EDDIE LARGE IS DEAD

[undergroundcow75]

RIP oscillations; oh wait now. . . he's really dead? I can't be the only one here who was expecting this thread to be about the latest Luke Haines mini album, surely?

Edit. New page cunt.

[Abnormal Palm]

LRL

[Hand Solo]

Can only be a matter of time before we got a no-holds-barred uncompromising documentary about their difficult backstage relationship:

[Custard]

I hope they call it "Little and Large: Largey Bargy"

[kalowski]

[poodlefaker]

"Syd Lives" starring Michael Sheen and John Thompson

[idunnosomename]

at 8pm tonight, the country will #LargeItForLarge, where we all get off our tits on ecstacy on our doorstep and yell "COME ON DANCE YOU FOOKAS DANCE"

[kalowski]

The Sydness of King Large.

[Blumf]

There's another Kray Twins film coming out?

[Hand Solo]

Some classic Little & Large here

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Syd Little actually looks improbably hard in that photo.

[Hand Solo]

Syd Little actually looks improbably hard in that photo.

Looks like he's about to start playing the riff for Roxette.

[Custard]

He's currently up there at a disco with her from Roxette

[Phoenix Lazarus]

James Corden and Mark Gatiss for the biopic?

[Satchmo Distel]

Syd is Christopher Eccleston's character in Shallow Grave.

[Albert Soviets]

Syd Little actually looks improbably hard in that photo.

I think he looks bizarrely attractive, which shows what a couple of weeks indoors will do to a person. :|

[Blue Jam]

I never knew they did a Kraftwerk tribute! Before Bill Bailey as well!

Klein und groß?

[petril]

if you picture Eddie as a newsreader, Syd looks perfect in that position just behind his shoulder

[steve98]

Whenever there's a mention of Little and/or Large, I always like to mention that I went to a reading of Syd's autobiography (By Syd) at Cathcart Trinity church hall, Glasgow in 1999; and I bought a copy of his book*** (which he signed.) (Don't ask me, as others have, to put a pic of it up, cos I can't find it.)

*** Little Goes A Long Way.

[Danger Man]

A nice tribute from Richard Herring


As a kid I'd absolutely loved the old-school antics of Cannon and Ball, but by the time Little and Large broke on to the scene, performing their unashamedly old school double act I was a teenager and considered myself too sophisticated for braces snapping  (C&B) or a serious song being interrupted by an incongruous Deputy Dawg impression. One of the first sketches I performed with Stew at University was "Triple Act" with a trio called Knife, Fork and Peterson in which I was the "funny" man who held up a pair of braces in his hand and occasionally twanged them, Stew was the straight man who tried to sing a serious song and Mike Cosgrave was Peterson, a man who sat in a chair, drinking beer and doing nothing else.
Look at us, cleverly dissecting comedy and showing how much more sophisticated we were - I mean, not much has really changed, apart from the realisation that you can coat something in irony but that doesn't necessarily make you superior. Well one of us has realised that at least.
The older I get the more I appreciate the work of nearly every comedian (even if it's not my cup of tea) but also come to enjoy the anarchic silliness of those old school acts. There was nothing more to them than just having a laugh at someone being ridiculous. Eddie Large was a good impressionist, but there's something joyfully simple about his basic bullying of the feckless and seemingly awkward Little (whether by accident or design this still makes him a perfect straight man). Cannon and Ball still remain the kings of this kind of humour for me, because there was a real unpredictable madness behind Ball, but the tug of pain I felt at the death of Eddie came from the genuine affection that I held for him. I watched all their shows, sometimes sneering and affecting superiority, but actually secretly enjoying myself.
In one of those weird showbiz crossovers Stew and I attempted to write for Little and Large back in 1990 or 91. Even though we had taken the piss in that sketch, when the chance came to make some money and get a job we didn't really hesitate. We scuppered (and amused) and tried to cover our hypocrisy by writing parody Little and Large sketches, but nonetheless ones that we hoped would still get made. I remember it being a day of laughter for us, as we came up with increasingly stupid ideas. The sausage in the snorkel gag, subsequently used by Stew on his TV show (with no payment to me, obviously) was the highlight.
I was thrilled to share a box with Syd when at the Slapstick Festival, the veneer of irony fell away and I was gutted not to get a photo with him. It was a shame I missed Little and Large in conversation and I am kicking myself for not thinking of asking Eddie to do the Bristol RHLSTP last year.
But I had met him a couple of times as he used to come and see my shows at the Tobacco Factory - the last time (I think in the Oh Frig I'm 50 tour) he came up to chat to me as I signed programmes and apologised for not using our sketches in their show. I hope I apologised for our rudeness in writing them. I was astonished that he'd want to come and see me perform, but correctly in awe of him. By all accounts he was a charming and lovely man and not many old school comics would know I existed or be interested in seeing what I had to say, so it meant a lot to me that he'd made that effort.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

if you picture Eddie as a newsreader, Syd looks perfect in that position just behind his shoulder

Could be a crime story with Syd staring out of a police mugshot, which connects back to my comment about him looking sort of hard there.

[Glebe]

L&H wrote summit for L&L? Crikey.

[Satchmo Distel]

I think Herring is mistaken in thinking Cannon and Ball preceded Little and Large. Their first LWT series started in July 1979, whereas Syd and Eddie did their ITV pilot in 1976 before transferring to the Beeb in 1978.

[Glebe]

I think Herring is mistaken in thinking Cannon and Ball preceded Little and Large. Their first LWT series started in July 1979, whereas Syd and Eddie did their ITV pilot in 1976 before transferring to the Beeb in 1978.

Yeah, they were definitely contemporaries.

[Hand Solo]

L&H wrote summit for L&L? Crikey.

They also wrote for Barrymore, and acquitted him as being a good egg because at some BAFTA event or other told some people they were "Going somewhere"

Not prison obviously.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

They also wrote for Barrymore, and acquitted him as being a good egg because at some BAFTA event or other told some people they were "Going somewhere"

Not prison obviously.

Well if someone's nice to you, you don't really care if they've raped someone, causing horrific internal injuries, then drowned them, or participated directly in doing or in covering up the offence (allegedly).

[Hand Solo]

Well if someone's nice to you, you don't really care if they've raped someone, causing horrific internal injuries, then drowned them, or participated directly in doing or in covering up the offence (allegedly).

TBF I think this all happened before the Barrymore swimming pool controversy. I just find it difficult to understand how Lee & Herring's writing would have worked for Barrymore in his usual Primetime format anyway. They did mention it was an open secret he was gay, but he mentioned to Stew and Rich's girlfriend's at the time they would go far as writers which they took as a massive compliment..

[Satchmo Distel]

Yeah, I'd always use the judgment of a guy who blacked up as John Barnes as my yardstick of whether my writing was any good. It seems odd to me that L&H would be that needy as to need validation from comics who stuck in 70s racist tropes.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

Can only be a matter of time before we got a no-holds-barred uncompromising documentary about their difficult backstage relationship:

lol

[Jake Thingray]

Yeah, I'd always use the judgment of a guy who blacked up as John Barnes as my yardstick of whether my writing was any good. It seems odd to me that L&H would be that needy as to need validation from comics who stuck in 70s racist tropes.

The belief persisted, for a while in the early 90's before it all went wrong, that Barrymore was some sort of unpredictable maverick genius, honestly never could see it myself.