Kenneth Williams...Excellent Chat Show Appearance From 1980 

This man was a truly brilliant actor. Such a shame that he felt so lonely in his life, in part due to his homosexuality. We (the British people) lost a true genius, entertainer and wonderful man when he died. They sure don't make them like this anymore.

What an amazing raconteur. I could listen to him for hours. Sadly we don't see talent like his any more.

Adore him could listen for hours and hours .

A masterclass in story telling.

He entertains from the second he opens his mouth. A unique, distinctive and unforgettable character. Luckily he's captured in all those classic movies he appeared in to be appreciated forever. ✌🏽

As many have commented, an absolute genius and legend.

No one has come close to Ken's brilliance in humour. His vocal abilities were fantastic, just watch episodes of the origanal run of willow the wisp all voices done by Ken. He was an entire cast in one.

At a fantasy dinner party this man would be in the top 5 guests.

I adored him when I was 11 years old and too young to know what "campy " humour was all about- and when I DID find out, it made it all the funnier. RIP, Kenneth- I still miss your rich voice and nostrils flared in disdain!

He never fails to lift my spirits. Watch these posts dozens of times. Love each one.

He loved doing his Dame Edith, didn't he? :)

Unique, will never be anyone like him, a Legend!

My goodness me, what an incredible intelligent raconteur Kenneth Williams was. All you have today are these foul-mouthed, so-called comedian. Effing and blinding on chat shows, in their feeble attempts at comedy.

It is difficult, I suppose, for most people to realise that in some one like Kenneth Williams is a spirit both as old as the ages (there's something wonderfully of the Victorian about him) and yet also, for all his learned erudition, eternally innocently impish and childlike with a wonderful smile when he allows it to break through his admirable seriousness. Yet all most will have seen is some kind of affected sense of camp arrogance. Far more fascinating than most people indeed- he should

He never paused for breath. Best raconteur ever, with the exception of Peter Ustinov. Possibly a tie.

I'm sure he is in heaven now. There all laughing their heads off there too! What a brilliant man! Thank you Kenneth! 👍👍👍👍👍😂🤣😂🤣

Love the way he rolls the Rs

You hang on his every word. A true genius.

Never a dull moment. What a splendid dinner guest he must have been. Sit, Listen and Enjoy. Greatly missed.

Kenneth was a brilliant entertainer a wonderful mimic & a tremendous Mind, he is surely missed from our world, Sadly nothing remotely like him today, getting Dumber & Dumber I am afraid. great video

a brilliant storyteller with the voices too.YOU COULD SIT NEXT TO HIM IN A PUB and listen to him allnight.

what a great loss he was, so sad that he took his own life. At least we have many recordings of the great man.

whenever i see Kenneth Wiliams on a chat show i never want it to end!

He was a great speaker , very articulate.He was so much more than the Carry On actor. He was a very good performer and could handle a live audience.

'The K W Diaries' Sat 4th Oct 1980: 'TV Centre at 1 o'c. & talked with Chris (researcher) & Mike Parkinson & John Fisher...My entrance was marred by my tripping up on the bottom step, the opening dialogue was stilted & unfunny & four or five minutes of turgid rubbish constituted the chat till I got off the play & on to the book! Telling stories - ...Edith Evans & the Crescent Hotel...Charles Laurence's Mae West line. By that time I'd started climbing & by the end it was OK, but only just!'

Yes. I have recently read his " Diaries". A very complex man. I saw him many years ago walking along the Strand. I think he was going to the Playhouse Theatre in Villiers St. On this particular occasion, he may have been "looking" to be recognised. He was wearing a bright check jacket and whistling a chirpy tune. Comedian Ted Ray,father of Andrew, was himself a manic depressive. So ironic that [some] people who devoted their talents to make others happy were themselves not.

He makes Russell Brand look like Russell Bland. True Genius

Kenneth would have been an outstanding guest on the Graham Norton show had he lived and was able to attend. His close friends Miriam Margolyes and Barbera Windsor made it there, and it would have been great to see him as well.

He's a legend! Miss him so much...

have been embraced as a serious talent- and as a person of lasting stature- rather than the way that many people just seemed to enjoy him as some kind of fruity relic of a rapidly bygone age. A well dressed, handsome, man too but in a way that the modern world does not seem to register anymore.

I remember KW from BBC World Service Radio in the 1970s whilst I was at University in Italy. Programs like "Just a Minute" and others, and the "Carry on" Films. Always a pleasing voice, and "campy" lilt to his voice. Years of soul lifting programs. Sadly Missed...a true Artiste.

I love Kenneth Williams - I am only thankful that our lives overlapped and that my parents shared every single Carry On movie with me from a young age.

As a kid growing up I used to love him in the Carry On movies. ("Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!") Sublime. But he's just as good telling us his own anecdotes here. So sorry he's no longer with us. Wish all the tortured comics could each have been given a big hug and told how much they were loved. Stay with us.

He speaks with such incredible alacrity, I could listen to him speak all day.

GREAT MAN,very UNIQUE CHARACTER AND TALENT I SALUTE YOU

With ...... " Alarming ferocity " !

I love that Edith Evans story.

What a loss to us all he was. I don't think he understood how loved he was by the British public.

I could listen to Kenny Williams telling stories for hours.

Brilliant racounteur.

Interviews aren't conducted like this anymore. People were, somehow, more Real in the past. It all seems so contrived & Fake.... Now.

the master of put downs. Pity he killed his dad and himself. Maybe the guild overcame him in the end.

Parkinson hated him and the feeling was mutual, but Parkinson was to much of an ego to get the best out of their discussions imposing himself too much instead of acting as an Interviewer. The Russell Harty interviews were far superior, check them out.

I always think of Kenneth as being on a higher plane than most people.

comic genius. sharp as a razorblade

I remember listening to "Round The Horne" on the radio in the 60s. A groundbreaking comedy in many ways.

Some of the great comics were great tragedians too. (Not all- some comics are so good at being light-hearted- like Chevy Chase in his heyday that they don't need to mine a tragic angle) but Kenneth Williams seemed to be both. There was no artifice to it. He had a perfectly professorial yet also theatrical air but professors of that time would have probably ignored him as being too 'arch' and disliked that fact that, despite not being Oxbridge-educated, he seemed far more Oxbridge than they did.

you don't get actors or comedians of yesterday's years sadly. The carry-on films, two Ronnies, Morcombe and Wise list goes on I still use Kenneth fraze with family and friends when I've made a mistake I just shout in Kenneth's voice Oh Matron they just find it funny, maybe I'm showing my age or it is just looking back but tv comedy etc just ain't as funny I guess its because we are so woo can't say this or that it is offensive. The great thing is so glad we have RU-vid as you can go back in anytime in the last 100 years and see your childhood programs etc like Cat Weezle etc RU-vid gives me back to my memory lane days, oh how life seemed to me anyway before and after my children were better than what's happing in 2022, the 80s and 90s felt safer and tv was deffo better in the days. oh what a day dreamer I am lol

What a joy!

RIP Kenneth.!Such genius.

Where have all these characters gone?

Brilliant - I have never read "Acid Drops", but shall search for it. Am amazing man and great entertainer.

Don't make em like that anymore, don't make show's like that anymore either!😟

Tormented. Read his diaries? He doesn't mention this particualr performance, but despite the fact that it was truly excellent and professional (in my opinion) he might have seen it as a complete disaster.

Priceless. Genius. Loved and adored. WF

such a brilliant performer and will no doubt still make me smile and laugh for many a years to come, rest easy Mr. Williams =) and thankyou

What an extremely gifted and funny man?God bless him🙏❤️

It's when he recalls about the fellow who wanted a blow wave at his fathers shop..I cannot stop laughing!!

not many people knew he was gay back then. but now, his voice is a dead giveaway.

It seems that so many comics either hate themselves, have drug problems or are just generally disturbed. I guess genius does come at a price. Britain misses you Kenneth...

Apologies to elsa8001, I hit the wrong key and did'nt mean to mark your comments badly. I actually agree with everything you say.

Oooooooooo Matron!!!

Great man, sorely missed.

Tom Lehrer and (I think) Robin Ray.

And that my friends is the absolutely out of this world genius of the amazing Kenneth Williams. One of the greatest comic performers that ever lived! Robin Williams was another - but Kenneths delivery is unmatched.

Google says, “ Kenneth Williams had a fierce intellect, was mainly self taught and his command of the English language was legendary “. I have heard that the only reason Sir Lawrence Olivier couldn’t accept Kenneth for a part in one of his productions of Shakespeare was because Kenneth was famous for the Carry On films and Sir Lawrence was afraid of the type of audience Kenneth would attract !

Everything this guy says is one mic-drop after another!

I can imagine Maggie Smith saying that in F+M

Tom Lehrer, the university lecturer and satirical singer/pianist. Perhaps his best known work is 'The Elements Song'. From Kenneth William's diary (published 1994), Saturday 4 October 1980: "My entrance was marred by my tripping up on the bottom step, the opening dialogue was stilted and unfunny and four or five minutes of turgid rubbish constituted the chat till I got off the play [he had been directing Joe Orton's 'Loot'] and onto the book ['Acid Drops']...

I read Acid Drops years ago, it was great :)

...they thought Evita was a holiday destination...probably Ibiza, but it's aactually a musical..hence "I've just come from Evita"

He was truly Mesmerising.

Could listen to him all night . So interesting . Real intelligence.

British actors are the best in the world.. and Kenneth Williams was one of the funniest of them all..🙂

Ageless, hilarious, extraordinarily talented...god I love this man.

yes he did.....he couldn't accept he was a gayman poor soul....i think he felt embarressed bout being gay.....but he was so so funny....

Definitely my dinner guest number 1.

An English original!

Tom Lehrer obviously enjoyed it. I'd like to see his interview

the people of the earth should not forget this man

I do so love Kenneth's intellect

One of the best ever funny men. He lived as he appeared to be. Utterly unique and genuine. His rendition of "mon crepe suzette"is side burstingly funny. Rest dear man. The word Arch describes his manner perfectly to me.

Love the Robert Helpmann story. Can just visualise the scene 😂

Still a Shinning Star, brilliantly erudite, self deprecating, but ultimately the Master of words, anecdote, and his own voice characterisation. A unique individual, the like of which we will never see or hear again.

... Telling stories - the Helpmann at the umpires' room, Maggie Smith teeth fillings and the bra story, Edith Evans and the Crescent Hotel, syndrome and aerodrome, Stanley Baxter and finally Charles Laurence's Mae West line. By that time I'd started climbing and by the end it was OK, but only just. Why? - well the competition was fierce, I'd been lazy, and I'd done the best of the Orton (last year!) on this show and couldn't repeat it. Tom Lehrer was marvellous to me!...

You just have to listen to EVERY WORD this man utters. Verbal poetry.

Fab adore him and Maggie Smith..

Wonderful. Thanks for posting.

We just opened a bottle of Beaujolais and couldn’t remember whether KW or Dame Edith had told the story. Such is the effect that this sketch had on me, I still can’t help but imitate DE when we have it!

Is there a full version of this episode? Would like to see Tom lehrers interview, he seems to be enjoying Kenneth's stories

sad genius

I absolutely LOVE this interview. Every time I see it I laugh until I cry :D

@emma5977 Hello there :) I don't mind you knocking on my door at all! Oh yes, in terms of knowledge and wisdom I believe he was 'streets ahead' of most of us!!! Incidentally, your comment about seeing Kenneth walking down the 'street' (in real terms!) is very interesting.

Kenneth Williams was so funny RIP.

Maggie smith and Kenneth Williams were v good friends. She said she imitated his way of speaking in Harry Potter. Ian mckellen imitated her perfectly on graham norton show

What a fantastic actor Kenneth was. When I was a kid we loved to sit infront of the telly. Me on the floor 🤣 and watch the carry on films. They were brilliant. Sid was awesome too. However they all were who starred in them. We will never see true comedy like this ever again. Sadly missed. So funny though 😂 😂 😂

That is as good as it gets. A genius storyteller

My maternal uncle and mother knew him quite well and as a result when I was born in 1959, I was given the forenames Kenneth William……..

I hope that is so. He was very fond of walking and exploring London. Back in the late 70`s I saw him walking [whistling] down the Strand, I guess that he may have been making his way to the Playhouse Theatre in Villiers Street.

Nowadays a talent like that would be making very good money with a one man show, and after dinner speaking. But he was so conflicted lonely and unhappy. That was the age when two grown men (Morecambe and Wise) could do a comedy routine in bed together and no one thought anything of it. But to be openly gay, was impossible.