0:00:03 > 0:00:05Get off!
0:00:05 > 0:00:08'Les Dawson is a legend in British comedy.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11'He brought laughter to the living rooms of Britain
0:00:11 > 0:00:15- 'for 25 years.'- I said, "Have you got anything cheaper?" He said, "Yes, you're wearing it".
0:00:15 > 0:00:19'He seemed an overnight success, but where did he come from
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'and what made his comedy so special?'
0:00:23 > 0:00:26It's very sophisticated. It's the finest kind of comedy.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32The rays of the hot August sun were filtering through the stained-glass windows in the medieval chapel,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36highlighting the antiquity of the Saxon altar and glinting on her father's rifle.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41If you can get tap dancers at 14 and a half stone to join me, by all means.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46His brand of humour was completely unique.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48What's up?
0:00:48 > 0:00:52He pretty much mastered every single form of comedy.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56It's quite easy to play the piano badly and not be funny.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Ding, ding. Er...
0:01:00 > 0:01:05He's just got the iconic face. He's the seaside postcard face.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09I think some of us younger people did muddle him up with John Prescott for a while.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12He was a master of the mother-in-law jokes.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16He used to prowl round the house like a sort of warthog
0:01:16 > 0:01:19with a face like a bag of spanners.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36APPLAUSE
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Thank you very much.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42- Well, I can't wait to introduce you to Les Dawson! - APPLAUSE
0:01:42 > 0:01:46I'd like to play the piano for you. I was going to play you something from Mozart
0:01:46 > 0:01:50- but I won't because he never plays any of mine. - LAUGHTER
0:01:50 > 0:01:54So instead, if I may, I'd like to play for you a very moving composition
0:01:54 > 0:01:58- written by Beethoven's eldest brother, Sid... - LAUGHTER
0:01:58 > 0:02:00..as he lay tragically dying. Thank you.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14# And then they told me that I'd have to go
0:02:15 > 0:02:17LAUGHTER
0:02:17 > 0:02:20'It's 1967
0:02:20 > 0:02:23'and a new comedy star is born.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29'Les Dawson seemed an overnight success, but at the age of 38, he had served his time.'
0:02:29 > 0:02:31APPLAUSE
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'Les Dawson was born in 1931.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44'He had a hard upbringing in Collyhurst in Manchester.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48'The experience gave him a connection with countless families
0:02:48 > 0:02:52'and a reservoir of comedy material that would last a lifetime.'
0:02:52 > 0:02:57The hardy folk who lived in this working-class enclave of Manchester
0:02:57 > 0:02:59were the very salt of the earth.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Proud people. They all had one possession they shared.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Poverty.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09I would say that poverty informed everything.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13There were seven of them in the house where he was first brought up
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and I think that then led through to many, many things.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Even the mother-in-law thing, that comes as a result of that,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22the working classes living with the mother-in-law,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and father-in-law sometimes, but often the mother outlived the father.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29It all stems from a lack of finance.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35He was, erm, an autodidact as they say.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38He was self-educated. But he had a great deal of information
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and he processed it very, very intelligently.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I don't want to sound condescending, but he was a very smart guy.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49'Young Les grew up with a fascination for words and a flare for music,
0:03:49 > 0:03:54'talents that would eventually help make him a household name for millions of TV viewers.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59'But not skills that count for much on the streets of Collyhurst.'
0:03:59 > 0:04:02To some degree, he had to shield it from his mates
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and he said once, "If you're walking round Collyhurst
0:04:05 > 0:04:08"with a volume of TS Eliot, you'd be thought to be a sissy."
0:04:08 > 0:04:13I used to box cos all the family was sporting, my father used to putt the shot.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16He was in line for the Olympics until they saw where he was putting it.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19But I boxed like all the kids did. I wasn't very good.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22I was carried out of the ring so often, I had handles sewn on my shorts.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27'Les's first ambition was to be a writer,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32'but as he settled into family life, he took any job to make ends meet.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38'All the time working up an act on the stages of the working men's clubs in the north of England,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41'something that did command respect if not much money.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46'It was a time when music and entertainment were being revolutionised in London.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49'A new style of comedy was on the horizon.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53'But even they admired the tradition of the northern comics.'
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And I'll tell you the interesting fact about the Arab.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00The interesting fact about the Arab is he can go for a whole year,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04he can go for a whole year on one grain of rice.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Peter Cook made a huge impact in the late 50s.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12- A whole year on one grain of rice? - No.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16And after Peter, that tradition began to develop
0:05:16 > 0:05:20and a lot of people in '63 finished up in show business
0:05:20 > 0:05:23because they were in the Footlights Revue
0:05:23 > 0:05:27and we all had an enormous affection for music hall.
0:05:27 > 0:05:34We loved the medium and we thought there was some extraordinarily funny and talented people
0:05:34 > 0:05:36working in music hall
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and of course, latterly, working in the working men's clubs,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43which were almost a northern phenomenon.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47And a lot of the work, like work everywhere, was pretty cliche,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but the best work was absolutely wonderful.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'Les had become well-known on the club circuit
0:05:55 > 0:06:01'and even made overtures to the BBC emphasising not his comic but his musical ability.'
0:06:02 > 0:06:08He wrote for his first audition at the BBC in Manchester in 1953
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and he had his first audition in 1954
0:06:11 > 0:06:19and the audition slip says, "Badly out of tune, no use for broadcasting."
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Because at that time, he was more a singer and a comedian than a comedian.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27And he sang, basically, straight.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33'Les's career was going nowhere.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38'He'd been tried out on regional television in 1962 on the long-lost Saturday Bandbox,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43'but in 1967 he was still selling vacuum cleaners.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45'His wife Meg had had enough.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48'Les had one last chance.'
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Ladies and gentlemen, it's Opportunity Knocks!
0:06:52 > 0:06:57If you said to a professional, "Why don't you go on Opportunity Knocks?" they would probably hit you.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Which is exactly what Meg said to Les at that time.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06"You've got so far, you can get no further, you've got to move on
0:07:06 > 0:07:11"and the only way you're going to move on is if you do this show, Opportunity Knocks,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15"and I've filled the form in." And he was very upset about that.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Welcome to Opportunity Knocks, your talent show,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21the programme in which you make the stars
0:07:21 > 0:07:25and in which every one of the artists appearing have the professional backing
0:07:25 > 0:07:28of Bob Sharples and the orchestra. Let's meet them.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31A lot of them didn't want their acts on television.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34You know? Cos then it was gone, people had seen it.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38And I remember seeing a wonderfully funny guy at the Wakefield Club
0:07:38 > 0:07:42when Python was shooting near Wakefield. He was absolutely wonderful.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46And he didn't want to go anywhere near television because then he'd blown his act.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Remember, it is your vote that can indeed send them forward,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52not just to next week's show but to fame and fortune
0:07:52 > 0:07:55in the strange old business called show business.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01'Unfortunately, the recording of Les on Opportunity Knocks has not survived.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06'We know he was a hit with the audience, although he didn't win the postcard vote of the public.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09'But it was enough to kick-start his television career.'
