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Post by hulmeman on Nov 8, 2017 14:59:13 GMT
Liverpool is in a state of celebration today as it's most famous comedy hero turns 90.
To honour the veteran comic Sir Ken Dodd's birthday, the people have donated two new Diddy men to him.
Diddy Pay and Diddy F**k! *
*I should add this is a very old joke about Sir Ken's tax affairs, which was dealt with by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court who found Sir Ken not guilty of avoiding tax payments. Really.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2017 15:43:38 GMT
Which reminds me of a great line in Coronation Street on Monday... Jenny and Johnnie are in the Bistro where he is just about to break some good news to her. He is rudely interrupted by Beth and Izzy who have just heard about the insurance money coming through, meaning they might get their jobs back at the factory. Jenny looks up at them as they bluster in and scoffs, “To think Ken Dodd had all them Diddy Men and he never met this pair...!”  |
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Post by crowblack on Nov 8, 2017 16:21:08 GMT
who found Sir Ken not guilty of avoiding tax payments. Really. It's Doddy! We just wouldn't. I'm taking my Mum to see him at Christmas - she worked with him briefly during her reign as Daily Mirror Queen of Blackpool. |
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Post by lynette on Nov 8, 2017 16:21:55 GMT
He could teach some people a thing or two about finance. Good on him.
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Post by hulmeman on Nov 8, 2017 21:18:26 GMT
"What a lovely day for sticking a cucumber through next door's letter box and shouting the Martians are coming!"
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Post by dizzieblonde on Nov 8, 2017 21:55:00 GMT
Friends went to see him the other weekend in Blackpool - apparently he's still as funny as ever, they still can't get him off the stage - people still edging towards the exits near midnight, as their cars risk being shut in the local multi-storey car park!! Blackpool is now so used to Doddy overrunning, that the car park puts signs up that their opening times will be extended until 'whenever the show finishes'!!  One old joke had it that he performed once for a 100 year old woman, although she was only 99 when he took to the stage! Last of the old greats, really! Unbelievable that he's still touring, he seems ageless! |
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Post by tonyloco on Nov 8, 2017 22:13:17 GMT
I particularly like Doddy's explanation that cats' eyes on the road were invented after a man saw a cat walking towards him in the headlights of a car. Had the cat been walking away he would have invented the pencil sharpener. Not very intellectual but hey, a good laugh!
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Post by wickedgrin on Nov 8, 2017 22:38:21 GMT
I saw him very recently. An absolute legend. Yes, his act is a little slower these days and he had to be "reminded" where he was a couple of times but still very funny. Lots of gags about tax and how long we were going to be in the theatre!
He did the most amazing vent act with the cutest diddyman which was very funny, very accomplished and surprising very moving.
The fact that he is still touring is remarkable.
Happy Birthday Sir Ken!
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Post by bimse on Nov 9, 2017 8:56:33 GMT
When Sir Ken was in summer season at the Blackpool Opera House, his show would always over run, so the second house patrons would be directed to queue in the adjacent Winter Gardens to wait for the first house to come out.
As a youngster I remember waiting with my Dad and family, queuing round the winter gardens pavilion theatre (another theatre, now sadly unused, within the winter gardens complex). The excitement built up as the first house came out, happy patrons telling those waiting how good the show was .
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Post by maggiem on Nov 9, 2017 11:13:22 GMT
When Sir Ken was in summer season at the Blackpool Opera House, his show would always over run, so the second house patrons would be directed to queue in the adjacent Winter Gardens to wait for the first house to come out. As a youngster I remember waiting with my Dad and family, queuing round the winter gardens pavilion theatre (another theatre, now sadly unused, within the winter gardens complex). The excitement built up as the first house came out, happy patrons telling those waiting how good the show was . I can remember, when I was a kid, waiting outside the theatre (can't remember which one, I think it was the Palace) in Manchester for second house at the pantomime. it was said he almost had to be pulled off the stage so they could leave and we could get in. the panto was good too! |
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Post by The Lost on Nov 9, 2017 11:20:02 GMT
I went to see Ken Dodd with my dad a few years ago. Having only seen the likes of Rhod Gilbert and Shappi Khorsandi live at that point, I expected a brief support act and for him to come on, perform for an hour or so and then we'd all be on our way. That was the longest bloody night of my life!
He's a great comedian and I'm astonished to see him still up, about and performing at 90. Then again, he's probably only just finishing the show I started watching in 2011.
Did he really have £300,000 stored in suitcases in his attic? I never knew if that one was true or just a popular myth. Fair play to him if he managed to get away with that.
Happy birthday Sir Ken!
