Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Lad Himself...
Posted by Formbyman on 23 December 2011 - 9:39am.
from East Cheam barely gets a mention on here. Has nobody visited Fred's Pie Stall? It's fantastic.
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There's no finer way to spend half an hour
than lazing by the radio listening to Tony and Sid.
Excellent!
I knew there'd be someone else.
Sorry the MP3 embed above
seems to be b*ggered. I have no idea why!
Wiv or Wivout?
Wiv or wivout what? 'andles!
I'm just reading
The Kenneth Williams Diaries and I'm up to 1955 when he first started working with Hancock.
Williams hated just about everyone, so it should start to get interesting soon.
Hilarious book...
... Williams' "put downs" are genius.
Almost
but not quite. Though I haven't read them I hear he is rather less scathing about his time on Round The Horne, in fact to the point of not really being scathing at all.
For some reason I find that oddly comforting.
It's interesting to note
that Williams was using the word 'gay' as early as 1948.
It's Fabu-LO-sa!!!
Williams once said how bona it was to vada Mr Horne's jolly old eek on a weekly basis.
Indeed
Once as a gardening advisor he suggested Mr Orne run a few creepers up his trellis
Hancock
detested Williams and his 'funny' voices and catchphrases.
Yes
Hancock has a line to that effect in Fantabulosa!
Stone me!
I've been a fan since I was a nipper. Grew up listening to this charity shop favourite religiously
If I attend the Liverpool Massive Mingle I will be running back south for this on the Sunday. World premiere reading of rejected Hancock film script and Q&A with Ray n Alan.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/january_seaso...
I still have a copy of that!
It'd cost about 50p to buy at a record fair, but it's worth a fortune in other ways.
I went to give blood a while back
holding a Hancock biography to pass the time. I was given a fair amount of stick by the donation staff.
A Pint?
I had to have a blood test recently and it required a real effort of will not to quote lines from 'The Blood Donor'.
Did you
get a badge?
Are you a doctor, then?
No, I never really bothered.
Nothing pretentious
Just something like 'he gave for others so others may live.'
Life would be intolerable if we knew everything.
Out of a couple of thousand vinyl records this is only one I have ever worn out.
Genius from start to finish.
I still use the phrase
"a quick snort and a drag" when I step outside
And despite using this new famgled version of the radio called the Internet I have never been asked to send a tray of bread pudding to
Kuala Lumpur.
It is are not raining in Tokyo thou
I have...
... all 6 of the BBC Collector's Editions of "Hancock's Half Hour" - quite expensive when they were released. My all time fave episodes are:-
The Missing Page
The East Cheam Drama Festival
Fred's Pie Stall
Hancock in the Police
The Old School Reunion
Yeah so do I
signed by Galton n Simpson *polishes nerd badge*
personal faves
Wild Man Of The Woods
The Impersonator
Hancock's Car
Sid's Mystery Tours
The Poetry Society
Sunday Afternoon At Home
the Missing page is just godlike stuff
You beribboned buffoon!!!
... Harry Zimmerman (who was killed in chapter three!!!), Jocelyn Knockersbury, Freda Volkinski and, by no means least, Darcy Sarto.
All these names are still used by me and a mate as a response to the question "what is he/she called?"
My ID on this blog
was almost 'Johnny Oxford'
Lolita's back!!!!!!!
Sunday Afternoon
One of my favourite lines is from Sunday Afternoon At Home :
'I thought my mum's cooking was bad but at least her gravy used to move around a bit.'
I'm not mending your bed again!
I still use that one when 'er indoors reminds me of the many outstanding DIY jobs I've yet to catch up with.
I've got a book of the scripts
With an interview with G&S at the end.
They reckoned he couldn't keep working with them because their scripts were such a devastating exploration of his soul (as he saw it) that he just couldn't stand it any longer. In other words the truth and pathos overwhelmed him even though he knew very well how funny it all was. A fascinating idea, that they had nailed him so completely he couldn't cope with it.
I grew up in the 70s so I missed it all first time round but we always ended up watching the repeats. I was always very aware of the underlying sadness. But by god its funny stuff.