0:08:12 > 0:08:17- And here he is tonight, Les Dawson. - APPLAUSE
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I'd hesitate to use the phrase Beauty and the Beast,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26because he wasn't beastly by any stretch of the imagination.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33It was the glamour and the antidote to glamour.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35It was a good combination.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40# Just give up, it's not worthwhile, there's nothing you can do
0:08:40 > 0:08:43# The other day I forced a smile and cracked my lips in two
0:08:43 > 0:08:46# Just pretend you're bright and gay
0:08:46 > 0:08:48# I don't believe a word I say
0:08:48 > 0:08:51BOTH: # Then I'll feel much worse
0:08:51 > 0:08:54The huge advantage was that the stand-ups were cheap
0:08:54 > 0:08:58because they didn't require sets, they didn't require other actors or any acting
0:08:58 > 0:09:05and they brought their own script, so suddenly one saw a lot of guys from the clubs on television
0:09:05 > 0:09:08and then it seemed to grow and grow and grow.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12HE PLAYS PIANO BADLY
0:09:12 > 0:09:18The best combination I think there ever was with Les
0:09:18 > 0:09:22was with Shirley Bassey, who could be difficult.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27And he had a licence to undermine her, and she loved it.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33- I told you to stay in the truck. - LAUGHTER
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Your fan club's just arrived.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38They parked the tandem.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41LAUGHTER
0:09:41 > 0:09:45That's what I love about your show, you're a laugh an hour, Shirley.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47LAUGHTER
0:09:47 > 0:09:51- That's one more than you, pal. - LAUGHTER
0:09:56 > 0:10:00'Les Dawson would never sell another vacuum cleaner.
0:10:00 > 0:10:06'It was a time when variety was the spice of evening entertainment on television's three channels.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08'Les had a 25-year career ahead
0:10:08 > 0:10:11'and many more funny faces to share with us.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13'He thought himself a musician,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'but he found many more ways to make us laugh.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19'The first face is deadpan.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22'He was a master of the short, pithy gag.'
0:10:22 > 0:10:24I remember the day I met Agnes so well,
0:10:24 > 0:10:29I was sat in my office, the curtains were drawn but the rest of the furniture was real.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31"Did you see who took my coat?" He said, "I saw him".
0:10:31 > 0:10:35"What did he look like?" "Ridiculous, the sleeves were too short."
0:10:35 > 0:10:40He pointed to a bottle on the shelf. He said, "Do me a sample in there" I said, "From down here?"
0:10:40 > 0:10:43- LAUGHTER - He just had routines. One sticks in my mind.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48He was thirsty or something and he went and knocked on the door of a house and a woman comes out,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51I remember he said she had a face like a bag of chisels.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56And he said to her, "Do you think the woman next door would give me a glass of water?"
0:10:56 > 0:10:59It's very sophisticated. You know what I mean?
0:10:59 > 0:11:03- I bought some bananas once and when I peeled them, they were empty. - LAUGHTER
0:11:03 > 0:11:07He's always outside the joke looking in, laughing at its construction,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10sneering at it as he tells it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14He never does the one-liner and sells it and goes, "This is the best joke I've got."
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Good evening. Yes, our subject tonight is entertainment.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21A word formed from the Latin route "enter" which means come in
0:11:21 > 0:11:24and "tainment" which means give us your money.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28He's outside the joke. That's why people misread the mother-in-law thing.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32'And the mother-in-law was a big thing for Les Dawson.'
0:11:32 > 0:11:36As soon as I heard the knock on the front door, I knew damn well it was her
0:11:36 > 0:11:39because the mice were throwing themselves on the traps.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43I kept getting this hideous recurrent nightmare that I was an old sports car
0:11:43 > 0:11:46and the wife's mother had her foot on my throttle.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51I wouldn't say the mother-in-law's got a big mouth, but she can eat a banana sideways.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Maybe 90 percent of them were very, very clever jokes.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57They weren't laughing at the mother-in-law.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02They were, again, word play and imagery. Things like the mice threw themselves on the traps.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07And my favourite Les Dawson joke was about him...
0:12:07 > 0:12:10He was at the pub and there were six blokes punching the mother-in-law.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16One of my neighbours said, "Are you going to help?" I said, "No, six of them should be enough."
0:12:16 > 0:12:19A politically incorrect joke now, but still very funny.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21I got one decent photograph of that woman.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26It must have been taken with a high-speed camera because it's the only one with her mouth shut.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Do you think you spend rather too much time upsetting women with your mother-in-law jokes?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34No, no. I get on very well with my wife's mother. Fabulous.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39We always go to Ireland to see her. She lives in Birmingham but she looks better from Ireland.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Do you get lots of mother-in-laws coming up to you saying,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47- "Hey, you're giving us a bad name"? - Nonsense, no. They take it in good part.
0:12:47 > 0:12:53Every time my show comes on the box, everybody's sat in front of their sets in case someone switches it on.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Normal functioning human beings can pick up when there's nastiness at the core.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03The reason Les Dawson is loved is because it was never malicious, there was no misogyny.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09Yes, it's uncomfortable for 80s feminists, it piggybacks on traditional misogynistic views,
0:13:09 > 0:13:14but again, his ironic way of laughing at his own material
0:13:14 > 0:13:16and his telling of it kind of undercuts it.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21He's fighting upwards, so it's actually an authority figure. The gender's irrelevant.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26It's like any comedy now. Any comedy is often a fight against an authority figure,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31whether you're mocking the police or mocking the government, anybody that's supposedly above you.
0:13:31 > 0:13:38And that's what it boiled down to. It was what had evolved as an authority figure within society,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42within that level of society, they were fair game and fair target.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45You don't have to be a nice guy to be a comedian
0:13:45 > 0:13:49and there are plenty who aren't, but with Les Dawson,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51you don't need to know biography, it's all there.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56You can tell he's a nice guy just by the way he stands on that stage.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58I just had some bad news.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02- Tomorrow it's the mother-in-law's funeral. - LAUGHTER
0:14:02 > 0:14:04- And she's cancelled it. - LAUGHTER
0:14:04 > 0:14:09You think it's a compliment, really. Because if you make fun of somebody
0:14:09 > 0:14:12in public, it's usually a tribute to them,
0:14:12 > 0:14:17and I remember when his mother-in-law did die, he stopped,
0:14:17 > 0:14:23and his first wife sadly died, he stopped doing wife jokes and mother-in-law jokes.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28The wife and I stood at the altar. The vicar looked at the size of the wife, he looked at me, he said,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31"Do you take this woman or will you have her delivered?"
