "Yes, if you can straighten them." | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
"Oh, yes, we can do that for you." | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
"What?" And then I was left with this dilemma. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
- My agent nearly had a relapse... - I should think, yeah. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
..when I told her I was going to have my teeth straightened. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
But, er, no, I think... you have to be able to go... | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
..and do all this stuff, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
because...part of the psychology of humour is to make an audience | 0:25:25 | 0:25:29 | |
feel that they're superior to you. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
You have to learn humility, you have to let people laugh at you. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
It's very important that you... | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
And I don't mind, I don't mind people laughing at me. It's fine. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
It's part of my job, I'm a jester. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
Setting the family audience aside for another day, | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
how rude can you be? | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
I had... Once again, I had great heroes to look up to - Robb Wilton, | 0:25:48 | 0:25:52 | |
er...Tommy Handley and these giants... | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
these giant - not just comedians, they were humorists. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
They were very creative people. Jimmy James said to me once, he said, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
"See, Ken, there are people who say funny things, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
"and people who say things funny," | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
meaning the difference between a man who just tells jokes and a man who | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
actually sort of creates jokes, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
creates the humour, creates them and acts them. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
And I think... They didn't... They were never obscene. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
They may have been slightly risque. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:20 | |
No, but you. How sexy is your act, in fact? | 0:26:20 | 0:26:24 | |
Oh, ah, well, yes. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:25 | |
Well, I... I like it to be spicy | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
and I like people to know that I'm very much a man | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
and I tell honeymoon jokes and I tell jokes about, er... | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
I say I'm a sex symbol for women who don't care. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:41 | |
And I do stuff like that, yes. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
But, I mean, the tickling stick. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:45 | |
- The tickling stick. Well, that... - That's a sex symbol, isn't it? | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
Well, people have... but I think that's a phallus-y. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
Yeah, but I know that, but it actually is a phallus, isn't it? | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
I mean, that's what it is. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:55 | |
No, I don't think so. Tickling, I think, can be... | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
Tickling can be innuendo. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
Tickling can be sort of, "By Jove, missus, how tickled we are!" | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
That, yes, it's the... | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
You're talking about something that's getting into the area of, | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
er...the enjoyment of sex, but sex is a thing to be celebrated. | 0:27:08 | 0:27:13 | |
It's a wonderful thing. It's a... | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
It is happiness. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
Isn't the essence of that that you're... | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
that you're pretending not to go the whole way, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
but they're actually imagining it? | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
Well, yes, this is a very... | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
I think I learnt that from Max Miller. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
Max Miller never told rude jokes. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
Everybody thought that Max Miller was a blue comedian. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
He was never a blue comedian. He always dared the audience to... | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
"Please, lady, lady, don't make me say it, lady, don't make me say it." | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
Yeah, but that's because he made them think it. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
- He teased. - He didn't say it, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:42 | |
but made them think it. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
He teased, he teased the audience. You do, of course. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:46 | |
I mean, if sex and even vulgarity and bawdiness... | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
Bawdiness is a wonderful thing. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
It's a wonderful thing to celebrate being a human being. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
Do you ever take a break? | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
Yes. Yes. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
What do you do when you relax? | 0:27:59 | 0:28:01 | |
We like to travel. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
Er... | 0:28:03 | 0:28:04 | |
Like to travel to interesting places. | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
Took you a long time, I've read somewhere, to go abroad. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
Oh, no. That was a story at one time. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
- That's a story. - I was very busy. I was very busy. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
As I say, I started... | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
being a professional comedian in 1954, | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
and within ten years, I was starring at the London Palladium, | 0:28:19 | 0:28:23 | |
which wasn't bad. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:24 | |
And then, we did 42 weeks then went back the following...1967, | 0:28:24 | 0:28:30 | |
played another 40 weeks there, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
played Windsor Castle, the Royal Household party. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:34 | |
- How did that go? - Very well! Very well! | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
I can remember singing Happiness - # Happiness, happiness # - | 0:28:37 | 0:28:41 | |
and...Her Majesty was just where you are now, | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
and I looked down and her hands were going on the arms there. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:49 | |
That was a wonderful... | 0:28:52 | 0:28:53 | |
I shall treasure that for the rest of my life. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
You sing Happiness, and you obviously make... | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
- but can you give people happiness? - Yes. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:00 | |
Is happiness something everybody can have? | 0:29:00 | 0:29:01 | |
Yes, it's a attitude of mind, isn't it? It is an attitude of mind. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
And, er, sometimes people, | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
when they're very depressed, can go to a show - | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
I'm very proud to say, they come to my shows - | 0:29:10 | 0:29:13 | |
and, feeling quite down, quite depressed sometimes, | 0:29:13 | 0:29:17 | |
for all sorts of reasons. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
And we get, you know, they tell us afterwards that it was...it was... | 0:29:19 | 0:29:24 | |
for a few hours, it really gave them a lift. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
Can you perform when you're not happy yourself? | 0:29:27 | 0:29:30 | |
It's... It's, er... You have to, actually. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
No, you don't have to. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:35 | |
But you have chosen to, haven't you? | 0:29:35 | 0:29:37 | |
Yes, there is a... | 0:29:37 | 0:29:39 | |
Once again, it's like two people again. | 0:29:39 | 0:29:40 | |
It's, er...the private person, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
before they go on stage, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
might feel quite down or even... | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
just not feel like being the comedian at all, | 0:29:49 | 0:29:53 | |
but once the music starts and you're on, something happens - | 0:29:53 | 0:29:58 | |
you become another person. | 0:29:58 | 0:29:59 | |
And can that be true even if someone you love very much is ill? | 0:29:59 | 0:30:04 | |
It has happened, yes, yes. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:06 | |
Or someone you love very much has died? | 0:30:06 | 0:30:08 | |
- Yes. That has happened, yes. - Did you have to perform... | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
- Yes. - ..when your father died? | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
- Yes, I did, yes. - You didn't choose not to? | 0:30:13 | 0:30:15 | |
I didn't. I chose... Out of respect for him, I chose to do it. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:19 | |
Yeah. | 0:30:19 | 0:30:20 | |
Was that hard? | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
That particular night was very hard, yes. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
Yes, that was very hard. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
Is this going out there | 0:30:27 | 0:30:29 | |
and losing yourself in an audience | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
a sort of escape from the difficulties of life? | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
Not from the difficulties. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:38 | |
It's an escape to somewhere very, very happy. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
I enjoy myself, I have the time of my life when I'm on the stage. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
I really do, I enjoy every second of it. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:45 | |
Is the large part of your audiences women? | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
No, no. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:49 | |
I have a very, very...wonderful sort of... | 0:30:49 | 0:30:53 | |
wonderful spread of audiences. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:54 | |
I... I have... We have... | 0:30:54 | 0:30:56 | |
It seems to me that a lot of your act is addressed to women. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Cos women do... | 0:30:59 | 0:31:03 | |
Ladies do have a better sense of humour - well, a more emotional | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
sense of humour - than men, cos women are more emotional than men. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
Oh, yes. Men are much more... | 0:31:09 | 0:31:11 | |
They hold it and it's a bit more macho, isn't it, | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
to sort of keep it to...? | 0:31:14 | 0:31:17 | |
"Make me laugh!" | 0:31:17 | 0:31:18 | |
Whereas ladies, they really... They get it. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:20 | |
They're out for a good time. They enjoy themselves. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
If you've ever been to a hen party... | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
Well, why is it that you manage to give them so good a time? | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
I enjoy it myself. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:31 | |
I love doing it and I take good care to try and get good material, | 0:31:31 | 0:31:36 | |
to try and write good material, to try and, er, | 0:31:36 | 0:31:38 | |
get other people to write me good material, | 0:31:38 | 0:31:40 | |
and I know a good joke when I see one, | 0:31:40 | 0:31:42 | |
and I only do my own - I'll only do my own material. | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
