As Zippy T Doodar suggested it, I thought I'd start a thread about the late Maurice Cole, aka Kenny Everett. I first heard him on Capital Radio in the 1970s. At his best he was a wonderfully inventive DJ. However, if he spent too long in one job he eventually got a bit stale (especially his television show) or went OTT and got sacked (from many radio jobs).

 

ANy other memories of Cuddly Ken?

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s...l=KENNY+EVERETT

 

A great subject worth reviving.

 

 

 

 

said it before..... never really found him funny and imho he was a third rate spike milligan.

I remember thinking of him as "that funny man" when I was really young and his TV show was must-see viewing. I downloaded his Christmas Carol late last year and really loved it.

 

http://24christmascarols.blogspot.com/2009...y-everetts.html

It's 15 years on 4th April since he died.

I can remember where he was when i heard the news, on a train coming back from Dawlish.

I was listening to the radio on my walkman, and it came on.

 

Great comedian. R.I.P. Kenny :(

Edited March 7, 201015 yr by Mark.

I was just talking about him the other day. A true genius and maverick.

Edited March 7, 201015 yr by Severin

said it before..... never really found him funny and imho he was a third rate spike milligan.

 

I totally agree with you!

 

Norma

Hello everybody, I hope you all have had a good Easter holiday period over the last couple of weeks. Mine was not too great as I was still getting over a funeral I had to go to the week before. Due to this factor, you may understand why I have not wanted to reminisce about any dead comedians until now. Nevertheless here are some of my thoughts about Kenny Everett.

 

When I was a young I thought that Everett was the funniest comedian on television, so much so that I wished that he could be my father. As I was only 6 or 7 at time, little did I realise that he would be not be the kind of gentleman who would be bothered with that kind of family role, as this would probably prevent him from going to lots of fabulous parties at Freddie Mercury’s house [though I suppose there is always the vague possibility that he could have had children of his own, as in the case of Ricky Martin, Paul O’Grady and Billy Mackenzie].

 

I used to watch Everett’s show religiously on the television though by this time it would have been his [very standard sketch format] comedy show on the BBC, rather than the one on Thames that he is usually respected for. I also knew that Everett had a show on the radio and for many years I thought I was an avid listener of his show on Radio 1. Even though I knew he was a big star of the BBC, what I did not realise was that he had been sacked by the radio department many years previously and that I was actually listening to a sound-a-like called Adrian Juste. I think Everett may have actually been broadcasting many miles away on Capital Radio by this time, though he may have got sacked from there as well.

 

Does anyone remember his quiz show as well? The show was called ‘Brainstorm’ and I think it was similar to that quiz show Tony Wilson used to present on Channel 4 where they would eliminate people from the competition after not too long. Whereas on Wilson’s show the audience would sing the chorus of the Ray Charles song “Hit The Road Jack” at the point of elimination, on Everett’s, the contestants were ‘ejected’ from the set, as they were sitting on moving chairs. If you remember that scene in the first Austin Powers film where Will Ferrell’s Mustafa character gets ejected from the table [at Dr Evil’s meeting] into the fire underneath the trapdoor, then this may remind you of the point of elimination on that Brainstorm quiz.

 

Also coming along with ‘Cuddly Ken’ from his sketch show was Cleo Rocas. Even though she was part of the Brainstorm presenting team, I cannot remember what she actually did apart from being Cleo Rocas. I do not think she would have contributed as much as Isla St Clair would have done on Larry Grayson’s Generation Game.

 

Now that I have mentioned Grayson, I think “Shut That Door” would have been just one of the many impersonations that many people my age tried to do when they were younger, along with Tommy Cooper’s “Just like that” and Everett’s “…in the best possible taste” line from his character Cupid Stunt. Unlike accident prone DIY man Reg Prescott, Cupid Stunt was never one of my favourite characters of his, though I did like Barry Cryer’s anecdote about renaming the character, as their intended name was deemed far ruder than Cupid Stunt by the powers that be at the BBC.

 

Cupid Stunt’s catchphrase was also co-opted for use as an album title by Kingmaker in 1995, though this was just a regular artist album rather than their ‘Greatest Hits’ album. I think “…in the best possible taste” would have been a brilliant title for a Hits compilation album and I am hoping that EMI will get around to issuing a Kingmaker CD/DVD compilation like they have been doing with all their 1980s UK signed acts [blondie, Kajagoogoo, Thomas Dolby and Ultravox]. As I was a fan of Kingmaker at the time, I thought it was a pity that their “In The Best Possible Taste” album did not chart and that they seemed to be one of those post-baggy bands of the early 1990s that seemed to get lost in the Britpop ‘rush’ towards the middle of that decade.

 

To be totally honest with you, it has been a few years since I last thought about Kingmaker or played their records [of which I had quite a good collection of releases]. I wished I had remembered them when I signed up for this site, as having the same first name as their singer, I think that using a pun on the name Kingmaker as my non de plume, may have been a better choice than one that I use now. Not only is my online name a bad pun, one that I do not think that even Barry Cryer would attempt to use, I now realise that it makes me sound like a character in Rainbow. I suppose if I wanted to sound like a character in Rainbow I could have used ‘Mr. Bungle’ for my online pseudonym, as at least there would be a link to band that I was fond of back in the 1990s [Faith No More/Mike Patton].

 

I cannot remember if any bands equivalent to Faith No More or Kingmaker would have come onto Kenny Everett’s BBC 1 television show in the 1980s. I think the acts booked may have been the kind of 1980s pop that would be more suitable for a light entertainment show format, though I guess slightly ‘cooler’ than the acts you would see on either Little & Large or The Two Ronnies. I cannot remember if acts like Madness or Motorhead would have been on Everett’s show, as I only remember them appearing on fellow ‘light entertainment’ show The Young Ones, bookings which turned out to be part a worthwhile ‘con’ to get more money for the team from the Beeb [i think Everett actually invented this term as well].

 

On the whole, I think that the musical guests that Everett would have on his show would be similar to the ones he spoofed, such as Rod Stewart and the Bee Gees. In the case of the latter act, my memories of Everett’s spoof sketch had, for many years, become merged with that of the KYTV cast’s “Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices)” parody. It was not until a few years after Have I Got News For You had started to be broadcast, that I saw the old footage again of Angus Deayton performing this ‘Hee Bee Gee Bees’ routine on one of those ‘Before They Were Famous’ type of shows.

 

I enjoyed KYTV when it was on, especially the pop quiz sketch, but overall I did not think the show was up to the standards of Absolutely or Naked Video. I do not know what I would think of all these shows if I saw them now, and would probably be disappointed that the humour was not as funny or as ‘edgy’ as the time when I first saw the shows new.

 

I do not think that I would like to get into a discussion about ‘alternative’ comedy unless it is about simply remembering what shows I used to watch. Since many of the artists became assimilated into the mainstream it is hard to remember what shows were actually part of the alternative comedy boom unless they were fronted by people from the original Comedy Store footage that I have seen on TV.

 

As I was a fan of his shows at the time, I think I would have included somebody like Jasper Carrott as being an ‘alternative comedian’ especially since his shows were of a satirical nature, broadcast post-watershed and featured people like Punt & Dennis. Obviously, we all now know him as the “Funky Moped” man from Goldenballs [which, I suppose in these days of TV scandals could be found out to be a ‘Numberwang-esque’ spoof all along] but as a child his comedy seemed very risqué and anti-establishment.

 

I cannot remember there ever being any musical guest interludes on either Carrott’s Lib or Canned Carrrot, and I suppose this is another reason why I regarded Carrott’s shows as being ‘alternative’. By the time Carrott’s shows were being broadcast, many sketch shows were moving away from their light entertainment origins and therefore disregarded the musical guests, though French & Saunders did have Kirsty Maccoll in the music slot every week.

 

As most shows in those days seemed to have a series run of six episodes, I cannot image Kirsty Maccoll getting the chance to showcase all of her songs from her ‘Kite’ album on the French & Saunders show. Now many comedy series seem to have extended runs, it is a pity more shows these days do not take this approach as it could be a great opportunity for an artist’s album launch and could give ‘Dave’ a natural advertisement break when they come to repeat the shows after the album campaign has ended.

 

In regards to the appearances of Maccoll, I only seem to remember two songs being performed, which were “Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim” and my personal “Kite” album favourite “15 Minutes”, though I would expect the Ray Davies song “Days” to have been performed as well.

 

I cannot remember clearly any other songs being performed on any other comedy shows, so I guess the normal standard of guests must have either not been to my liking or not in the same league as Madness, Maccoll and Motorhead. I think that people like Elaine Paige and Barbra Dickinson would have been the usual musical relief, whilst “I Know Him So Well” is a recording that must have been spoofed by French & Saunders at some point in the past. As all the BBC Four compilations that I normally see are drawn from the usual archive of shows, such as TOTP or The Whistle Test and not from these ‘Light Entertainment’ comedy interludes, the only other act that I am sure I saw on a comedy show is ABC.

 

I remember watching the mid 1980s line-up of ABC on Everett’s BBC 1 show, in a clip that I have tried to find with no luck on Youtube. This was the “Who Wants To Be A Zillionaire” version of the ‘band’ which included performance-only members Eden and David Yarritu. I cannot remember what song they were singing though I think it may have been “15 Story Halo” rather than one of the singles from the album. You may remember the style of the band at the time, as they looked like a cartoon version of The Age Of Chance, with bizarrely shaped instruments and giant quiffs. I guess that Titlow & Miller of Blue Mercedes may have been influenced by this period of the group rather more than ABC of “The Lexicon Of Love” era, as you could have easily replaced Mark White in the line-up with Duncan Miller with his quiff and large “weird keyboard thingy”.

 

As for the recordings of Titlow & Miller, I think their Blue Mercedes song “Crunchy Love Affaire” could have easily fitted as a bonus track on “The Lexicon Of Love”. I thought that it was a pity that this was not released as a single, perhaps instead of “Love Is The Gun”, though with hindsight I think they would have had more chance of longevity in the charts if they had just started off sounding like Primal Scream in the first place [as in the case of their “Sweet Temptation” record released under the alias of Nixon in 1991].

 

Even though I think that “Crunchy Love Affaire” would have been a better single, I would like to have the video of “Love Is The Gun” on my collection of old VHS tapes. Since the Christmas edition in 1986 [which featured Fuzzbox at Number 10 in the ‘Best of Indie’ chart], I had recorded every episode of The [iTV] Chart Show onto VHS apart from one episode which featured that Blue Mercedes song. I remember that it was broadcast on a sunny day and I was out somewhere, though I cannot remember if I was just out for the day or on holiday for the week; or who had set the video or forgot to record it for me.

 

I also cannot remember if it had moved to Saturday mornings by that time, as on the last VHS of old Chart Shows that I watched I had not recorded any of the opening titles or adverts. Thankfully, unlike some of my of old Polygram CDs, the VHS recordings from this period have not disintegrated to an extent where I cannot play the music, and I seem to have recorded most of the pop videos that I would want to watch again, so really I can not complain, I mustn’t grumble [to quickly paraphrase an infamously bad rhyming couplet].

 

Loz

 

 

 

I have very fond memories of Miss Whiplash, Sid Snot, Cupid Stunt, Captain Kremmin, etc.. I used to watch Everett religiously when he was on... Frankly Rob, I dont really see the Spike Milligan comparison, Everett was very much of the 1980s, like Ben Elton, The Young Ones, Alexei Sayle, etc...

I have very fond memories of Miss Whiplash, Sid Snot, Cupid Stunt, Captain Kremmin, etc.. I used to watch Everett religiously when he was on... Frankly Rob, I dont really see the Spike Milligan comparison, Everett was very much of the 1980s, like Ben Elton, The Young Ones, Alexei Sayle, etc...

 

 

I think I will have to agree with you as well, as I also do not see a natural comparison to the style of Milligan either. I would guess most people would say that Milligan was a surreal comedian and would group his style of comedy with that of Monty Python, whilst Everett would be seen as being ‘rude’ [though not explicit like Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown] or ‘saucy’.

 

I think there are probably more parallels between Rik Mayall & Ade Edmondson’s post-Young Ones brand of anarchic rudeness and Everett’s, though I would not like to compare Everett to The Young Ones outright, as that show was a complex mixture of styles.

 

Whilst I cannot comment too much on the style of comedy used when Everett was employed by Thames, I think that, as far as his BBC 1 output went, you could also say that Everett was a ‘post-Carry On’ comedian that was part of a ‘saucy’ British comic linage that could be traced back further past Williams and Hawtrey, to music hall innuendo and those old seaside postcards.

 

Loz

 

I have very fond memories of Miss Whiplash, Sid Snot, Cupid Stunt, Captain Kremmin, etc.. I used to watch Everett religiously when he was on... Frankly Rob, I dont really see the Spike Milligan comparison, Everett was very much of the 1980s, like Ben Elton, The Young Ones, Alexei Sayle, etc...

 

not a chance... everett was for kids and adults with no sophistication, totally unlike the young ones , comic strip, et al... you needed a brain to understand the referances with alternative comedy, everett was in the same vein as benny bloody hill... in yer face smut for the brain dead (as in you didnt need to think to understand it, it was what it was)

 

dunno why you dont get the milligan comparison, they both created shows comprising of sketches, one did it brilliantly, the other was comedy for christians...

not a chance... everett was for kids and adults with no sophistication, totally unlike the young ones , comic strip, et al... you needed a brain to understand the referances with alternative comedy, everett was in the same vein as benny bloody hill... in yer face smut for the brain dead (as in you didnt need to think to understand it, it was what it was)

 

dunno why you dont get the milligan comparison, they both created shows comprising of sketches, one did it brilliantly, the other was comedy for christians...

 

Sorry, but I fail to understand why you have made such a pious reference. You will have to explain this point of criticism to me as I cannot see what Christianity has to do with the discussion about Everett.

 

I suppose if I was to ask any of the high street preachers [the kind that I normally try to avoid on my way back into work at lunchtime] what they think of Everett, they would probably give a negative view of his camp comedy and launch into a 10 minute tirade against the ‘sins he has committed’. Obviously, this viewpoint would be based on a 2010 perspective rather than that of 1981, where the full disclosure over his lifestyle and demise is now known.

 

On the other hand, from reading many of the opinions expressed previously in other threads, I think it is likely that the majority of people here would have been socialised in their younger lives [whether by media, upbringing or the University system] to have very anti-Thatcherite feelings. In addition to this people will no doubt remember the footage from that election campaign rally where Everett came on with his big ‘Brother Lee’ hands and suggested that Michael Foot’s stick should be kicked away. Due to this I think it would have been better if you had taken a political rather than religious stance and had said that “they both created shows comprising of sketches, one did it brilliantly, the other was comedy for Conservatives”.

 

[Please note, I would be happy to continue discussing Milligan if you prefer but not in regards to Curry & Chips]

 

Loz

 

Sorry, but I fail to understand why you have made such a pious reference. You will have to explain this point of criticism to me as I cannot see what Christianity has to do with the discussion about Everett.

 

I suppose if I was to ask any of the high street preachers [the kind that I normally try to avoid on my way back into work at lunchtime] what they think of Everett, they would probably give a negative view of his camp comedy and launch into a 10 minute tirade against the ‘sins he has committed’. Obviously, this viewpoint would be based on a 2010 perspective rather than that of 1981, where the full disclosure over his lifestyle and demise is now known.

 

On the other hand, from reading many of the opinions expressed previously in other threads, I think it is likely that the majority of people here would have been socialised in their younger lives [whether by media, upbringing or the University system] to have very anti-Thatcherite feelings. In addition to this people will no doubt remember the footage from that election campaign rally where Everett came on with his big ‘Brother Lee’ hands and suggested that Michael Foot’s stick should be kicked away. Due to this I think it would have been better if you had taken a political rather than religious stance and had said that “they both created shows comprising of sketches, one did it brilliantly, the other was comedy for Conservatives”.

 

[Please note, I would be happy to continue discussing Milligan if you prefer but not in regards to Curry & Chips]

 

Loz

 

I actually agree a lot with Rob on Everett. I found him totally unfunny back then. I would actually say he was more of a third-rate Dick Emery than a third-rate Spike Milligan. Milligan was sophisticated and yet had a child-like innocence about him. Everett was just unfunny smut. I found his 'it's all in the best paaaassible taste' ... crossing legs widely more in-keeping with Dick Emery's Mandy character.

 

Norma

 

 

Sorry, but I fail to understand why you have made such a pious reference. You will have to explain this point of criticism to me as I cannot see what Christianity has to do with the discussion about Everett.

 

I suppose if I was to ask any of the high street preachers [the kind that I normally try to avoid on my way back into work at lunchtime] what they think of Everett, they would probably give a negative view of his camp comedy and launch into a 10 minute tirade against the ‘sins he has committed’. Obviously, this viewpoint would be based on a 2010 perspective rather than that of 1981, where the full disclosure over his lifestyle and demise is now known.

 

On the other hand, from reading many of the opinions expressed previously in other threads, I think it is likely that the majority of people here would have been socialised in their younger lives [whether by media, upbringing or the University system] to have very anti-Thatcherite feelings. In addition to this people will no doubt remember the footage from that election campaign rally where Everett came on with his big ‘Brother Lee’ hands and suggested that Michael Foot’s stick should be kicked away. Due to this I think it would have been better if you had taken a political rather than religious stance and had said that “they both created shows comprising of sketches, one did it brilliantly, the other was comedy for Conservatives”.

 

[Please note, I would be happy to continue discussing Milligan if you prefer but not in regards to Curry & Chips]

 

Loz

 

i moved alot in christian circles in the late 70's, had a dabble myself, my g/f who became my fiancee and ultimately my wife had 2 christian brothers. our friends were largely of christian background........ they LOVED kenny everett ... hence my earlier referance.

 

milligan has been discussed previously but i have no problem with talking about the bloke i personally regard as one of our national treasures and the godfather of modern comedy. as for the embarrassing 'curry and chips'...well! he wasnt averse to using asians as the butt of his humour :lol: and imho one of the funniest sketches ever was in 'q6' the pakistani dalek sketch!

 

 

I actually agree a lot with Rob on Everett. I found him totally unfunny back then. I would actually say he was more of a third-rate Dick Emery than a third-rate Spike Milligan. Milligan was sophisticated and yet had a child-like innocence about him. Everett was just unfunny smut. I found his 'it's all in the best paaaassible taste' ... crossing legs widely more in-keeping with Dick Emery's Mandy character.

 

Norma

 

yep certainly more akin to dick emery to milligan, spot on norma!

KYTV (going back to Loz's post a couple weeks ago) was a television version of the Radio 4 show Radio Active. Meaningless Songs was - I think - first performed on that show along with some other equally good parodies. Several of the people in that show went on to form Hat Trick Productions.

This sketch both scared and had me in stitches when I was about 5:

 

 

I also have a vague recollection of a sketch involving Everett walking up to the camera and saying 'This is a live show. Bum. Bum' which for some reason became the catchphrase of my 5 year old self for many months. Not sure if that ever happened though.

not a chance... everett was for kids and adults with no sophistication,

 

Well, I was a kid when I watched it back in the day...... :P

 

Okay, I admit, that if I were to look at it now in 2010, it'd probably be like The A-Team or Knight Rider.... Good childhood memories, but not too great now....

Well, I was a kid when I watched it back in the day...... :P

 

Okay, I admit, that if I were to look at it now in 2010, it'd probably be like The A-Team or Knight Rider.... Good childhood memories, but not too great now....

 

now theres a thought..... i was adult and the target audience when the young ones was released ...you were playing with toys! :rofl:

i moved alot in christian circles in the late 70's, had a dabble myself, my g/f who became my fiancee and ultimately my wife had 2 christian brothers. our friends were largely of christian background........ they LOVED kenny everett ... hence my earlier referance.

 

 

I think at that time Everett was married to his [female] manager, though this period could have actually been slightly later in the 1980s rather than in the era you mention here. I have got a biography of Everett at home and I think it was actually written by this manager. I cannot be sure because I never got around to reading all of it, just a few pages whilst looking for names that were cross referenced from the index.

 

I had a friend who was studying ‘Gender Politics’ at University and I remember being told a joke in regards to Everett’s marriage, during a discussion we were having about comedy. I cannot remember the whole joke though the pun used was a play on the Steve Martin film “The Man With Two Brains”, with Everett being ‘The Man With Two Beards’ instead. Once the joke was explained to me I found that it was quite a witty one, though I guess you would have to be on a gender study course to get the pun ‘straight’ off. In addition to this, I suppose you could say that Everett was a ‘wild and crazy guy’ and because of this, he may have been the nearest equivalent to Martin that England had at the time, though this might be stretching these comparisons too much.

 

I also used to have a friend who was a born-again Christian Punk, though his style was that of an American Skate-Punk from the early 2000s rather than looking a cross between mid-1980s stars Matt Belgrano and the Rev. Richard Coles; and while they may have found some common ground discussing music, as the ‘Gender Study Guy’ liked Metal and Hard Rock as well [though his tastes were going more towards Glam and Goth than Punk], I think their opinions would have clashed when it came to any matters used discussed on that course.

 

As you have already may have guessed from his style and taste in music, my Skate-Punk friend was younger than me and did not really have much interest in old comedians [though as Paul Merton and Wes Butters prove, when it comes to age and era this is not always the case]. He would generally favour the type of comedy that would be scheduled at around 11pm on the VIVA channel and therefore was more influenced by what was popular in America than anything else.

 

On the other hand, the ‘Gender Study Guy’ was a fan of surreal comedy, being a massive fan of Eddie Izzard and Paul Merton, whilst liking camp comedians such as Julian Clary as well. Not surprisingly, Milligan and Everett would be people he would be aware of and would generally respect.

 

Even though I respect aspects of both Milligan’s and Everett’s work, I would not like to say one is a genius and the other one is not, as I have not experienced enough of their output to come to a satisfactory conclusion. In regards to Everett, I do not think television was his natural medium and the work that I remember is most likely to be that which has been heavily ‘shaped’ by the writing of Barry Cryer.

 

I have only ever listened to one show by Everett on the radio, one that was repeated on BBC Radio 2 a couple of years ago at Christmas. I suppose he was one of the first DJs in this country who would have that ‘zoo radio’ format and I would say that his style was definitely a precursor to many people that are on the radio now, whether it be Shaun Keaveny with his comedy sketches or Steve Wright and his posse. I think Wright’s show could be seen as direct successor to Everett’s, especially in the Radio 1 days, when Wright’s show featured all those comedy characters like ‘Arnie & The Terminators’; ‘The Daleks’ and that Pet Shop Boys parody which included a Neil Tennant character that sounded like Rik Mayall.

 

 

Loz