0:14:31 > 0:14:35And he got all these letters from the BBC, all the mother-in-laws were writing,
0:14:35 > 0:14:40"Why don't you do the jokes anymore about us, Les? We like them."
0:14:40 > 0:14:45And I think, even now when I meet people, they go,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49"Oh, gosh, he was a master of the mother-in-law jokes."
0:14:49 > 0:14:53If that wasn't bad enough, after 15 years of complete bliss,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55the wife ran away with the fella next door.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59- Oh, and I do miss him. - LAUGHTER
0:15:03 > 0:15:06'For all that people love Les Dawson's one-liners,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09'he personally loved the long, rambling monologues,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12'full of florid language.'
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Loquacious lugubriousness
0:15:15 > 0:15:18in extremis,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23the one and only Mr Les Dawson!
0:15:23 > 0:15:26CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Firstly I must apologise about my appearance.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Owing to a slight financial hiatus,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43I could not afford a ticket to travel here tonight by steam locomotion.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- LAUGHTER - I had to walk it.- AUDIENCE: Aww!
0:15:46 > 0:15:50A journey, my friends, best described
0:15:50 > 0:15:53as a stroll on the very perimeter of Hades itself.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55LAUGHTER
0:15:55 > 0:16:02Fingers of cold mountain mist curled in treacher around my stout gaiters.
0:16:02 > 0:16:09- LAUGHTER - As I toiled heavily across the bleak plateau of the mountain range,
0:16:09 > 0:16:16a sullen biting wind blew the snow flurries into a maddened fandango of white-flake fury.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18LAUGHTER
0:16:18 > 0:16:21APPLAUSE
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Les had a hard time in the clubs because he was doing a very subtle act
0:16:24 > 0:16:29and relying on the audience trusting him all the way to the punchline.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33And all the other pros said, "No, don't give up, you're the only one doing this."
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Because they knew that the moment he hit telly properly,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40the camera would just focus on that
0:16:40 > 0:16:46and the audience would be able to concentrate on the lines, the words,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50and it was TV then that made him.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Crying sanctuary through cracked lips
0:16:53 > 0:16:58- I lurched forward and banged painfully on the door. - LAUGHTER
0:16:58 > 0:17:03The door opened to reveal the most enchanting little girl that I've ever seen.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07If you look at his poetic jokes, it's a long poetic thing,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10very, very clever, obviously very intelligent man, weaving words,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14and then just undercut, completely undercut.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18There's his great joke about, "I looked up at the sky and it looked like black velvet
0:17:18 > 0:17:22"carelessly strewn with glitter and then I thought, "I must put a roof on this lavatory."
0:17:22 > 0:17:29So very funny and very well delivered, but it was almost like, "I'm sorry for being that clever."
0:17:29 > 0:17:34I reeled inwardly at the perfidy of parents who could abandon such a delightful waif,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39leave this child alone in such a small, cramped, gloomy house,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43in the teeth of a ferocious storm in this mist of desolation.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46THEY JEER
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I could contain myself no longer.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Sinking to my knees, I grasped the child to my snow-powdered cape.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57LAUGHTER
0:18:00 > 0:18:06I said "Fear not, my child, elfin creature of pure delight!"
0:18:07 > 0:18:09LAUGHTER
0:18:09 > 0:18:14This permission to be outside your own material and to do a face that throws away the joke,
0:18:14 > 0:18:20that was quite cutting edge, really, to be that laidback and to not care about your punchline,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25but care about it, if you know what I mean. That, to me, is quite edgy stuff technique-wise.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"Fear not, for you are no longer alone."
0:18:28 > 0:18:32And she grasped her rag dolly very close to her little pinafore and she said,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36- "It's not the house, it's the lavatory." - LAUGHTER
0:18:36 > 0:18:42In television terms, he came right through the glass and people at home really...related to him
0:18:42 > 0:18:44because he was genuine, he looked genuine.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49And, of course, his brand of humour was completely unique.
0:18:49 > 0:18:55It was Les humour. He wasn't doing the jokes.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00Like, the comedians at that time would do jokes.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05Fantastic. But each comic could do another comic's jokes.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11Nobody could do Les. Les's routine was totally and utterly original.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17'Snappy one-liners, long, rambling monologues.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21'As a stand-up, Les Dawson was in constant demand as a guest.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26'But within a year of appearing on Opportunity Knocks, he had his own show on ITV,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28'Sez Les.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31'Les loved the glamour of a smart dinner jacket in the spotlight,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35'but television expected more in its variety shows.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37'It wanted sketches.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41'So our next face of Les Dawson is in costume,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44'playing dramatic scenes with actors.'
0:19:44 > 0:19:49You see Dave Allen and he's very happy sitting on his stool telling stories and jokes
0:19:49 > 0:19:51and that's what he does.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55And you see Les Dawson and he's at the piano or he's just doing his stand-up,
0:19:55 > 0:20:01and then because it's suddenly half an hour on BBC, 45 minutes, whatever, with a few songs,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04you have to pad it out with sketches
0:20:04 > 0:20:08and they will sometimes be of varying quality.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12He wasn't a brilliant comic actor. That's all right, neither was Peter Cook.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15'The sketches shone a harsh light on Les.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19'Guest stars like David Jason were a welcome distraction.'
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Thripson, what do you call this?
0:20:23 > 0:20:25LAUGHTER
0:20:25 > 0:20:30It appears to be one of our, er, tiger cubs, sir. Indian tiger cub, that one, sir, yes.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35I think we both agree that it's not its normal, frisky self this morning.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Er, yes. Yes, sir.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41And we both know why that is, don't we, Thripson?
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Yes, sir.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46He's been stuffed. LAUGHTER
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Exactly. Who stuffed it?
0:20:52 > 0:20:54I did, sir.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Thripson, how long have you worked as a keeper at this zoo?
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Oh, er, ooh, er...
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Er... It's, er... Four and half weeks, sir.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05LAUGHTER
0:21:05 > 0:21:07And during that time, you've managed to stuff
0:21:07 > 0:21:1019 lions, eight leopards,
0:21:10 > 0:21:1345 Masai giraffes,
0:21:13 > 0:21:1624 New World monkeys,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20- a Polynesian hermit crab... - LAUGHTER
0:21:20 > 0:21:24- ..and a hippopotamus. - LAUGHTER
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Why, Thripson?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30I want to be a taxidermist, sir. LAUGHTER
0:21:30 > 0:21:33In Les's autobiographies,
0:21:33 > 0:21:40he acknowledges the varying quality of Sez Les and The Dawson Watch.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45He says, "The press slated us, and looking back, they were probably right to".
