Dave Allen

[Armed Traffic Warden]

I think he was both extremely influential and exceedingly good. He generally punched up  and always seems intelligent, thoughtful and a general good egg in interviews.
  I find his material to be very consistent and perhaps surprisingly his sketches have a higher success rate for laughs (from me at least) than most other sketch shows past and present.
  Oddly for someone who was at times quite divisive, I find his style extremely welcoming and friendly. He's that relative that, when you were young, didn't talk down to you but spoke as though you were equal.
  I think I laugh more at him than I do any other comedian, which is strange, as I go through a period of loving him for a few months and then forget he ever existed for 5 years before rediscovering him.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?
Go on, dispel my blissful ignorance and tell me about all that noncing he done did. Or tell me how poo his comedy is.

[the science eel]

Oh, I much preferred his sitting down chat stuff than his sketches. He was an absolute master at that - always seemed absolutely at ease, really as if he was at home just musing on life. And the pausing (for effect?), the sips of whisky, brushing his jacket.

The sketches for me were very hit and miss. I remember some dreadfully naff things which looked like they'd been written quickly and were more suited to Benny Hill. Mind it has been years since I watched a full show.

And one of the very greatest TV theme tunes, of course (Alan Hawkshaw I think).

[Armed Traffic Warden]

Oh, I much preferred his sitting down chat stuff than his sketches.

Oh absolutely, I meant '(seeing as he's best known for his superior raconteur, story telling style) his sketches hold up really well'.  I'm happy to beg to differ as to the quality.
   I'd far rather watch half hour of his sketches where I feel most of them are 7/10 than half hour of flying circus where you'll get 2-3 minutes of gold, 10 minutes of 7/10 and a variable remainder... in my humble opinion. Horses, courses and all that.

[Glebe]

Apparently he was tee-total and his drink was just ginger ale.

[Blumf]

The sketches for me were very hit and miss. I remember some dreadfully naff things which looked like they'd been written quickly and were more suited to Benny Hill. Mind it has been years since I watched a full show.

Last thing I saw of him was mainly the sketch stuff, and whilst it's okay (certainly up there with The Two Ronnies and Benny Hill), really was disappointed that there wasn't more of his raconteur work. It is 100% what he's about.

Really could do with his shows getting a proper airing again. Are they up anywhere?

[Twonty Gostelow]

Last thing I saw of him was mainly the sketch stuff, and whilst it's okay (certainly up there with The Two Ronnies and Benny Hill), really was disappointed that there wasn't more of his raconteur work.

A lot of the sketches were pretty weak, even unpleasant.  Different times and all that but I don't think The Two Ronnies would have used this one, and even Benny Hill would have given it a twist where the woman got the upper hand.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8YsVA86D0#t=34m51s

It's barely comedy at all.

[Twilkes]

Dave Allen's show with the standup and the sketches was the template for S1 of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, IIRC, although he dropped the sketches after the first series (or possibly the second?).

Dave Allen was probably the first standup I saw extensively on TV as maybe an 11 year old in the late 80s, on a Sunday night, probably along with Phil Cool, and aside from comedians on occasional short-set things like the Royal Variety Performance (probably Duncan Norvell and that guy in a prisoner outfit who walked from side to side and went 'Spook!' every once in a while). I remember he talked in a fairly leisurely style, took his time, as opposed to the Jasper Carrot records we had where he kept the pace going. Don't remember much about the material, probably a routine about nuns scaring little boys about what God sees or something similar.

'Doooor open. Doooor open. SEATBELT! Doooor open'

[Ambient Sheep]

I have very fond memories of watching him as a kid.  It was usually on during those nights my Mum was out being religious (ironically enough), and so it was kind of me and my Dad's special thing, which I was allowed to stay up late for.

A lot of the sketches were pretty weak, even unpleasant.  Different times and all that but I don't think The Two Ronnies would have used this one, and even Benny Hill would have given it a twist where the woman got the upper hand.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8YsVA86D0#t=34m51s

It's barely comedy at all.

That would be because it's from Series 1 of Dave Allen At Large, a series he was so ashamed of that he forbade it from ever being repeated the whole time he was alive.  They only ever repeated S2 onwards, I believe.

After he died, the Beeb of course then showed it, and I remember how shocked I was at how full of sexism and even racism it was.  Not at all how I'd remembered the later series of the same show.  A real startler; it was no surprise as to why he'd wanted to keep it hidden.

That sketch in particular is probably one of the worst examples, it certainly shocked and surprised me when I finally saw it go out.  As you say, unfunny and deeply unpleasant.

[Twonty Gostelow]

I didn't know he'd disowned that first series. Thanks for the info, and may your god go with you.

[Twonty Gostelow]

No surprise to see Peter Vincent in the writing credits (Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper et al, and later co-creator of Sorry!), but "additional material by Gay Byrne"? Nothing on his wiki page, but I doubt that sketch was his!

[Menu]

A lot of the sketches were pretty weak, even unpleasant.  Different times and all that but I don't think The Two Ronnies would have used this one, and even Benny Hill would have given it a twist where the woman got the upper hand.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8YsVA86D0#t=34m51s

It's barely comedy at all.

That's not a joke! How did that get past any kind of quality control? It's like a dark parody of a sketch on the Benny Hill Show. He's right to look a bit shifty afterwards. Also it was done in one take so I bet they spent the whole day doing that. Ugh.

[Uncle TechTip]

I remember the controversy over him saying fuck in almost a matter of fact way, just to punchline a joke, but it picked up a lot of coverage beforehand, so everyone tuned in. I think it's fair to say he opened the door to a more relaxed view of bad language on mainstream TV. 1990 I think?

