Original subtitles

The unbelievable Tommy Cooper, ladies and gentlemen.

I went across the barber shop. I said, how much a haircut? He said, 76.

I said, how much a shave? He said, two barbers. I said, shave my head.

He said to me, he said to me, I have to finish shaving you. What do you want on

your face?

I said, leave the notes.

For over seven decades, we've been laughing at the mayhem he created.

Tommy Cooper, Britain's best -loved comedy star of all time.

The comedian, comedian.

So I was out at this airport.

And a man said to me, would you mind sharing a text with me? I said, yes.

He said, you check the wheels, I'll check the engine.

And now, in a special programme, a chance to enjoy some of Tommy's

previously unseen by British viewers.

Are you in there? Yes, I am.

Including newly discovered footage from shows never aired in the UK.

Tonight, presenting Tommy Cooper!

There are performances that were never seen by a national audience.

And there's rare footage that has remained undisturbed in

archive vaults since its original transmission.

You'll see some of Tommy's finest work performed as it was originally intended

to be seen, unedited and in its entirety.

featuring revelations and reflections from those who worked with him.

I can always tell whether an audience is going to be good or bad.

Good night.

And those who revere his unique comic mastery.

This is Tommy Cooper Unthemed.

Tommy Cooper.

He was one of the biggest stars of the 20th century, his colossal popularity

crossing all generations and social classes.

A comic magician with a universal appeal.

Tommy was genuine.

He was a total original.

He was loved.

People loved him.

Because, let's face it, he was very, very funny.

What's a power note?

I thought it was a heart.

I think he had joy encoded into his DNA.

The thing about Tommy Cooper is he's like someone who's been sent in from

another planet and here he is on Earth and he's got the fares.

How did he get the Fez, you know? His hair out to the side. The Fez, the whole

thing, screamed comedy.

A pack of cards.

I did this very, very closely.

It took me 15 long years to do this trick. 15 long years.

I should spread them like that all the way along there.

Like that. And I should catch them like that.

It looks good.

15 years it took me to do this.

All the way along there like that.

Or it may go that way, I don't know.

I got up laughing. I know what's coming next.

50 years wasted.

We lapped it up. Every nuance, every grimace, every wide -eyed look to camera

the audience.

Jar, spoon, spoon jar.

His looks were wonderful

That nervous laugh, followed by that maniacal cackle.

Everything he did was to make people laugh, and by

God, laugh they did.

He was hilariously funny.

I can't ride it. It's got a flat tyre.

You felt this was being made up as he went along.

What's next?

And then when you looked more closely, you realised this is all

planned.

A solid one.

After that, make this wall disappear in front of your very eyes.

Just wrap it in a peg line. He created a kind of... Chaotic atmosphere.

And you think, this isn't going to work at all.

And out of it, he produced the finest comedy.

Nothing was wasted in his act. He'd go to do the trick and then another joke

would come in. That's about half, brother.

And then he'd do part of the trick and then another joke would come in.

And every movement, everything was considered. It was so densely packed

humour.

Nothing is funnier than things going wrong.

And that was the whole act, was built on things going wrong and pretending that

they have gone wrong.

I

loved

it, that look of bafflement, bewilderment when a trick went wrong.

and shock when a trick went right.

Two handkerchiefs knotted together like that. Empty bag.

Right?

I place a lot of handkerchiefs together like that, and I go... Thank

you.

The thing about Tommy is there is a great skill in the magic that he's

Yes,

the tricks are going wrong, but you have to be able to set up the tricks.

You have to lead the audience down the garden path before you pull the rug out

from under them. And I think that's his great skill.

Just take a card, sir. Hold that card very tightly in your hand, right?

And don't let it go.

He always managed to make you think that this is going to go one way, and in

fact, hilariously, it ended up doing something else.

The seeming chaos which produced

absolute brilliance.

Now the glass becomes the bottle, and the bottle becomes the glass.

You reached all ages with it.

So I would have been watching it aged eight, nine.

You know, my parents in their thirties. But also grannies would love it. And I

think if you've got that broad canvas of generational appeal.

Oh, that's some gold dust.

That's it.

