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This programme contains some
strong language.
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00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,400
And now you're going to meet a very
funny man. Welcome Dave Allen.
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Your host for the evening,
Mr Dave Allen.
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The other
fellow going across the road
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and every time
he puts his foot down...eeek...cars,
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eeek.. cars and the fellow goes up
and he says, "There's a zebra
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"crossing up there," and he says,
"Well, I hope he's having better
luck than me."
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Watson,
if the poison from this dart is not
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sucked from your posterior within
the next 15 seconds, you shall die.
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So what's going to happen?
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You're going to die.
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Before the show, probably outwardly,
I am very
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calm and very quiet, but inside it's
like a train terminal at rush hour -
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things all zinging and zinging
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and my words and what I'm going to
talk about.
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I often wonder whether God has
got a sense of humour.
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I hope he has.
I'm in trouble if he hasn't.
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LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
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When you hear the name Dave Allen,
what do you think of first of all?
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Finger, alcohol, smoking.
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Very good-looking,
very Irish-looking.
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Sitting on a stool,
telling stories.
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Glass in his hand making people
laugh. You know.
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Priests, they want to get
married. I feel that if a priest
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meets another priest and they like
one another...
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For me, Dave Allen was constantly
full of mischief and outrage.
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You look
at the controversy that he sparked.
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I'm an atheist, thank God.
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I think that's how important he is,
as a comedian and a comic.
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He had a genuinely serious side
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and thought he could say
something important.
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My mum likes you.
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I meet people now and if they find
out I'm Dave Allen's son,
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they kind of grab me and they
go, "You don't understand.
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"Your dad made such a massive impact
on my parents' life, we loved him."
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As you know, my name is Dave Allen.
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I'd also like to tell you I come from
a little country in the world
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called Ireland, and, like most
Irishmen, I live in England.
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LAUGHTER
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And in Ireland we have a very old
saying in which we say,
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"When you can see the mountains
it's going to rain,
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"and when you can't see the
mountains, it's raining."
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Davey's grandmother
was a journalist, poet
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and her sister, his great aunt
was the poet Katharine Tynan.
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I was born in the country.
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We lived in a kind of
big rambly house
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about five or six miles
outside Dublin.
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I know he and his brothers
liked to get up to mischief,
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playing and getting into trouble
and getting grubby.
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I was five years of age
when I started to smoke.
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My brothers, they smoked so I smoked
because I wanted to be like them.
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My parents would spend all
their time going, "Come on, come in,
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"Come on, in, in," and like a pack of
dogs, woof-woof, in we'd come,
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and we'd all sit there
and say, "What'll we do?"
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"Well, let's go out again"
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My father was known as the clown
prince of Irish journalism.
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He was a great character in
Dublin journalism.
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People say to me,
"Oh, your dad was a wonderful man."
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School was a huge
influence for Davey.
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He found the schools
he went to very authoritarian.
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Of course, there was, you know,
huge emphasis on Catholicism.
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It's extraordinary, I mean,
when you're seven years of age
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and you've got to go confess.
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And you get into this little dark box
and confess. I used to make them up.
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Kids were evil, weren't they?
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Had terrible impure thoughts
and had to be moulded into
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what the Church wanted them to be,
or teachers thought they should be.
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They hit me, they pulled my hair,
they punched me, they demeaned me
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and, I mean, now I kind of think
about it and I'm quite angry
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because none of them were qualified
teachers. None of them.
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Luckily enough, he was bright
enough to question it,
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and he continued to question it
and he always questioned it.
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I was educated by the Carmelite Nuns,
the Gestapo in drag.
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LAUGHTER
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'Have you ever burnt yourself?'
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Yeah, I burnt myself on the candle.
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'What was it like?'
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Very sore.
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'Can you imagine that pain
all over your body?
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'That's what will happen to you
if you do not love God.
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'What do you think of that?'
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I love him. I love him!
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LAUGHTER
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I think what was going on with
Davey at school was completely
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the opposite of what was
going on in his home life.
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00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,120
It was very open hearted
and open minded.
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My father was quite a story teller.
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One of our great joys on a cold
night was to have a big fire
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and for him to tell stories,
and at the end of the story we were
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sent off into this rattling house -
frightened the shit out of you.
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I have extraordinary dreams too about
my father, where I find him.
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And he is now younger than I,
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because I'm past him now,
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and I always ask him why he went
away, why did he go away?
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And he has some sort of reason
that he had to go.
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He couldn't tell anybody
but he had to go.
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Losing Cullie, I mean, couldn't
have been more momentous.
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The effect for the family was huge,
and their life became very insecure
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00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:33,720
financially
and in every other way.
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00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,840
When Davey was about 16,
the family came to England.
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I think as he grew up it was almost
taken for granted that he'd follow
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in his father's footsteps
and be a journalist.
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I came to England,
hoping that within six months
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00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:55,360
I would be the top of the pile on
Fleet Street and have my own by-line
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and would be the great reporter.
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But the gentlemen who sit
at the editorials table
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didn't quite agree with me
so I went to Butlins.
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# Butlins, Butlins
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# Butlins by the sea
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# There's a holiday that's full
of fun for Mum and Dad and everyone
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# At Butlins by the sea. #
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for the summer.
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# See a show if you want to. #
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00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,720
The Red Coats used to
put a show on themselves.
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Kind of a review type thing.
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# At Butlins by the sea. #
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They stole bits here
and sketches there and odd songs
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and we wrote a little song
and things like that.
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And I was in it.
I was in some of the sketches.
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And one night I ran on stage to
get into this sketch and I caught
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my arm in the tab or the
curtain pull, the rope on the side
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which pulls the rope without knowing
it and I ran straight on stage
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and this thing came to an end and
just threw me right up in the air.
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I mean, I did a total flip
and landed on my face
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and the audience laughed for two
minutes solid and everybody on stage
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laughed for two minutes and everyone
backstage laughed for two minutes.
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00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:10,720
And I didn't feel any pain
because of the laughter,
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but once the laughter was over
I felt enormous pain,
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00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,360
and people were saying to me,
"You've got to keep that in"
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and week after week I would try
and do it and it never worked.
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Then they gave me a kind of five or
six minutes spot on the Red Coat Show
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and that was really
where it developed.
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I suppose there was a kind of
dormant fool lying in me,
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and then when the summer season came
to an end I decided that
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I would go to working men's clubs
which they have in England
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and try and earn a living at it
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and I starved for about two years
but I was learning.
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My surname is Tynan O'Mahony
and I'd arrive at places
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and it would be
Dave O'Malley or Maloney.
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I, by then, had an agent,
Richard Stone,
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and I was sitting
looking at his list of clients
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and there was nobody with an A
so I thought, well, if I had
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a surname beginning with A
I'd be top of the list.
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So I changed my name to Allen,
so I'm stuck with it now.
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# Walking back to happiness
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# Whoop-ah, oh, yeah-yeah
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# Said goodbye to loneliness
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# Whoop-ah, oh, yeah-yeah
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# I never knew I'd miss you. #
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He had a real affinity
with the Beatles.
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Coming from Liverpool,
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they had an affinity with Irish
culture and Irish wit anyway,
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and so there was
a natural connection.
