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Cannon and Ball

Started by Sydward Lartle, April 22, 2017, 07:13:59 PM

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Gulftastic

Quote from: Alternative Carpark on April 26, 2017, 01:57:56 PM
Wasn't "The Boys in Blue" effectively a remake of the 1930s Will Hay comedy, "Ask A Policeman"?  Which Val Guest had also worked on.

Yes it was. I remember thinking it was nowhere near as funny as Will Hay's film, which was a bit of a BBC 2 staple back in the day.

Sydward Lartle

Quote from: Glebe on April 26, 2017, 03:20:40 PM
Weirdly, another Hammer stalwart, Peter Sasdy, directed both Adrian Mole series in the '80s.

As well as one of my all-time favourite guilty pleasures, I Don't Want to Be Born, with Joan Collins as a stripper who spurned the amorous advances of a dwarf who promptly put a curse on her and made her give birth to a horribly deformed and sadistic baby. It's a fantastic load of old shit. Special effects by Bert Luxford of Q8 fame.

The fella who played Adrian Mole on the telly used to live just up the road from me. It must have been fucking hell on earth when that series was on telly, what with kids hanging around outside his house to get a glimpse of him. He still lives locally and works at the general hospital now. Gave up acting donkey's years ago.

Sydward Lartle

You can watch I Don't Want to be Born (AKA the Devil Within Her) right here.


Sydward Lartle

Once again Bobby hogs the limelight (well, the flashbulb) whilst Tommy stands there looking like a depressed corpse. Definite parallels with Syd and Eddie here.


Rolf Lundgren

Quote from: yesitsme on April 25, 2017, 10:43:15 AM
For me the Christian thing seems totally cynical and calculated.  I bet the charisma vacuum that is Tommy Cannon believes in NOTHING and Bobby would rob you blind if you left him alone for thirty seconds.

It's odd that they both became Christians at the same time. Perhaps one of them got the other one into it or something so profound happened to both at them at the same time that confirmed the existence of a God to them simultaneously.

Sydward Lartle

Quote from: CaptainInvincible on January 23, 2016, 07:12:29 PM
Matthew Kelly was asked about the infamous fight between Bobby Ball and Lennie Bennett at the LWT Studios. Bobby Ball was a total shit apparently - He would cause fights, leave and then in true Goodfellas / Joe Pesci / Go home and get your fucking shine box style - would come back with a few minders / bodyguards to settle things. This story is more or less covered in Cannon and Ball's autobiography but leaves out the name Lennie Bennett (presumably because he was still alive when the book was published). I know this sounds like a gag here but it isn't.

Anyway - one of the minders happened to be Lennie Bennett's nephew and didn't step in when Lennie kicked the shit out of Bobby. Talk about Punchlines.

I love this story.

TheMonk

Until minutes ago I was blissfully living in a world where I hadn't heard Cannon and Ball cover Elvis Costello.

https://youtu.be/s3Sr05-j3BI

Quote from: Rolf Lundgren on April 27, 2017, 06:39:26 PM
It's odd that they both became Christians at the same time. Perhaps one of them got the other one into it or something so profound happened to both at them at the same time that confirmed the existence of a God to them simultaneously.

Impending bankruptcy?

Bobtoo

Quote from: Rolf Lundgren on April 27, 2017, 06:39:26 PM
It's odd that they both became Christians at the same time. Perhaps one of them got the other one into it or something so profound happened to both at them at the same time that confirmed the existence of a God to them simultaneously.

According to the programme for their (fucking awful) show in the early 90s one of them  (Ball I think) got religion then some time later the other one did. I couldn't help thinking it was handy that they got all their boozing, womanising and general debauchery in first.

Sydward Lartle

According to a Daily Express article about Tommeh and Bobbeh...

They bought his and his Rolls-Royces, beachfront homes in the Canary Islands, even cabin cruisers. When Ball invested in a nightclub in Rochdale and called it Braces in homage to his twangy trademark, Cannon - not to be outdone - bought the local Fourth Division football team[nb]At least Syd Little made a success out of his restaurant(s).[/nb].

Then the whole edifice came crashing down. In 1992[nb]Fuck me,
1992?! How? Why?![/nb] the high-ups at the TV network decided middle-aged northern comics had had their day, their show was cancelled and the taxman came calling.

Tom Cannon still remembers his visit like it was yesterday: "A chap came and knocked on my back door," he says. "He was with our accountant. I said, 'Yes, can I help you?' He said, 'I hope you can because you owe a million pounds to the taxman.' I walked into the kitchen to tell my wife Hazel. I was that incensed that we had been led down this path and not known that I smashed my foot into a radiator on the wall and knocked it off[nb]Then went out and murdered a few prostitutes... allegedly.[/nb]."

When the dust had settled he and Ball had a meeting with the Inland Revenue to discuss payment terms.

Revenue to discuss payment terms. "We asked the taxman where our accountant stood in all this because he had been doing our books," recalls Cannon. "He asked what the business was called. I said, 'Cannon and Ball Entertainments Ltd.' "He said, 'End of story.'" The pair were given three years to pay an amount that represents around £1.9million in today's money. There was no alternative but to cram their schedule with gigs and hit the road.

"We paid what we owed," says Ball. "It wasn't our fault but we paid what we owed. We always have done. Always."

Two decades later the Cannon and Ball bandwagon is still rolling, if at a slightly more sedate pace.


(Blah blah blah, then...)

Michael Grade - then director of programmes at London ITV station LWT - spotted their guest slot on Bruce Forsyth's Big Night Out and insisted they had their own show. It was one of the most inspired decisions he ever made.

The nation took the lovable northern duo to their hearts, audiences were soon nudging the 18 million mark and the former £20-a-week welders were earning more than £200,000 a month each.

