Later this year, Ken Dodd will be 80. He made his first stage appearance at the Empire Theatre, Nottingham over fifty years ago in 1954 and still plays regularly to full houses. We rarely see Ken on our TV screens these days. He has remained faithful to the theatre , and has been a regular tourer of the provinces for many a year now, normally spending four months out of twelve on the road. If you like your comedy to be quickfire one liners , I suggest you catch his show in a town near you. Oh , and go prepared for a long night out. A Ken Dodd stage show typically starts about 7.30, with an interval around 10.30. He normally has a support act but the show is mainly Ken. Expect the second half to end somewhere between 12.30 and 1 am. This man goes on and on and the longevity of his act has become a joke in itself. At the break he warns his audience 'we'll let you out for a few minutes but no running away'. From midnight onwards he often looks at his watch between gags and is by now threatening the audience - 'I'll follow you home and shout jokes through your letterbox '. When you go to see Ken Dodd for a second time you know to take a few biscuits and a drink with you to help get you through! He is amazingly funny, he is saucy but somehow not rude. The experience has a music hall feel to it in keeping with Doddy's roots and you leave the theatre feeling that life is a lot more fun than when you went in.
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Kenneth Arthur Dodd was born on 8 November 1927 in Knotty Ash, Liverpool. He was the son of a coal merchant. Throughout his life he has kept a strong affinity with his home town. Liverpool is proud of Ken and Ken is proud of Liverpool. He still lives in the same house he was born in. The Ken Dodd Show first appeared on the BBC in 1959 and as was the case with most comedians of that era, his popularity exploded through the medium of television. Ken was then, as he still is today, a family entertainer and therefore perfect for 'the box'. By the mid sixties he was also firmly established as a stage performer too. In 1965 he performed for a record 42 consecutive weeks at the London Palladium, appearing twice nightly. He also gained entry into The Guinness Book Of Records for the worlds longest joke telling session - 1500 jokes in three and a half hours. Ken Dodd has a reputation for his meticulous recording of jokes - which ones he used in each show, where the show was, and how well it went down. It is this dedication and self assessment that has kept him at the very top for over half a century.
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Ken Dodd is arguably the most bizarre comedian Britain has ever produced. He has many trademarks and his ability to get peoples chuckle muscles working (his term not mine) is hugely assisted by his appearance. There is his outrageous hairstyle for starters. As a young man he grew his hair long, allowing him to rough it up and give a 'just dragged through a hedge backwards' look. It made him immediately funny. His daft facial expression comes as a result of his hugely protruding teeth, the result of a fall from a bicycle as a young boy. So important to his act are his teeth, he reportedly insured them for £4 million. Ken Dodd is also immensely colourful and dresses in all kinds of weird and wonderful costumes , pantomime style. Then he has his feather duster tickling stick, a unique and much used prop, allowing him to use his catchphrase ' By Jove, how tickled I am................'. Add to all of this his six jokes a minute and you have a comic legend.
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There is something quite magical about Ken Dodd. He transports his audience to a far off land where a giggle is all that matters. His humour has a childlike innocence about it. It is incredibly warm.Your passport to his fantasy world comes in the shape of those other famous residents of Knotty Ash - those squeaky voiced midgets The Diddymen. Sometimes they appear as puppets, their leader Dickie Mint normally has an emotional spot in the stage show with Doddy again returning to his roots,this time as a ventriloquist. On other occasions they are actually children dressed as the Diddymen. They sing and they dance. Diddyland has the highest sunshine rate in the world, jam butty mines, snuff quarries, a moggie ranch where police cats are bred, a broken biscuit repair works and gravy wells.The richest Diddyman is the Hon Nigel Ponsonby-Smallpiece who owns a caviar allotment and a pond full of 18 carat goldfish! Pure fantasy and all wonderfully brought to life by Ken Dodd.
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Whilst Ken Dodd will always be remembered as a comedian, he also had two other major talents in his younger days as an actor and as a singer. On the stage he played serious Shakespearian roles and also appeared on television in Doctor Who. But it was as a singer that he made a huge mark in the 60's. He spent a total of 233 weeks in the charts in a recording career between 1960 and 1981. His most famous song was 'Tears' which was No 1 for five weeks in 1965, stayed in the charts for 24 weeks and sold over 2 million records. His trademark song is 'Happiness' which has become his signature tune and sums up Doddy and most of what his act stands for.
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Ken Dodd has never married but has had two long time partners, Anita Boutin whom he shared 24 years with before her death, and Anne Jones who has been with him even longer. He is a private man who is rarely in the news. He was the centre of attraction in 1989 in a tax evasion court case in which he was acquitted. Typically, references to it are sprinkled throughout his act : '' I told the Inland Revenue I didn't owe them a penny because I lived near the seaside''.
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I will never, if I can possibly help it , choose my all time favourite comedian. To do so would mean having to place too many legends further down the list. But I must admit Ken Dodd would come very close to being at the top. In an age where filth and nastiness passes for humour, he represents all that has ever been great in the history of laughter. My final tribute is six Ken Dodd jokes that I have just pulled off the internet. About a minutes worth !!
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My act is very educational.I heard a man leaving the other night saying 'Well that taught me a lesson'.
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I haven't spoken to my mother in law for 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.
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Honolulu - it's got everything. Sand for the children. Sun for the wife. Sharks for the wife's mother.
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Of course I believe in safe sex. I've got a handrail around the bed.
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I know a glazier who repaired 146 windows before he realised he had a crack in his glasses.
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My Dad always knew I was going to be a comedian. When I was a baby he looked at me and said ' Is this a joke ? '
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