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That was an amazing experience
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00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,520
and it drew him into the pop culture
of the 1960s.
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00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,280
I worked with
Sophie Tucker in South Africa.
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I meet this amazing woman.
She was absolutely extraordinary...
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# I'm the last of
the red-hot mamas. #
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..and she advised me
to go to Australia.
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Without me knowing, she wrote to the
agent in Australia and said,
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"I've seen a young comic and I think
he's quite good and if you ever have
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"a chance to offer some work give
him a chance. I think he's worth it."
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He's just completed a tour
with Sophie Tucker
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and he's a very funny man.
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Welcome, Dave Allen!
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APPLAUSE
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Thank you very much. Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.
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Morning, chaps.
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LAUGHTER
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Some of us are going to lose limbs,
some of us are going to lose life
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00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,360
but I am not afraid.
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00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,200
One of the soldiers stepped out
and he said, "Why is that, sir?"
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He said, "I'm not going."
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Stop, stop, don't.
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00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:15,120
Don't stop.
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'The company or A television
company offered me
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00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,640
'a pilot show for a chat show.'
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Ladies and gentlemen,
how about a great big warm welcome,
please, for Miss Rose Takali.
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'And they wanted to do
a kind of Tonight type show
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00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,400
'like a Jack Paar
American-type chat show.
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'They gave me a pilot
and it took off.'
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00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,560
Is there any story
behind the missing finger?
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00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:43,760
Oh, yes!
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There is a little. Shouldn't put your
fingers where they oughtn't to be.
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'It had an open end so it meant that
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00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,520
'if it was going well at 90 minutes,
you didn't chop into it,
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'you finished maybe 10 or 15
minutes longer
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'but it was, it was great
because it was live
and you had to learn quickly.'
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00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,720
He was an iconoclast,
and he was an individual,
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00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:07,120
and he had his own view
of the world.
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00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,200
The Australians are iconoclastic,
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00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,280
they don't take rules from
anybody very much
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and so Dave, of course,
of all things, they loved him.
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00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:15,720
Where were you born?
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00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,560
In Ireland. Whereabouts in Ireland?
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00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:19,160
A little place called Dublin.
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00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,360
What colour pyjamas do you wear?
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00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:23,800
None.
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00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,040
Oh, I don't know!
200
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,480
'There was always games going on,
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00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,400
'the crew had a rubber python
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00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,840
'and suddenly this thing
comes from nowhere.
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00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,440
'A four-letter word
came out, everything,
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00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,520
'it's as close as I ever came
to shitting myself.'
205
00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:50,840
I went to Australia
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00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,480
and we played,
we played all the theatres
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00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:55,880
that Dave had played
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and I used to say rather garishly
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00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,360
he's a great friend of mine,
you know.
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Well, then they all went raving mad.
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00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:04,200
I didn't know what he was,
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00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,000
who he was or why there was...
I was only six.
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00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,680
My first memory of him was
214
00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:32,240
seeing both my mother
who I adored...
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00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,080
..and David embracing
216
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,200
and seeing my mother happy for
the first time in a couple of years.
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00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,840
For as long as he was there
making my mother happy I was happy.
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00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,520
Looking back it was obvious
219
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,880
that they were a sort of mini Airfix
golden couple.
220
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He books into a hotel,
comes down to see the desk clerk.
221
00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,000
He said, "I'd like to change my room"
and the fella said, "Why?"
222
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,720
He said, "I don't like it."
He said, "Well what's wrong with it?"
223
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:03,920
He said, "It's on fire."
224
00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:07,600
Thank you.
225
00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,960
'The BBC offered me a series with
Val Doonican as a resident comedian,
226
00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:20,600
'which was exactly what I needed.'
227
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,240
And I remember as a kid watching him
on the Val Doonican show.
228
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,880
He had about five minutes a week
and he made an instant impact,
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00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,560
people talking about him because
he wasn't like anything else.
230
00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:31,240
If it wasn't for the fact
that you wear different clothes
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00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:34,160
and you are obviously about
ten years older I would have...
232
00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:35,960
I would have sworn you were
Dave Allen.
233
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,480
Now, you're not, you're not related
to him in any way are you?
234
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:39,880
No. No not at all.
235
00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:48,400
'I would say that would be the break
in English television for me.'
236
00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,880
# Tiptoe through the window
237
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,040
# By the window... #
238
00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:13,000
Mr Henry Cooper.
239
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:23,960
All the way around!
240
00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:28,200
And they pay you money for that?
241
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,280
They say that the only way
to get out of a car under water
242
00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,240
is to allow the pressure on
the inside of the car
243
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,520
to be exactly the same
as the outside, is that right?
244
00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:42,880
That's absolutely true, yes.
245
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,320
'The car thing was actually quite
an interesting piece of television,
246
00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,360
'it was experimentation,
247
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:50,760
'it was live television,
248
00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,160
'it was necessary
to do things like that.
249
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,680
'So we got a big tank,
we got a glass tank,
250
00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,200
'we got underwater cameras
251
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,240
'but we couldn't get a cameraman
so we had to strap them in the back
252
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:05,040
'and we dropped this car
into the tank.
253
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,760
'And we had two air tanks
just in case something happened
254
00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:12,920
'so we could breathe.
255
00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,640
'And the car is filling up with water
and I tapped one of the tanks
256
00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:23,760
'and one went "bong"
257
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,320
'and the other one went "bing"!
258
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,320
'They'd only put one full tank in
259
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,280
and I thought, "Jesus,
if this goes wrong you're going
to see the real underwater fight."'
260
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,520
OK, there's quite
a bit of water coming in now.
261
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,200
OK, I think we'll start to see them
get out in just a few moments.
262
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,280
'I got quite a lot of letters
263
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,600
'and I still keep in touch
with somebody in Glasgow.
264
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,480
'They'd taken their son to Ayr one
day and they'd parked on the harbour
265
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,800
'and they'd gone out
to get an ice cream
266
00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,960
'and they turned around,
the car had gone into the harbour
267
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,840
'and there were people diving in
left right and centre
268
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,560
'and suddenly the kid popped up
and they said, you know,
269
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:21,160
' "How did you manage to do that?
270
00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,600
'And he said,
"I've seen Dave Allen do it." '
271
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,360
Well, ladies and gentlemen,
that does complete the show,
272
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,280
I hope you have learned
something tonight,
273
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,800
I don't mean that you're all going
to go driving off and go into a river
274
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:33,960
but if you do ever, by chance,
go into a river
275
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,400
allow the car to fill up with water
276
00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:39,080
and stay there for a long time.
277
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,760
Goodnight and may God be with you.
278
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,840
There was Morecambe and Wise,
there was The Two Ronnies.
279
00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,240
And they were the big vehicles,
I suppose, at the time.
280
00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,280
The Morecambe and Wise shows,
The Two Ronnies shows,
281
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,720
they were sort of quite traditional
entertainment structured shows.
282
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,400
But Dave Allen at Large
was a little bit different.
283
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,240
Because of the nature of his comedy
284
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,880
you had to construct
a different shape of show.
285
00:17:22,120 --> 00:17:24,480
There was a special thing,
"Dave Allen's on tonight",
286
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,760
"Dave Allen, oh, I love Dave Allen",
"Oh, Dave Allen's on tonight."
