I remember about 40 years ago being in a tiny restaurant in Hampstead and next to me was a couple; a man and a young lady. The man was talking very compassionately and consolingly, like a therapist, very earnestly trying to reassure the young lady of her worth and how much it meant. I never heard anyone more intense and more empathetic. I didn't intend to eavesdrop, but the bistro was really tiny and it was unavoidable. And it was impossible not to realise that the man was Peter Cook
As usual Fry is more interested in displaying his big vocabulary than in really paying tribute to a friend. Makes me feel quite sympathetic to poor old Peter Cook having to put up with this buffoon bothering him in his later years.
Fry said Cook was the funniest Brit to ever draw breath...Fry must of been truly happy to grow up with Cook in his prime. Master of the English language in the most of acidic way as possible
As much as now loathe Stephen Fry over his pro-EU values, this gorgeous stand up for Peter Cook made within hours of Cook's death remains fresh in my mind.
Clive James was a genuine intellectual with wit. Connolly is so overrated, I've never seen a "comedian" who is so shallow, loves himself so much, and believes himself so hilarious. Leaves me cold.
The revolution will not be televised, it will be forced down your throat and then they will charge you for their inconvenience. Ahh well, you gotta laugh ! X
many thanks for all these Peter Cook rarities! I've become a massive Peter Cook fan and I want to see every second of him we have, and this channel is invaluable. Thank you.
My mother and her friend shared a Taxi in Bournemouth with Frankie Howerd, he was in a panic as he normally had his own driver and there was some kind of mix-up. This was the early seventies. Frankie asked if he could share the ride as he was late for curtain-up. He was a serious man, nervy, but a total gentleman. Polite, careful and respectful. As he got out first he asked where the cab was going on to; then thanked everyone handing a 10 shilling note to the driver, covering my mums onward fare. Classy
Peter Cook was the funniest person I have ever heard. All of Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, and Ronnie Barker were remarkably gifted funny-men who stood far above the norm. Yet Peter Cook was the master of them all, and I suspect that that list of men I suggested would themselves agree. It is a field where any competence whatsoever is exceedingly rare. Even practicing professionals are rarely any good. 👍
Good. Of course he's just an animal, but why do animals sometimes impress us? I wonder why the animals do sometimes give us representations of what it means to be human. I wonder that a lot, actually.
Nice to see David Attenborough in his younger days laughing so naturally, and being humorous and sociable. I have followed him since his Zoo Quest tv series and books in the 1950s and 1960s. I think he was happier then.
Isn't the expression 'comic GENIUS' really, when Cook is seen in perspective, just a bit overstated? Fry's resort to it - and without even the slightest reserve, it appears - puts the status and originality of his own contribution into doubt: Cook only wrote a few funny sketches, after all...
Yes, probably. Cook was like that really funny uncle you had as a kid, that you still remember with fondness. I think the thing about Cook that seems so singular when compared to the parade of other comedy chancers like Fry or Cleese is that he actually seemed likeable, and genuine. And he certainly would have mocked anyone calling him a comic genius, whatever the hell that is. He was just a funny, charming man.
What a privilege to have a friend like Stephen Fry. Not only one of the most intelligent men I've ever heard, but also one of the most humane and empathetic.
It was a long time ago, but Stephen Fry ignored the fact that Peter Cook was a terrible alcoholic and was often very horrible to those who liked and endured him