Apart from the regular Saturday night show there were Christmas and Easter specials, musical albums, pantomimes and even a film The Boys In Blue[nb]Arf arf.[/nb].

Their growing stardom also guaranteed sold-out summer tours and their popularity was such in 1985 they outsold rocker Bruce Springsteen's British tour that year[nb]I doubt this very much.[/nb]. Like rock stars they had groupies who - in time-honoured fashion - would throw their knickers at the stage.

As Ball once said: "Oh aye, there were plenty of women. As many as you wanted. You'd go to a club and stand by the bar and in seconds they'd be around you in droves."

The irony was that while the duo had achieved the success they craved their own relationship had fallen apart. From 1983 to 1986 they didn't speak a word to each other except in rehearsals and on stage.

Meanwhile apart from his dalliances with women, Ball was drinking heavily and getting into fights. In short, he was - as he puts it - lost. It was a chance encounter with theatre chaplain Max Wrigley at The Alhambra in Bradford in 1986 that broke the impasse.

"I got talking to him and attacked him verbally about God," says Ball. "But he had a peace about him. I can't explain exactly what he had but he had something that I didn't have. One day I asked to speak to him and after a while he said, 'Let's pray.' I'd never prayed in my life but we prayed and it just changed my life - like that [he snaps his fingers]."

He immediately went home and confessed to wife Yvonne all the naughtiness he had got up to on tour and fortunately she forgave him[nb]I bet he didn't tell her how he once got the snot kicked out of him by Lennie Bennett.[/nb].

His next move was to break the news about his new-found faith to Cannon in his dressing room and while his partner's first reaction was to say he was "crackers" it broke the ice and since then their relationship has been as close as ever. Cannon, who had left his wife of 30 years for Hazel, a dancer in one of their shows, became a Christian eight years later.

Now aged 76 and 70 respectively Cannon and Ball have no intention of retiring. "I've enjoyed all my 52 years in show business from the day we started and hopefully it will carry on until the day I bury Bob or the day he buries me," says Cannon.

Ever ready with a one-liner the younger Ball quips: "I think I'll be burying you[nb]The cocky little twat.[/nb]."



Glebe

Didn't Bobby ask ITV to buy him a yacht, then the next series fell through or summit?

Sydward Lartle

Quote from: Glebe on April 28, 2017, 07:19:40 PM
Didn't Bobby ask ITV to buy him a yacht, then the next series fell through or summit?

Memories stir. I think LWT gave them the boot so they signed a contract with Yorkshire Television, part of the deal included a yacht. Then Yorkshire were unable to sell the series to the network so the deal was off. Could be wrong.

Glebe

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 28, 2017, 07:28:24 PMMemories stir. I think LWT gave them the boot so they signed a contract with Yorkshire Television, part of the deal included a yacht. Then Yorkshire were unable to sell the series to the network so the deal was off. Could be wrong.

Ah, that sound's a bit more accurate.

Sydward Lartle

Then there was this shit. Can't remember piss all about it.

I'm guessing this is still missing from Rob Newman's CV to this day.

I do remember this, though. Unsurprisingly it was shite.

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 28, 2017, 08:03:45 PM
I do remember this, though. Unsurprisingly it was shite.

QuoteTo date this was their final prime time TV series

Either optimist or diplomat.

Sydward Lartle

I'm still calling bullshit about their 1985 stage tour doing bigger business than Bruce Springsteen's. So Cannon and Ball sold out Wembley Stadium, did they? Chinny reck-on.

Mr Banlon


non capisco

Quote from: TheMonk on April 28, 2017, 03:35:45 PM
Until minutes ago I was blissfully living in a world where I hadn't heard Cannon and Ball cover Elvis Costello.
https://youtu.be/s3Sr05-j3BI

I was nervously wondering how they'd handle 'one more widow, one less white ni..OOH YA CAN'T SAY THAT, BOBBY! Are there any in?' but they skip that verse entirely.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Mr Banlon on April 28, 2017, 08:50:18 PM
Their Wheeltappers-ish pilot :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDp6SXvP4Po

If nothing else, it proves that Bobby is an infinitely better actor than Tommy.  I also genuinely laughed at Bobby's failed high five with THAT guy with the eyes.



selsdon man

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 28, 2017, 08:03:45 PM
Then there was this shit. Can't remember piss all about it.

I'm guessing this is still missing from Rob Newman's CV to this day.

I do remember this, though. Unsurprisingly it was shite.

Fucking hell, Rob Newman and Fuzzbox were on the same edition of Casino. The Beloved and Jesus Jones were (separately) on later editions. Somebody was really trying to make the boys relevant to the 90s yoof. (Jesus Jones were on the same week as Gilbert O'Sullivan.)

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 28, 2017, 08:03:45 PM
Then there was this shit. Can't remember piss all about it.

I'm guessing this is still missing from Rob Newman's CV to this day.

I do remember this, though. Unsurprisingly it was shite.

So they did three 'short-lived' shows in 1990-91.  Sounds like scraping the barrel.

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 28, 2017, 08:03:45 PM
Then there was this shit. Can't remember piss all about it.


Paula Ann Bland.  She actually did something other than Claire in Grange Hill!


Glebe

Quote from: Tony Yeboah on June 28, 2017, 12:25:34 PMMy bold prediction is this will be shit http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/36928/cannon_and_ball_play_vegas

Bernard Manning played there, the big racist. Pollard should round up the surviving Hi-De-Hi! gang to come with her, they could make Hi-De-Hi: The Movie! guerrilla-style on their iPhones while there - just a suggestion!

Mick Miller: I went into Las Vegas yesterday...