287
00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:29,480
He just sat there.
288
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,680
Attractive, beautifully Irish,
289
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:35,640
and told the most outrageous jokes.
290
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,240
Two Irish fellas open a bar
and nobody ever comes in.
291
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:42,640
Nobody comes in to drink
292
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:44,840
and one says,
"I think we'll open a brothel."
293
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,040
He said, "Ah, that'll be no good,
if you can't get them to drink beer
294
00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,360
"how the hell are we going
to get them to drink broth?"
295
00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:53,600
You enjoyed seeing how
much your parents enjoyed it
296
00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,680
because as a kid you
didn't understand a lot of it,
297
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,880
you wouldn't get the bits
your parents were howling
with laughter about.
298
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:00,520
You'd say,
"What's funny about that?"
299
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:02,320
They said,
"I'll tell you when you're older."
300
00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,880
I'd sit there laughing, my
English dad would sit there laughing
301
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,880
and my Irish mum was
crossing herself furiously.
302
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,480
It would start with the gentle
slow one at the start
303
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,400
but by the end it was like
you could power small farms
304
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,640
with the energy created
by my mum crossing herself.
305
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,760
I think Dave Allen at Large
was a fairly simple format really,
306
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,560
it was about half Dave chatting
and half sketches
307
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,400
and I think that was the basic idea
308
00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:38,000
and the linking of the sketches
was very sketchy.
309
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,480
Oh, for God's sake, don't do it!
310
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,680
ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS
311
00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:57,800
I think when you are a kid
you used to enjoy the stupidness
312
00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,280
of his sketches and bits of comedy,
the slapstickness.
313
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:01,920
Have you got a last request?
314
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,760
Si, I see I would like
my brother to go,
315
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,960
he had nothing to do with the crime.
316
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,800
Oh, I believe you. He may go then.
317
00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,880
He had this obsession with Mexican
firing squads for some reason.
318
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,520
Fire!
319
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,080
One of Dave's classic jokes,
I think,
320
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,320
was he was going to be shot at dawn.
321
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:32,960
You are entitled to
one last request.
322
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,640
And of course we all know what it's
going to be, he asks for the girl.
323
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:40,400
Caramba!
324
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:43,480
The rest of the soldiers
325
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,320
are smoking a cigarette,
looking, eating.
326
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,560
Then you get dusk, you get nightfall
327
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:56,200
and suddenly then you get, you know,
early in the morning sun rising
328
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,160
and they're all tired,
they wake up,
329
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:03,440
and of course eventually the officer
goes up and bangs on the bunker
door.
330
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:04,800
Senora?
331
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,640
You're too late.
332
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:10,560
He's dead.
333
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,160
It was very simple joke
and I wish I'd written it.
334
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,440
'A lot of gags, sketch gags
can come from observation,
335
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,120
'I did a sketch gag
of a street cleaner
336
00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:24,880
sweeping up and I was watching
337
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,040
when I was sitting again
in a traffic jam
338
00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,160
and watching this man
sweeping the streets
339
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,240
and he came to the edge of the kerb
340
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,520
and I really wanted him, in my own
mind physically,
341
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,000
I wanted him to bend down
and pick up the edge of the kerb
342
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,560
and sweep the dirt underneath.
343
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,440
Most of his notes were written
on the back of disused envelopes,
344
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,080
dry cleaning bills, and receipts.
345
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,880
And you'd pick up
a piece of paper and it would say
346
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:54,240
"hypnotised chickens"
347
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,640
or "nuns farting next to lilies"
348
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:57,720
and that would turn into
349
00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,480
some material typed up
on PV's manual typewriter.
350
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:02,480
Spies again?
351
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:05,040
He had an enormous
352
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,120
number of writers
sending in material
353
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:12,840
and I was editing and so we were
filming quickies all over the place.
354
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,080
5, 4, 3, take 1.
355
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,480
Try it again.
356
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:28,480
520, take 2.
357
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:29,480
Action!
358
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:30,720
Your Majesty!
359
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,800
The original team that started was
360
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,840
Ronnie Brody,
Michael Sharvell-Martin,
361
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,320
Ian Burford and myself
and we were the four.
362
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,000
327 take 2.
363
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,160
What game do these knights play,
Merlin?
364
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,920
'Tis said he who...
"He who?!" I'm sorry!
365
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,080
'Tis said that he who draws..
366
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,680
'Tis said that he
who draws the stop...
367
00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:02,160
I did nuns, I did sleeping beauty
I was always old ladies,
368
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,240
and one of
the very first sketches I did
369
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:08,160
he was standing there, natch,
as a priest! The whole idea was
370
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,480
that the flames of Satan came
371
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,480
spewing out from the grave
at a vast rate.
372
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:18,560
Well, it didn't work on the first
take so some prop boy went off,
373
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,960
came back
and went into the grave hole
374
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:27,200
and we all...
OK, get ready, take two.
375
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:36,520
The prop boy threw a match
376
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,600
into the grave.
377
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,720
He'd filled it with petrol.
378
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,560
All I can say is
I then saw a Mr Allen
379
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:56,440
with singed eyebrows, singed hair,
luckily he kept his face.
380
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,160
The gags, they had to have
a flavour of realism.
381
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,600
You know, from a designer's
point of view that's
what made it really interesting.
382
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:10,240
You couldn't just cod up a church,
because it didn't work with Dave.
383
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,600
One day we built Stonehenge
384
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,960
and it was very nearly full sized.
385
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,240
I mean, it was absolutely enormous.
386
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,240
And it was all made of polystyrene.
387
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,440
The sketches were fun
but actually, for me,
388
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,720
the monologues
were the iconic moments.
389
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,160
And I walked into a pub the other
day where a dog had done something.
390
00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:46,200
And I stood on it and skidded
right across the room, boom!
391
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,920
Nearly broke my head on the wall.
392
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,720
I get my booze
and I'm sitting in the corner
393
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,840
and a fella comes in and
he does exactly what I did,
394
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,840
he went phew, schoom!
Straight into the wall.
395
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,280
And I ran over and picked him up
and said, "I just did that,
he nearly murdered me!"
396
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,760
When we first started he actually
had the script in front of him
397
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,960
and you could see him
looking down which wasn't very good.
398
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,440
And later on we had the script
or the ideas for the script
399
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:14,680
on idiot cards.
400
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,920
We sat in the front row with these
big boards in front of our knees.
401
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:24,000
The way Dave remembered paragraphs
or pages or material was very often
402
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:30,280
by a single phrase and some of these
single phrases were outrageous!
403
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,720
There is a really intriguing
thing about Dave Allen
404
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,400
when he talks to the audience,
he's brilliant,
405
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,000
he's very much a bar room
raconteur in some ways.
406
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,960
And we were in a bar
and we'd had a couple of drinks
407
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:48,400
and somebody started to talk
about the unknown, the spirit world.
408
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,600
And he had a way
of going sideways at jokes,
409
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,640
it was never sort of full on.
410
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:55,880
It was that
I accepted a dare or a bet
411
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,840
that I would stay the night
in the cottage beside the graveyard.