[Alternative Carpark]

I remember the controversy over him saying fuck in almost a matter of fact way, just to punchline a joke, but it picked up a lot of coverage beforehand, so everyone tuned in. I think it's fair to say he opened the door to a more relaxed view of bad language on mainstream TV. 1990 I think?

Yeah, it was in 1990. He'd abandoned the sketches by then, the series was just half an hour of stand-up per instalment. I think that was his last BBC series, he did another on ITV, in the same format, in 1993.

[comedycomedy]

I saw his one man show in the West End in 1990. By then, weirdly, he was no longer sitting down but was a high energy presence on stage, with much more venom than before. Satirical twinkling. It was wonderful and my diary notes from the time talk of him being the "Irish George Carlin". Carlin was the most erudite standup I've ever experienced live. I have all the Dave Allen series here at home and the early series are very dated indeed. But it's 50 years old after all...I still walk past his house on Holland Street in Kensington sometimes and I really miss his comic presence. I've made an audio set of his standup which I occasionally listen to in the car. Surprisingly it's never been released as albums.

[Shaky]

It's a shame he's barely mentioned these days because his relaxed "sit-down" approach - punctuated with those patented exasperated outbursts - was always entertaining and actually quite important to my nascent comedy awareness as a kid. I suspect a lot of people feel the same way, even if the particulars of the jokes are a bit hazy. As others have said, there was something very comforting about him but a little element of danger was never far away.

Surprised to recall he was only 68 when he died. No fucking age. I hate that "ahead of his time" stuff but there's some mileage in that. Can imagine him having a bit of a comeback had he lived.

[Gurke and Hare]

that guy in a prisoner outfit who walked from side to side and went 'Spook!' every once in a while

Sorry to risk going off topic, but who is this?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Roy Jay.

"You'll all be doing it tomorrow..."

[PlanktonSideburns]

Love how CAB is the Roy Jay awareness centre

[Twilkes]

Roy Jay.

"You'll all be doing it tomorrow..."

Oddly mesmerising movement, although maybe cheating having the music in the background. One of the most memorable gigs I've been to was a Sheffield chap called Anthony J Brown who did a bunch of one liners while sensitively stroking the microphone stand up and down, kept the audience hooked and attentive while he slowly went through his material. His first punchline had a laugh that must have lasted over a minute, think he got through about eleven gags in a 20 minute set, Glasgow Stand back in the early 2000s. Very Steven Wright but it's not easy to pull off so chapeau. (or as he's from Sheffield, la casquette plate)

[Brundle-Fly]

Dave Allen couldn't half tell a ghost story. Barely a joke for eight and a half minutes, quite brave. It scared the shit out of me when I was a kid and you can tell the influence this must've had on the League Of Gentlemen.

A variation

[gilbertharding]

Sometime in the middle of the 00s I worked with who seemed impossibly old but was probably in his mid 50s - and what's the opposite of 'shy'?

Anyway, somehow or other, it was common knowledge around the rest of the office that the last time he'd had sex with his wife was one night after watching Dave Allen on tv. The hideous inference was that he (and/or his wife) found Dave Allen inspirational, somehow.

(is there a way of looking up when that might have been? They never used to re-run his stuff much at all).

It always struck me as a kid in the 70s/80s (and before I knew this colleague, obviously) that his stuff was the epitome of Adult - but of course in those days I was only aware of the suit, the stool, the whiskey and the cigarette, not the rape sketches.

[Twilkes]

(is there a way of looking up when that might have been? They never used to re-run his stuff much at all).

For fear of going off topic again, I wouldn't know how to look up Dave Allen's broadcasts, but Alan Bennett and his elder brother Gordon both share the same birthday, and once worked out that they must have both been conceived in the same bed in the same guesthouse in Morecambe on the August bank holiday weekend three years apart.

[Twonty Gostelow]

Roy Jay.

"You'll all be doing it tomorrow..."

I remember some long-distance paparazzi footage of Rolf Harris doing that routine in his prison exercise yard. Same outfit too. Told the other prisoners he'd made it up himself, the lying bastard.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Sometime in the middle of the 00s I worked with who seemed impossibly old but was probably in his mid 50s - and what's the opposite of 'shy'?

Anyway, somehow or other, it was common knowledge around the rest of the office that the last time he'd had sex with his wife was one night after watching Dave Allen on tv. The hideous inference was that he (and/or his wife) found Dave Allen inspirational, somehow.

(is there a way of looking up when that might have been? They never used to re-run his stuff much at all).

My money is on the Tom Jones Spoof.

The book/film that is, not the singer.

[Catalogue Trousers]

What, even though they end up throwing up over each other?

[Pauline Walnuts]

What do you mean 'even'?




I couldn't find the clip anywhere. Sorry.

[Menu]

Love how CAB is the Roy Jay awareness centre

Yes there's a cast iron law of CAB that any thread that goes longer than five pages will at some point mention Roy Jay. We hit that mark ridiculously early in this one.

[Menu]

Dave Allen couldn't half tell a ghost story. Barely a joke for eight and a half minutes, quite brave. It scared the shit out of me when I was a kid and you can tell the influence this must've had on the League Of Gentlemen.

A variation

Did he have a team of writers? Anyone know how much he wrote his own stuff?

[Glebe]

Smashing. Notice the guy who apparently co-wrote that with Allen is top of the comments there.

[gilbertharding]

My money is on the Tom Jones Spoof.

The book/film that is, not the singer.

I think you might be correct.