Peter Cook (I)

Why British satire is hard bloody work

Peter Cook's old Establishment club is back in London after 50 years - will it bring some Armando Iannucci- or Ian Hislop-esque hard satire to the live circuit?

Peter Cook's wife releases previously unheard sketches

Lin Cook has released a private collection that includes more than 40 hours of audio-cassette recordings featuring Peter Cook. It also features photographs, letters, home movies and watercolours painted by the star.

Peter Cook's legendary club returns

Peter Cook's legendary comedy club The Establishment is set to make a return to London.

A tribute to the late, great Dudley Moore, perhaps best known in the UK for his hallowed Pete and Dud double act with Peter Cook, but a considerable Hollywood star in his own right, not least for the comedy hits 10 and Arthur. Here friends, family, ex-wives and partners (he was married and divorced four times) celebrate his life, talents and achievements.

Peter Cook: BFI season shows comic genius

A retrospective at the BFI reveals Peter Cook as the hippest comedian of the 1960s.

Peter Cook at 75

Peter Cook - who would have been 75 this year - was one of the brightest stars in a constellation of comedic talent that emerged from the Oxbridge tradition and revolutionised humour in the 1960s.

35 years of Derek and Clive

2011 is a stale time for comedy. The ideas are tired and nothing seems to be pushing the limits. Seems like a good time to pay our respects to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's wonderful collection of comedic filth...

Private Eye and Peter Cook's finest hour

Ian Hislop regaled the audience with the tale of the time he, the late proprietor Peter Cook and others invaded the office of arch enemy Robert Maxwell.

Watching this series's parade of classic comedy clips, chosen by comedians of today, confirms the theory that some people just have funny bones. It wouldn't matter if Tommy Cooper were clipping his toenails or performing the elaborately shambolic glass bottle trick from 1974 that is replayed here tonight: the fez-wearing comedian induces guffaws just because of who he is. Similarly, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore go wildly off-script in their "Pete and Dud" sketch in the art gallery and start giggling, but they're naturally funny together, as Phill Jupitus and Rhod Gilbert attest here. Funny comes in many packages, and while the American stand-up Joan Rivers, chosen by Graham Norton and Jo Brand as a favourite, is well-known for her shock tactics, her outrageous quips about growing old on The Graham Norton Show appeared to take even Norton aback at the time. Other treats featured are the University Challenge scene from The Young Ones in 1984, co-starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, and the bit in the Monty Python film Life of Brian in which Graham Chapman's Brian Cohen exhorts his followers to think for themselves. It may be a clip show and most of the clips are more than familiar, but it surely contains more laughs per minute than any of the newer comedies on television tonight.

A modest moment of TV history took place in Fry and Laurie Reunited, in which the beloved comedy duo appeared on screen following a gap of 15 years.

Interviewing each other informally in an English country manor, their mutual affection was palpable. Although it was charming seeing them in tandem again, it was disappointing that their cheerfully anecdotal conversation offered scant insight into their working process. Sadly, it wasn't that kind of show.

Instead, this was - as Fry might say - a moist, fluffy tribute to one of Britain's most exceptional double acts: a reminder that Laurie is one of the most naturally gifted clowns of his generation, and that Fry was once so much more than a cosy national treasure.

Despite their closeness, it was interesting to note their different temperaments. Now one of the world's biggest TV stars thanks to House, Laurie disguised himself behind a torrent of unsentimental quips, while Fry guffawed adoringly and spoke emotionally of their relationship.

It's tempting to draw parallels with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: the troubled, resolutely English wit and the ivory-tinkling clown turned unlikely superstar sex symbol. But there isn't a hint of jealousy or spite between them.

As torrid as it got was when Laurie questioned Fry's memories of their first meeting and expressed concern that he was spreading himself too thin, while Fry dug heavily at the likes of Little Britain for lazily regurgitating sketches, which Fry and Laurie rarely did.

Notwithstanding a glimpse of their obscure comedy pilot from 1983, this reunion was over-reliant on familiar clips and padding. If not a squandered opportunity exactly, then not quite the summit I'd hoped for.