412
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:00,560
He sat down, he was relaxed,
413
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,800
he'd have his arm
on this little table,
414
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,240
he'd pause and have a whiskey,
415
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,840
blow on his fag, and he'd
just talk down the lens at you.
416
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,040
And I felt something on my chest
beginning to move.
417
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:20,480
It crept slowly up my chest.
418
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,320
It came closer, nearer,
419
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:24,920
and I grabbed it,
420
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,880
and it was wet and cold and
I bit it.
421
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:29,600
Aargh, screamed with pain!
422
00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:31,120
And that is how I lost my finger.
423
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,320
And now for all the people
who had nothing to complain about
424
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,120
in last week's show
425
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:44,640
get your pens out
because it's complaint time.
426
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,080
I wish to protest most
strongly about The Dave Allen Show,
427
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,040
last night's show was disgraceful.
428
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,400
The sight of Dave Allen
getting cheap laughs to his mixture
429
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,680
of smut and profanity
is to say the least nauseating.
430
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,080
I think they got it wrong,
the Church is dangerous
and the politicians,
431
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,280
he was just showing you how
ridiculous they were.
432
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,600
How the BBC censors could allow
such blasphemous rubbish
433
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,200
to be shown at Easter time
or any other time
is beyond my comprehension.
434
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,280
I think it's
a very difficult thing, censorship,
435
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,160
because what you are doing
is you are putting your code
436
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,480
on millions of viewers
which is a very difficult thing to do
437
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,640
and with the BBC,
they've been very good to me.
438
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,520
I mean, I do get away with
a lot of things
439
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,560
that other comedians
wouldn't even attempt,
440
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:46,440
but that is me.
441
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,600
And if I'm... If they put reins on me
it's not me,
442
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,640
it would be a shadow of what I am.
443
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:57,040
Dave Allen was far more
subversive
444
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,880
than just about
any other comic on TV.
445
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,640
He did a sketch about apartheid.
446
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:05,840
Hey, you boy.
447
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:07,120
Yes, sir.
448
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:08,360
What are you doing in this church?
449
00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:10,240
You know blacks are not
allowed in this church?
450
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,800
Oh, yes, Father,
but I am cleaning the floor.
451
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,680
Ah, cleaning the floor, eh?
452
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,000
Good,
but don't let me catch you praying.
453
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,360
I remember turning to my dad
and saying what's that about
454
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,760
and my dad explained apartheid to me
on the back of a Dave Allen sketch.
455
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,960
He had a huge
sort of personal integrity
456
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,000
about what he wanted to say.
457
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,080
I even had a telegram from Rome.
458
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:34,560
From the boss himself!
459
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,520
Hey, what's the matter, David baby?
460
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,280
I could understand why he was
considered dangerous
by the Catholic Church,
461
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,840
why he wasn't popular
in Ireland because of it.
462
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,160
Ireland in the '60s and '70s was a
very deeply conservative country,
463
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,400
in any rural Irish village,
the priest is pretty much
464
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,600
the most important person in there.
465
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:58,080
The usual, Father.
466
00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,120
God bless you.
467
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:01,720
The sketches, they were just silly,
468
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,000
but they undermine
the authority of priests.
469
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,960
If somebody is saying
I am going to blow you up,
470
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,920
you don't kind of take
too many chances about it.
471
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:16,640
Was it because of your gags?
472
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:18,200
Yes, I think so, I suppose so.
473
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,640
What type of gag
would they have objected to?
474
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:21,840
Most of them.
475
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:25,120
Dave said what he wanted to say,
476
00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:27,120
he was an adult,
he was a professional,
477
00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:28,520
he worked out a way to say it,
478
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:32,280
but you didn't get very far
saying to David, I don't think
we should do a joke about the Pope.
479
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,360
The concept at that time of the Pope
in anything less than
480
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:54,280
15 layers of linen stuff
and a gold thing over the top,
481
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,320
that's how you saw the Pope,
482
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,000
and suddenly you could
see his naked leg.
483
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,720
It was shocking,
I mean it genuinely was shocking.
484
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,000
It upset people.
485
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,560
I mean teachers at school
would tell us off for watching it
486
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:13,600
and my mum was horrified by it.
487
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,080
And she would sit there
telling me and my dad
488
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,600
that we would go
to hell for laughing.
489
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:26,040
How do you become Jewish quickly?
490
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,480
Some people think Davey
was anti-religion
491
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,880
and actually he wasn't,
he had huge respect for religions,
492
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,680
but what he didn't like was being
told what to think,
493
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,120
he didn't like brain washing,
494
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:43,040
and he didn't like a sort
of prescribed guilt.
495
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,160
Goodnight
and may your God go with you.
496
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,400
With my family and my children,
497
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,520
I mean they know that I have
something to do with show business
498
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,000
but they're not all that
sure what I do,
499
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,960
except that I'm not a real daddy,
500
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,480
because real daddies
go to work on trains.
501
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,880
You know, certainly when I was young
I didn't really know who
he was anyway but you just wouldn't.
502
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,120
You know we weren't allowed to watch
that when we were little.
503
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,720
Too rude, Mummy said.
504
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,560
I think I really wanted
to be like him.
505
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,440
I do remember
being out with him sometimes
506
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,080
and people would say, you know,
"Hi, Dave" and I'd be going,
507
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,720
"No, he's my daddy" you know,
not kind of getting that,
I don't want to share him, you know.
508
00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,560
When he started out
I was a bit young,
509
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,200
I was probably five or six when
he started doing Dave Allen at Large
510
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:30,560
so I got friends of mine
511
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,120
who are kind of a bit older and they
are like five years older than me
512
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:38,760
and they said to me, "Ed,
you don't know, like, there would
be no-one on the streets.
513
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,200
"Everyone would be
watching your dad."
514
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,240
They said, "You don't get it."
515
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,920
We had a house in Devon,
it was set in a valley
516
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,080
with a stream going through it
and all of us adored it.
517
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:53,120
Lots of people would come
and join us, cousins
518
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,360
and, like, friends of
my big brothers from school,
519
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:00,000
it was a house full of people,
people that were all, you know,
quite close which was lovely.
520
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,920
It would always be
like loads of children down there
521
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,160
and all the adults chip in
and have a laugh like kids as well.
522
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,760
The children loved it,
they just, they just loved him.
523
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,360
He was like,
he'd be like the Pied Piper
524
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,720
and they'd all sort of
trail after him.
525
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,800
Well, he found them
fascinating and funny
526
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:26,080
and he kind of discussed things
very seriously with them,
527
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,720
they had great respect for him.
528
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,760
Jane and Ed and Toby and I,
you know,
529
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,400
we kind of all of us grew up
together, we were all the same age.
530
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,320
My memories of Dave
were usually very scruffy.
531
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:43,960
The person I remember had absolutely
nothing to do with the persona
of the man sitting in the chair
532
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,600
with the cigarette and the drink.
533
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,040
Completely different.
534
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,680
I mean, the cigarette
and the drink were there
535
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,400
but where he got the suits from
I certainly never saw them.
536
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:58,360
It gives me great pleasure tonight...
537
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:02,560
..to present to you
ladies and gentlemen...
538
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,960
..the curse of the werewolf.
539
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,800
We used to turn the lights off and
he used to just have a candle going
540
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,680
and he would spend half an hour
telling a ghost story.