0:21:45 > 0:21:48But there are some moments of brilliance that are within them.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Good morning. I hope I haven't kept you waiting.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- I've only just arrived. - Ah, good. Now, you're Mr Fippsby
0:21:54 > 0:21:57and you've come about the job in accountancy.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00That's right. Fippsby with two Ps. Yes, I have indeed.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05I took to him and he took to me. I think we liked each other instinctively.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09But I think we were also fascinated that we came from such different traditions.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12That's the spirit! Oh, I see we're going to get on.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16- Now, help yourself to a cup of coffee.- There are three cups.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21That's right. And one of them has got just the teensy-weensiest little pinch of cyanide in it.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25- Go on, pick a cup. - Which one's got the cyanide?
0:22:25 > 0:22:28I don't know, do I? It'd spoil the fun! Come on, don't be a scaredy cat!
0:22:31 > 0:22:33All right, then.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37HE LAUGHS
0:22:37 > 0:22:42Tell me, is there much cyanide in the coffee?
0:22:42 > 0:22:45No, just a pinch. Mind you, it's enough to kill 150 elephants.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49LAUGHTER
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Let's not forget, it's a very, very odd pairing.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57Thinking about it now, it's an odd pairing, but at the time, that was post-Monty Python for Cleese
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and pre-Fawlty Towers. The only thing he did in between was Les Dawson's show.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07And he was excited about it, Cleese was excited about it because he was like, "This is just ridiculous!
0:23:07 > 0:23:11"We're so different! How can that not be interesting?" And the same for Dawson.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Dawson said, "We're physically different" which was the thing they played on a lot.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19I was fascinated because he had a wonderful vocabulary, as you know.
0:23:19 > 0:23:25He was extremely articulate with a very wide and rich vocabulary of slightly unusual words
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and I think he was intrigued by me coming from a sort of Cambridge background
0:23:29 > 0:23:33and being a bit logical and a bit analytical about stuff.
0:23:35 > 0:23:41- Dawson.- Sir!- I want you to go through the boggy morass over there and take a message to HQ.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The boggy morass, sir? You're sending me to certain death!
0:23:44 > 0:23:49- This is a very important message, Dawson! It's got to get through! - Yes, sir! What's the message?
0:23:49 > 0:23:54The message is, "Am on my own now. Have just lost Dawson in the boggy morass."
0:23:54 > 0:23:57LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Stand-up is quite separate from sketches,
0:24:01 > 0:24:06and it's quite possible for one person to be very good at one and not very good at the other.
0:24:06 > 0:24:13But you can learn the other and in my case, I came from the Footlights where I did a couple of monologues,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17but almost everything I did in the Footlights and subsequently was sketches,
0:24:17 > 0:24:22two-handers and three-handers in which you played characters, not yourself.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28Hello there. Have you got any dirty books?
0:24:33 > 0:24:35LAUGHTER
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Yeah, what do you want? LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:24:48 > 0:24:54And it was very pleasurable. I remember the atmosphere being more relaxed than in London.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57It's the waiting the drives you mad, you know that, Dawson?
0:24:57 > 0:25:03Waiting, waiting. Always. Always waiting, nothing ever happens, drives you mad.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06HE WEEPS
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Do you hear me, Dawson?
0:25:10 > 0:25:12HE WAILS
0:25:13 > 0:25:18A whole life waiting! I can't stand it!
0:25:18 > 0:25:21HE WAILS I can't stand it anymore!
0:25:21 > 0:25:24HE WAILS
0:25:25 > 0:25:28- Carry on, Dawson!- Yes, sir.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34- It's the waiting that gets you down! It gets hold of you! - LAUGHTER
0:25:34 > 0:25:37- HE SOBS - And it drives you insane!
0:25:42 > 0:25:47'Comedy situations and dialogue are a long way from the funny man in the spotlight on a club stage
0:25:47 > 0:25:52'and it gave Les the chance to develop regular characters who would come back time and again,
0:25:52 > 0:25:57'many of them inspired by his own comedy heroes from the 40s and 50s.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Here, mate, you got a spare cigar?
0:26:00 > 0:26:04- Yes, thank you! - HE CHUCKLES
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'Sez Les went for 11 series on ITV
0:26:08 > 0:26:11'before Les accepted an offer to transfer to the BBC.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15'He developed favourite characters who ran for years,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18'transferring with him to The Les Dawson Show.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23'Cosmo Smallpiece was, for modern tastes, controversial,
0:26:23 > 0:26:29'a lecherous individual whose lustful excesses could be triggered by the slightest innuendo.'
0:26:29 > 0:26:34- Oh.- I'm asking the average man in the street what you know about coupling rods,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38distributor shafts and big ends. LAUGHTER
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- And cams.- Ooh, cami knickers!
0:26:40 > 0:26:46- And rear chassis. - Rear chassis, bounce up and down! - And bumpers.- Ooh, jelly on a plate!
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Come here! No, no, no, no, don't leave me!
0:26:48 > 0:26:50He justified it to the end.
0:26:50 > 0:26:56He said he had a rule that Cosmo, for all his leching and leering,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00must never, ever touch a girl, that there must never be physical contact.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05My studio guest this evening is the very lovely Miss Vanda Delmar,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08the Swedish smouldering sex symbol,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12the star of the recent hit movie A Prank In The Sauna Bath. Good evening.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16- Hello, darling.- Ooooh. - LAUGHTER
0:27:16 > 0:27:19The question that most...
0:27:19 > 0:27:23..most viewers would like to ask you, and so would I,
0:27:23 > 0:27:28is that all you? Eh? Is that all you? You're stacked! Want a bit of rumpo?
0:27:28 > 0:27:33It's almost not even politically incorrect because it's just ridiculous.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37It's just absolutely ridiculous. And that's why it's funny.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42It's never funny because of the sexual connotation. That's not what's funny about it at all.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46It's funny because he's such a ridiculous, ludicrous man.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48LAUGHTER
0:27:48 > 0:27:53'Les needed writers to create the volume of material demanded by weekly shows.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56'As time went by, he centred on one or two
0:27:56 > 0:27:59'and they tuned into his style of comedy.'
0:27:59 > 0:28:03- It's a tricky business, this acupuncture. - LAUGHTER
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Television soaks up material.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08In the past,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11somebody could get an act together in the theatre
0:28:11 > 0:28:15and they could do the same act every night for about two years.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Television... Every time you go on television, you want new material.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25If you're putting six half-hour shows on, three hours comedy,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28you need help writing and this is where your scriptwriter comes in.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31I must get it right. Must get it right!
0:28:31 > 0:28:36I think I did about two thirds of it and Les did the rest.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Though, er...
0:28:39 > 0:28:43I had a lot more time to do it than Les did.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46That was my job.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50'His best-remembered characters are Cissy and Ada,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53'which he performed in partnership with Roy Barraclough.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57'They were perfectly drawn caricatures of a certain kind of northern woman.'
0:28:57 > 0:29:01I used to love doing Cissy and Ada because I knew people like that.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I was virtually the same age as Les
0:29:05 > 0:29:09and although he grew up in Collyhurst in Manchester
0:29:09 > 0:29:15and I grew up in a small town on the Derbyshire/Cheshire border,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18it was a mill town and there were the same characters
0:29:18 > 0:29:23and it was easy for me to write them and I enjoyed doing it.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25You can't take you anywhere!
0:29:25 > 0:29:29- I nearly had a flush.- I know. - LAUGHTER
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Oh, I say, Ada, the magic of travel.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Ada, look at all these lovely places.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40New Guinea, New Jersey, New York,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43New Zealand. Where do you want to go, chuck?
0:29:43 > 0:29:46- New Brighton! - LAUGHTER
0:29:46 > 0:29:49We've gone there for 22 years to Elsie Gartside's.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53She keeps a lovely table. She doesn't charge extra for the cruet.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56We always use the terrine for the soup.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59She's spotless, she changes the bed every day.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02- She's had new oilcloth put down in the lobby. - LAUGHTER
0:30:02 > 0:30:07And on the landing, she's got it all done now in that beautiful Anaglypta in burnt sienna.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10- LAUGHTER - And in the dining room near those pot mallards
0:30:10 > 0:30:15she got from that shop in Bogna, there's a beautiful muriel on the wall.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18- LAUGHTER - The death of Lysander in Dulux.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23- LAUGHTER - I really don't know why I waste my time with you, Ada, I really don't.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26Of course, Roy had played dame for donkey's years,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28so he's got that female thing,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31but Les's hero was Norman Evans.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Who's thrown that through my window there?
0:30:33 > 0:30:36Lee Scofield? I'll bat your earhole!
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Of course, Norman was always a dame over the garden wall, his character was a dame.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47So if you look at Cissy and Ada, you're actually looking at Les doing Norman Evans in a very strange way.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49I haven't been well myself because...
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Have you? Ooh. Do you mean, erm...
0:30:55 > 0:30:57The mouthing, they call it.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01It's the way women talked
0:31:01 > 0:31:03years and years ago
0:31:03 > 0:31:06and it stemmed from when they worked in the cotton mills
0:31:06 > 0:31:11and they couldn't hear themselves talk above the noise, so they mouthed everything.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14And this sort of spread into the general conversation
0:31:14 > 0:31:19and they used it when they wanted to talk about taboo subjects
0:31:19 > 0:31:21like, you know...
0:31:24 > 0:31:27- Woman's trouble. - LAUGHTER
0:31:27 > 0:31:31Well, I went to see him in court and that's when I really...
0:31:31 > 0:31:35- I mean, he's... - At the time, he made that his own
0:31:35 > 0:31:38to the point where Cissy and Ada is synonymous with Les Dawson now.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41It's not Norman Evans. But it's certainly where the roots come,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44and Roy and Les both acknowledge that openly.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49Tell me something, chuck. When you went to Blackpool for your honeymoon, were you...
0:31:49 > 0:31:51This is girl talk really.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55- LAUGHTER - Were you virgo intacto?
0:31:55 > 0:31:57LAUGHTER
0:31:59 > 0:32:01No, it was just bed and breakfast.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03LAUGHTER
0:32:05 > 0:32:09'We've seen how Les Dawson was a master of one-liners
0:32:09 > 0:32:11'and of long, poetic stories.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14'We've seen how he learned to write funny dialogue with other writers
0:32:14 > 0:32:17'and create characters audiences love.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21'But there was something about Les that was just...funny.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25'He was a master of gurning faces and physical comedy.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28'He could make an audience laugh without speaking at all.'
0:32:29 > 0:32:31LAUGHTER
0:32:31 > 0:32:34He's just got the iconic face.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39He is the seaside postcard face before you realise the seaside postcards come first.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Some of us younger people did muddle him up with John Prescott for a while.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44LAUGHTER
0:32:47 > 0:32:50LAUGHTER
0:32:52 > 0:32:55LAUGHTER
0:32:59 > 0:33:02LAUGHTER
0:33:02 > 0:33:04He was a great wordsmith,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08but he also loved visual humour, physical humour.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14The writers who worked with him most loved the fact that he was fearless
0:33:14 > 0:33:18and would do anything they gave him.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21DRUM ROLL
0:33:22 > 0:33:24LAUGHTER
0:33:24 > 0:33:29And there was no health and safety trouble with Les.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32LAUGHTER
0:33:36 > 0:33:39LAUGHTER
0:33:39 > 0:33:42He was a surprisingly agile man.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46He had been a fit lad, he'd been able to box and he'd been in the army,
0:33:46 > 0:33:51so he was a person who'd just slightly overgrown his body as he got older.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54He's not a bad looking bloke. He's got a bit of the Orson Wells about him.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58- Use your head!- I can't, he's got it! - LAUGHTER
0:33:58 > 0:34:03- Try the Billy Two Rivers method! - Oh, right, yeah.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08LAUGHTER Oh, very good! Dwarf Haystacks!
0:34:08 > 0:34:11HE LAUGHS
0:34:11 > 0:34:16I refuse to be known by that ridiculous nom de plume.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20I wish to be known as Dastardly Dawson, the Diabolical Death Machine.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26LAUGHTER Now that is lesson number two. Never turn your back on Masher!
0:34:26 > 0:34:29- Oh, right.- You're not going to stand for that, are you?
0:34:29 > 0:34:31- Certainly not! - APPLAUSE
0:34:31 > 0:34:35LAUGHTER
0:34:36 > 0:34:37LAUGHTER
0:34:37 > 0:34:40'Les worked for years with Mo Moreland,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44'known in the variety circuit as The Mighty Atom.'
0:34:44 > 0:34:47It was just a name that came to my mother.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51You know, she just said, "We'll call you The Mighty Atom, that's better".
0:34:51 > 0:34:55That was even before the atomic bomb was thought of, I think. SHE LAUGHS
0:34:58 > 0:35:03'Mo's rotund stature belied the fact that she was an excellent tap dancer,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08'and that gave Les the idea for a visual gag that would run and run.'
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Ladies and gentlemen, I am about now to light the fuse of this canon,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16and she will soar through the air, like an eaglet.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18DRUM ROLL
0:35:22 > 0:35:25EXPLOSION / LAUGHTER
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Les came in one day and said, "Mo, I've got this idea,
0:35:29 > 0:35:35"I want five or six girls all like you." I said, "You'll be lucky!"
0:35:37 > 0:35:42At first it was suggested that we would just be big ladies and we'd just stand around and look pretty
0:35:42 > 0:35:44and be laughed at, and Les said, "No way."
0:35:44 > 0:35:47To help me with this illusion...
0:35:49 > 0:35:51LAUGHTER
0:35:54 > 0:35:56LAUGHTER
0:35:57 > 0:36:01- I only want one. - LAUGHTER
0:36:01 > 0:36:04I was about 14 and a half stone then.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08If you can get tap dancers at 14 and a half stone to join me, by all means.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14- 'And he did.'- No show is ever complete without les girls!
