Stone me - is it really 60 years since the first Hancock's Half-Hour?
Steve Punt
Comedian
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Neil Pearson and the cast of The Missing Hancocks
Earlier this year five missing episodes of classic 主播大秀 comedy Hancock鈥檚 Half Hour were discovered. Now, 主播大秀 Radio 4 has brought together contemporary comedy talent to create a moment in broadcasting history, recording these episodes. The Missing Hancocks will be on 主播大秀 Radio 4, this Friday 31 October at 11.30am. Here, comedian Steve Punt considers Tony Hancock鈥檚 legacy.
Stone me - is it really 60 years since the first Hancock's Half-Hour? What's more, he's been dead for 46 of those years. I don't remember him, actually. I was just a nipper at the time. But, by golly, he's influential beyond the grave. I said "influential". Yes, I know it鈥檚 a posh word. Surely you've heard of it? They use it all the time in the old critical circles. What does it mean? Well, er - er - well, you know. It means he still influences people. Isn't that obvious? You buffoon!
Why? You're asking why? Well, it鈥檚 hard to explain. Comedians, you see - they tell jokes, don't they? At least they used to. They might play characters, but those characters would be big, stagey characters - a schoolteacher, like Will Hay; a spiv, like Sid Field; a 主播大秀 Guard type, like Robb Wilton. What Hancock did was play a character who was basically himself. Well, him and his writers did. Let's not forget his writers. The old scribes, toiling away there; backbone of every great sitcom, they are. Without them, you're right up the creek and no mistake. Hancock certainly was. Once he split with his writers, he was never the same again.
Kevin McNally with legendary comedy writers Galton and Simpson
So anyway. As I was saying. Hancock, as they say, blazed a trail. He wanted to create what we now know as modern comedy - personal, character-driven - oh, hark at me with me TV jargon! - and built on recognition, not just gags. Britain, in the Fifties, looked at Hancock and thought, "I know a bloke just like that." Not that there's anything wrong with jokes, of course. You've got to have 'em. But they need to arise naturally, from the conversation; you can't just shove 'em in there, so all your characters are shouting gags at each other. That's what Hancock wanted. Comedy that was real.
Neil Pearson and the lad himself, Kevin McNally, talk about making The Missing Hancocks.
'Course, he didn't always succeed. But when he did, my goodness, splendid stuff it was. You've probably heard some of it. The Blood Donor, that's probably the most famous one. "A pint? That's very nearly an armful!" Marvellous. Full of beautiful little details. You want to know about Britain in 1961? Listen to Hancock describe where he saw the "Donors Wanted" poster. He saw it on a wall - "You must have seen it there - right next to Hands Off Cuba and just above the cricket stumps." That's poetry, that is. Bit of topical politics and a touch of social history in there. Marvellous.
The company of The Missing Hancocks
So, in short and to sum up, if you want to know about post-war Britain, don't bother with Look Back in Anger and all that rubbish. Listen to Hancock's Half-Hour; its all there. Tax-returns, TV aerials, dance-halls, free toys in breakfast cereals, petrol rationing, train strikes - the whole boiling lot, mate.
Oh, and did I mention it鈥檚 still funny?
Steve Punt is a comedian
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- is on 主播大秀 Radio 4 Extra on Saturday 1 November at 9am
- starts on 主播大秀 Radio 4 on Friday 31 October at 11.30am
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