541
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,280
It was just another excuse for him
to put the crappers up us
542
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,960
because it was usually something
around a fire
543
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:23,760
and it was usually terrifying
544
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,840
and my brother, Toby, being
absolutely kind of, you know...
545
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,720
"Ah, yes, and then, you know,
they came and they ate the child"
546
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,120
and my poor brother going,
"Oh, my God!"
547
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:37,680
Just this mass of sort of kids
in like one bunk bed, frightened,
548
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,440
jumping at every
kind of creek in the house.
549
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,120
All through the time,
he was known as a comedian
550
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,240
performing on BBC,
he made these documentary shows.
551
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,400
Without a doubt in my mind
552
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,920
the most enchanting place
that I have ever been.
553
00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,160
They came seeking
the great American dream,
554
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:04,000
equality, tolerance,
religious freedom, money.
555
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,800
Hi, nice to meet you,
my name is Dave Allen. Oh.
556
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:10,920
I think people are marvellous,
557
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,880
I would probably draw the line
with politicians,
558
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:15,400
I don't consider them as people,
559
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,840
but in general, I mean,
I am very fond of people.
560
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,120
Anyone usually fighting
against each other,
561
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,520
I mean, right here in Williamsburg
we can all live together.
562
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,640
Eccentricity is in the air
we breathe,
563
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,600
it's part of the English tradition,
564
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:31,960
it's been that way for so long
565
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:36,480
we've created a special
sanctuary for eccentrics.
566
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,360
Dave had spoken to Lew Grade,
of fond memory,
567
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,400
about doing what he called
a more serious programme.
568
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,960
It all began with
a one-hour documentary
569
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,160
in search of
the great English eccentric.
570
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,160
For ten years it was
the highest rated documentary
571
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,280
on British television.
572
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,920
I've had a bit of a job finding you,
I didn't realise you lived in
a little house like this.
573
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,360
Yes, try to live here.
574
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,600
How long have you been
living in here?
575
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:10,480
Well, I should imagine 25 years.
576
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,480
It's not a very big bed.
I mean, how do you lie down there?
577
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:14,920
Oh, I can't really lay down,
578
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,120
I put on an extension
for the feet as you see.
579
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:18,760
Can I see then? Yes.
580
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:22,920
And you put your feet
in there, do you? Yes.
581
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,240
The first rule we made
was that we weren't going to put
582
00:34:26,240 --> 00:34:28,360
mad people on television.
583
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:33,160
Now that immediately created
the world's most difficult
defining line.
584
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,720
Bring your mice to Snowy, all bring
your mice to Snowy one at a time.
585
00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:41,560
What we learnt eccentricity was,
was passion.
586
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,720
That's nice, isn't it?
587
00:34:43,720 --> 00:34:46,880
And to live your life as you saw it
588
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:51,640
with complete commitment
and complete attention to detail
589
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:56,320
but not giving a hell
as to what other people thought.
590
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:57,920
Snowy, tell me, how do you live?
591
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,800
I live off my land, yes, I've got
two pieces of allotment, you see.
592
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,280
I grow potatoes
and also greens, most of them,
593
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,360
January King which are
very nice and Brussels and carrots,
594
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,520
whichever the case,
so I live off my land, you see.
595
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:11,720
That's all you eat.
596
00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:15,200
That's all I eat,
I eat like a rabbit, you see,
vegetables, you see,
597
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,640
and I don't drink nothing no
stronger than water.
598
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,520
He loved eccentricity,
he was an eccentric himself, really,
599
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:24,000
and he loved slightly mad people
and he loved stories.
600
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,240
If somebody could tell him
a story or somebody could show him
something crazy,
601
00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:31,240
you know, if a man could suck
a ha'penny up his nose Dave would be
there watching him, that was Dave.
602
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:34,520
That's handed over to me now,
603
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,880
is there any kind of words
said or anything? No.
604
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,040
Dave never ever giggled.
605
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:46,680
I mean, he really just thought,
you know, how can you...
how happy all these people were.
606
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:50,960
He was capable of suspending
judgement entirely.
607
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,640
In fact even that is not quite
the right phrase
608
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,640
because he wasn't suspending it,
it was as if
he had no judgemental thing.
609
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,240
This block here is white,
Hispanics, the Negro,
610
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:04,760
and everybody is together,
611
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,640
but you go up the next block
and you've got just Jews.
612
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,600
You don't see nobody else up there,
just Jewish people.
613
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:12,880
They own practically everything
around here
614
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,560
and they got us as workers
and they don't want to pay us
nothing, you know.
615
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,800
In America we, there was an entirely
different breed of people
616
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:22,680
that we found.
617
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:28,320
Half of them were showmen, which is
a characteristic I am sure
is built into a load of Americans,
618
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,280
The other half
were demonstrating something.
619
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:36,920
We are out to show that Jewish
rights are no less than
those of other people.
620
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,920
And that the Jew is not the easy
market certain people think it is.
621
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,200
We are tired
of having to be the victims.
622
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,600
What you are actually teaching here
is a kind of form of militancy.
623
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,080
Yes, yes.
624
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:52,920
But if you teach this here
surely other groups,
625
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,360
say anti-Semitic groups,
are going to teach it as well.
626
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,400
Unless this force stands up now
and says that's it...
627
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,280
..then what happens in Germany
will happen here.
628
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,320
I think the heartbeat of Dave Allen
629
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,400
was really curiosity, that he always
asked the question why.
630
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,840
It was just going out
and finding people
631
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:16,960
and spending time with them
and talking to them
632
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,560
and showing them as they were.
633
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:22,800
In his reporting one of the things
that stands out was the fact that
634
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:25,480
he approached it almost like
he was by your side
635
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,960
rather than standing above you
telling you things,
636
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:32,320
that he made you a fellow observer
and that was something
637
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,880
that made his work so intimate
and so engaging and so real.
638
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:41,120
He again really pioneered a way of
doing documentaries that went on
639
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,880
to inspire the likes of
Louis Theroux and many other people.
640
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,920
'At Speakers Corner in London
641
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,560
'anyone can stand up
642
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,800
'and say exactly what they like.'
643
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,200
A minister has to mind
his Ps and Qs,
644
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,200
well, I am the world's
greatest dictator.
645
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,000
Great Britain is the most
beautiful country in the world.
646
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,200
There is only one thing wrong
with it, the English.
647
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,560
There are days obviously that people,
you don't want people,
648
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,360
but there are days
that you adore the world,
649
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,640
you love people to a great extent.
650
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:24,280
I think people are people.
651
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:25,680
I am a people person. I'm people
652
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,600
and I would hope
that I would treat people
653
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,160
as they in turn would treat me.
654
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,320
I know this sounds a bit farfetched
655
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,280
but my feeling was that Dave
656
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,720
was looking for the meaning of life.
657
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:40,600
You have a philosophy in life.
658
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,920
Well, I don't, I don't call it
philosophy, you know,
there is too much of a loss in that,
659
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,480
I like to be
on the gaining side of things.
660
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,120
No matter how weird they were
661
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:53,960
there was something that he was
learning from people in that way.
662
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:01,080
I recently became legitimate.
663
00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:07,040
You've got filthy minds!