0:36:14 > 0:36:17APPLAUSE
0:36:21 > 0:36:25'The Roly Polys became a regular feature of The Les Dawson Show.'
0:36:27 > 0:36:29LAUGHTER
0:36:41 > 0:36:44# I walked away and said goodbye
0:36:44 > 0:36:47# I was hasty, wasn't I?
0:36:47 > 0:36:49# I missed you so, I thought I'd die
0:36:49 > 0:36:51LAUGHTER
0:36:51 > 0:36:54# I'll never say never again again
0:36:54 > 0:36:57# Cos here I am in love again
0:36:57 > 0:36:59# Head over heels in love again
0:36:59 > 0:37:01# With the same sweet you
0:37:07 > 0:37:10# We're head over heels in love again
0:37:10 > 0:37:12# With the same
0:37:12 > 0:37:15# Sweet
0:37:15 > 0:37:18# You
0:37:19 > 0:37:22# Boo-be-doo APPLAUSE
0:37:28 > 0:37:33'But times were changing and the days of peak-time variety shows on television were numbered.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36'A new wave of comedy had followed a new wave of music.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41'And the older generation of variety comics were fading from the screens.'
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Comedy in the 80s was polarised between the alternative comedians,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton, The Comic Strip and all that lot,
0:37:50 > 0:37:57and mainstream guys who got stereotyped as these old farts with wigs who played golf with each other.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02There was some collateral damage there. Jimmy Tarbuck might have been unfairly treated,
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Bob Monkhouse probably was, Jim Davidson we won't weep over.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11But Les Dawson is sort of apart from that, he was one of those mainstream comedians
0:38:11 > 0:38:16like Billy Connolly and Victoria Wood and Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20you didn't care, it didn't matter that he was mainstream
0:38:20 > 0:38:24because what they all have in common is they were brilliant.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Sugar Albert, after that eventful first round, how do you see the fight?
0:38:28 > 0:38:30Just!
0:38:30 > 0:38:33I wanted to make a tart. But they wouldn't let me make a tart.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38I like tarts. I like big tarts! Big juicy tarts!
0:38:38 > 0:38:42I'm friends with the son of one of these comedians from this generation.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47And they change jokes, it's like, "Do you want my joke about the bear in the woods?"
0:38:47 > 0:38:51"Oh, great, I'll have your one about the immigrant in the pub," and they'll swap them.
0:38:51 > 0:38:56Whereas I can't swap the joke about my dad in Southend with anyone because it's personal to me.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01So I suppose it's become more biographical, less pressure on a punchline,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04you can leave a gap on purpose and laugh about the gap.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09But there still is, for all us disappearing up our own orifices,
0:39:09 > 0:39:15there's still a lead up, a gap, and then a laugh at the end, even if that laugh is at the absence
0:39:15 > 0:39:20or the breaking down of the Thatcher government, it's still dum-dum-dum, laugh.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25I know we like to pretend it's not because we're so superior to the one-liner comedians, apparently,
0:39:25 > 0:39:30but I believe it's still dum-dum-dum, laugh. Without a laugh, you won't be doing comedy long.
0:39:30 > 0:39:37Les described alternative comedy as being comedy that didn't get laughs. That was alternative.
0:39:37 > 0:39:44And, of course, there became that period of time when there was quite a few politically-orientated comics
0:39:44 > 0:39:47and people that did observational comedy,
0:39:47 > 0:39:53and people that used the word comedian but refused to do a joke,
0:39:53 > 0:39:58refused to do something that was obviously a joke and it would be an observational thing.
0:39:58 > 0:40:00It was a whole new style that began.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04It took a long time to get a grip. While it was getting a grip, of course,
0:40:04 > 0:40:09all the great comics at that time were finding it very difficult to get on television.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12And I can remember Les saying to me once, he said,
0:40:12 > 0:40:19"Life in the clubs was so hard, those audiences were so tough, and could be so brutal,
0:40:19 > 0:40:24"if I no longer was required to work in television, I would never go back to the clubs."
0:40:24 > 0:40:26It was that hard.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30There certainly is no business like show business.
0:40:31 > 0:40:37'Like all traditional black-tie comedians, Les Dawson was facing tough career choices.'
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Stand-ups have a shelf life and then you have your own show, if you're lucky,
0:40:41 > 0:40:48and it's all super-duper, and then either you turn out to be good at doing game shows or not.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55APPLAUSE
0:40:57 > 0:40:59May I just say one thing?
0:40:59 > 0:41:02When I first heard I was coming on this show,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05a feeling came over me I've never experienced before. Sick!
0:41:05 > 0:41:07LAUGHTER
0:41:07 > 0:41:12'Les had good reason to be concerned about taking on a commitment like Blankety Blank.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17'He knew game shows had finished the careers of other comedians.'
0:41:17 > 0:41:21So Les was very aware that he could be inheriting a poison chalice
0:41:21 > 0:41:26because the previous host had been so well-liked. So Charlie Williams, when he went into Golden Shot,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29didn't do well at all, he was very much slated in the press,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32the audience were switching off in their droves,
0:41:32 > 0:41:37so Les felt Terry Wogan had been so successful and so synonymous with Blankety Blank,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41that if he then took that over he wouldn't be accepted.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46And with hindsight, what we see is that Charlie Williams just wasn't able to do it,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51he wasn't up to the job. He was very good at doing his club set and doing his jokes,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55but when it came to interacting with the public, he was out of his depth.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58He couldn't improvise and think on his feet. So that's why it failed.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01'It would be a professional risk.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06'Meanwhile at home near Blackpool, Les's wife Meg was seriously ill.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10'A BBC executive offered a solution that would keep Les by her bedside.'
0:42:10 > 0:42:13I think it was Jim Moir said,
0:42:13 > 0:42:20"Well, why don't you go and do Blankety Blank because you can do two shows in a weekend
0:42:20 > 0:42:27"with no rehearsal, you just turn up, do it, then you go back to Lytham, and go back to Meg and the family."
0:42:27 > 0:42:32- 'And here's your host on Blankety Blank, Les Dawson!' - CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:42:44 > 0:42:48For any viewers, wherever they lay, who may be watching this debacle tonight,
0:42:48 > 0:42:52please don't fiddle with your controls on your set,
0:42:52 > 0:42:57- just because Terry Wogan isn't here doesn't mean your set's broke. - LAUGHTER
0:42:57 > 0:43:00So all I can say is I shall do my best, Terry,
0:43:00 > 0:43:05to keep this show on the high level of asininity that you created.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09- What can one say except... - LAUGHTER AND CHEERING
0:43:10 > 0:43:15It was just a really funny comedy show, it wasn't like watching a quiz show at all.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20It was half an hour of Les Dawson absolutely in his element.
