The Carry On School Of Modern Day Comedy

It's still possible to identify the Carry On influence in modern mainstream British comedy.

From the pseudo working men's clubs insights of Peter Kay, to the knowing tickle-yer-granny's funny bone 'off-the-cuff' sitcom sauciness of Mrs Brown's Boys .. the double entendre and innuendo laced humour of the Carry Ons are alive and well and on a DVD shelf near you.

Julian Clary, who features in the forthcoming ebook, Intimate Insights (Wholepoint Publications), starred in the ill-received Carry On Columbus, and, for his sins, found himself in a recent run of Celebrity Big Brother.

But ringing through the heart of Julian’s comedy persona are the infectious vowels and delivery of Kenneth Williams.

Even as far back as his days as The Joan Collins Fan Club, his modus operandi was to shock through use of his vocabulary .. a technique so expertly mastered by Williams.

Williams would also use song as part of his intellectual arsenal. Releasing two albums under his own name, Kenneth Williams on Pleasure Bent and The World of Kenneth Williams; he has been cited as a great influence on Tim Minchin.

Minchin is an Australian-British comedian, actor, and musician who describes his act as a ‘funny cabaret show’ and sees himself primarily as a musician and songwriter as opposed to a comedian.

His songs, he says: "just happen to be funny."  His reasoning for combining the disciplines of music and comedy was revealed in one interview when he said:

"I'm a good musician for a comedian and I'm a good comedian for a musician but if I had to do any of them in isolation I dunno."

 

 

Minchin’s self doubts over giving his talents to just one comedy genre are much like those of Williams.

The Carry On regular wanted most of all to be taken seriously, but is best remembered for his slapstick appearances in the long running comedy film series.

From the stadium-filling mainstream comedy of Michael McIntyre, to the sardonic observational comedy of Dylan Moran, we have the likes of Sid James, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Barbara Windsor et al to thank for coming up with the ideas first!

 

 

Available now at Amazon - iBookstore - Kobo

A Write Carry On - The Untold Story Of A Man In The Shadows

by Mike Cobley
 

Wholepoint Publications

A Write Carry On: The Readers Offer Up Their Intimate Insights!

Feedback during the four months since the publication of A Write Carry On has been both enlightening and informative.

 

Sally Majors, from 'up Gloucestershire way', emailed to say as a teenager in the early 1970s whilst visiting her grandparents in East Sussex, they had all been excited to come across a 'somewhat jovial Sid James and Barbara Windsor' sat in the quiet alcove of an Alfriston pub.

Sally and her grandfather approached the couple when they were at the bar ordering more ‘liveners’. Both were friendly, and Sally remembers Barbara taking a keen interest in her somewhat ‘off-the-wall teenage attire’.

Considering, at the time, that the Carry On couple were having an unpublicised affair, Sally is, in hindsight, amazed at how open and forthcoming the duo were.

 

 

Another interesting insight, from a fellow A Write Carry On reader, arrived via a private message on my Facebook page.

Dan Carter, a self-styled ‘British comedy film buff’ clearly remembers tracking down Carry On scriptwriter, Talbot‘Tolly’ Rothwell, to the Shepherd and Dog, his local pub in Fulking.

A few whiskeys later and talk turned to the ins and outs of writing to deadline and the process that saw the scriptwriting project brought to completion.

Tolly told Dan that Carry On producer Peter Rogers, once a scriptwriter himself, was both meticulous and demanding when it came to perusing the various script drafts.

They would return to Tolly with red crossings and markings as well as being heavily annotated.

 

There would be a number of these exchanges, and Tolly felt it was his willingness to take on board criticism (justified or not) and his quick turn around in ideas and drafts that kept him onboard the Carry On team for twenty-two of the series thirty-one films.

 

 

Lastly, in this blog entry, the last hurrah goes to Annie Crocket, now based in Northern France, but during the early 1960s and late 1970s she was a resident of Eastbourne, in East Sussex.

Annie worked as an extra on many projects shot at Pinewood Studios. She had muted background scenes in a number of Carry On films, and got to know a few of the personalities behind their on screen characters.

Having read A Write Carry On Annie dropped me a long email. Firstly she congratulated me on bringing out the true essence of the likes of Kenneth Williams, Sid James, Jim Dale, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey.

It was the latter she chatted to the most. Annie said she found Hawtrey a loner who, when sober, was friendly and always welcoming of a quiet chat. She said he kept himself pretty much to himself, and that initially once he began drinking heavily he found it easier to be a part of such a close nit group of actors.

 

She also bonded with Kenneth Williams. Always 'on' and never predictable. A true Carry On trait if ever there was one! 

Available now at Amazon - iBookstore - Kobo

A Write Carry On - The Untold Story Of A Man In The Shadows

by Mike Cobley

Wholepoint Publications

Beyond The Carry Ons: ‘Intimate Insights’ Coming To Wholepoint Publications

A Write Carry On (Wholepoint Publications) is not the whole story, it just marks the halfway point in my collection of reminisces about growing up with the Carry Ons.

The first ebook focused on my family's friendship with the big screen series long-term scriptwriter, Talbot 'Tolly' Rothwell.

The final part of the tale, Intimate Insights, is currently at the first draft stage and will be available for download (via Amazon/Kob/iTunes) before the year's end.

 

Like A Write Carry On, the new ebook has been picked up by Wholepoint Publications.

Intimate Insights will focus on my meetings with many of the regular Carry On cast. The majority of those off screen stumble-upons took place in Fulking (Sussex), at the home of 'Tolly' Rothwell.

A few of them, like my chance meeting with Julian Clary (Carry On Columbus), are worthy of their inclusion in Intimate Insights.

 

Julian was fine company; a thoughtful, engaging and open interviewee – despite being caught somewhat off guard.

 

 

As for the featured Carry On regulars (Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Barbara Windsor, Jim Dale, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims and Jim Dale), separately they were great company. Together, in certain combinations, they could be a nightmare. I had the (mis)-fortune to witness both!
 
Intimate Insights will also feature the illustrations of Mandy Hills. Mandy drew the cover for A Write Carry On, and has teamed-up with me in the past where she has supplied illustrations for poetry anthologies and magazines .. as well as drawing a mean Virginia Woolf!   

Available now at Amazon - iBookstore - Kobo

A Write Carry On - The Untold Story Of A Man In The Shadows

by Mike Cobley

Wholepoint Publications

'Intimate Insights' - A Peek Behind The Carry Ons!

The forthcoming free mini-ebook 'Intimate Insights' will bring to a close the final chapter on my unique tale of growing up with the Carry Ons. In A Write Carry On (Wholepoint Publications) I offered a glimpse into the life and times of the longtime series scriptwriter, Talbot 'Tolly' Rothwell.

'Intimate Insights' delves a little deeper into the household names who were so universally loved and respected; those icons of British comedy who included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Frankie Howerd and Jim Dale.

Some of the mini-ebook’s insights have featured on this blog, others will be unique and previously unpublished.

‘Intimate Insights’ will be free to download from Scribd and this blog from 20^th October. Check back regularly for updates.

A Write Carry On is available now via Amazon – Kobo and iTunes .. click here for more details.

Available now at Amazon - iBookstore - Kobo

A Write Carry On - The Untold Story Of A Man In The Shadows

by Mike Cobley

Wholepoint Publications

Charles Hawtrey: The Carry On Genius With A Dark Past

Carry On regular Charles Hawtrey was a strange one. Everytime I saw him he was sat quietly in a corner of a room keeping himself very much to himself.

It certainly wasn’t the job of a timid teen to make social interaction with someone as seemingly unapproachable as Mr Hawtrey.

My dad had warned me that it was best to stay well clear. He’d barely got a word out of the man. They were less than a year apart in age, yet my dad seemed decades younger. Hawtrey, to my fourteen year-old eye, had the presence and look of a man well past his lifespan.

But he was, without question, a comedy genius. His timing, movement and mere presence in a Carry On scene were enough to raise the neck hairs. He had come to acting as early in life after appearing on a series of recordings as a boy soprano. 

Carry On scriptwriter Talbot 'Tolly' Rothwell never had a bad word to say about the latter day recluse. He once told me that Hawtrey had suffered the fate of many gay men of the day. He’d kept his sexuallity a secret and remained tied to his mother’s apron strings. He also had a tough time of it when she went on develop senile dementia.

His mother was known to horde toilet rolls, as Hawtrey was reported to have hoarded bed knobs for future profit. It was a difficult time to be gay and little is known of Hawtrey’s private life.

I was in the presence of Hawtrey a handful of times. I remember once staring inquisitively at the small man and wondering how Tolly could believe him to be so full of humour.

Once, Hawtrey caught me looking at him and smiled back. I remember feeling sad because his smile had been so full of gloom. It was almost as though the very soul of Hawtrey was trapped.

I liked him, there was a kinship and I could sense a softness. His movements were gentle and he was polite. But sad, very sad.

Charles Hawtrey passed away in 1988 and the age of 73. A strange, private and talented man. I remember him fondly.

A Write Carry On (Wholepoint Publications)

available 1st May 2012.


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Contact the author at editor@brighton.co.uk