Coming up... Will you welcome, please, England's favourite comedian, Mr Tommy

Cooper. David Frost brings Tommy's talent to American viewers in footage

seen in Britain before.

David Frost, Britain's biggest television star of the 60s. By the end

decade, he was so successful, he conquered American television too.

Each week, he would commute to New York to host his own nightly talk show.

The David Frost show was Dad's first huge...

show and platform in the United States, 1969 to 1972, for three years, 50

weeks a year and five shows a week.

The guest list of The David Frost Show, I think, was the peak of Dad's career.

It was second to none. Sometimes it would be a full 90 minutes with very

conversation. Other times it would be superstars of music, comedy or film.

These shows never aired in Britain.

But Frost occasionally delighted in welcoming British guests, including a

favourite entertainer from back home he'd loved for years.

Will you welcome, please, England's favourite comedian, Mr Tommy Cooper.

Dad adored Tommy Cooper. There's no doubt about it. I mean, he'd talk about

Tommy very often. Not so much to retell Tommy's jokes, but to reminisce what a

brilliant comedian he was. He thought of Tommy incredibly highly.

Bit of juggling, I'm going to get that in there.

I think Dad was drawn to a number of things.

Partly the silliness of the joke, but I think he was also drawn to anything that

was unique and fresh and had an element of performance in it, because that was

everything that Dad was about.

A bit of ventriloquism now.

Keep your eyes on the lips all the time. On the lips.

Are you in there?

Yes, I am.

When I watch back those clips with Tommy and Dad there in the background,

there's a sort of purity to the Tommy Cooper humour, which is, it's not

sophisticated, but it's very funny.

Here's a little trick. Now, the vanishing cigar.

Watch it very, very closely. You've got a handkerchief here like this.

There like that. The vanishing cigar.

Cover it with a handkerchief.

The American studio audience was initially unsure what to make of Tommy's

But, as can be seen from his performance shown here in its entirety, he soon

wins them over.

I'd like to show you now for me. This is not my trick. I saw another magician do

this. No, not that.

All he did was this, look. He got a red handkerchief like that, you see.

And then he placed it into his left hand like this.

And I want you to watch me very closely.

And if you see any suspicious moves, don't say anything.

He placed it right down his side there like that.

And he went like that. And that red handkerchief turned into yellow.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Now then, push the bow down, see? So, I went round the scene, you see?

Now, yes!

Look at that!

Thank you.

And I bought it from him. I'm going to show you now exactly how it's done. What

you need is two handkerchiefs.

One red and one yellow.

See?

Incidentally, when I finish this trick, I don't want any applause at all.

Not me, none whatsoever.

I want everybody to stand up and sing for he's a jolly good fella.

You see me pick that up?

I'm not afraid of work.

Now, you place the yellow handkerchief in your hand first.

But you don't let anyone see you do this.

You do this quietly, secretly, under the bed.

You push it in there like that, you see? You push it in there like that.

Like that, see?

And you keep it there.

Then, you get the red one, and you place on top the yellow one.

But you must keep this hand closed, otherwise you'll see the yellow

handkerchief. Keep this hand closed all the time.

Now here comes the simple part of the trick. You put the red one now on top of

the yellow one, which you know is already there.

Here's a little tip. Don't do this look. Don't show a bit of red like that and a

bit of yellow like that. Don't do that.

Because if you do that, you give the game away. They know then you've got two

handkerchiefs. So make sure you put the red one well down in the hand first.

Now I want you to pay a lot of attention to this last bit here.

Because later on, I shall ask questions.

So I'll give out if you're going to sit up there and watch this.

Just like that, see. But keep it closed, because otherwise this time they'll see

the red one. Keep it closed all the time.

Thank you.

A bit of ventriloquism now.

Keep your eyes on the lips all the time.

On the lips.

Are you in there?

Yes, I am.

There you are. There you are. There you are.

There you are. There you are. There you are. There you are. There you are. There

you are.

There you are.

There you are. There you are.

There you are. There you are.

That's not my case.

All right, put this down.

Thank you.

woof woof like that and this one woof up there like that woof woof and woof like

that

Shall I do it?

And break my neck?

Alright,

I'll do it. You forced me. I'll do it.