0:43:20 > 0:43:27It was perfect for that kind of curmudgeonly, long-suffering clown
0:43:27 > 0:43:30that he'd developed over the years.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Who've we got on tonight? Roy Walker, an Irish comedian
0:43:33 > 0:43:37whose delivery is slower than a Boycott innings.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40This lad loves a joke, and one day he's going to tell one.
0:43:40 > 0:43:46Janet Brown. When Janet's on this show, she doesn't do a lot but what she does in inadequate.
0:43:46 > 0:43:52On Blankety Blank, all the people in the panel, every one of them, no matter who they were,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56actresses, whatever, they all loved him.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59And that makes a big difference.
0:43:59 > 0:44:05So Les could play with these people and be, not rude to them, but be off with them,
0:44:05 > 0:44:11comedically, and they would just laugh because they loved him so much.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15- I used to fight like Cooper. Gladys. - LAUGHTER
0:44:15 > 0:44:19I'll tell you, you've been an asset to this show. You could brighten it by leaving it.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24- You do for that outfit what Nora Batty does for tights. - LAUGHTER
0:44:24 > 0:44:28- Ken Dodd, who proves there's life after teeth. - LAUGHTER
0:44:28 > 0:44:30He's undermining that show the whole time.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34But not in such a way that you think, "Why are we watching, then?"
0:44:34 > 0:44:40You have to watch because he has that very, very charming anti-charm
0:44:40 > 0:44:43that you can't take your eyes off.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49Geoff, you're not going home empty-handed because, by Jiminy, the BBC does not believe in that.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53LAUGHTER
0:44:53 > 0:44:56- You're taking with you... - HE LAUGHS
0:44:56 > 0:45:00- ..our Blankety Blank cheque book and pen. - APPLAUSE
0:45:00 > 0:45:03- Come on, Rice, what have you got? - Never used to be like this with Terry.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06"Never used to be like this with Terry!"
0:45:09 > 0:45:12'Blankety Blank was a huge success for Les.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16'But behind the scenes, the Dawson family was in crisis.
0:45:16 > 0:45:23'In April 1986, his wife and inspiration, Meg, passed away.'
0:45:25 > 0:45:31When Meg went, he went to ground in a big way.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Because his, his...
0:45:35 > 0:45:37..his support had gone.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40His honest support had gone.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46Er, and we were all very worried about Les because he did suffer very badly.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51And then Tracy came along.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57And it was obvious to anybody that knew Les that Tracy was absolutely fantastic,
0:45:57 > 0:46:02she didn't try and top Meg, she became a new source of support.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06He was very much a family man and wanted to be married
0:46:06 > 0:46:11and he loved the family life and to be at home, the stability of home.
0:46:11 > 0:46:17And I think Meg was obviously very important in Les's life
0:46:17 > 0:46:21because she helped his career with Opportunity Knocks,
0:46:21 > 0:46:25and she sort of kept his feet on the ground.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29And obviously when Les met me, and we fell in love,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33I just said, "Why didn't you marry an actress or a dancer?"
0:46:33 > 0:46:37And he said, "Because I wanted to keep my feet on the ground."
0:46:37 > 0:46:40I think because of similar backgrounds, really.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43'Les lifted himself from the shadows and married Tracy.
0:46:43 > 0:46:47'They had a daughter three years later.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50'He was happier than he had been for years.'
0:46:50 > 0:46:55I don't think there was a lot of difference between the Les Dawson on stage and the Les Dawson at home
0:46:55 > 0:46:59because he sort of took everybody under his wing,
0:46:59 > 0:47:05you know, if he did the theatres then he would meet up with the fans later.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10He would say, "Come into the bar and have a drink with me. Why are you standing out in the cold?"
0:47:10 > 0:47:16And he just treated everybody the same, which I thought was a lovely quality.
0:47:16 > 0:47:22He'd say, "Come on, Pooh," because my nickname is Pooh, "Let's have a ride into Blackpool."
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Or we'd have a ride into the country.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30And he would pick ideas up, or we'd go and have a coffee somewhere,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34or walk around in Blackpool and an idea would come.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36And then he'd say, "Right, let's get back."
0:47:36 > 0:47:40He always had a notebook and pen in his pocket and always wrote ideas down.
0:47:47 > 0:47:52'Throughout his life, Les Dawson, lover of words and master of the variety stage,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55'found many ways to make us laugh.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00'But he will be best remembered for a trick he claims rescued him as a rookie in the working men's clubs.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04'It was a guaranteed show-stopper, his signature routine.
0:48:04 > 0:48:10'Everyone knew the punchline. But a Les Dawson appearance was incomplete without it.'
0:48:11 > 0:48:14HE PLAYS PIANO
0:48:18 > 0:48:21The audience demanded it in the end.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26If Les didn't play the piano... I saw this happen on many, many occasions.
0:48:27 > 0:48:34He'd be working front cloth and then the curtains would open and there would be the grand piano.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38And the audience would just applaud at the piano because they knew what was coming.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40You know, the audience demanded that.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45You wind the clock back to when Les first started doing that
0:48:45 > 0:48:51and it was really dealing with rude northern audiences who weren't going to sit and listen to his banter,
0:48:51 > 0:48:56his patter, his jokes, all they wanted to do was have a few jars and sing.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59So he thought, "Fine, you want to sing, you sing."
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Now, come on, let's hear you now. Let's raise the roof.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06It won't take much doing, the guttering is on the inside. Are you ready?
0:49:06 > 0:49:10HE PLAYS OUT OF TUNE
0:49:10 > 0:49:12LAUGHTER
0:49:12 > 0:49:15He made everything look effortless.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19He'd sat down and worked out, "Right, which are the right wrong notes?"
0:49:19 > 0:49:24It's quite easy to play the piano badly and not be funny, as any music teacher will tell you,
0:49:24 > 0:49:30but to play the piano badly and be always hilarious is...
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Well, firstly, you need to know what you're doing, and secondly you need to be funny, and he was.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39Just the timing, and the whole persona of how he's sitting on the stool looking at the audience,
0:49:39 > 0:49:42with the, kind of, cheesy grin.
0:49:44 > 0:49:51Anybody else trying to do that with a piano would turn it into a joke.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55If you look at Les playing the piano, he believes every note he isn't playing.
0:49:55 > 0:50:01He is completely, totally believable that he thinks he is doing it right.
0:50:03 > 0:50:04LAUGHTER
0:50:04 > 0:50:09He would play the piano every day at home, and play classical,
0:50:09 > 0:50:16and jazz, and always went through the off-key piano playing at home, as well, which was nice.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19He would start off quite serious on the piano before lunch,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23and then he would play jazz
0:50:23 > 0:50:27and then he would do the off-key piano playing so we'd know then he was at the end.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33'Les knew how to get the most from a piano.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36LAUGHTER
0:50:36 > 0:50:38'But he never forgot that before he was famous,
0:50:38 > 0:50:43'he thought his fortune lay as a singer first and a comedian second.'