I mean, you come on to them as sexy but innocent, would you say? | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
Yes. Yes, I think so, yes. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:49 | |
I mean you wrap your rudeness | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
and sexiness in a sort of childlike... | 0:31:51 | 0:31:53 | |
- Yes, that is true. - ..quality. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
Yes, that is so. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:56 | |
I mean, let me ask you seriously, | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
are you as good with...are you as popular with younger audiences, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:03 | |
or is there something that's pleasantly familiar | 0:32:03 | 0:32:07 | |
about your act for older audiences? | 0:32:07 | 0:32:09 | |
Every... Every ten years - I think every seven years, | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
but every ten years, you have to pass an exam again with the public. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
You have to reinvent yourself, and you have to find... | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
You come up with something new, | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
or do something rather spectacular, and, er... | 0:32:21 | 0:32:25 | |
this is... Thank goodness I've been able to do this for 40 years. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:29 | |
I've either had a successful record or I've had a successful, | 0:32:29 | 0:32:34 | |
er, show in London in the West End that's brought me a lot of publicity, | 0:32:34 | 0:32:39 | |
or I've done a very successful... Perhaps a successful television show. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
Er, as... Last year, we did a...a mega success - a mega success - | 0:32:43 | 0:32:49 | |
with a show called An Audience With... | 0:32:49 | 0:32:51 | |
and this was a big, big success | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
and this was... I've reinvented Ken Dodd again, | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
and now there's all sorts of teenagers | 0:32:56 | 0:32:59 | |
and boys and girls coming up | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
and saying, "We never realised that this sort of comedy... | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
"We thought comedy was all about swearing at the audience. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
"We thought comedy was all about talking about - | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
"well, mentioning, er, unmentionable things! | 0:33:10 | 0:33:14 | |
"Taboos, we never realised you could have a good time | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
"just by talking about... | 0:33:16 | 0:33:19 | |
"Oh, no, no, talking about the doctor's routine or the..." | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
What are the best moments of your life? Are they on stage or off it? | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
Well, a mixture of both, I think. I've had some... I've, er... | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
Whatever success I've had, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
I've some wonderful people helping me, | 0:33:33 | 0:33:35 | |
and I've got some... | 0:33:35 | 0:33:37 | |
I've had a lovely family who help me. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:39 | |
I've got partners - I've got a partner who helps me. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:43 | |
I've got, er... | 0:33:43 | 0:33:44 | |
I've got, er, lots and lots of friends and supporters | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
and they all help in their own way. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
What have been the worst moments of your life? | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
Well, I think the same as most people - bereavements and, er, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
sometimes, when you're up against it. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
Yeah, I think everybody gets their share of tough times, | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
but you, er... | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
I have a... | 0:34:05 | 0:34:06 | |
I'm very grateful that I have something in here that... | 0:34:06 | 0:34:11 | |
I don't... I think you'd call it... | 0:34:13 | 0:34:16 | |
I think you'd call it courage, I think. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
When I've been down, something gets very, very determined there | 0:34:19 | 0:34:25 | |
that it's not gonna beat me, | 0:34:25 | 0:34:26 | |
and I won't let it beat me, and I won't and I won't. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
And I still have the enthusiasm. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:32 | |
That is the greatest talent anybody can possibly have | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
if they're thinking of coming into show business or the theatre - | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
you have to have enthusiasm. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:40 | |
Do you have fears? What do you fear in life? | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
I think, like most... Like most people... | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
I'm blessed with reasonable health, | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
but I'd be frightened of being incapacitated. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
I'd be, er... | 0:34:52 | 0:34:54 | |
I'd be frightened of somebody telling me I had a terminal illness. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
Er... | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
I think I... I think I'm frightened... | 0:35:00 | 0:35:03 | |
I'm fearful of, er... | 0:35:04 | 0:35:06 | |
when the end of my life comes, | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
that maybe I won't have done all the things | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
I would want to have done, | 0:35:12 | 0:35:14 | |
and maybe, er...maybe I'd want to redress one or two things. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:19 | |
But, yeah, I think I'm mostly norm... | 0:35:19 | 0:35:22 | |
Things that most men and women are frightened of, I think. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:24 | |
- Are you a believing man? - Yes, yes. Yes, I believe in my... | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
