So, Anyway...: The Autobiography

Marty, who was always amused by my painful

Writing and performing in these six shows taught me an important creative principle: the more anxious you feel, the less creative you are. Your mind ceases to play and be expansive. Fear causes your thinking to contract, to play safe, and this forces you into stereotypical thinking. And in comedy you must have innovation because an old joke isn’t f

In addition, Peter helped me to edit what I had written, removing whatever ‘fat’ my dialogue had on it, whether it was a repetition, a redundant phrase, an unnecessary adjective – even a single syllable. I’d half-realised some of this, but not the ruthlessness it required.

panics when fruitless hours were passing. He got me to understand that, if you kept at it, material would always emerge: a bad day would be followed by a decent one, and somehow an acceptable average would be forthcoming. I took a leap of faith, and my experience started to confirm this mysterious principle.

Assistant: No, no – we don’t have Rarnaby Budge by Charles Dikkens with two ‘k’s, the well-known Dutch author, and perhaps to save time I should add right away that we don’t have Carnaby Fudge by Darles Tikkens, or Stickwick Stapers by Miles Pikkens with four ‘M’s and a silent ‘Q’; why don’t you try the chemist? Mr Pest: I did. They sent me here.

He starts looking carefully all round the carriage. After a pause . . . MF: I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with B. Or J. B or J. JC: How could it begin with a B or a J? MF: For various reasons, none of which I am at liberty to divulge. B or J. Easy . . . JC: What’s the answer? MF: Ectoplasm. JC: Ectoplasm? MF: Mr B. J. Ectoplasm. He

got every laugh, never missed a beat, my timing was exquisite; I was relaxed, disciplined and hilarious. There had been nights when I’d got most of the sketches dead right, but never before had I done the whole show impeccably. I was superb. (Please remember we did about 180 performances and this happened just once.) The result: exhilaration. And t

For the first time in my comedy-writing life I now had to produce scripts on a regular basis, and this brought with it a simple problem: I would start the morning with a blank sheet of paper, and I might well finish the day with a blank sheet of paper (and an overflowing waste-paper basket). There are not many jobs where you can produce absolutely

I skimmed the front page and something caught my eye – the date. It was Tuesday 27 October 1964. My birthday. I was twenty-five. So I went off and had a lovely celebratory lunch at my favourite restaurant. I was perfectly happy to be on my own. While I enjoyed company, I didn’t seem to need it, and I saw little of the Cambridge Circus team each day

And this is why Peter Titheradge suddenly became such an important influence. In his time he’d been a distinguished writer of West End revue material, and he was able to calm my incipient