664
00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,840
By that I mean
I became a straight actor.
665
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:12,480
As far back as late November
666
00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,560
I played a part of a straight actor
in a straight play.
667
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:17,920
It was a very important part
of his persona,
668
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,120
he was an artist
and he saw what he did
as one branch of being an artist
669
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,240
and so when he was offered
the opportunity to play some
670
00:39:25,240 --> 00:39:26,680
pretty substantial roles
671
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:28,640
he jumped at it
and he was very good in them.
672
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:30,480
Who's the father?
673
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:32,360
Fathers. You shut up.
674
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,040
'I remember going to see him
675
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:37,480
'in the Edna O'Brien play
at Royal Court Theatre.'
676
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,480
I wouldn't mind a chaser.
677
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,640
'I knew that he had been offered'
678
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:43,120
the lead role in it.
679
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,120
To which he had refused
680
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,040
because he had never actually done
much straight theatre
681
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,480
and he took a part,
which was the part of a doctor,
it was a wonderful performance.
682
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:57,280
Doctor, can I have a word
with you in private?
683
00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,240
Look all the private shite is over,
684
00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:01,000
it's now in the public domain.
685
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,480
I suggest we set out in the morning,
686
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:09,320
yourself the boss, your mother
and me, and find your Romeo.
687
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:11,440
There was a few punch-ups
688
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,040
outside the theatre
when the show was on you know.
689
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,120
He enjoyed championing events
and being involved in them
690
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,320
if they were going to challenge
people's conceptions
691
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:23,360
and also challenge
the authority and the establishment.
692
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:25,520
Is that your
homemade blackberry wine?
693
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:26,800
It is.
694
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,440
Do you have any gin,
any dry Satin Gin?
695
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:33,120
I think he appreciated
the art of performance
696
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:38,160
and that made him,
for me, someone special.
697
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,560
Dave always wanted to stretch
himself as an actor
698
00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:50,800
and he really admired playwrights
like Alan Bennett
699
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:53,200
and so when One Fine Day
came along as a project
700
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:54,920
he was very keen to do it.
701
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,880
He's threatening to take me
to a topless steak house.
702
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:04,960
Cheer up.
703
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,520
I always got the impression
he was quite choosy,
704
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:15,760
and, you know, it was, you know,
good for us that he picked us up,
705
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,480
that he agreed to do it.
706
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:20,680
How is your good lady?
707
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:24,480
How is the carpentry?
Has she put up any more shelves?
708
00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:29,360
No, I think we're well
catered for in the shelf department.
709
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,360
She's a remarkable woman.
710
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,480
She's in Colchester for a few days
looking after her father.
711
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:38,000
Colchester, really?
I once had a Chinese meal there.
712
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,440
It was comic so you wanted someone
with a sense of humour
713
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,200
and you wanted someone
who was thoughtful, you know,
714
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,040
where there was more going on inside
behind his eyes, inside his brain.
715
00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,520
So you are playing somebody
who was thinking a lot.
716
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:52,560
Well, Dave never stopped
thinking, you know,
717
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:55,560
if you are a stand-up comic
I guess that's what you do.
718
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,360
It was untypical of Alan's writing,
normally Alan wrote about these
719
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:01,680
northern comic characters
720
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,080
like Thora Herd
and Patricia Routledge,
721
00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:09,360
and this was a much more
sort of impressionistic piece.
722
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:10,480
HE WHISTLE
723
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,080
He could hold the camera,
724
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,080
if you'd start a shot
he could keep it interesting,
that's what movie stars...
725
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:18,280
You start watching them
and then you follow them
726
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,800
and there's no need to cut the
camera because they're inherently
interesting.
727
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,720
You just believed in him,
he was in front of you,
728
00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:25,680
you believed in him
that was all you needed.
729
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:46,160
My name's Richard Dangerous
730
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,200
and this is Adrian Dangerous.
731
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,400
People often say to me, "Alexei,
732
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,480
"what is alternative new wave
Marxist comedy?"
733
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:59,160
And I say, "Sod off,
you nosey bastard!"
734
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:02,200
When alternative comedy
came along
735
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:09,720
Dave had a sufficient field of his
own which they didn't impinge upon.
736
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:12,560
He had the ethos of alternative
comedy before we did
737
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:16,800
in that comedy could be
not only funny but challenging.
738
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,320
Before alternative comedy he was
a man who went out there and said,
739
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,360
"I don't give a fuck about what they
are saying. This is the truth, this
is what I want to say, I'll say it."
740
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:35,360
He did the Strand Theatre
741
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,360
and on the first night it was
who's who of the young comedians.
742
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:40,000
They all turned up to see Dave.
743
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,600
I know comics who would say that man
inspired me to get up on stage,
744
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,920
he was inspiring people like us
to get up and to do it.
745
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,960
I did a load of photographs
in the dressing room
746
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,960
cos at Fairfield Hall in Croydon,
not many people see this, you know.
747
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,840
The intimacy of the dressing
room before he goes on stage
748
00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:58,480
and, you know, he's getting ready,
749
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,880
and got DJ on
and looking in the mirror,
750
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:04,920
and he's very quiet,
you know, not much talking,
751
00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:06,760
and just before he goes on stage
752
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,600
he was standing in the doorway
of his dressing room.
753
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:14,080
Took a couple of shots
and he's standing there
with a glass of champagne
754
00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:15,960
just looking away from the camera.
755
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,960
Very, you know,
just the moment before he has a sip
and then walks on.
756
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:25,080
You're offering yourself up
in a way.
757
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:29,160
You're not actually
placing your head down on a plate,
758
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:32,120
but you're saying this is it,
this is me,
759
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,600
we're going to be here
for the next two and a half hours.
760
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:37,840
All of us, and we're either going
to have a good time
761
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:39,680
or we're going to have a rotten time.
762
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:42,520
When Dave confronted
a real live audience
763
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,520
you could see the change
that came over him,
764
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:48,040
he sort of flowed out
to the audience
765
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,200
and, you know, he was
a master of a situation.
766
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:55,520
He commanded that hall,
which was sometimes
quite a big theatre, immediately.
767
00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:01,040
And you can feel the audience,
a sort of wave of love coming back.
768
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:04,120
There's a funny thing
that goes on with that audience
769
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:08,120
and that audience
wants Dave to like them.
770
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:12,080
I get tremendous pleasure
from watching people
771
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:18,360
physically bend forward and laugh
and people wiping their eyes.
772
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,120
I'm bubbling inside.
773
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,440
I mean, there's the other side,
I'm a performer,
774
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:27,640
but inside I'm looking at something
775
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,280
and I say,
isn't that marvellous, look at her.
776
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,120
She is, her mascara
is running all over the place.
777
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,320
Thank you.
Thank you very much indeed.
778
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,000
Thank you, good evening,
and welcome to the show.
779
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:59,960
As you can see this show
has no music, no titles, no actors,
780
00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:03,360
no costumes, no sketches,
let's be honest,
781
00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:04,760
it's cheap.
782
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:09,680
There is something about him,
which was eternally young.
783
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,320
Even when he got
into his 50s, 55, 60s,
784
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,560
he was a vital comedian.
785
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:20,280
And a great disappearing lavatory
paper act, have you come across that?
