Ken Dodd may have been playing to packed-out concert halls for more than 50 years, but he still shows no signs of stopping, as Nigel Green found out. Ken Dodd may be 78, but when he steps out on stage he seems to have the energy of a man half his age.
And Dodd, who appears at Birmingham Hippodrome in November and Wolverhampton Civic in December, shows no signs in letting up.
He clocks up 100,000 miles a year as he performs around 200 shows everywhere from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands, each one lasting more than five hours.
And the West Midlands has been dear to Dodd’s heart ever since he started out as a young comedian playing the Dudley Hippodrome in the 1950s.
“There used to be a bar down in the Hippodrome basement called the Glue Pot, and we used to talk long in to the morning about showbusiness and the theatre,” says Dodd.
He says Black Country people have a wonderful sense of humour, producing fantastic comedians such as “Duchess of Dudley” Lizzie Wiggins, and Halesowen funnyman Tommy Mundon.
“The area has a wonderful heritage of humour, and has produced some wonderful comedians.”
Private
He is much less forthcoming about his private life, and will under no circumstances talk about his long-term girlfriend Anne Jones.
“I’m an entertainer but I’m not exactly OK or Hello magazine material,” he says.
“I’m quite happy to talk about my act and what I do but when I get home and close the door - that’s private.”
But what drives him to keep to such a gruelling schedule in far-flung places?
“The main reason is that I’m stage-struck of course.
“I love being an entertainer. I make it my policy that I only go to places where people love to laugh.”
Ken still lives in the house where he was born in 1927 in Liverpool suburb Knotty Ash. The son of a coal merchant, he and sister June would often put on shows for the family.
As a child, he bought a ventriloquist’s dummy and a Punch and Judy show.
As a young man he made a living selling household goods such as buckets and mops around the doors of Liverpool.
He was 26 when he made his debut performance at the Empire Theatre, Nottingham, in 1954.
Later, he created his famous Diddymen, and audiences were captivated by characters like Dickie Mint, Mick The Marmaliser and The Hon Nigel Ponsonby Smallpiece, who all worked in the legendary Knotty Ash snuff quarries, black-pudding plantations and broken-biscuit repair works.
Ken holds the world record for humour after managing to crack 1,500 jokes in three and a half hours.
It was during his time as a door-to-door salesman that he developed the habit of writing down the type of goods that sold well in particular areas.
It’s a habit he has kept to this day, only now he keeps hundreds of notebooks detailing which jokes go down well in each town.
“In Whitley Bay, they love to laugh at any Mr and Mrs joke or anything about the eternal battle of the sexes.
“In Scotland, they like the kind of joke where the common man - and you can’t get more common than me - battles with the powers-that-be.
“Scottish audiences won’t tolerate drollery, they like quick-fire gags. In Glasgow, it’s the one-liners.
“I’d be very careful about cracking any jokes about Celtic or Rangers. But I would do jokes about Scottish people. They can take a joke. It just depends on how you do it. If the audience can clearly see the intention behind the joke, nobody takes offence.
Skilled
“I can tell a gag in Scotland and get a huge laugh, but it won’t raise a titter in Wales.”
Black Country comic Tommy Mundon says Dodd usually calls him before he appears in the area.
But there are cast-iron rules Dodd follows no matter where he is.
“I imagine I’m in the audience watching the show. You do the sort of jokes that would make you laugh. “There might be mothers and children in the audience and you don’t insult them by using foul language.”
Ken is annoyed by comedians who use foul language.
“For some reason, they want to shock and be as outrageous as they can,” he says. “Some are very good, but they don’t need to use swear words. My heroes are Jimmy James, Dave Morris and the great Scottish comedians like Jimmy Logan, Jack Radcliffe and Dave Willis.
“They were as clean as a whistle. They were so skilled they didn’t need to be rude.”
Ken’s other pet subject is his campaign to keep theatres open. From April to November this year alone he will have appeared at more than 70 venues.
“A live theatre in every town is a forum of ideas. It’s where you have your mind tickled with humour or stimulated with a play with meaning.”
Dodd says the other great music hall comedians have left him to turn the lights out. Well, if his enduring popularity is anything to go by, it could be a long time before his fans are left in the dark.
l Ken Dodd appears at Birmingham Hippodrome from November 10 to 13, and at Wolverhampton Civic on December 10.
Share this article:
What are these?