I believe in my creator, and I don't think it matters whether you call him | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
God, Jehovah, Muhammad, Buddha - I think it's the, er... | 0:35:32 | 0:35:36 | |
They're all different ways of approaching our creator. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:41 | |
I cannot possibly believe that I'm an accident. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
I... I must have a... I must... There must be... | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
And I feel very strongly - very strongly sometimes - | 0:35:48 | 0:35:50 | |
that I'm being guided, that I'm being helped, yes. | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
You're very loyal to your roots. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
Is it... Do you live in the same house you were born in? | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
- Yes. Yes. - Have you always lived there? | 0:36:00 | 0:36:02 | |
Yes. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:03 | |
You lived there with your father and mother. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:05 | |
- Yes. - And now you live... | 0:36:05 | 0:36:06 | |
But I live in other places as well, you know, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
when I played the Palladium for several years, I lived in London. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:12 | |
Er... I, er, I've lived in other parts of the country, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:16 | |
and I lived in other parts of the world for a time. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:18 | |
I live on Merseyside - Liverpool in particular - | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
because it's a wonderful city, | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
full of people who are very, very full of enthusiasm. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:28 | |
Once again, this... That's why so many comedians come from Liverpool. | 0:36:28 | 0:36:31 | |
People used to say, "Why do so many comedians come from Liverpool?" | 0:36:31 | 0:36:34 | |
Arthur Askey said, "You've got to be a comedian to live in Liverpool." | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
They're the sort... They're very, very... | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
What do you spend your money on? | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
Er...books. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
Books. Er... | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
..clothes, you know, some clothes. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
But mostly...mostly books, I think, | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
and any...and gadgets. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:53 | |
I love gadgets! I love things like anything electronic. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:57 | |
Everything from sort of computers, down to, er...video recorders | 0:36:57 | 0:37:02 | |
and recording machines. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:04 | |
Do you have regrets? | 0:37:04 | 0:37:06 | |
Oh, yes. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:07 | |
- What are your regrets? - I think everybody has regrets. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
Er... | 0:37:09 | 0:37:11 | |
I do regret I haven't got children, yes. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:16 | |
Yes, I do regret that | 0:37:16 | 0:37:18 | |
and I do regret that perhaps... I think I would have, er... | 0:37:18 | 0:37:23 | |
I think I would have liked to have started travelling earlier. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:28 | |
I think I would've, er... | 0:37:28 | 0:37:31 | |
I would've liked to have gone to university, I think. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
Are you really a loner, a very lonely person? | 0:37:33 | 0:37:38 | |
No, I don't think so. No, no. I love chatting. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
I'm a terrible...gasbag. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
I love talking and, yes, I talk sometimes when I should be listening, | 0:37:45 | 0:37:49 | |
but, er, I do talk a lot and I love talking with friends | 0:37:49 | 0:37:52 | |
and, er, you know, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
people in show business, but I think everyone, deep down inside, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:58 | |
has moments of...moments of quiet | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
and moments of, er, thinking. | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
And, yes, think about what it's all about, and I do, er, | 0:38:04 | 0:38:10 | |
I have... | 0:38:10 | 0:38:11 | |
I have...I think, like most people, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
feelings of compassion for parts of the world that, er, shouldn't be | 0:38:14 | 0:38:19 | |
the way they are and for people who shouldn't be in the state they are. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:24 | |
And I realise that God hasn't made us all equal by any means, | 0:38:24 | 0:38:29 | |
and perhaps the strong ones are here to look after the weaker people. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:34 | |
Will you ever retire? | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
I don't think so. I don't think so. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
The comedian will say, er... | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
When I'm asked this question, "Will you ever retire?", | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
say, "No, no, no, missus. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
"But your children will tell their grandchildren | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
"I was in the theatre the night he was shot." | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
That's the comedian, but the retire... | 0:38:49 | 0:38:52 | |
No, while I've got my health, | 0:38:52 | 0:38:53 | |
while I can do it, I can't think of | 0:38:53 | 0:38:56 | |
anything more wonderful than to go onto a stage, | 0:38:56 | 0:38:58 | |
or into a television studio, | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
or in a radio studio and just to give laughter | 0:39:00 | 0:39:05 | |
and to hear the sound of laughter | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
and know that I had something to do with making them laugh. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 |