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Post by stefy69 on Nov 9, 2017 12:01:38 GMT
Then again, he's probably only just finishing the show I started watching in 2011. Bob Monkhouse once remarked that he had stood in the wings during rehearsals for the Royal Variety Performance one year. He was fascinated to watch Ken Dodd timing his act... with a calendar... Bob Monkhouse himself was a class act as stand up joke telling. |
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Post by bimse on Nov 9, 2017 12:26:28 GMT
When Sir Ken was in summer season at the Blackpool Opera House, his show would always over run, so the second house patrons would be directed to queue in the adjacent Winter Gardens to wait for the first house to come out. As a youngster I remember waiting with my Dad and family, queuing round the winter gardens pavilion theatre (another theatre, now sadly unused, within the winter gardens complex). The excitement built up as the first house came out, happy patrons telling those waiting how good the show was . I can remember, when I was a kid, waiting outside the theatre (can't remember which one, I think it was the Palace) in Manchester for second house at the pantomime. it was said he almost had to be pulled off the stage so they could leave and we could get in. the panto was good too! Ken Dodd did pantomime at the Manchester Palace Theatre twice (to my knowledge), “Robinson Crusoe” in 1968-69, and “Dick Whittington” in 1993-94 (with the brilliant Susan Maughan as principle boy). He also did a variety show there in 1977-78, which I saw. This was just before the theatre closed, and there was a big debate about which theatre, the Palace or Opera House would be saved. As I remember the theatre was really struggling and it was only thanks to Ken Dodd that there was a show at all , that Christmas. However , apart from Doddy it was quite a lacklustre show. Ken Dodd never did pantomime at the Opera House, but appeared three times in the spectacular variety shows (similar to the big summer season seaside shows) which were often presented at Christmas, in 1961-62, 1963-64 (I think, but this may have been 62-63), 1973-74. |
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Post by TallPaul on Nov 9, 2017 13:20:29 GMT
The last time I saw Sir Ken was on a Sunday night/Monday morning. I would like to to take this opportunity to apologise to my employer for being even less productive than usual the following day. The time before that was at a council run venue and, somehow, they persuaded him to finish this side of midnight, presumably to avoid paying the staff a premium.
When, God willing, he plays Leeds Grand next May, the show starts at 6pm.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2017 15:52:36 GMT
I'd just like to say how tickled I am to see Doddy celebrate his 90th birthday. I saw him over 50 years ago in Blackpool which was a pure festival of laughter. I still chuckle now and again remembering some of the jokes.
Many Happy Returns Sir Ken.
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Post by Jan on Nov 9, 2017 16:28:37 GMT
When Rupert Goold was casting the Pete Postlethwaite “King Lear” production in Liverpool he contacted Ken Dodd and offered him Fool, invited him to depart from the script as much as he liked and add his own material. Dodd turned it down. Maybe an idea which would have been better on paper than in practice, but what an idea.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2017 19:42:43 GMT
Bob Monkhouse himself was a class act He really was. My favourite story about him was when he asked for a pen, and an hour later his manager found him in his dressing room, making raised marks in one of his photos. A blind child had written to him in Braille, and Bob was picking out his name in dots, comparing the letter with the translation the child's mother had sent. He pointed out to his manager that it was only right that he should reply in the child's own language. Sunday afternoons... the sound of the ATV music... and the announcement of The Golden Shot! Bob, Anne Aston, the Maid of the Month, Bernie the Bolt. Please. Ta! I can almost taste the Angel Cake we had for tea while we were watching it! Some good old memories... |
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Post by hulmeman on Nov 9, 2017 22:56:11 GMT
When Rupert Goold was casting the Pete Postlethwaite “King Lear” production in Liverpool he contacted Ken Dodd and offered him Fool, invited him to depart from the script as much as he liked and add his own material. Dodd turned it down. Maybe an idea which would have been better on paper than in practice, but what an idea. Brilliant story and, as you say Dr Jan Brock, brilliant idea. Did I imagine or did Ken Dodd actually play Feste in a production of Twelfth Night once? |
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Post by hulmeman on Nov 9, 2017 22:59:36 GMT
Just checked after posting and it was Malvolio he played at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1971.
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Post by Jan on Nov 10, 2017 7:04:33 GMT
Ken Dodd as Malvolio seems odd casting on the face of it but Billington says he was very good: www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/sep/15/theatre3I had forgotten he appeared as Yorick in a flashback scene in the Branagh Hamlet film. (Should maybe add a footnote that Forbes Masson who actually played Fool in the Rupert Goold production was almost the best I have seen (best was David Bradley)) |
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Post by maggiem on Nov 10, 2017 10:09:36 GMT
I can remember, when I was a kid, waiting outside the theatre (can't remember which one, I think it was the Palace) in Manchester for second house at the pantomime. it was said he almost had to be pulled off the stage so they could leave and we could get in. the panto was good too! Ken Dodd did pantomime at the Manchester Palace Theatre twice (to my knowledge), “Robinson Crusoe” in 1968-69, and “Dick Whittington” in 1993-94 (with the brilliant Susan Maughan as principle boy). He also did a variety show there in 1977-78, which I saw. This was just before the theatre closed, and there was a big debate about which theatre, the Palace or Opera House would be saved. As I remember the theatre was really struggling and it was only thanks to Ken Dodd that there was a show at all , that Christmas. However , apart from Doddy it was quite a lacklustre show. Ken Dodd never did pantomime at the Opera House, but appeared three times in the spectacular variety shows (similar to the big summer season seaside shows) which were often presented at Christmas, in 1961-62, 1963-64 (I think, but this may have been 62-63), 1973-74. 1973-74 sounds right to me, as I would have been 9 years old then. It must have been that year's Christmas show. I did go to a panto each year when I was a kid, and I've got a bit mixed up. |
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Post by bimse on Nov 10, 2017 11:52:21 GMT
The shows were wonderful then maggiem, we used to see a panto or variety show, and sometimes the circus at Belle Vue . |
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One old joke had it that he performed once for a 100 year old woman, although she was only 99 when he took to the stage! 
