Peter Cook Page 2

Quote: Wistyish @ March 16 2009, 1:10 PM GMT

Did you know that Peter Cook rang up a local radio station as Sven the fisherman 47 times ... 47 times he rang up a local station as Sven the fisherman ... that's a lot of times for a comedian of his reputation to ring a phone in programme on local radio for no financial reward I think you'll agree ... aren't you interested in the number of times a famous comedian rang a local radio station as Sven the Fisherman? Well I think you should be, because without Sven the Fisherman the local radio phone programme would have been far more boring ... far more boring a programme without his comic input. People might have dropped off to sleep while listening to it if they weren't amazed and bemused by his contributions. People might have thought it was just another medum quality programme with crass members of the public without the contributions of a famous comedian posing as Sven the fisherman. It was a good job he was there really ... a good job he was there.

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Are we drawing attention to the sarcasm or not? If we are, then I must say, it was a good piece of sarcasm.

Peter's crank calls were good, but can they be compared to Iain Lee's Ghostbusters II work? Or the crazy pranks of that wacky Fonejacker? How's my sarcasm?

Quote: Matthew Stott @ March 16 2009, 1:37 PM GMT

If it's what I think you're talking about; then it's 'Why Bother'-

See Amazon product listing

-in which he was interviewed as Arthur Steeb-greebling, or whatever it was, by none other than Chris Morris. It went out on either Radio 4 or 2 in the early-ish nineties and is absolute genius.

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I've got that. It's very funny.

Hi,

Got hold of a copy of Why Bother and I'm really glad I did. Brilliant stuff. Have a listen if you can.

I'm definitely going to do a Purple Comedy special on Peter. Perhaps introduce a lot of folk to his genius.

John
Purple Comedy http://standupcomedy.podomatic.com/

If you can't get enough Peter Cook, be sure to watch the various films he appeared in, especially Bedazzled (easily his best), the Wrong Box, Yellowbeard and the Adventures of Barry McKenzie (the Princess Bride goes without saying). Also, read Tragically I Was an Only Twin. And don't forget the episode of Comic Strip Presents - Mr Jolly Lives Next Door.

Bedazzled is baaaaaaaaaad. (But I do love Yellowbeard, although don't recall Cook appearing in it.)

Genius that Peter Cook was, he couldn't act for f**k!

Quote: Aaron @ March 18 2009, 3:03 PM GMT

Bedazzled is baaaaaaaaaad. (But I do love Yellowbeard, although don't recall Cook appearing in it.)

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Oh no! The devil in Bedazzled was Pete's best role. When he sits atop the pillar box, playing God (politely saying f**k Christianity) before a bemused Dudley, it's like Derek & Clive without profanity. Also gold is the rock star sequence, and the bogus promotion of the Green Eyewash company, when they con the little old lady and Pete asks her "how tall is Prince Phillip?"

Of course, the 2000 remake of Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser and Liz Hurley sucked balls, hugely.

In Yellowbeard, Pete plays Lord Lambourn, most memorable when a sweet little flower girl has been asking "will you give me three farthings for a lump of shit?" which she then throws in the face of Yellowbeard's son. Lord Lambourn follows the girl and offers her three farthings, drops the money on the ground, when the girl bends over to pick it up, he casually kicks her down an open cellar.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ March 18 2009, 3:04 PM GMT

Genius that Peter Cook was, he couldn't act for f**k!

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Not true! He was very good as the Granada TV producer in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. Likewise as Morris Finsbury in The Wrong Box.

How can any of you forget his fantastic performance in The Comic Strip Presents Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door?

Superb acting stuff.

And in the very first episode of Blackadder.

I think it's fair to say that no, he wasn't the greatest of actors. Though in that Clive Anderson show, he seemed to have turned a bit of a corner acting wise. Pity he dropped dead not too long after.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ March 20 2009, 3:33 PM GMT

I think it's fair to say that no, he wasn't the greatest of actors. Though in that Clive Anderson show, he seemed to have turned a bit of a corner acting wise. Pity he dropped dead not too long after.

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I think he was a brilliant character actor when he was doing his own scripts and improv.

Quote: Kenneth @ March 20 2009, 11:29 AM GMT

In Yellowbeard, Pete plays Lord Lambourn, most memorable when a sweet little flower girl has been asking "will you give me three farthings for a lump of shit?" which she then throws in the face of Yellowbeard's son. Lord Lambourn follows the girl and offers her three farthings, drops the money on the ground, when the girl bends over to pick it up, he casually kicks her down an open cellar.

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I've got John Cleese filed as doing the kicking. Will have to watch it again soon.

Definitely Cook doing the kicking. Cleese was Blind Pew. Have you watched Group Madness - the making-of documentary on Yellowbeard? It's very good, better than the film, some people claim.

Can't say I have, no.

I have listened to a lot of the Chris Morris stuff and Pete and Dud and Derek and Clive and still the best Peter Cook work has to be the Clive Anderson interviews. If some TV producers in the early nineties had been brave enough there could have easily been a classic TV series made of these characters.