Bob Monkhouse's Contract

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Does/did Bob Monkhouse have it written into his contract that his name must been included in the name of every show he appears in?

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

think abt it...Bob's Full House, Bob Says Opportunity Knocks....

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

that'll be up the butt, bob

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:13 (twenty-two years ago)

His name doesn't appear in 'I think I've got a problem' the radio 4 sitcom in which he appears as err.. Suggs' Psychiatrist.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I think i've got a boblem

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

if only he narrated that popular kids' programme abt the construction worker.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I love that R4 show! It's the Numbskulls from 'Beezer' meets the Rutles! (I would have loved to have been in the room for that pitch)

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The only thing he does for TV lately is Wipeout, and obviously his name's not there.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

It does have its charm and bob monkhouse is pretty good as the psychiatrist.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Wipeout used to be hosted by Paul Daniels, didn't it?

Only thing I remember abt Bob's Full House:

"In bingo lingo it's clickety-clicks, it's time to take your pick of the six!"

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The ONLY thing you remember? That's considerably more than I can conjure up regarding that particular piece of TV hell!

― smee (smee), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Suggs must have some serious fucking problems to talk about on that show.

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"Night Fever" for example.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm listrening to that show at the moment, and aprt from a welcome bit of swearing, it suggs!

― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Coming home last nite just in time to catch the Man U game I switched the telly on, and it had been left on BBC1 and it was 'This is Your Life', and it was Bob Monkhouse, and, well, it felt like some notable moment in British history, and I decided to forego the pleasures of seeing the look of failure on Ferguson's face, and instead wallow in the deep pleasure of looking back on the Monkhouse career. Despite his reputation for slick smuggery, he seems to have been a spectacularly decent man. And who else could provide a link between the Carry On films and Emo Phillips? The studio audience alone was worth it: the ageless Tom O'Connor! Johnny Vegas! Anita Harris! At several points I was in tears. And I wonder why I feel so fondly for that generation of British comedians and writers who came out of Service in WWII - and whether we will ever feel this way about our entertainers again? Is it just a function of time and forgetfulness, and will I be sniffling as I watch the Frank Skinner TiyL in 2025?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

'pleasures'?

I like Monkhouse too - only since the early-90s revaluation: before that I had a standard-issue insensitivity to his peculiar talents. And This Is Your Life can be a significant event (and is a very important programme in UK TV history).

But I don't know why Vegas's presence enthralled you so - I think him a lazy one-trick hippo - and I don't know who Anita Harris is. And let's not get thinking too long or hard about Skinner.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 April 2003 10:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Anita Harris: http://dyk.homestead.com/files/AH01.jpg

One of my v earliest crushes. (Odd to think how much she looks like the woman from the Human League who was another early crush - clearly this archetype was imprinted on the young Nipper's BRANE).

I think one of the things I like about BH (and also, come to think of it, Dodd, who also made an appearance... and Les Dawson, who didn't) is how he's become a theorist of comedy. That generation of comedians, who are surely less educated than our "alternative" wave (although BH went to Dulwich College! along with Graham Greene and David Thomson!), seemed to have a very generous and wide-ranging hunger for knowledge and, in a funny way, a philosophy of humour. (Sentimentally I think of this in some way allied to postwar optimism/comprehensive schools/Penguin books etc etc.)

Odd moment: all the way through they were building to the last guest. I'm thinking - "it must be Brucie!", their careers so oddly parallel and intertwined like some double helix of postwar lite-ent - only for the grand disappointment of... June Whitfield...

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 10:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Nipper - good post, and I like the Penguins point. I'm taken with the 'philosophy of humour' idea too: very acute of you. But -- who is BH??

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 April 2003 10:53 (twenty-two years ago)

BM I meant.

(BH= Bob Hoskyns?)

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

bob hope.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm convinced.

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, I am struck by how ~~influential~~ Hope has been as a comedian - and arguably a not v good one. Last nite made it very clear how much of Monkhouse's shtick was an attempt to be a 1950s British Hope. And I think Hope is the template for the Chandler/Xander archetype.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

hope was v. much a theorist [as you said above].

theory here=the application of formulae. and the cataloguing of past experiments.

he also had a large research team.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Hope = Chandler

Crosby = Joey?

― the pinefox, Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:38 (twenty-two years ago)

interesting you mention the frank skinner TIYL jerry
- the first attempt was put paid to by malcolm hardee
who got wind of it then took it upon himself to call
anon to baddiel/skinner's house and say down the phone
'when that c- aspel comes over with his big red book why don't
you tell him to f- off' ?

true.

― piscesboy, Thursday, 24 April 2003 11:59 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.