Back in Britain, Tommy's work in television in the 60s brought him a

of fans.

One was Sir Trevor MacDonald, who fell in love with Cooper's comedy on arriving

in London from the Caribbean.

Have I got time for more?

It was the best of comedy.

The nature of his particular bumbling in his delivery and the way he did these

things. I don't think anybody else did anything like that. I think he'll... be

always remembered at the top of the tree.

Trevor is watching a rare Tommy guest spot on a Bruce Forsyth show, unseen on

television since 1966.

And unusually for Cooper, it's a piece of mainly spoken comedy.

Enjoying yourselves?

I put a stop to that.

See, I can always tell whether an audience is going to be good or bad.

Good night.

I tell you what I've come on for tonight, really, is to talk about

I'm going to test your memory.

That's what I'm going to do.

Really. Now, listen. This is very, very to test your memories. Now, see if you

can remember who said this. Now, watch this very, very closely.

The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pale green boat.

Now, who said that?

Anyone remember who said that? You can't remember because you've got bad

memories. That's why.

That's right.

Nobody can tell me who said it.

All right, I'll tell it. It was me. I just said it.

Now, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you another test. Another test for

Two tubes here, you see.

Here's the glass of milk.

None under there, one under there. Now then, which one, which tube has the

of milk?

Now, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say this one, aren't

That's the one you're going to say, isn't it? But watch, because you find

right. Now,

prove your memory is improving all the time, you see.

See, I can remember all these things because I have such a wonderful memory.

No, really, I can remember anything because I bought this memory board.

Now, once you've studied this memory book, you'll never forget a thing.

Where did I put it?

I know what's in it. It's all right. It's a good book.

I mean, once you've studied this memory, it's wonderful. It really is. I mean,

in memory, you've got to have faith.

As long as you've got faith in it, it's all right. It's like the faith healer.

He said to this man, he said, how's your brother?

And this man said, he said, he's ill. And the faith healer said, no, he said,

he's not ill.

He said, he only thinks he's ill. He said, no, he's ill. And the faith healer

said, no, he only thinks he's ill.

So two weeks later, he met him again. He said, how's your brother? He said, he

thinks he's dead.

See that? I got that medal from memory.

I forgot what I got this one.

You know, reading this book, it takes me back years and years, but I can

remember. I remember once a man had a dog, and he treated this dog very badly.

Very badly. He said he was going to give him anything to eat and no water.

And yet this fateful dog is to come towards him and wag his tail like that,

slowly towards him.

Like that.

That's a fateful dog for you, isn't it?

One day, this man went away. What was that? One day...

This man went away for about four months, and he didn't give this dog any

or food or nothing.

And when he came back, there was this faithful dog wagging his tail like that.

And he came slowly towards his master, and he jumped on him, and he ripped him

to pieces.

That's only because of memory, you see. That's all it is.

You see, memory really is like swimming or riding a bike. Once you've mastered

it, you'll never forget it.

Never. I remember when I was eight years old, I was given a bicycle as a

present. I'm going along on this bike, you see, and I knocked an old lady down,

about 80.

Knocked her flat, she didn't like it.

And she got up and she said to me, can't you ring your bell?

I said, I can ring the bell, but I can't ride the bike.

And when I got up, I remember this, when I got up, my arm was like that.

I remember it, I remember it, it was like that.

And it didn't look right to me. It didn't look right.

See?

So they took me to the hospital. The doctor looked at me. He said, you've

your arm. I said, what? He said, you've broken your arm.

I said, what is medley? Can I play the piano?

He said, yes.

I said, that's funny. I couldn't play it before.

You see, it's all up here in the memory box. Remember, always up here in the

memory box.

And I can't remember a thing without this.

What's that?

Oh, yes, I remember.

You see?

If a man wants a drink, you know, he knows how, he remembers how to lift the

glass to his lips like that.

Doesn't he?

But if you forget, he's in a shocker state.

Terrible state. I give you my impression of a man who's lost his memory.

Right, well, I always say this. All's well that ends well.

Who said that?

Who said that?

It was me again. You're right, it was me again.

Here we come to the last trick. Here we go, look.

Mr. Pop, here's the glass of milk. I'll cover it with a tube there.