I have a book
containing some of the scripts - Bedsitter etc- and they are stunningly good. Laugh out loud funny. However, I was more than ever convinced of Hancock's genius when I cringed at Paul Merton's galumphing efforts with exactly the same scripts.
merton hosted
a Q&A with Galton and Simpson and someone asked wheat they thought of Merton's efforts which Paul jumping in saying 'I'll take this one I think'. Ray n Alan said that he would be crucified for doing it and so he was.
The thing is you can hear echoes of Hancock in Meton anyway so it was too much like an impression. Would have been interesting to see someone do some of the less famous G&S stuff
At the risk of being pretentious
A risk I am prepared to run...
He dealt with the difference between the myths we suffer between what we are and what we would wish to be. Absolute genius. So so funny
Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you?
Did she die in vain?
That's a very good point
about it being 'too much like an impression.' Even Ken Stott, who I rate as an actor, could not get close. Apart from the immaculate timing, his physical comedy was also excellent. The marvellous elasticity of his face contributes to some hysterically funny scenes - for example, the scene where he is trying to remember the name of an old comrade from the war and a myriad emotions flicker across his face.
I own books, records
And a DVD with all the known radio shows. Don't remember it as a kid (before my time), but it's comedy gold.
The Rebel
Oh, I love that scene so much
'That is a self-portrait'
'Who of?'
*outrage* 'Laurel and Hardy! Who of? Buffoon...'
Possibly his finest moment.
Nerdy trivia
apparently Hancock hated the way she mispronounced words like "miscellaneous" seeing no humour in it.
Mrs. Crevatte; Here, have you been having models up here - have there been naked women in my establishment?
Hancock; Of course there haven't. I can't afford thirty-bob an hour. I did that from memory. That is women as I see them.
Mrs. Crevatte; Oh! ... You poor man!
Old School Reunion ...
Sid: They're not gonna wanna know Fat Legs Hancock!
Hancock: How did you know my nickname?
Sid: What else could they call you?
Bill and Father Christmas
On the iplayer at the mo is Bill And Father Xmas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007jzys/Hancocks_Half_Hour_Bill_an...
alongside the brilliant 'The Bequest' where he tries to fin a wife
My personal favourite is 'Hancock's Merry Christmas' where he refuses to have anything to do with it
"Its a racket. All the prices go up. You can spend a fortune if you're not careful. Well not this lad. A boiled egg, half a potato, a mug of cocoa and straight up to bed, thats me"!
And when Sid James comes carol singing
"Spare a couple of coppers for Christmas?"
"I'll get a couple with helmets on if you're not careful..."
BTW a top boxset with the worst artwork in the world is pretty cehap these days
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tony-Hancock-BBC-Collection-Disc/dp/B000VA3J2K/r...
Just listened to...
... The East Cheam Drama Festival - even the kids enjoyed it (and keep asking me to play it again) - they loved the line:-
Hancock: Well, at least we know why Jack never returned home".
Hattie: Why?
Hancock: Well he doesn't live here.
Glad I bought the Collector's Editions when I did - because I didn't pay anything like this!!! But I didn't get the nice box either.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hancocks-Complete-Radio-Archive-Collection/dp/05...
A Theory
My theory is that comedy shows like Hancock, The Goons, Round The Horne etc kept most of us young boys sane in the dull days before the Beatles came along. We could share favourite lines ( sometimes whole scripts ) in the same way we later shared mixtapes. It was also a way of bonding with your Dad if he shared the same sense of humour.
My favourite ever
British comedian. 'Sunday Afternoon' and 'Bedsitter' are stone classics. Marvellous scripts and a magnificent foil in Sid James.
Listen to the radio shows for masterclasses in comic timing.
Sadly missed.
well as a child of the 70's
I belive that it was the awfulness of late 70's comedy that made me turn to Hancock and The Goons. It wasn't til the alternative comedy revolution hit the mainstream that I thought anything was as funny as nSpike Milligans lunacy or Hancock's exasperation with life.
Stone me I thought I was alone these days....
Since I was a repeat of the blood donor in the mid 70's when I was about 10 I've been hooked and poudly have every available episode on CD or DVD.
Radio 4 Extra is doing a good job for me in playing random selections these days.
I guess it's a minority sport lately so this thread is really refreshing.
Comedy has but rarely been bettered
Oh, and HHH geeks will even recognise my name as one of Sid's accomplices!