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I had a much more relaxed day at the Slapstick Festival today, with just one event to do, at 8pm as I introduced a Laurel and Hardy short. Perhaps it would have made more sense to try and do all my events on one day or spread things out a bit more, but schedulers are at the mercy of availability and it meant I could see a couple of events.
I saw Tony Slattery in conversation with Robert Ross, which was a sprawling stream of consciousness as Tony reminisced about his life and his triumphs and his mistakes. I have met Tony a few times and he is the most sweet-hearted of men, who has had too struggle with manic depression and the rollercoaster of fame, which chewed him up and spat him out.
It wasn’t a totally easy watch, but his stories of working with the Footlights alongside Fry, Laurie and Thompson and drinking with Peter Cook and being directed by Kenneth Branagh were funny, but his still-fizzing brain sent him scurrying down rabbit holes in all these stories, making the interview something of an unpredictable drama. Festival director Chris Daniels was brave enough to go up on stage to have a judo move demonstrated upon him and there was a genuine feeling in the air that anything could happen, but luckily no bones were broken.
If you mixed Tony Law (when he was drinking) with Brian Blessed and chucked in a dash of Simon Munnery then you would get an idea of what kind of a RHLSTP this might make. Robert Ross who is a good friend of Slattery handled the interview brilliantly and guided his interviewee away from the mine fields where he occasionally threw himself. I am not sure I could do such a good job, but afterwards discussed the possibility of getting Tony on to the proposed Edinburgh run of RHLSTP. He is a fascinating man, with a burning talent, sometimes struggling to keep up with his brain now. It was an interesting, not always totally comfortable or predictable hour. But in spite of everything Tony remains a modest and likeable force who ended up on his knees cleaning up the water that he’d thrown off the stage.
Then I stayed in the same little studio theatre to watch another showbiz survivor do his stuff, with a gig from the force of nature that is Jimmy Cricket. In his 70s now, he is still a sharp and physical performer who I heard say from backstage before the house opened, “I just hope I can live long enough to be as old as my jokes, you know?â€
And yes, there were some terrible groaners in there, but that’s sort of the point, but it’s all about the character and what I enjoyed most (beyond seeing a man still doing the job he clearly loved) was Jimmy’s little comments and commentaries on what he was doing, making a joke about Oasis and saying “I like to keep the act freshâ€, building up the anticipation of the third item in a rule of three gag, collecting and counting his laughs along the way, when he wasn’t even at his main punchline.
And then he would surprise us by being able to juggle flawlessly or play the saxophone.
Not many of his generation are still performing: they’re dead or in prison or were unable to adapt their horrible racist acts to the modern world, but Jimmy was never a nasty comic and there’s an avuncular charm to him delivering his sometimes predictable punchlines (and he is aware that that is the fun), but then he wrong foots us all with something new and surprising. Obviously he knows what he’s doing by this stage and his audience spent an hour with huge smiles on their faces.
Jimmy talked to me before the show about working with Ray Allen and Harry Worth who had been on the Laurel and Hardy tour that the film “Stan and Ollyâ€revolves around and confirmed that Laurel and Hardy were as sweet and thoughtful as they are portrayed. Stan’s wife wanted to go out on the town after shows but Stan would say that he had to write fan mail to the children who’d been writing to him. I love little more by these degrees of separation that showbiz throws up.
Jimmy was playing the small room and it was not sold out and you could paint that as a downbeat, but seeing a man in his 70s still dancing around the stage and happy to make an idiot of himself, whilst lugging props round to every gig - it is actually a complete triumph and it was an honour to witness, as well as being living history.
It’s been a real education being amongst all these laughter makers over the last two days, as well as a reminder of the fickle nature of the business. I love the performers, even if I sometimes hate the machine that they willingly throw themselves into. And it confirms my feeling that the only real ambition you should have is to survive and to still be working - the level you perform at is not necessarily relevant. Tony and Jimmy don’t share much, but that need to still be on stage is perhaps something they do.
I myself was only on stage for ten minutes tonight, but it was a nice thing to try and process all that I have learned this weekend, whilst being briefly interviewed by Robert Ross. But once my thoughts and Laurel and Hardy had been expressed I was back in the car and driving home.
Thanks to Bristol and the Slapstick Festival for having me. It’s been tremendous fun and as Jimmy Cricket said, “Thanks to Chris Daniels who has taught me that money isn’t everything."
