29 Jul 2024
Legendary talent Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper and Bob Monkhouse star in the Paul Hendy comedy drama, which appeared in Harpenden ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe…
Three dead comedians walk into a dressing room…
Imagine a meeting between a trio of now deceased funnymen from the golden age of television: the madcap Tommy Cooper, suave jokesmith Bob Monkhouse, and the irrepressible Eric Morecambe. They’re old friends, confident in their relationship, and it’s almost voyeuristic watching them interact behind closed doors, sharing an intimate invitation into their philosophical musings.
Tommy (Damian Williams) is there first, trademark fez already in place. The master of the misstep, his act based on the audience’s expectations that things will never go to plan, whether it’s a joke or a magic trick. A heavy drinker and smoker, his health has been suffering for years, and yet he remains as funny as ever, even when performing solo for the benefit of his absent lover and personal assistant Mary Fieldhouse.
He’s soon joined by Bob (Simon Cartwright), full of charm and understated humour, his legendary books of jokes never leaving his sight. Although best-known as a gameshow host by this point in his career, he had also enjoyed a long run as a stand-up comedian, and proved the perfect foil to Cooper’s gags.
Making up the trio is Harpenden’s own Eric (played by St Albans legend Bob Golding), one-half of perhaps the greatest double act ever to grace our TV screens and no less hilarious on his own. He’s already had two near-fatal heart attacks, but shows no signs of slowing down, his physical humour as much a part of his act as the one-liners.
So there they are. Three comic geniuses arguably at the top of their game, but each racked with their own insecurities and doubts. Sure the jokes are there, and the banter, and the routines, but so too are the feelings of mortality, questions over whether they’ll be remembered, and reflections on the highs and lows of their long careers.
Portraits of old comics on the dressing room wall prompt anecdotes and impressions of the likes of Arthur Askey, Sid Field, George Formby, Robb Wilton, Max Miller and Max Wall, legends in their day, and massive influences for each of our gathered trio, but slowly fading into obscurity over the years.
Long-term comedy writer Monkhouse asks his peers whether the person who pens a joke is more important than the person who delivers it, leading Cooper to admit if he likes a gag, he steals it.
The addictive nature of fame takes the conversation down another path, as they ask each other why they became comedians, and question the drive in each to chase the next laugh.
There are songs – Formby’s My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock, Morecambe and Wise’s Following You Around – and there is sadness as Bob recalls his 14-year creative partner Denis Goodwin, who took his own life at the age of 45.
And through it all there is an uneasy sense of the unknown. Mysterious strobe lights flickering, disembodied calls to the stage, the indigestion suffered by both Morecambe and Cooper…
This is no ordinary dressing room, and it isn’t by coincidence that the triumvirate are there, preparing for particular performances no one will forget.
There was a justifiable standing ovation in the Eric Morecambe Centre at the end of the first of three preview performances, which gave the cast the chance to strut their stuff in front of a local audience before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe. Among the watchers was Eric’s son Gary, an enthusiastic long-term supporter of Bob Golding’s tribute to his late father.
Writer, director and producer Paul Hendy offers the audience a big nostalgic cuddle, tapping into our memories of these remarkable men, showing their camaraderie in a way we were denied on our television screens.
Every line captures something of the spirit and character of Tommy, Bob and Eric, revealing the drive and ambition which shaped them, yet tinged with poignancy as we peel back the surface to see the paradoxical contrast between comedy and pain. It’s also the perfect length to capture a snapshot of their world, leaving the audience wanting more (a desire satisfied somewhat by the Q&A after the show), without ever outstaying their welcome.
Thoroughly believable, passionately performed and produced, The Last Laugh is a remarkable show which deserves to be lavished with a plethora of awards and five star reviews. Here’s the first: *****
All photos: Pamela Raith
