No Joke

‘WHERE is Norman Hale? Where is Gareth Pace?

The laughter never stops…

The greatest comedy duo of the 20th Century – creators of such unforgettable characters as the, er, Two Rons – have sensationally been omitted from a list of our Top 20 funnymen.

And it’s not just the Mirror that’s flabbergasted by the results of the Reader’s Digest survey.

Tony Hancock, it says, got only 16 of the 2,000 votes cast, Peter Sellers five and Peter Cook only one.

The Two Ronnies, Ricky Gervais, Steve Coogan and Jennifer Saunders did not register at all. There’s no Cannon and Ball. No Little and Large. And – amazingly – no Hale and Pace.

Fez-wearing king of the one-liners Tommy Cooper tops the poll (ahead of Peter Kay), with 10% of the total votes cast.

After all, anyone who could get the audience to burst out laughing as he collapsed and died during a broadcast of Live From Her Majesty’s deserves the ultimate accolade.

But Norman and Gareth will be disappointed to see who else is ahead of them.

Billy Connolly, for instance, comes in at No.3 (largely due to the Scottish vote), Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown is at No.7, Jim Davidson at No.13 and Lenny Henry at No.17.

Hell, even Freddie Starr and Jasper Carrott make the list at the expense of our heroes.

‘Which makes me very angry, Ron.’ ‘Yes, Ron. It makes be VERY angry.’ Repeat until laughter fades and dies…’

Posted: 25th, August 2004 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink