Paxman has a few unwarranted digs. When Stephen Fry did his requiem speech about Peter Cooke (also here on RU-vid) I always thought he was answering Paxman directly.
Peter Cook obituary (Newsnight, 1995) 1149AM 25.7.23 SATIRE BOOM!? strange that satire is a commodity now whereas before we'd have satire on tap in any home that had deigned to read a newspaper or listen to the news... or speak to one another. woe the man who has a false family akin to a country's false economy foisted upon him with it's fLaby arse hanging out in the wind - whispering it's incessant disapproval... speaking as Lord Hobbit i will say he was surrounded by so much boredom and enforced ennui that it was inevitable that he would kill himself, albeit hazily seemingly legally by drink drugs and fags... and not to mention his loving forays into the strip clubs to be forever disappointed by whichever stripper deigned to hide from him. do we care how we are perceived? perhaps when it comes to civil society extending it's tawdry grip as it tries to "correct" whichever dupe has seen fit to utilize his freedom of speech soapbox. the whole edifice of law is built on hearsay and some fat c*** scribbling away as he makes out another report on whichever sot has farted without consent. the culture of denigration is called the history of a people. whatever people say about it is really par for the course... not one of them stood up for freedom of speech when it came down to it. or, rather, the wheat from the chaff was proffered up when that horrid and hoary old tome called the law courts hoved (sic) into view...
A great find, thank you for posting. Cannot get enough of Peter Cook so missed. Why are so many embarrassed about the mention of Derek And Clive? Cook regarded this his finest hour and I agree, everything pales before this and since.
Doing D & C enabled them to add lib/riff with some of the sketches, especially when they were on the booze. I was fortunate enough to stumble on D & C, hilarious but uve got to be in the mood I feel?
@@gaskellr44 You got to be in the mood? What mood, the mood whether to to laugh, the mood not to be constrained by establishment censorship, political restraint?
@@maxwellfan55Derek and Clive was made during their rough patch with one another, so I think it's omitted out of respect truthfully. But Dudley said later on the BBC didn't really like it and that they probably destroyed it on purpose. They also did another show that was a lot worse; a lot more profane than D&C, that was directed more towards religion which was never released sadly.
Rather than a champion of the poor, don't you think he was dominated by absurdity when and wherever it presented itself? His work is timeless precisely because his comedy was apolititcal. More N.F. Simpson than Simpson & his Donkey.
@@garymitchell5899Fortunately they made up. Lin later said most of what was reported was utterly untrue and that they were the best of friends and that they had a very special relationship. Often calling and talking with one another. Peter even said later on towards the end of his alcoholism that he loved Dudley and he was his best friend. Dudley's memorial speech was very heartfelt too, if you can find footage of it I really recommend watching it.
Peter Cook was a fucking legend. Witty,erudite,clever and very dry. He pushed all the right buttons. Like Spike Milligan,he knew how to get his humour across.
acerbic wit, he said it himself, he retained a boyhood charm of getting a rise out of people, and he was intelligent enough to amuse himself without being vulgar or direct about it.
I have fond memories from the 60s when he was in his youthful post Cambridge prime, able to make his face look daft and do wierd voices but somehow still make others look like the silly ones and he remained the sophisticated and intellectual satirist. I see Stephen Fry in the same way.
Miller & Bird both had very interesting things to say . Stephen Fry's piece a few weeks after Cook's death is a must see, where he is quite scathing toward the ' wasted talent ' type obituaries ! ps It was good to see Paxman laughing so much !! Peter Cook would have enjoyed that I think! It all reminded me of 'Why Bother' with Chris Morris " So you find imagining my death very amusing ? " ...... ' Yes, I do actually ! '
And that was the interview that Chris Morris berated saying that they forgot all about Peter and just went on about their egotistical view of what he was.
Good point. He was terrifyingly ugly without profanity. He'd trash most comics of the last fifteen years with his twisted and compelling depth of mundane absurdity.
Well, okay, apart from that.... Yikes.... yeah... that stuff. Still... I liked that material the least, if I recall correctly, because they did seem to lean on the profance language in a way that seemed consciously gratuitous. Am I off on that--?
I knew someone would mention this ..Your on the money but all in all live he was pretty tame would you agree say unlike Bernard Manning Who I love with a passion....Laughter is good for the Sole :)
There was actually originally ONLY ONE Peter Cook, but he was later twinned with Dudley Moore and with the town of Carpentras, in the South of France......
Craig Ferguson, a Peter Cook worshipper, told a funny story about how whenever someone would tell Peter "I'm writing a book." Peter would reply "Ah. neither am I."
Peter Cook obituary (Newsnight, 1995) 1159am 25.7.23 these guys can afford to play this game, though... merely kicking out at matron who has scolded them for eating some tuck or their ma and pas who were far too distant for them to bear...
Karl Hamilton Morris did an audio sketch with Cook in the nineties.It's somewhat uncomfortable to listen to: Morris at his peak, Cook the drink-sodden former great.
like most true 'comedy geniuses' slightly (maybe more than slightly tbh) manic and somehow flawed… seems to be a common theme, certainly with British comedians (the best anyway) … have to say the 1979 perm was def a tragic low point .. possibly even more so than his foray into Hollywood. Both were doomed to failure imho RIP Pete AND Dud .. the afterlife must be laughing itself stupid these days.
Brando, Maradona, Lennon, Alex Higgins and Lester Piggott all had the same brilliance. A way of doing what they did that defied explanation. Peter Cook did it his way like all of them. No matter how hard you try to imitate them, you will never come close to their genius.
So what has changed in UK politics since then? Labour is still as fragmented and the Tories as self serving, elitist and destructive as ever. Our inability to learn from experience is the only constant.
Ironically Peter parodied programmes and discussions like this ! People who think they see more in the arts and the people who work in them than the every day guy in the street ! I bet he's up there pissing himself at these self important types over analysing his work !
"These self important types" are not mere critics. They are people who have worked closely with Peter Cook and have some insight to share. But you are probably right that Peter Cook would have a laugh at this interview.
I know that Mark I'm a great admirer of Cook's work. But Cook came from a back ground where he would have been surrounded by people talking crap on the arts and people who had a high opinion of themselves and their own views. I like the fact he regularly mocked people like that. Those people of course aren't restricted to a certain class either, you can get them everywhere. I hear the same people talking shite about music and the deep meaning behind certain genres and why they came about. Best not to over analyse stuff, just enjoy it and let it enrich your life.
Only because as many said, he was a genius and didn't have to put much effort into his comedy, well as much as others did. John Cleese once said, what would take him a week or two to write comedy-wise, PC would just come up with it instantly.
I think peter cook could see through society and didnt think much of what he saw. It is ridiculous. Ican see what he saw but it makes me sad as much as laugh
Peter Cook would have tied this tribute spouting prick up in knots..ooh don't! I would love to hear his take on Theresa May's "Let's All Go Down The Brexit" - his masterpiece, "That Was The Week" was stolen by David Frost.
It’s amusing to see others trying to analyse Peter Cook. Their efforts are in vain as such a talent can not be easily copied and filed away. He is sadly missed.
What i liked about Peter was that he existed, and moved...sometimes even both at once. I saw him in Hampstead and he said to me, "Who are you?", which i thought made him a wonderful human being. I replied, with all the dignity i could muster, "I'm your future best friend."...he walked off muttering "Well, see you in the future, but for now bugger off..." So I did.
Leave Damian and his fleets of ships alone, you cu--s. It's a free world and as far as we're concerned he has the right for independence and a "seat" in the UN.. No Brekshit, no via necessary. Bog-roll welcomed.
These two don't agree about anything, of Cooks . In my opinion, and from what I read after his death. He was very jealous of Dud's unexpected fame and fortune , resulting from his own talents and efforts in Hollywood. Dud didn't want to get involved with Cooks increasingly desperate attempts, to find ways of relaunching his fame and popularity. The Derek and Clive rubbish, was just pure obscenity for it's own sake, and to shock. Thereby getting huge attention and publicity. Dud was then aware of the danger this 'porno crud' might have on his new and massive fan base, especially in the USA, who mostly , were unaware of his original wacky , border-line stuff , with Cook. Dud had moved on, and very much UP, in the world. I think Peter Cook was jealous of this, because he thought himself the top dog ( and was ) during the good satire years. From then onward's, his drinking, drug taking , and odd behaviour, made him a regular on chat shows like 'Parkinsons etc. and just like Oliver Reed. Became a regular, because people hoped, to see /hear, the unexpected. SHAME, an original talent, wasted.
Some great clips followed by 5 mins of two pompous old men blabbing on with elongated explanations of why Cooke was talented.Cooke would of probably laughed at their comments some of which were borderline satire themselves
Dudley Moore an unfunny dead weight? You must be devoid of any humour if you think that of Dud. As for dead weight, his piano playing alone was on another level to most concert pianists! He was supremely talented and actually, this 'dead weight' you refer to carried Peter Cook throughout the entire 'Behind The Fridge' tour of New York in the late 70's, when Cook would turn up onstage pissed out of his mind. You clearly dont know what the fuck you're talking about!
I wouldn't say "unfunny deadweight". Jules and Sandy (from "Round the Horne") were brilliant but it was Kenneth Williams who stole the show because he was the funnier of the two (Hugh Paddick)and everyone knew him.