Right? Now then, which one has the glass of milk under?

You've got to say this one again, aren't you? We're watching very closely. See,

because you're wrong. Neither.

See? Thank you very much.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

I have a wonderful memory, but I'm blinking off with three. Good night.

Thank you.

You look at that and you think, this is all made up.

It's all spontaneous.

He just, you know, can't think of it.

All these lines are remembered, and the order in which all those jokes came, you

know, and to be able to do it as though it's all off the cuff, you know, I'm

just making this up as I go along.

In fact, it's all carefully, carefully studied. All that is planned. It's a

serious business.

It's quite extraordinary how this happens.

Thank you very much. I'd like that in there. Blow, and it's gone.

Coming up, a classic Cooper performance seen in full on British television for

the very first time.

ITC, show number one, Spotlight.

ITC Entertainment was a British company run by TV mogul Lou Grade, which

produced many programs for American television.

One was a variety series called Spotlight, made in Britain for America's

network. And unlike British shows of the time, Spotlight was produced in color.

In 1967, Tommy received a major career opportunity when he was booked as one of

the headline stars.

a chance to be seen by a vast US primetime audience.

Tonight, presenting Tommy Cooper!

What we're getting in this routine is just the best of the best. It's just

Tommy's greatest hits.

Tried and tested stuff, stuff he knows is going to go well, stuff that he's

really, really comfortable with, and it's just a joy to watch.

Thank you, good evening.

Now, you've all no doubt seen that wonderful trick I saw on the lady in

You have?

What the heck with it?

My favourite ever Tommy Cooper trick happens to be in this performance. Just

watch when the cabinet rolls on.

He gets his first laugh because it bumps into him.

Then he proves that the cabinet's solid and empty by banging on the side. Hurts

his hand.

Another laugh.

Steps inside the cabinet, draws the curtains.

Oh, it's dark in there.

Oof, it's dark in there. I mean, it's just so silly.

He's getting these laughs from what seems like nothing but this is real

technique. You're watching a master at work here.

When he does the jug on the hand gag, he can't get the jug off his hand and he

breaks it with a mallet.

Later on in the act, I think when he's doing the clock routine...

There's a close -up and you can see he's cut himself.

So he's bleeding.

And then later in the act, he wipes his hand with a handkerchief.

He realised he's done it. I mean, it's pre -recorded. He could have stopped the

act at that point. Doesn't want to break the momentum.

Keeps going on with it. I mean, what a professional.

This American TV opportunity has such value, he just wants to really smash it

out of the park.

Although many of the elements may be familiar, this Cooper performance in

has never aired in full in Britain before.

So here it is, as originally seen by American viewers on Tuesday, August

1967.

Plays it like that, go like that, in there, blow, and it's gone like that.

it makes its way...

Thank you.

I'll make some way into the tin here.

Isn't it hot?

It is hot, isn't it?

It's the heat that does it.

I was sunbathing this morning, and I was lying in the park, and a little boy

crept across to me, and he poured something all over my back.

He said, this will make you brown. I said, what is it? He said, gravy.

Egg, bag, bag, egg. Egg, bag, bag, egg, bag, egg, bag, egg.

I appreciate it. Watch where we... Look, here we go. Look, in there like that,

see?

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Hey, no, no, no.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Hey, ooh, hey.

Hey, how's that?

Yeah!

Thank you.

Ha,

ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha.

gentlemen, I'd like to do something now. I'd like to give you a demonstration of

human endurance.

Now, I mean, I'm the only one doing this trick today.

I mean, let's say all the famous magicians are dead.

I mean, Hugh Dean is dead.

Jasper Matthews is dead.

I don't feel so good myself.

Now, this box, this box is completely airtight.

With that lid down there like that, it's like really being buried alive.

But tonight, my assistant, thank you.

Thank you very much.

My assistant here will endeavor to stay in that box for eight minutes. Here we

go. In you get them. In you get them.

Inside. Good luck.

There we are.

Completely airtight.

Yes, fine, thanks.

Eight minutes. Now, here's a trick. Watch very, very closely. These rings

drop apart in front of your very eyes.