786
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,480
No adult when you go
to the lavatory,
787
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:24,840
you don't check to see
that the paper is there, do you?
788
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:26,960
He became much more observational.
789
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:30,400
Maybe because he had said all
he needed to say about the church,
790
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,480
you know, there is only so much
hypocrisy you can expose.
791
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:37,320
The first time I saw him
I was quite a bit older,
you know, I was late teens.
792
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:39,840
My daughter Jane, I would take her
to school in the morning,
793
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:41,960
not only would
I take her to school in the morning
794
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,440
but I'd take all her friends
to school in the morning as well.
795
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:45,640
He was talking about Jane,
796
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:48,400
about being at school
797
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,400
and talking all the time and being
in the back of the car and...
798
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:53,320
HE MUTTERS
799
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,600
Verbal diarrhoea
pouring in torrents...
800
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,040
And finding that hilarious
801
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:03,800
because I know that person
and it's absolutely true.
802
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,120
I drop them off,
goodbye, Belinda, bye Jean,
803
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,520
bye Alexander, bye Vanessa.
804
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:11,720
Jane would go in to the house,
805
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:14,600
I'd park the car, I'd go into the
house and she's on the phone.
806
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:15,960
Who are you talking to? Belinda.
807
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:18,120
Belinda lives next door!
808
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:23,040
He got a lot of laughs out of me,
a lot of laughs you know.
809
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:25,880
Edward's friends are always ringing.
810
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:27,480
I pick up the phone.
811
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,800
GRUNTS
812
00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:31,960
He used to do an impression of me
opening a fridge.
813
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:34,600
I remember I went to watch the show
with a great friend of mine
814
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:37,800
who used to spend a lot of
time around our house
and he was pissing himself.
815
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,640
I was sitting there going,
"It's not me."
816
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,880
He was like, "It's you, man,
I promise you that's you."
817
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:43,720
GRUNTS
818
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:46,560
What?
819
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:49,040
GRUNTS
820
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:54,120
My son's name is Edward, maybe
they call him Ed? I don't know?
821
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:55,280
Maybe...
822
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:56,520
GRUNTS
823
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,520
Maybe he is saying,
824
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:02,000
"Is Ed in?"
825
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,360
You can't kind of ignore
that teenage behaviour.
826
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,720
I mean it's a great source of humour
827
00:48:06,720 --> 00:48:11,640
and also lots of people
in the audience got it as well.
828
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:14,400
Did you say, "Is Ed in?"
829
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:16,200
GRUNTS
830
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:23,120
No, you didn't say, "Is Ed in?"
dickhead, you said...
831
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:24,920
GRUNTS
832
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:26,960
No, he's not.
833
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:29,680
You wake to the clock.
834
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:33,800
You go to work to the clock,
you clock in to the clock.
835
00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,960
You clock out to the clock.
You come home to the clock.
836
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:39,160
You eat to the clock.
You drink to the clock.
837
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:40,400
You go to bed to the clock.
838
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:41,760
You get up to the clock.
839
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:43,240
You go back to work to the clock.
840
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:45,440
You do that for 40 years
of your life, you retire,
841
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:46,880
what do they fucking give you?
842
00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:48,120
A clock!
843
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:52,920
DIALLING TONE
844
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:56,240
I would just like to basically
say how utterly disgusted I was.
845
00:48:56,240 --> 00:49:00,120
Dave Allen had to ruin
a very good show...
846
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,320
Disgraceful, foul language,
847
00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,360
Oh he used the fuck word, you're
damn right he used the fuck word.
848
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:08,320
You take a very libertarian line
on language.
849
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,000
Yeah, I think it's necessary,
language is language.
850
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:12,520
I mean, language is just sounds,
851
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:15,200
it's only what somebody
says that's not a good sound
852
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,160
or that's a bad sound
or that's a rude sound, it's nothing,
853
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,160
it's only emphasis, it's only erm,
854
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:26,680
it's gut, I think.
855
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,760
We were both rather surprised
at the level of the controversy
856
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:31,800
that happened
after that show went out.
857
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:35,040
Moir who is head of BBC's light
entertainment group
858
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:38,720
has, erm, sent us a statement
and he says that,
859
00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:43,160
"Clearly we are sorry if
we have given unnecessary offence".
860
00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:46,760
Unfortunately, although the BBC
knew it was in the programme,
861
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:50,680
when the questions
were asked they didn't really feel
able to support him,
862
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,520
he felt disappointed by that,
863
00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:58,200
and, erm, perhaps a bit abandoned,
864
00:49:58,200 --> 00:49:59,840
and it took him a long time
865
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:03,200
to feel that he wanted to go back
on television after that incident.
866
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:07,320
We were looking, you know
noisy shows, big signings.
867
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:09,200
And Dave hadn't worked for a time
868
00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:12,000
for the BBC, he hadn't worked for
anybody. He'd stopped doing telly,
869
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,280
and we had endless meetings
at his house
870
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:18,720
and I'm sure there was
a Chinese meal involved somewhere
because there always was,
871
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:22,040
and we eventually persuaded him
to come and do these six shows.
872
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:25,840
We got a very good team of writers,
people like Kevin Day wrote for him,
873
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:29,640
he enjoyed that interaction
with young up and coming writers.
874
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:36,400
I think the big difference
was the ITV show he was standing up
and he was angry,
875
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:40,360
he had more energy than
he had in the '70s and '60s shows,
far more energy.
876
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:41,440
Grannies.
877
00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:45,920
Do you ever
get behind a granny in a queue?
878
00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,720
He was looking for something
to get his teeth into,
879
00:50:48,720 --> 00:50:51,880
to argue with almost,
as part of that creative process,
880
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,160
it was really fascinating,
I loved it.
881
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:56,880
And I'm sending them
the birthday presents because...
882
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,640
and I'm standing behind her thinking,
you old geriatric!
883
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:03,120
For Christ sake, die
and let me buy my stamps!
884
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:06,720
My abiding memory very early on
in the process of working with Dave
885
00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:09,600
is him telling me
that he was working on this routine
886
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:12,640
about teaching children
to tell the time,
887
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:16,440
and I distinctly remember,
"Well, that's not going to change
the world, Granddad, is it?"
888
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:18,640
Teach you to read the time.
889
00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:21,800
Why? Because it's important
that you know the time.
890
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,040
He does this routine
and it was about 15 minutes live
891
00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:26,680
and it got edited down on the show,
and he does the entire routine
892
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:30,000
as an imaginary conversation
with a small child.
893
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:31,800
I mean
who else could do a routine
894
00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:34,760
about the second hand
and the minute hand on a watch?
895
00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:39,240
There's the hour hand, that's
the first hand. The hour hand.
896
00:51:39,240 --> 00:51:41,520
The second hand is the minute hand,
897
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:43,400
and the third hand
is the second hand.
898
00:51:45,720 --> 00:51:48,560
For him to point this out
and bring the house down
899
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:52,640
on the extraordinary contradiction
just between how they're named.
900
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:54,800
So it moves away from the fat hand,
901
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,200
leaving the fat hand
at the 1 and the 2
902
00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,680
and then it comes over to
the 1 here by itself, see the 1?
903
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:02,520
To the right of the 1 and the 2?
904
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:05,120
Now, that one is 5.
905
00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:11,840
Because it is, it's 5, 2 is 10,
906
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:15,880
3 is 15, 4 is 20, 5 is 25,
6 is a half.
907
00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:21,880
Now I know what I can do
for Dave Allen,
908
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:25,880
I can make him the best darn cup
of tea he's ever had,
909
00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:29,520
because there's not much I can bring
to him in terms of writing
910
00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:32,560
and that, that telling the time
routine just summed him up.
911
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:34,600
It is now what time?
912
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:39,440
It is not five o'clock,
it's one o'clock.
913
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,120
For me the man is a comic genius
he's a stand-up genius,
914
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:43,120
that's what he does.
915
00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:45,160
Shut up!
916
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:52,080
He really enjoyed working
917
00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:55,560
and put himself absolutely
into it with great heart,
918
00:52:55,560 --> 00:53:01,800
but he loved being at home and
domestic life and family life too.
919
00:53:03,920 --> 00:53:07,200
Well, Davey and I
got together in 1986,
920
00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:10,920
some might have said
it was an unexpected coupling,
921
00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,200
he was much older than me,
although the age gap,
922
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:16,440
never mattered, certainly not to me.
923
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:22,360
He was extraordinary
and extremely easy to love.
924
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:25,760
Davey was a very private person
and his work was his work
925
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:29,040
and that was very separate from
family life and our life together.
926
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:31,720
We never courted publicity,
927
00:53:31,720 --> 00:53:37,200
and it was important for him
to protect us from that.
928
00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:44,160
In his latter years,
929
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,680
he didn't feel the need to
constantly be chasing work,
930
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:48,320
he used to get offered
a lot of work.
931
00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:51,160
I mean, I think there
wasn't a film made in Ireland
932
00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:54,040
without him being offered a
part in it.
933
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,680
You know,
he got offered a lot of television,
most of which he turned down.
934
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,440
For the people who will be
watching this show
935
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,360
when it is a repeat, good evening,
welcome to the show, it is a repeat.
936
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,040
He hated repeats,
937
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:10,280
I think there was
a clause in his contract
that they could show one repeat,
938
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:12,360
one series repeat,
OK, and that was it.
939
00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:15,600
Everything is repeated now
apart from Dave Allen stuff,
940
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:20,800
I've got a videotape of Dave,
right, I've got a videotape of him.
941
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:25,520
It's nuts, he's my comedic idol
and I've got a bloody videotape.
942
00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:35,120
He was never somebody
that seemed, you know,
943
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:36,680
he had regrets,
944
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,520
or, well, if only I was, you know.
945
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:40,800
He was really happy,
he worked hard, he lived full,
946
00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:44,080
he had a family that,
you know, adored him,
947
00:54:44,080 --> 00:54:47,640
and who he loved
and, you know, he had passion.
948
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:52,720
Life was very important to Davey,
he had a huge appetite for life,
949
00:54:52,720 --> 00:54:57,080
and he loved his work
950
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:02,160
but he didn't, he didn't define
himself by what he did, you know.
951
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:06,000
He did his work but he did
lots of other things as well.
952
00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:08,480
He loved his painting
and his drawing
953
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:11,200
and being at home
and gardening and cooking.
954
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:15,040
He was disarmingly modest
and quiet about his many talents
955
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:19,080
and I always think
he was ordinary and extraordinary.
956
00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:22,360
He was normal and grounded,
he was always gracious with people
957
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:24,600
when they stopped him
or recognised him,
958
00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:31,080
and yet he had these many, many
abilities, but he held them quietly.
959
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:55,560
When I think of Davey, I mean,
I really do just think of love
960
00:55:55,560 --> 00:55:59,320
and I feel that love
is the most extraordinary thing,
961
00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:03,360
for two people
to meet and fall in love,
962
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:06,640
with each other at the same time
seems extraordinary.
963
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:13,760
For that to last for decades
seems miraculous,
964
00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:19,440
and for it to only get better
seems sort of impossibly lucky.
965
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:25,840
So losing Davey as I did was,
966
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:31,920
I mean, hard beyond description,
967
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:41,080
and it's sort of like being
a long way from home all the time,
968
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:44,400
but three weeks after I lost Davey
I had our son Cully,
969
00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:47,560
our beautiful boy.
970
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:52,960
And I think Davey
would be very proud of him.
971
00:56:58,240 --> 00:57:02,080
Death is inevitable,
I mean, erm,
972
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:04,400
life is what you are anyhow,
973
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:05,960
what you experience now,
974
00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:09,040
and death is going to happen
to us anyhow
975
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:13,480
so there's no sense in spending
70 years worrying about dying,
976
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:17,120
because if you do,
you won't even get to 40 I think.
977
00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:21,920
But, you know, I really do,
I, as an Irishman,
978
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:24,840
I've been,
not laughing about my own death,
979
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:32,360
but laughing about death as a subject
for years, coffins and wakes, erm,
980
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:36,520
and I, it doesn't bother me.
981
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:40,520
I mean, I know that some people
get a bit upset but it's there,
982
00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:45,400
you might as well
not laugh at the moon or
not accept the existence of the sun.
983
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,000
I wonder what my epitaph will be.
984
00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:54,320
Here lies Dave Allen,
a comedy fool
985
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:59,000
who drank and told gags
as he sat on his stool,
986
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:02,840
his last words on earth
the atheist wretch,
987
00:58:02,840 --> 00:58:06,040
time for religion, here's a sketch.
988
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:13,400
There's the church.
989
00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:19,320
The big question everybody asks me
about Dave Allen
990
00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:22,240
is always,
"How did he lose the finger?"
991
00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:24,000
I've got time to ask you
one more thing
992
00:58:24,000 --> 00:58:27,160
and that's about your famous,
the missing joint on your finger.
993
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:29,240
I've asked him that so many times
and he's given me
994
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,120
about five different stories,
none of which I believe to be true.
995
00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:34,920
I was about nine,
nine years of age...
996
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:36,360
What did he tell you?
997
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:39,440
Oh, all sorts of thing starting
from nose picking accidents.
998
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:42,160
I was sitting there and I had
something in my back tooth...
999
00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:45,080
He picked his nose and he lost it,
how do you do that?
1000
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:47,760
I was actually trying to pick it
out, with my finger,
1001
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:49,600
I was trying to get
this little bit of meat.
1002
00:58:49,600 --> 00:58:52,240
Working up to knife fight
in a Paris brothel.
1003
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:56,120
And my brother, John, came in
behind me and he just saw me there...
1004
00:58:58,200 --> 00:59:01,960
He lost it in a bet
with a priest in a pub.
1005
00:59:01,960 --> 00:59:04,880
We were wrestling or something
like that, he just came behind me
1006
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:06,400
and went, boom, like that
1007
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:07,640
and my jaw closed
1008
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,280
and I bit my finger right through.
1009
00:59:15,360 --> 00:59:18,000
The final gag,
is everyone always asks me that
1010
00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:20,240
and they don't believe me
when I say I don't know,
1011
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:23,080
but to this day I have no idea,
and I think that's fantastic.
1012
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:25,520
Thank you goodnight
and may your God go with you.
86492
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