Footlights Documentary, 1983 - Peter Cook, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Germaine Greer

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This is a documentary from 1983 presented by Chris Serle, and leaning heavily on the book by Robert Hewison, about the Cambridge Footlights. There are many old clips and interviews with long dead comedians such as Jimmy Edwards and Richard Murdoch, plus the likes of John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Frederic Raphael, David Frost and Germaine Greer from the 50s and 60s. Some sketches are recreated for the show featuring many performers who would go on to be famous, such as Tony Slattery, Robert Bathurst, Stephen Fry (although he was already semi-famous) and Kit Harvey (AKA Kit Hesketh-Harvey). N.B. Around a minute has been cut out for copyright reasons.
If this is of interest, I have recently uploaded the 1977 Footlight show Tag!, and will be uploading videos relating to two other Footlights shows in the coming days. Please subscribe to my channel to receive notifications of new content.

[@tomfitzsimmons6535]

Thank you so much! This is a real treasure trove, especially for Americans like myself that missed so much of what was available to you. Now, the poor sound quality made some parts nearly indecipherable. Captioning at some point would be great. but still, this is thrilling.

[@twentyrothmans7308]

What a gem. Thank you.

[@billbobmatthews]

You're very welcome.

[@cherylannebird]

Thank you!! I've looked for this forever!

[@chocsal]

Thanks for uploading this! It contains a clip of An Evening At Court - it would be lovely to find a complete recording of that show.

[@billbobmatthews]

No problem. Is that the correct name? An Evening At Court?

[@chocsal]

​@@billbobmatthews I refer to the version of 'Judge Not' beginning at 44:34 - this is from the charity show 'An Evening At Court', staged (justice once) at Drury Lane Theatre on Sunday 23 January 1983. The story behind the need for the show is here liberalengland.blogspot.com/2010/07/adran-slade-zac-goldsmith-and-election.html . Adrian Slade had been in the Footlights in 1958 & 1959, becoming president for the second year, so had useful showbiz connections. Apparently there is a full recording of the show in existence. I am unsure if that full recording is video or just audio. However, some of the comedy performers withheld permission for the full recording to be released. Obviously they were happy for the courtroom sketch to be included in this Footlights documentary being made the same year. If there is film of the whole charity show it would be of enormous interest if it could ever be cleared for release. The cast: Alan Bennett; Eleanor Bron; Tim Brooke-Taylor; Graham Chapman; John Cleese; Peter Cook; John Fortune; David Frost; Graeme Garden; Neil Innes; Bill Oddie; Angela Thorne. In addition, Willam Cook states in 'Tragically, I was an Only Twin: The Complete Peter Cook' that Rowan Atkinson, Barry Took and French & Saunders took part, plus Adrian Slade himself, his brother Julian (writer of the musical Salad Days) and Nicola, Adrian's daughter. Denis King was involved with the musical side. Cleese & Cook performed the 'Inalienable Rights' sketch, written by Cook and Bernard McKenna. Brooke-Taylor, Garden & Oddie performed something [unsure what but I'm guessing a song] AS The Goodies, as well as taking individual roles. Willie Rushton also took part. Trade paper The Stage announced the benefit on 2nd Dec 1982 and Humphrey Barclay (director of the show, and at the time Head of Comedy at LWT) implied that it wouldn't hold back in criticising the legal system - and would be risqué! The Stage returned to witness the rehearsal; also taking part were Kit & The Widow and Harvey & the Wallbangers (they were the first group I went to see as a teenager, incidentally). In the show, Angela Thorne was interviewed as Mrs Thatcher by David Frost, introducing her cabinet for the forthcoming election - who were all lookalikes of herself, played by some of the men! I'm indebted to Jonathan Sloman for much of this information.

[@bentumney512]

13.21 That photo isn’t from Victorian times, that’s Tim Brooke-Taylor in drag!

[@forgottentelevisiondrama2750]

Tx: 04 June 1983.

[@mrstephenmeadify]

Is that victoria wood at 12.12

[@sexyhomeowner9345]

Haha, it DOES look like her but it's not.

[@jamesburke2094]

One of the new words that needs inventing is one reflecting the fact that an institution which gains its inaugural notoriety is down to those within it at the time and that subsequent members tend to drag it down That phenomenon is more or less completely lost on the shameless newcomers, particularly today

[@apintofbeer1667]

Stephen Fry`s rich parents got him into Cambridge after he was released from prison for burgling houses

[@sexyhomeowner9345]

So? He's spoken about that aspect of his past and he's clearly a brainiac anyway.

[@billbobmatthews]

That's not right in two ways. Fry was in prison for fraud to do with bad cheques, IIRC. Nothing to do with burglary! Also, Fry's parents weren't poor but also not especially rich. I think it was his enormous brain that got him into Cambridge more than rich parents.

[@apintofbeer1667]

@@billbobmatthews 2 lies for the price of one,you must research the subject at hand before commenting

[@Charlz1980tv]

Are you not aware Stephen Fry was admitted to Cambridge AFTER he wrote Mythos and Heroes, and subsequently went on to invent a time travelling device to go back in time to prove that he was smart enough to be admitted. 😎 Fry is, ofcourse , far to modest to brag about these facts cq accomplishments. He is quite humble, you know...he really is. 😉

[@nickwyatt9498]

After a troubled adolescence Stephen Fry got into Cambridge by settling down and working bloody hard at his A-Levels. Sorry if that doesn’t tickle your class prejudices so much.