They'll look straight, and they'll drop all over the place.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Eh? You can do it. You have a go at it, then.

Here's a trick with a piece of rope. Watch very, very closely.

Get a pair of... What's all going on?

You get a piece of rope, you cut the rope in half, there's one, two, three

pieces of rope, I place it in my hand, squeeze, and now we have one long single

piece of rope.

I'm a liar.

Clock.

Empty.

What I'm going to do is this. Here's the clock, sunny clock.

I'd come in there like that, close the box, and the clock would disappear from

there. I'd make his way into the box here.

Yes, he's here.

Yes,

he's here.

He's here in the box. Now, the hardest part would be to make him go back again.

Just a bit of a loose department.

I shall now produce, from simply vase or vase, vase or vase, a bouquet of

flowers.

inside here.

Never been done before.

Airtight box.

In the same year as American viewers were enjoying Tommy's work in colour,

British viewers were settling down to his new series, Life With Cooper.

In one recently discovered sketch, Tommy shared the screen with a rising star

actress.

I've always loved Eccentric.

I think he was probably my absolute favourite.

Hey,

aren't you Sheila Hancock?

Yeah, that's right.

Working with him, I remember being quite nervous. He didn't like the script.

Things were wrong with it.

He said, come round to my house. Come round to my house. I thought, I hope

is going to be all right.

What are you doing down there?

I've got my head stuck in the railing.

Anyway,

I did. I went round to his house in Chiswick. The first vision of him was

feet. He had the biggest feet of...

anybody i've ever seen in my life i remember finding it difficult not to

looking at his feet thank you very much no no can't you pull me from behind he

took me into this room and it was a desk a huge sort of bureau thing with jokes

filed so there were mother -in -law jokes and falling over jokes and

it was just unbelievable we won't do that when you do this i'll do that

and it dropped on the pavement and it bounced through the railing. I was just

trying to reach it. Look, there it is. Oh, I'll get it for you. Will you? Yes.

No,

it's a bit further than that.

No, a couple of inches more. Go on, a little bit. And he came up with all

jokes and inserted them in the script.

Look, I'll take your weight like that. Oh!

Oh, no.

Oh, dear.

What shall we do now?

Well, if you've got another pencil, we can finish my crossword.

God alone knows what the writer thought, because I went back and did what Tommy

told me. He took over.

Think of a number.

Yes. Between one and ten. Yes. Are we done there? Yes.

Right, double it. Yes.

Take away the first note we thought of. Yes. Close your eyes. Yes.

Darken it.

But I love the idea of this crazy, disorganised man.

Bill, it was very nice meeting you. Same here. Yes.

Actually underneath being incredibly organised with his joke files.

Yes. Bye -bye. Bye.

Coming up, Tommy at the very peak of his stardom with a performance unseen in

over five decades.

Two decades of huge success in television made Tommy a household name

Britain. By the mid -70s, he was the highest -earning entertainer in the

country. Tommy Cooper's work ethic was phenomenal, prodigious. His diary was

never empty.

He just loved it so, so much.

He was in big demand as a live performer, his schedule filling up

advance with performance dates in theatres, cabaret venues and social

across the land.

In 1975 -76, I was playing in a nightclub in Leicester.

I was in the house band.

I was the bass player for a living. I was pretty bored most of the time, you

know?

So I would take a book on stage and I'd have my music on the stand and I'd have

my book.

We would have a different star attraction every week.

And one week, it was Tommy Cooper.

Tommy Cooper!

And I remember on the Sunday night we played him on. I was really quite

forward to seeing him. Tommy didn't sing, so we didn't play during his act.

And then I was reading a particularly good book, so I went back to reading it.

And I looked at him a few times during his act. I knew I was going to see it

another seven times.

You know, I missed my cat nap today. I slept right through it.

And we played him off.

After the show, someone came into the bathroom and said, Tommy wants the whole

band in his dressing room now.

So we all had to go into his dressing room and we all had to stand in a line

he would say, if you were playing in Las Vegas behind a comedian,

it would say in your contract, and at this point he got to me and he leaned

right over me and he said, that you would laugh at every joke.

And I was like, and he said, You were reading a book.

He said, it'll be a big trouble if I see you reading a book again.

I want you to laugh at every joke.

So the next night, you know, his opening gag was he'd come on with a

brass tap on the end of a string and he'd take it up and down and he'd go,

dancing, right?

He did, I remember he walked over and he did it and he looked straight at me and

I went, ha, ha, ha.

Every joke for the next six nights, he would look at me after it and I would

laugh.

Live performances and venues of all kinds and hit TV shows marked the 70s

the peak of Tommy's career.

In 1977, the nation celebrated the Silver Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth's

century on the throne.

We put out the bunting and gathered for street parties.

And at the London Palladium, the Queen attended a special Royal Gala show.

A glossy spectacular televised in both Britain and America.

Hosted by Bob Hope, one of the star attractions was Tommy Cooper.

Tommy's appearance at the Jubilee performance in 1977.

Thank you.

An amazing piece of television.

Particularly when you consider the number of people who would have been

that. I got struck by lightning.

Thank you, boys. Thank you.

Everybody in the audience would have been familiar with Tommy Cooper because

was top of his game and he would have been on television regularly.

Back in the 70s, if you were on television regularly, you were properly

because the viewing numbers in those days were huge.

In fact, the show was watched by almost 20 million viewers in Britain alone,

perhaps the biggest audience of Tommy's entire career.

He plays with the audience beautifully.

The thing that Tommy Cooper could do is disappear from the stage and still hold

an audience's attention.

The other person.

And that takes an enormous amount of bravery to do that.

He goes off the wings almost at the start of the sketch to grab various

from people behind there and has full conversations with them.

This was his trademark thing. He could do this.

So the audience just lap it up. They are completely in his hands.

Very nice. Still here, eh?

Put the kettle on, will you?

Oh, you've got it on.

Still here.

Tommy's performance hasn't been seen in its entirety since its original airing

in 1977.

It shows him working at his most confident best.

He is very clearly enjoying his performance.

He's completely in control.

The thing that I enjoyed so much was his cheeky laying down of the sword in

front of the box where the Queen would have been.

He didn't have to say anything.

He just looked at the sword and then looked up and then looked at the

and went... Well, you never know, do you?

Never know, she might.

Which you might not, but you might. You never know, you see.

Which is... It's perfect.

It takes courage, really, to include the Queen in your material.

I went to a window shop that day. I bought four windows.

I went across the barber shop. I said, how much a haircut? He said, 76.

I said, how much a shave? He said, two barbers. I said, shave my head.

He said to me, he said to me, I can finish shaving you. What do you want on

face?

I said, leave the notes.

And he was the slowest. He was slow.

He looked at me, he said, do you know your hair's turning grey?

I said, we'll get a move on.

And here we have a skimming rope, so we'll skip that part.

I've got some bottles of wine here, eight bottles of wine.

Definitely is Beaujolais.

Travel well.

You're going to drink it before you travel.

Now this bottle costs £1 ,000 a bottle.

The wine costs nothing.

I drink the rest later.

I'm

back

to horse today, 20 to 1. Can we 20 past 4?

And the jockey kept hitting him with a whip like that.

Not like that, not like that.

And the horse said, what are you doing that for?

There's nobody behind us.

Thank you.

No trapdoors.

Aloha.

Where'd you get this?

This triumphant night would be the last time British viewers would see Tommy

perform the trick of producing props from between his legs.

When he began to perform it again on live television seven years later, it

routine he would tragically never complete.

Coming up,

a performance unseen on network television, and Tommy's tour de force

night when comedy...

turned to tragedy.

Tommy Cooper was for decades one of the biggest names in entertainment but was

happy to appear occasionally on regional television to promote his live dates.

His guest spot on this local show for London viewers has never been seen by a

national audience, until now.

The Six O 'Clock Show was a magazine show that went out live on London

television on Friday night, directly after the Six O 'Clock News.

And it was hosted by Michael Aspel, and I was his sidekick.

Now, hello to Janet. Janet, your story on the pigeons last week brought a few

comments, didn't it? Yes, one man wrote in and said, Janet St. Porter brings

sex. into everything, even pigeons. It was a very lively show. There were lots

of silly items in it. There were some serious items. The show attracted

actors, entertainers, and, of course, we got Tommy Cooper.

The man who knows that life can play a magician's dirty trick, Tommy Cooper.

Tommy, welcome to the show.

Well, he walked on with a suitcase, which we hadn't rehearsed and didn't

about. Thank you.

Have I got time for more?

Good start. Oh, by the way, I'd like you to see that this is a custom -made case

for taking through the customs.

And when they asked me, what have you got in your case?

I said, see for yourself.

You care to take a seat?

The first thing he attempted to do, which we had no idea was coming, was

handkerchief. So he took Michael's handkerchief... Oh, thank you.

And it took ages to even set fire to the ruddy thing.

Because his hands were shaking so much and he couldn't line up the flame and

hang, and we were just like waffling, filling in.

Do you want to light it? No, I don't. Do you want to light it? No,

I'll light it for you.

What do you mean light it for you? I want to be his assistant.

So it's burning nicely.

This is remarkable.

Is he laughing?

Having failed at the hangsy trick, then he moved on to the bits of string.

So, again, the trick involved taking a piece of string and cutting it.

And then it's all supposed to come back together at the end.

But what he did was take a piece of string and he's putting it in and out.

the audience adored it.

The more he messed it up, the more they laughed. He could have gone on for 20

minutes with that bit of string and looking confused and baffled as if the

string had a life of its own.

You've got to do this afterwards.

There's no chance of me doing this.

With Tommy Cooper, he's not going to have a punchline.

You're not sure when anything even starts or ends. It was all about the

performance.

That's it.

It's the whole experience. To use a very modern word, it was an experience.

It was amazing. It was like a tour de force. It was a legend.

Coming up, unseen since 1984, Tommy's final performance.

And his incredible legacy of laughter.

You can practice comedy as much as you like, but you'll never get that. That's

God given.

In the spring of 1984, Tommy was booked for ITV's Sunday night variety show,

Live from Her Majesty's, staged at the top London theatre and hosted by Jimmy

Tarbert. It was a show artists clamoured to appear on, the live transmission

bringing a unique energy to the production.

Thank you kindly, I thank you. From there, welcome to Live from Her

and a hello to you all at home.

15th of April.

1984. The day had gone very, very well, very smoothly in the morning. The gags

had come together beautifully.

Jimmy was very happy with his opening spot.

And I remember Tommy, during a break in the afternoon rehearsal, was walking on

stage.

And I remember so well, Jimmy turned to him and put his arms out in supplication

and said, homage to the king.

There he is.

Oh, hello, son.

Oh, Tom.

Well, thrilled.

Well, if you were to ask a hundred comedians who their favorite comedian

we'd all say the one and only Tommy Cooper!

Then he introduced me to Tony.

And then I booed him off.

And his opening gag.

They're hysterical right away.

Do you believe in real carnage?

I don't know, sometimes I'm thinking, bait, hold and come back.

I don't really.

Because I've had tunes through my head all day.

I've had tunes running through my head while they bang their off again.

You know, if my memory's going, my memory's getting very bad.

I was shamed this morning and I cut myself and I forgot to bleed.

Tony, it was magnificent. We were in the wings, holding each other up with

laughter. He was so, so funny.

This is not mine. Follow this.

Hello, everybody.

How do you do? You and you and you and you.

She said, I've got water in the carburettor. I said, where's the car?

in the room.

He's funny, that Jimmy.

Jimmy's very funny.

Do you think he's funny?

Very funny.

And some people say to me, if someone's funny, it doesn't make them mad, right?

It doesn't make you mad.

I say, what's going to make me mad?

So I was out at this airport.

And a man said to me, would you like to share a text with me? I said, yes.

He said, you take the wheels, I'll take the engine.

hold this dice for me. Everybody here can hold this dice.

Would you hold this dice for me, sir?

Now, what I've got here is diamond, spade, heart, and club.

Now, you have a free choice of any of these four cards.

The heart, the spade, the club. Right, a bunch of cards.

Now, would you spin the dice once again, sir?

And add the top and the bottom of the dice together, or don't tell me.

Have you done that? Yes.

Now here's the tricky part.

Would you half that number to yourself as this here will be your children's

card?

What does it do?

3 .5.

Someone said, that's a square pig.

A pig should look round, so I make a look round.

How's that?

Because this live dove is an empty box here like so.

And that live dove will disappear from the box like a flash of light.

Tommy was working in front of the curtains. The curtains were drawn.

There was a feeling that he was slightly two beats off the rhythm, maybe a

little bit wet under the nose, but he was still being hilarious.

and I'm waiting behind the curtain to come on with my gag, and it's pulling a

ladder between his legs, and it's me pushing at the back.

Well, yeah, I'm all for that. I just want to do a gag with him.

Oh, who did it?

Thank you.

And one of the dancers, young lady, comes and puts a cloak round him.

Thank you.

Tommy then swayed and then very leisurely, it seemed, leant backwards

and fell to the floor. And I remember we were all laughing.

He went down on his haunches. This is me on the floor. That part of him was up.

And then there was a quiet moment. And then there was a hideous snore.

You know, and I said to David Bell, one of the great producers, this isn't it.

No, he said, you know how he is, he's put this in.

And he didn't do things that weren't rehearsed.

And he looked at me and I said, no, he said, we've got four minutes to do yet.

said, this is not him.

I said, I'm telling you, I said, I'm going on, David. This is live.

David Bell, the producer standing on the opposite wing, said to Tommy Cooper Jr.

Is this in the act? Is this right? And Tommy Junior said, no, my dad's got a

back. He could never get up from this.

The audience in the theatre had no idea that anything was wrong. It was after

what seemed like a small eternity that the show was thrown to commercial break.

And they put the curtain around.

Someone pulls Tommy.

through the curtains fully, so he's now no longer in view.

And they had a trolley, and the stretcher was on it. He was a big man,

took four men. They got him on there.

St John's ambulance guys were there doing a great job trying, but he was

there behind the curtain.

Which I must go on.

Jimmy went out.

Yes, indeed, and welcome back to Live, for my majesty.

They were two and a bit minutes late on the show.

Jimmy, at some point, was going to have to spread those two minutes to make the

duration. Well, there'll be an extra bottle of champagne in the dressing room

for that two minutes. Right, now, ladies and gentlemen... There's never any

sense that he's aware that his comedy hero and one of his best friends in show

business is still lying behind the curtain, desperately ill.

The ambulance had arrived and they took him to the hospital.

Peter Pritchard, Jimmy Tarbuck's agent, said that Tommy was definitely alive

when he left the building.

The end of the show, and it was the walk down, but no Tommy.

You've been a superb audience.

I hope you've all enjoyed it at home. We've had a great time here. After the

show came off air to thunderous applause...

There was a strange air. We knew that something significant had happened, but

weren't terribly sure what it was.

It was in the dressing room.

My manager, Peter, came in, Peter Pritchard.

He said, he's died.

He's gone.

I said, oh, he said, the press want to speak to you and the TV want you.

I said, well, I can speak about it.

I said, I'll speak with honour.

Tributes have continued this morning for comedian Tommy Cooper, who died last

night after collapsing on stage during a live television show.

His colleagues said he was Britain's funniest man and the joker who always

them laugh.

He was one of the great comedy geniuses this country's ever had. For many, many,

many, many years, he's just brought laughter to people all of his life.

I think the way he died was perfect, really. I think he was happy on the

so he died in his happy place.

People refer to him as the comedian's comedian, and I don't think there's any

greater praise than that, to be so widely respected by your peers.

There's a lot of comics you can kind of categorise, gag comics, physical comics.

He was his own comic.

You can practise comedy as much as you like, but you'll never get that.

That's God -given.

Tommy's place in British comedy is undeniable. I mean, 40 years after his

we're still talking about him, we still love his performances. I think that sort

of says everything.

Some people achieve a status in which they make us believe that they're part

the furniture who will always be there.

And Tommy Cooper, we'll always remember him for the absolutely brilliant man he

was. You know, he's eternal.

Take a trip down memory lane with the taste sensations of yesteryear. Savour

sweets and treats we loved and lost. Brand new Thursday at nine.

Next night, it's not like this, it's just like that. We continue our Tommy

Cooper celebration with a Christmas special.