0:50:43 > 0:50:46I saw a clip of him singing Feelings.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48And he starts to sing, going... # Feelings..
0:50:48 > 0:50:50# Teardrops
0:50:52 > 0:50:56# They're rolling down on my face
0:50:56 > 0:50:58I was thinking, "Is this for real? Cos he's an OK singer."
0:50:58 > 0:51:01# Time to forget
0:51:04 > 0:51:07# My feelings of love
0:51:07 > 0:51:11And then, of course, he goes, "Feelings!"
0:51:12 > 0:51:15OFF-KEY: # Feeeeeelings
0:51:16 > 0:51:20# Whoa, whoa, whoa, feeeeeelings
0:51:21 > 0:51:27You know it's coming but it's all the more joyful because you know it's coming.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31'Les had always enjoyed smoking and drinking.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36'But a lifetime of premature celebration was taking its toll, and his health was failing.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41'It was time to take things easy and indulge his passions in some unexpected ways.'
0:51:41 > 0:51:47He was an amazing writer. I mean, we all know he was a fantastic performer, et cetera.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52But my official word would be he was an amazing writer because that's how he wanted to be remembered.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57I think he gave enough to warrant being remembered for what he wanted to be remembered for.
0:51:57 > 0:52:03We have a wonderful collection of books in the library, and he would read them over and over again.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07And the toilets, there are four toilets and they're all full of books.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11And if he ever wanted some quiet time before the family were home,
0:52:11 > 0:52:17he'd usually lock himself in his other study, as he called it, the loo and read books.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21I could imagine him going out with a television camera,
0:52:21 > 0:52:26going to some interesting castle or something like that and talking about it.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29You know, doing something to do with history.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33Anything that he was interested in, because he could bring his humour with him.
0:52:33 > 0:52:39So I would have thought he could have done almost everything except probably straight acting.
0:52:39 > 0:52:46'But he did. He played Nona, a woman in an adaptation of an Argentinean absurd drama.'
0:52:47 > 0:52:51- How are you, Nonita? - Hungry.- Hungry?
0:52:51 > 0:52:54- On a day like this?- Always hungry.
0:52:54 > 0:53:00That's my Nonita. There's always something for you to eat, isn't there? Some nice little morsel.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03- Mm.- Nice salad you have there, Nona?
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Si. Peppers, sweetcorn, excellento!
0:53:07 > 0:53:12- Wait a minute. Where have the flowers gone?- You got vinegar?
0:53:14 > 0:53:16They're in the salad!
0:53:16 > 0:53:22- Everything in salad. - You put Auntie's flowers in the salad, the flowers for the dead!
0:53:24 > 0:53:29You've done it this time! You've gone too far this time! HE GASPS
0:53:30 > 0:53:34'And Les appeared in Demob with Griff Rhys Jones and Martin Clunes.'
0:53:36 > 0:53:40Thank you. That's very decent of you, er...
0:53:40 > 0:53:43- Er, Deasey, Ian.- Deasey Ian, yes.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49- And what have we here?- Oh, Mr Stanley, this is Heather Kennedy.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Charmed, my petite mama.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55- Tell me, did you witness the debacle?- They did their best.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59Oh, yes. We all have to start somewhere. Never say die.
0:53:59 > 0:54:06He was a stand-up comedian but he'd changed direction, really, doing the serious side of acting.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11And he loved that. He said he would have worked for nothing. Cos he just loved that side of it.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14No, no, stop! Stop the rehearsal!
0:54:14 > 0:54:19Get off the stage. Go and rest your bunions, go on, get off.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24- I bet he's got a wealth of stories. - Yep. Let's hope he doesn't tell us any.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29- Well, that was bloody awful. - Well, do it again, then!
0:54:29 > 0:54:33No. What did they expect for one and a kick? The bloody Bolshoi? Eh?
0:54:33 > 0:54:36- Paul?- There you are, Mr Stanley.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40- Oh, Deasey and Dobson have arrived. - Bailiffs?- No.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43- The ice breakers. - Oh, two for the murder slot.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47Where are you? Come on, where are you skulking, you cowards? Show yourselves!
0:54:47 > 0:54:50And the winner is...
0:54:50 > 0:54:53..Les Dawson. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:54:54 > 0:55:00'In 1992, Les's career was finally recognised in the British Comedy Awards.'
0:55:03 > 0:55:06- It's about bloody time I won something. - LAUGHTER
0:55:08 > 0:55:14Let's face it, I've been in this business so long I can remember when The Archers only had an allotment.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16LAUGHTER
0:55:18 > 0:55:22'But within a year, Les Dawson had passed away.'
0:55:23 > 0:55:26The mother-in-law came last week to stay with us.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30I knew it was her coming because next door's savage Alsatian...
0:55:30 > 0:55:33..a high potency fertility pill...
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Oh! Oh! Oh!... ..my Bert said they tasted of peppermint...
0:55:38 > 0:55:44You see, you can sit there and smirk but you don't know. Life seems to be a matter of choice if you're lucky.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48I'm not lucky. Dame Fortune has never once ever smiled at me.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51AUDIENCE: Aww!
0:55:51 > 0:55:57I was with Les when he died. He was at a hospital in Manchester
0:55:57 > 0:56:03and he was having a routine check-up for insurance cos he was doing another film with Griff Rhys Jones.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07And he had to have this check-up
0:56:07 > 0:56:11and had a massive heart attack just after, waiting for the results.
0:56:11 > 0:56:18I was amazed when I heard about Les's death. It was on the radio I heard it, and I went, "What?"
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Erm...
0:56:21 > 0:56:27And it was just one of these landmark things in the history of show business,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30you know, where you go, "Wow!" Suddenly there's no Les.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40There were so many other comedians, there were lots like Arthur Askey,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44you know, and Norman Vaughan, and people you saw all the time,
0:56:44 > 0:56:48but Les I thought was a division better than them
0:56:48 > 0:56:53because he was more imaginative and his use of words was so much more interesting.
0:56:54 > 0:57:01Comedy changes so much, but there are the comics, the very few, you could count on your hands,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05the ones that can continue on through the years
0:57:05 > 0:57:09and still be number one in their trade. And I think Les was one of them.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11LAUGHTER
0:57:11 > 0:57:14He was up there with the very top, Les was.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17People still know his name.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20And people still talk about him. I mean, that is wonderful.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25Even people who weren't born when he died.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30APPLAUSE
0:57:30 > 0:57:33I'd put him up there with Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe
0:57:33 > 0:57:39as a great mainstream British television comedian.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43I think he was properly great.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45LAUGHTER
0:57:47 > 0:57:51There's still sort of a glow, really, that Les is still alive.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56- They say laughter is infectious. - Well, I think he's found a cure.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59LAUGHTER
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:06 > 0:58:10E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk