0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Coming up, Britain's best-loved comedians reveal
0:00:25 > 0:00:29who gets their chuckle muscles working overtime.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I remember my mum almost wetting her pants watching this.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36You ever write your name in the snow?
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Richard Pryor, couldn't touch him.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41From stand-up routines to favourite scenes.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46They're letting us in on their all-time favourite jokes, and their love, envy
0:00:46 > 0:00:49and sheer admiration for the star performers behind them!
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Someone must have died watching that, laughing.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55I shot a moose once.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I'd never seen a man like that before!
0:00:57 > 0:01:00What a gay day! Do you know? The muck on here...
0:01:00 > 0:01:03So dust off your laughing gear, hold onto your armchairs
0:01:03 > 0:01:08and buckle up for a ride into the land of comedy!
0:01:08 > 0:01:09It's just comedy gold, really.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18I think Richard Pryor is one of the funniest people who ever breathed air.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21We talk in the comedy industry about people having funny bones.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Every single piece of Richard Pryor was funny.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Not many black people get bitten by snakes,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33because black people stroll too cool in the woods.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Richard Pryor is probably the greatest comedian
0:01:36 > 0:01:40that we've seen in modern comedy.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42They'll be walking...
0:01:42 > 0:01:46A guy whose own personal life might have been out of control
0:01:46 > 0:01:50but on stage was the moment where he truly held sway
0:01:50 > 0:01:52and knew exactly what he was doing.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57White people get bit all the time cos they have a different rhythm. They be in the woods like...
0:02:00 > 0:02:05Richard Pryor, couldn't touch him, nobody could touch him,
0:02:05 > 0:02:06nobody could touch him.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09He was on another field, he was on another plane,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12he was an actor, it wasn't even jokes.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18I mean, you would just look at him, and you'd go, why bother?
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Why bother? Why bother to go out on stage?
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Brave and uncompromising, Richard Pryor had a finely tuned nose
0:02:26 > 0:02:28for life's funny moments.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Anything was game, including his own dark past.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Brought up in a whorehouse, his mother was a madam,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38he was mainly brought up by his grandparents,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43his father was a lorry driver/pimp! He had an ability to document his life
0:02:43 > 0:02:45in a way that some comedians flinch away from,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49cos "I'm not sure I can make that funny." Well, Pryor made it funny.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53First time I heard Richard Pryor was in 1978 in a record shop
0:02:53 > 0:02:55called Tapes Galore on the Edgware Road,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58and I use to go in there and buy soul records and R'n'B records
0:02:58 > 0:03:01and they were very hip, they were quite a hip record shop.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03All vinyl and cassettes. I went in there,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08and there was this guy wearing headphones, doubled up on the floor.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12He was sort of leaning like this and he was doing this laugh,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14where he was kind of like a cat with a fur ball.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17CHOKING LAUGHTER
0:03:17 > 0:03:20He was laughing like that!
0:03:20 > 0:03:25And I thought, as a young comedian, I need to know what's THAT funny.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28My father taught me about the great outdoors,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31you know, he loved like the woods and shit and nature.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I still dig it today. You know, I use to love to go.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37My father'd take me fishing and hunting.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40I liked to go hunting with him but I hated being the dog.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43No, because my father didn't have no patience, you know,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47he'd just lose his temper. "Goddamn it, chase the rabbit this way!
0:03:47 > 0:03:51"What the fuck you chasing the rabbit back that way for?! Get your ass in the car! Shit!"
0:03:51 > 0:03:55Richard Pryor Live in Concert, this was the peak of his comedic powers.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58He was talking about doing drugs in front of his gran,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00he talks about being beaten by both his parents,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03he talks about boxing, he talks about having a heart attack.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06The honesty that came off him in waves is what puts him above
0:04:06 > 0:04:10a lot of the comedians that are around, I think.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13When you'd be hunting deer and shit, you'd be in the woods
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and you'd hear all... crshk, crshk, crshk...
0:04:16 > 0:04:20The hunting in the woods is like a cathedral of comedy,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22the way he paints the picture of the sound of the woods
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and being out in nature and, of course, he sets it up
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and there's a moment where he imitates a deer.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31The deer will be drinking water, right?
0:04:32 > 0:04:35LAUGHTER
0:04:37 > 0:04:40And he does the...
0:04:40 > 0:04:45and it takes quite a long time to show you the deer, sort of...
0:04:56 > 0:05:00And I don't know how deer ever drink water, scared as they are, right?
0:05:06 > 0:05:09He has a great ability, he emphasises almost everyone
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and everything in his life. So, he can start talking through...
0:05:13 > 0:05:16He can bring voices into absolutely everything.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21He does a lot of stuff where he kind of,
0:05:21 > 0:05:26I think the word is, anthropomorphises animals
0:05:26 > 0:05:31giving them kind of human voices and human emotions.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Which, not only is really charming and an absolute pleasure to watch,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38but it's just so spot-on and funny.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42Get off my goddamn foot!
0:05:44 > 0:05:48And then the key moment is, "Pass me the rifle," and his stupid mate.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50"Give me the rifle."
0:05:52 > 0:05:54"What rifle?"
0:05:54 > 0:05:56LAUGHTER
0:05:58 > 0:06:00"What rifle?"
0:06:01 > 0:06:04"The one I gave you at the car."
0:06:07 > 0:06:09"The rifle I gave you back at the car."
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"Oh, shit, I didn't know you wanted ME to carry the rifle."
0:06:28 > 0:06:31"If you ain't got the rifle we're in trouble!"
0:06:31 > 0:06:34How you figure that? Ain't nothing but a deer.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37"I know that but there's a bear behind you."
0:06:39 > 0:06:42He talks about being the woods with his girlfriend
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and his girlfriend wanting to have a pee but not wanting to pee
0:06:45 > 0:06:46because she's in the woods.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51"OK, I'm going to pull my panties down just a little bit, OK?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54"Now, don't you do nothing. Don't you be funny.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56"Now, if you see something, you let me know."
0:06:56 > 0:07:01He mimes a woman taking her knickers down, having a pee in the woods...
0:07:01 > 0:07:04- It's perfect. - It's so brilliantly done because...
0:07:04 > 0:07:06in that moment, you're not thinking,
0:07:06 > 0:07:07"Oh, that's Richard Pryor
0:07:07 > 0:07:10"pretending to be a woman." It's like, "That's a woman!"
0:07:10 > 0:07:14I like to wait till they get into it and go, "SOMEBODY'S COMING!"
0:07:16 > 0:07:20That's it. That's as good as it gets. That style,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24that slickness, that genuine sense of fun.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Cool as well - he just had it all!
0:07:28 > 0:07:31You watch Richard Pryor perform, it's just effortless.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35There's no feeling of stress or strain or pressure on him.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37It's just a joy to watch him.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48What I really liked about Jack Dee back then
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and still now is just that sarcasm
0:07:51 > 0:07:55and that sort of put-on misery.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00I met Jack very early on when I started doing stand-up,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02so that would have been in the mid '80s.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05And he doesn't really look like he does now.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09He was the worst scruffbag student you've ever seen.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12In fact, I think the first gig I ever did with him,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14he actually had a duffle coat on.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16People come up to me in the street now.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19They say, "You're not as big as you are on telly, are ya?
0:08:19 > 0:08:22"You're not as big as you are on telly, are ya?"
0:08:22 > 0:08:25I don't know, how big's your fucking television?
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I feel like Jack Dee occupies a little bit of all our psyches
0:08:28 > 0:08:33that just wakes up in the morning and just thinks, "Am I still alive?"
0:08:33 > 0:08:36I was very pleased with the West-End-run suit.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39£600, this thing cost me and I was really chuffed with it.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41For the whole run, I'd worn it for six weeks
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and then, about two minutes before I came on stage just now,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I looked in a full-length mirror and I suddenly clicked.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49I thought, "Oh...Sainsbury's manager."
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Jack Dee, famous for his deadpan delivery and sardonic wit
0:08:56 > 0:09:01has turned grumpiness into an art form in a career spanning 20 years.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04It's all delivered in quite a world-weary fashion,
0:09:04 > 0:09:11as if the world is just too much for him to take, and people love that.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14I have got a bit of a headache, I have to say
0:09:14 > 0:09:17cos I was out celebrating my wife's birthday, last night.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19I didn't get in until 3am...
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Christ, she was livid! Oh, my God!
0:09:22 > 0:09:24One of my favourite routines of his
0:09:24 > 0:09:28is the one that he talks about where he goes to a craft fair.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30It felt like just perfect stand-up.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33The sign said, "Craft Fayre - 20p."
0:09:33 > 0:09:35I thought, "That's bound to be good.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38"Look round the best shops in the world for nothing,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40"20p - this is going to be..."
0:09:40 > 0:09:42So I walk in...
0:09:42 > 0:09:45What I liked about Jack's craft fair routine
0:09:45 > 0:09:49was it just took the piss out of those events that you go to,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51like church fetes
0:09:51 > 0:09:54but you arrive and you realise that every single stall
0:09:54 > 0:09:59is attended by some saddo who's made something that's a bit rubbish.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03This guy had a wicker stall, this bastard...
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Oh, he'd been busy. He had everything you could ever want in wicker.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Everything in your house, he had a container for it.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15A container for your washing machine, a big wicker thing like that.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17He was standing there. He had a wicker jumper on,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19standing like that.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25He had wicker contact lenses.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Frightening all the kids and everything.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32Oh, and the seashell wizard was there.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34The seashell section, I particularly like
0:10:34 > 0:10:38because he points out - which is absolutely true -
0:10:38 > 0:10:42that some people think if you just get a normal object
0:10:42 > 0:10:46and stick a load of seashells on, that makes it attractive.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47Well, it doesn't.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52It makes it look like something your four-year-old child made at nursery
0:10:52 > 0:10:54that you go, "Oh, isn't that lovely,"
0:10:54 > 0:10:56and when they're not looking, you put it in the bin.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01No-one yet has been kind enough to say, "You know what, Alf, Alf, Alf,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04"these are crap, OK? Just stop doing it, OK?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06"You're a grown man now..."
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Jack's stand-up is quite silly as well, in a way,
0:11:09 > 0:11:14even though he's got that morose persona, he's actually really...
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- Some really silly things in what he says.- When I was a kid,
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I had an aunt who used to knit jumpers for me, right?
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Every Christmas we'd get that squidgy packet.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29It would arrive and I'd be thinking, "Oh, I wonder what that can be."
0:11:29 > 0:11:32He goes on to talk about the fact that, one Christmas,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34all he wanted was a Sweep toy.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36I happened to like Sweep very, very much.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47I wasn't so keen on Sooty. I didn't like Sooty so much.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50In fact, I hated Sooty if you want to know.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54I don't like people who whisper all the time, you know what I mean?
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And then he says he wants this Sweep toy and there's this lovely bit
0:11:57 > 0:12:01where his aunt goes to his mum, "Oh, no, don't BUY one for him."
0:12:01 > 0:12:04And my aunt finds out.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09I don't know how she found out. She had little antennae on her head or something.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15And she's talking to my mum and she goes, "Oh, no, don't BUY one for him.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20No, no, no, no.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23No, don't BUY it.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I'll make it for him!
0:12:31 > 0:12:34He was so new and so fresh.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37He was in a sense the descendant of Hancock.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38I think the way Hancock
0:12:38 > 0:12:41had this view of the world of, you know, why me?
0:12:41 > 0:12:42"Why is it me that suffers?"
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Jack was the stand-up version of that.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47He was very much an everyman figure. A smart everyman figure but...
0:12:47 > 0:12:51"Yeah, why is that and why do they do that?
0:12:51 > 0:12:55- "It's ridiculous! Why? Why? Why?" - The old wizard with those needles.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00Maybe, I'll get you enough wool, you can knit me a train set next year!
0:13:00 > 0:13:05He just somehow sums up the dark, fed up-ness of the British, really.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08We're not all cheery like the Americans
0:13:08 > 0:13:10going, "What a great day it is. We love everyone," and,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14"I've known you for two minutes, come and stay at my house for a month."
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Jack is the polar opposite to that. "Don't come near me,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"I don't want to talk to you. I've had a bad day. Piss off, everyone."
0:13:20 > 0:13:22And I love that.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34I liked Woody Allen's style
0:13:34 > 0:13:38because it was unusually relaxed, really. He could just ramble on
0:13:38 > 0:13:43but I think to a great extent that influenced a lot of comics that came after him
0:13:43 > 0:13:47because it gave them licence to be that relaxed too
0:13:47 > 0:13:52and to actually not feel the pressure to do one-liner after one-liner.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Woody Allen hit the stand-up scene in 1961 at the age of 26
0:13:57 > 0:14:02and soon became the undisputed master of the comedy monologue.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04I shot a moose once!
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The moose sketch is a classic.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12I think it's quite perfect in so many ways.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14"I shot a moose once!"
0:14:15 > 0:14:18That alone is one of those lines that every comic knows.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"I shot a moose once!"
0:14:21 > 0:14:25In his early years as a stand-up comic,
0:14:25 > 0:14:31he'd paint these visual imageries with such clarity and precision.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37I tied the moose onto the fender of my car
0:14:37 > 0:14:39and I drove back home.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44He drives off but the bullet hasn't killed the moose.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I'm going through a tunnel... the moose woke up.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53So I'm driving with a live moose on my fender.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57The moose is signalling for a turn.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59He tells it so slowly
0:14:59 > 0:15:03and he draws you in and one of the things I love about Woody Allen
0:15:03 > 0:15:08is that he credits his audience with a lot of intelligence.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12We're all going on this ridiculous trip with him.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14The moose routine just has everything.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17It's a brilliant piece of storytelling, which is rare.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Not many stand-ups can do that well.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21And there's a law in New York State
0:15:21 > 0:15:26against driving with a conscious moose, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28So, this story goes on and gets more ridiculous
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and he ends up going to a fancy dress party with this moose.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33We go in.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38The moose starts to mingle.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45He goes to the buffet table. Some guy tries to sell him insurance.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50He takes the moose to the fancy dress party and the moose comes in second.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52That in itself - you could end it right there.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56They judge who's got the best costume of the night.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02First prize goes to the Berkowitzes...
0:16:03 > 0:16:06..a married couple dressed in a moose suit.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13The moose comes in second.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21The moose is furious.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25He and the Berkowitzes lock antlers in the living room.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Being able to give you the visual imagery
0:16:28 > 0:16:32of the moose who he had stunned locking horns with the Berkowitzes.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35They knock each other unconscious.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Now, I figure, I'll get rid of him for good. I pile him on the fender and speed up to the woods
0:16:40 > 0:16:42but I got the Berkowitzes!
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I'm driving along with two Jewish people on my fender!
0:16:51 > 0:16:54There's a law in New York State...
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Basically, Mr Berkowitz is shot and mounted.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03At the end, with the punchline and the satire within this...
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It's three minutes of utter brilliance.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Mr Berkowitz is shot,
0:17:09 > 0:17:17stuffed and mounted at the New York City Golf Club.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And the joke is on them cos they don't allow Jews.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25I'd be surprised if there isn't one comic in the country
0:17:25 > 0:17:30who would know this routine and not say, "Yeah, that really is as good as it gets."
0:17:30 > 0:17:36All I wanted to do was be a funny person in a Woody Allen film
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and, if he continued to make films like he did in the '70s,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44I might have been in with a chance cos I'm a genuinely awkward and clumsy-looking girl.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Sadly, it all changed and he uses people like Scarlett Johansson now.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50I haven't got a chance in hell, have I?
0:17:59 > 0:18:02My favourite performance is Larry Grayson -
0:18:02 > 0:18:06his last ever performance at the Royal Variety Show in 1994.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09It's very funny but it's also very poignant
0:18:09 > 0:18:13and it's a great farewell performance.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15I sleep in a hammock, you know.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Well, I always wanted to be in the Navy but I never quite made it.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22The nearest I got was an all-male revue called Come Peep Through My Porthole.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Anyway...
0:18:24 > 0:18:26The forefather of camp comedy Larry Grayson
0:18:26 > 0:18:31launched his career at the age of 14 in working men's clubs.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36His popularity peaked in the late '70s when, as host of the Generation Game,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40he attracted audiences of 24 million each week.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41I had quite a formal upbringing
0:18:41 > 0:18:46and we would always have to have dinner at the table but on a Saturday
0:18:46 > 0:18:48we were allowed to have tea on our laps
0:18:48 > 0:18:52and that would be the highlight of the week, watching the Generation Game.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55You first attracted your wife's attention
0:18:55 > 0:18:58by making noises at her all day. What sort of noises?
0:18:58 > 0:19:01At school, I sat behind her and went... HE CLEARS THROAT
0:19:01 > 0:19:04- Oh, did you?- All day.- Do it again.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07- HE CLEARS THROAT - I find it rather attractive.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10What I remember about Larry Grayson on Generation Game
0:19:10 > 0:19:12is I'd never seen a man like that before in my life.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17It's camp. It was very different to Bruce Forsyth, as well,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20who's got that sort of hustling comic thing.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Whereas with Larry Grayson, it was sort of warm and open
0:19:23 > 0:19:27and absurd and a raised eyebrow
0:19:27 > 0:19:30and finding the whole thing all a bit ridiculous, isn't it?
0:19:30 > 0:19:32That kind of, "I'm watching this with YOU,"
0:19:32 > 0:19:35is the thing that you got from Larry Grayson, rather than
0:19:35 > 0:19:38the Brucie thing of, "Here it is. Come on, enjoy it!"
0:19:38 > 0:19:41You once took a party of 19 friends and a cat
0:19:41 > 0:19:43into a cave and disturbed a bat
0:19:43 > 0:19:46- because anything that moves, they fly to.- You'd be disturbed
0:19:46 > 0:19:49if 19 people came through your window and out your front door
0:19:49 > 0:19:51whilst you're watching telly.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55I've got news for you - they'd be very welcome!
0:19:56 > 0:19:59When you see him, you just want to laugh.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03He has got something. I don't know what it is
0:20:03 > 0:20:06but as soon as he comes out, he just makes you laugh.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08He's just got that quality.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15I felt very happy for Larry, watching that. As last performances go,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18he wasn't at the end of the pier, somewhere grubby.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22He was at the Royal Variety Show and he hadn't been around for a while
0:20:22 > 0:20:25so people were pleased to see him and he was pleased to be there.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29And I think his first words are rather poignant.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31They thought I was dead.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36What a gay day! Do you know...? Look at the muck on here.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He talked always about himself and his health
0:20:39 > 0:20:43and how he wasn't feeling right and his leg was giving him hell.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47When I was lying in bed... Listen, don't laugh at me or else I can't do it.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49My leg's giving me hell. Anyway...
0:20:49 > 0:20:52But while talking about something quite trivial -
0:20:52 > 0:20:58this is a comedy technique - he'd constantly distract himself
0:20:58 > 0:21:03with there being a draft in here or the place is alive with fleas.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Cos I was in, I was in the very...
0:21:09 > 0:21:12I... What's this on me?
0:21:12 > 0:21:13Place is alive here.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18- Anyway...- What I love about Larry Grayson is...
0:21:18 > 0:21:20his act, from when he first started
0:21:20 > 0:21:23right up to the Royal Variety Performance
0:21:23 > 0:21:29where he last appeared on stage, is exactly the same.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33It's never changed but you still laugh out loud at it.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36It was how he delivered it, how he did the looks,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41"Look at the muck in here," you know, it's just lovely to watch.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46I lay there and I thought, "I feel better this morning."
0:21:46 > 0:21:49I thought, "My fairy godmother's waved her wand.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"Get out of bed, shave your legs and get out."
0:21:52 > 0:21:56There was a thing he used to do on stage about,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01"I've had it all down here today. I had it all down here yesterday.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03"I can't wait for tomorrow."
0:22:03 > 0:22:09And you didn't know what IT was. It could have been anything, really.
0:22:09 > 0:22:15I mean, he was so near the mark - Slack Alice and Pop-It-In Pete.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19I mean, it's like... But he'd get away with it.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Slack Alice came to the door... The draft in here.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28The gay references dropped in to the performance about...
0:22:28 > 0:22:31His last performance he was in was Robin Hood and his Merry Men
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and he had a lot of trouble with Little John.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38I was one of the Merry Men, you see, and it was terrible.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42I had terrible trouble with Little John and that was a lie for a start and...
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Let's have a change of scenery. So I thought, "Well, I'll come here tonight..."
0:22:46 > 0:22:49That bit when he moves the chair to the other side.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53"Let's have a scenery change." I mean...!
0:22:53 > 0:22:57He, sort of, for old time's sake finishes with his catchphrase.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59It's lovely being with you
0:22:59 > 0:23:02and before I go, for all you people at home,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I must just say it once - shut that door!
0:23:05 > 0:23:07APPLAUSE
0:23:07 > 0:23:08I love you.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Under the applause you hear him saying, "I love you."
0:23:12 > 0:23:18It's a lovely way to finish. And then he died a few weeks later...
0:23:18 > 0:23:21so, it was very fitting, I was very pleased for him.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23I love you.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42Laurel and Hardy - I can't state how much I really, really do admire them and love them.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Genuine, genuine geniuses.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48It's a word that's used a lot but it's really, really true.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00I sort of liked the atmosphere which was created by
0:24:00 > 0:24:02watching Laurel and Hardy in the house.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I'd be enjoying it myself and then I'd look over there
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and there would be my brother sat laughing and my sister and my dad and my mum
0:24:09 > 0:24:14everybody, sort of, laughing and I thought, "This is nice, this."
0:24:17 > 0:24:20They came to Liverpool when I was a kid.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25I don't think I've ever been more excited in a theatre anywhere in the world
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- than when they went... - HE HUMS LAUREL AND HARDY THEME SONG
0:24:28 > 0:24:35and they walked on and I just couldn't believe they were on the stage in the Empire Liverpool.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38My favourite joke? Well, it's more of a scene, I think,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41that I've been very fond of for many years
0:24:41 > 0:24:44for its mix of surreal and slapstick.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46County Hospital.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Come in.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58There was Ollie in hospital and he was happy to be there
0:24:58 > 0:25:01cos it meant he would get some peace.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And then Stan showed up to visit him.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05What've you got there?
0:25:05 > 0:25:09I brought you some hard boiled eggs and some nuts.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15Now, you know I can't eat hard boiled eggs and nuts!
0:25:15 > 0:25:18If you wanted to bring me something why didn't you bring me a box of candy?
0:25:20 > 0:25:23- It cost too much.- Well, what has that got to do with it?
0:25:23 > 0:25:26You didn't pay me for the last box I brought you.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31Have one?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33No, I'd rather not!
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Hard boiled eggs and nuts!
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Hmm!
0:25:41 > 0:25:43"Hard boiled eggs and nuts!"
0:25:43 > 0:25:46From that moment onwards you know it's going to go wrong.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50"Hard boiled eggs and nuts! Hmm!"
0:25:50 > 0:25:54I remember cos we used to watch telly on a Sunday afternoon
0:25:54 > 0:25:56and there'd be a double bill
0:25:56 > 0:26:01and I remember my mum literally almost wetting her pants watching this.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It used to be on every morning in the school holidays on BBC Two
0:26:09 > 0:26:11There'd be Flash Gordon and Laurel and Hardy.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14So there's nostalgia in it, in that it's in black and white
0:26:14 > 0:26:18but they are so funny. And Stan Laurel doesn't have to do anything,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23he just has to, sort of, fidget and scratch and he's funny.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26That, sort of, innocent, happy-go-lucky character,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29able to create such carnage.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33- How long do you think I'll be in here, doctor? - Oh, at least a couple of months.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Gee, that's great.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40This is the first time in my life I've had such a wonderful rest.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43HARDY SCREAMS
0:26:53 > 0:26:56I always think when I'm watching it - I'm laughing now -
0:26:56 > 0:26:59someone must have died laughing watching that at the time
0:26:59 > 0:27:02cos they would never have seen anything like it.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05I can imagine a cameraman looking through the lens
0:27:05 > 0:27:09and Hardy looking down and sort of giving a look
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and the cameraman actually dying of laughter.
0:27:12 > 0:27:18It's that funny NOW. THEN it must have just been mind-blowingly funny.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Ah! Let me down! Oh, my legs! Ah! Oh!
0:27:22 > 0:27:25Didn't somebody die watching The Goodies in the '70s?
0:27:25 > 0:27:27If someone died watching The Goodies,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30someone definitely died watching Laurel and Hardy.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42What's so great about Laurel and Hardy is they're two comedians.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46There isn't a straight man. Usually, it's one comedian, one straight man.
0:27:46 > 0:27:52They're two insane buffoons in such different ways and they work so well together
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and they both get the chance to be the funny man.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16They're just as funny now.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20The test of time - there's no problem with that at all.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Time has not dimmed the humour of Laurel and Hardy at all,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28it's just made them even more admired.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Hard boiled eggs and nuts!
0:28:31 > 0:28:32Hmm!
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:38 > 0:28:41E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk