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Tickling sticks laid in tribute at Ken Dodd’s Liverpool home

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

Fans remember comedy legend who ‘broke the mould’ at house where he was born and died

A pile of flowers and feather dusters – or “tickling sticks” – has begun to grow outside the 18th-century house in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where the comedian Ken Dodd was born and died.

Allan Grice, a 71-year-old former senior fire officer, made the three-hour journey from Wakefield in West Yorkshire to Dodd’s home to hand-deliver a card of condolence, after hearing of the comedian’s death on the radio early on Monday.

Ken Dodd: last of the music-hall maestros

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

The veteran’s linguistic prowess, outlandish appearance and musical smarts could tickle any audience into a state of collective ecstasy

The death of Ken Dodd not only leaves the nation a sadder place, it also feels like the end of an era. Doddy, as everyone in the business called him, was the last link with a music-hall tradition that stretched back through time to include legends such as Max Miller, George Robey and Dan Leno. He adapted his act to the demands of TV and radio, but he was essentially a man of the theatre who could induce in a thousand or more spectators a sense of collective ecstasy.

I claimed, when I interviewed Ken on his 90th birthday, that he and Laurence Olivier were the two performers in my theatre-going experience to be kissed with genius. But of what did that genius consist? For a start, a love of language that enabled him to usher us into a world of grotesque fantasy: a place of hairy Danes with bacon sandwiches strapped to their legs, of satyr-like seniors indulging in snuff orgies, of men with a third eye on the end of their finger. Even childhood was not immune. “I was born one day when me mother was out,” Ken used to quip. “We were so poor the lady next door had me.” That takes us back to Dan Leno who recollected a bizarre infancy in which he varnished the furniture, the cat and the interior of his dad’s boots with strawberry jam.

Sir Ken Dodd obituary

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

Comedian with an endless desire to make people laugh known for his tickling sticks, Diddymen and marathon stage performances

The last great “front-cloth” comic of our times, and the last standing true vaudevillian, Ken Dodd, who has died aged 90, was even more than that – a force of nature, a whirlwind, an ambulant torrent of surreal invention, physical and verbal, whose Liverpudlian cheek masked the melancholy of an authentic clown. “This isn’t television, missus,” he’d say to the front stalls, “you can’t turn me off.” And then he would embark on an odyssey of gag-spinning that, over five hours, would beat an audience into submission, often literally, banging a huge drum and declaring that if we did not like the jokes he would follow us home and shout them through the letter-box.

He entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1974 with a marathon mirth-quake at the Royal Court Liverpool lasting three hours, 30 minutes and six seconds. But his solo shows, in which he would perform three 90-minute-plus sets between magic acts, or a female trumpeter (the formidable Joan Hinde), or a pianist playing country music (his partner Anne Jones), frequently lasted much longer. One good thing, he would say, was that you always went home in the daylight. “And the sooner you laugh at the jokes,” he would say, “the sooner you can go home,” as if we were in school. He admitted that his was an educational show – when you did get home you would think: “That taught me a lesson!”

Five times comedy legend Ken Dodd made us laugh – video

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

The entertainer Sir Ken Dodd has died at the age of 90, just two days after marrying his long-term partner, Anne Jones. Dodd died on Sunday in the house in which he was born, in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash. His publicist, Robert Holmes…

Sir Ken Dodd, legend of comedy, dies aged 90

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

Stars pay tribute to Liverpudlian comic described as ‘one of the last music hall greats’

Tributes have been paid to the entertainer Sir Ken Dodd, who has died at the age of 90 just two days after marrying his long-term partner.

Dodd died on Sunday in the house in which he was born in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash, his publicist said. His wife, Anne Jones, was at his bedside.

What a wonderful day for sticking a cucumber through your neighbour’s letter box and shouting ‘the aliens have landed!’ Tatty bye Doddy. And thanks . #doddy

Comedy flowed through him like water. RIP Sir Ken Dodd. pic.twitter.com/v0FjVJVe1n

Ken Dodd: farewell to the tattifilarious marathon man of comedy

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

Dodd, who has died aged 90, was a force of nature – a cheeky master of the one-liner who spread happiness in shows that lasted until the small hours

Ken Dodd, who has died aged 90, was quite simply a master at making people happy. His shtick – childlike, cheeky, saucy; anarchic and egalitarian – was machine-tooled to disarm our cynicism, and Dodd was relentless in its application. A titter forever playing on his lips, he’d defy you to keep a straight face, to resist the silliness. Each daft joke (“My sister, she was engaged to an Eskimo. She broke it off”) was another rabbit punch to the funny bone. You’d drop your guard eventually, and he’d get you in the end with a one-liner or a flight of nutty fancy: “What a beautiful day for wearing a kilt and standing upside down in the middle of the road saying, ‘How’s that for a lampshade?’”

Dodd’s comedy didn’t play by the rules we follow today – it was a mask. ‘I am my own double act,’ he once said

‘Let’s have fun’: the life of Sir Ken Dodd – in pictures

March 12, 2018TheGuardian

One of the most popular comedians of his time, Sir Ken Dodd has died aged 90. His career spanned seven decades and was most famous for his long stand-up shows, along with his Diddy Men and the tickling stick. Continue reading…

Iain Stirling: ‘I still haven’t forgiven David Beckham for my curtains’

March 9, 2018TheGuardian

The standup, writer and television presenter on the things that make him laugh the most

Patton Oswalt’s latest Netflix show is as good as standup gets. He talks about losing his wife and the challenge of telling his daughter her mum had passed. It’s beautifully dealt with and so funny.

Iain Stirling: ‘I still haven’t forgiven David Beckham for my curtains’

March 9, 2018TheGuardian

The standup, writer and television presenter on the things that make him laugh the most

Patton Oswalt’s latest Netflix show is as good as standup gets. He talks about losing his wife and the challenge of telling his daughter her mum had passed. It’s beautifully dealt with and so funny.

Is Facebook killing online comedy?

March 8, 2018TheGuardian

Job cuts at Funny or Die suggest making money from comedy videos is harder than ever – and some blame the social-media titan. But a new wave of creators are finding ways to thrive

Earlier this year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to the social network’s algorithm. “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands and media,” he wrote in, predictably, a Facebook status. “The public content you see … should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”

Less than two weeks later, longstanding comedy video website Funny or Die made another round of redundancies, after laying off roughly 30% of its staff in 2016. The website’s CEO, Mike Farah, vented his frustration, tweeting: “There is simply no money in making comedy online any more. Facebook has completely destroyed independent digital comedy.”

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