Milligan’s war memoirs are truly brilliant. You get a better idea of the reality of WW2 through them than from all the learned academic tomes that have been produced highly recommended
Two giants of British comedy who came of age in the post war period not only as performers but also as writers.Their styles were very different but you can bet there was mutual respect. It's a shame this conversation didn't last longer because it would have been fascinating to hear them compare notes on writing. Spike's struggles with bipolar have been well documented. Less well known are the tragedies which befell Bob from parents who were at best cold and undemonstrative towards their only child, a writing partner who took his own life, one child with profound learning disability and another who died from a heroin overdose. His autobiography Crying With Laughter is much less funny than Spike's Towards the end of his life when he knew he was dying from prostate cancer Bob bore the prognosis stoically ( and even tried to use the diagnosis to make men more aware).
What hurt bob & the series was that critics thought he was his usual persona of being smarmy & insincere but he interviewed tommy cooper & bob hope & his other heroes, & was no more suck up than american talk show hosts today.
Mainstream? Really, you might want to check some of Bob's stand up routine also the British Comedy Guide or Wikipedia for reference on Bob and then get back to us with a revised statement. Also, Bob along with Denis Goodwin used to write jokes & sketches for national & international stars during the 50s & 60s.
