Kenneth Williams on 'Aspel and Co', 1987

[@nathelondon3719]

Unprecedented. Unequalled. Unique. There will never be another Kenneth Williams. RIP

[@davidhardiman9603]

Yes, an absolutely correct description. Description is better than blind praise. Well done. God bless him.

[@Actingskint]

He was indeed all off these and more . I watched a interesting upload about his life , which made reference to his struggle with his sexuality . He was a gifted performer , but a tortured man in many ways . He never believed he would find love on his terms , and his bond with his mother was so strong , that he was always torn between , being seen as a gifted performer , who had this loyalty to his mum , yet an unfulfilled man emotionally . His diaries were quite acidic in their content ,& he was by all accounts a difficult man to deal with on and off stage \ set . But times have moved on ,& more people are allowed to bee themselves . Perhaps Kenneth would have found thee love he was seeking , or perhaps he wouldn't . Maybe he's was a product of his upbringing , & the constrictive attitudes of the era .who can ever guess at what might have been .

[@EveEve5]

Television shrinks the mind but without it we would never have seen the wonderful Kenny Williams ❤

[@BNCA70]

How lovely the way Loretta cupped his face with her hands and then hugged him at the end.

[@rnw2739]

My thoughts exactly. Amazing to think that they were both strangers to one another at the start of this interview, but by the end, Loretta has totally fallen in love with Kenneth and been utterly won over with his humour and personality, so much so that after just 15 minutes, she is responding to him as one would to a beloved family member who has returned after a long absence! Just wonderful x

[@PaulHunter-ih1ye]

R.I.P Kenny - what a Godsend to Comedy. A truly unique comic genius that has never been or ever will be surpassed. ❤❤

[@wildizer]

Kenneth Williams and Robin Williams are so similar. Manic, tragic, hilarious, truly unique, flamboyant. Amazing people

[@fayesouthall6604]

Absolutely right

[@soylentgreennewdealtimeshare]

No, mate. Kenneth Williams was funny and quite talented.

[@mohammaddavoudian7897]

This is proof of how intelligent and professional Kenneth Williams was. The most entertaining interview I've ever seen on tv. RIP.

[@DuncanEduardo]

The greatest raconteur and orator the UK entertainment industry ever produced. Brilliant eccentric man. Absolutely love him

[@cnevill2]

Fantastic dialogue from Kenneth. Hiding the fact that he was in a lot of physical pain and very frustrated with life generally.

[@splinterbyrd]

Unfortunately he took a conservative approach to his health problems. In his diary he describes his last few days ensuring excruciating pain. But instead of getting himself to hospital, he just put with it, until he could bear it no longer.

[@sharonjones873]

Kenneth Williams, genius, pure and simple.

[@zootMKVI]

If this is from February 1987 it's only about 16 months before he died in April 1988. A chat show's gift. Don't think he knew how much he was appreciated.

[@samtaurus007]

Oh, he knew his worth alright. He had a fantastic intelligence, and had little to no modesty. He (correctly) thought he was brilliant and knew exactly how much he was appreciated. :)

[@philipbonner6486]

Always a brilliant funny interview with Kenneth Williams, your so sadly missed 😢 Rest in Peace.

[@skywalkerranch]

We shall never see another man of such talent ever again. God bless you, Kenneth. You were and always will be the greatest.

[@johnjones-henderson3249]

Omg kenneth William's whar a funny man he was I was crying with laughter is army days story his facial expressions and his voice genius love all the carry on films he did a very clever and funny man so sadly missed god has captured so many great comedy legends definitely heavens gain our loss RIP kenneth hope your doing a double act with charles hawtry god bless

[@laytonjones2093]

Just love Kenneth Williams

[@markglover2525]

Kenneth was from another planet, where people's brains run 3x faster than ours, and the funniest words are listed first in the dictionary.

[@HonkyTonkParade]

Like another Mr Williams - Robin. Both brilliant, and in similar ways.

[@martinjones5965]

9:48 Emma Chiswick ... how much is it. Brilliant!

[@dannycarter1966]

Oh Kenneth, if you only knew how much the country loved you.

[@ppuh6tfrz646]

I think he knew. But he wanted something more personal and meaningful to him but because he was afraid of it, he never allowed it to happen.

[@LeeMills-ml9jm]

Kenneth was unique, a true one off and the chat show host's dream guest. Always hilarious and a brilliant raconteur. Michael really did well in this interview - he actually managed to ask a couple questions.

[@johnlarkin3821]

Lovely to see how much Loretta Switt appreciated him ...

[@TinaHayward-t3s]

LEGEND BRILLIANT MAN ❤

[@drtonyhaworth5711]

Kenneth dear Kenneth how we miss you so sadly ,there has never been another and Never will be…..the person I wanted to most have a Dinner with …See you one Day now rest Ken …..RIP

[@Andrew-el8xi]

Brilliant he literally just sits down and just starts into anything he's thinking at the time ! Fantastic

[@JamesDickson-vs5of]

Absolutely nothing not to like about the late Kenneth Williams, i wonder what he'd though about the internet, what a presious haman being , sleep tight brother, happy healthy peace

[@johnoneill4483]

A wonderful force of nature!

[@rdmountford3132]

Very sweet Loretta hugged Ken St the end..just one year later dear Kenny was gone. You could tell he was in pain. His serious discussion on Napoleon's health reflected his own dread that he had a serious illness.

[@martinjones5965]

I bet she treasured that hug

[@stevouk]

Williams wrote very disparagingly in his diaries in letters about appearances like this. He felt that he was getting worse and worse, "eating myself alive" he wrote. "I just start, and off I go, getting more and more indiscreet." He was dead within a year of this broadcast.

[@lorenzomagazzeni5425]

I always perceived him as a nasty human being without redeeming qualities

[@delvoniaquasbex5902]

@@lorenzomagazzeni5425 How limited and imperceptive of you. Don't give yourself away so easily.

[@bernardfox9078]

You don't hear oratory like this these days ! So funny.

[@jamestilby2223]

COMMENT 90 ABSOLUTELY AGREE THERES ONLY ONE KENETH WILLIAMS THE MAN OF A THOUSAND VOICES..... 😂

[@danhorton8689]

Loretta quite obviously adores Kenny The way she lovingly holds his head in her hands never ceases to move me God bless you, Kenny A true genius among men 👏 ❤

[@pianobanter]

Thursday, 5th February 1987. "I went on the show with Dennis Taylor and an American girl called Hot Lips from MASH. The audience was super! My spot went very well but of course I felt all the self-loathing after over such appalling indulgence. With me it's all verbal diarrhoea and while I'm gabbing on, another side of me is saying 'oh dear, what an exhibition you're making of yourself"

[@JuggiesArchive]

Interesting insight 👍

[@WillScarlet1991]

Do you think Kenneth would have approved of his diaries going public? I feel he would have been aghast. Something really private to him and then the whole world knows all about his thoughts.

[@1960dave1960]

@@WillScarlet1991I read his diaries, thought that the last entry was rather poignant….!!

[@rnw2739]

​@WillScarlet1991 He did very much approve of his diaries publication. We know this as Mavis Nicholson asks him whether he would like that (the interview is on here) and he said yes, he wouldn't mind at all, as long as they are published after his death, so the recipients of his vitriol could not retaliate lool.

[@ashleycromar113]

I was born the year he died and I honestly think he is much better than today’s comedians, so refreshing to not hear swearing etc even the innuendos are eloquent, very quick witted, I have no idea where his story’s are going but I am doubled over with laughter 😂

[@MichaelWalsh-qn3ef]

Aspel was never any Parkinson, he always looked bored to me. Love Kenneth x

[@ppuh6tfrz646]

Yes, I always thought that Aspel gave off an air of disapproval.

[@fayesouthall6604]

I think he let people perform.

[@johntaylor6345]

Kenneth Williams was a clever wordsmith. I can just imagine him spending a lot time with a dictionary reading the word and studying the definition. I loved the way that he used them as a comedy actor.

[@zackspaulding]

Simply brilliant!! 👏 😂

[@flauschifussel7038]

Ich liebe die " Carry on- Filmreije! Habe fast alle Filme auf DVD! Ich liebe diese Schauspieler Innen!!!! Herzliche Grüße aus Deutschland!!!!!🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👍

[@JuggiesArchive]

Danke fürs Zuschauen! 👍😁

[@wordscapes5690]

You can see in the eyes, he’s got that “Let’s get this over with and piss off!” expression - not always, but just occasionally. A consummate professional! He was seriously ill at this stage, and deeply depressed.

[@TheRealLagatha]

Love and miss him 😢

[@josefstout2194]

Pure joy

[@faithmapstone9982]

Kenneth you were a joy! ❤

[@graemeyetts3465]

He was staccato here, relentlessly funny, his mere presence and disposition was funny. My dad found him amusing at times. I found him hilarious, and still do.

[@lindablanthorn7787]

What a naturally funny man ❤

[@Scott_22]

He was incredible!

[@MatthewSherwoodKing]

Kenneth is a genius. Loretta loves Kenneth. Aspel is utterly hopeless.

[@starsh57]

Aww I so love Kenneth. RIP xx

[@extramild1]

I think you could take what Kenneth says about TV and apply it to social media - he was a man ahead and very much of his time.

[@stephenlees1691]

the best ever

[@jean6872]

*What about that for a performance.*

[@davidreid8075]

The emptiness of modern Britain.

[@bestofluckusa]

I never knew the Welsh were 'mean' and 'you couldn't trust them', as Kenneth said, but I've never liked them mainly because most of them don't like us, the English...so there! LOL. Love Kenneth's gag about having a burglar alarm on the dustbin, and I must remember it as I have a particularly mean associate. I was glued to EVERY ONE of Kenneth's words as he was SO unique and funny.

[@lumpygravy38]

Three steps in front of originality. Legend.

[@marcusbrown465]

Genius vs. Madness. What an interesting man he was.

[@mike-myke22]

a wonderful raconteur.

[@AlanCrouch]

A genius..

[@NorsePJ]

Funny to hear him say "...and if he's got some to fire..." rather than "...and if he has some to fire..." as it was rare for him to make a slip oratorically. But his diction was incredible.

[@jessiejames7492]

Just hilarious! If i was there i would be rolling on the floor with laughter. Cant imagine Aspel being so composed.

[@paulhenshall2221]

Aspel always kept a straight face with his guests. Whereas I loved it when I see Parkinson creased up, much more fun.

[@jessiejames7492]

@@paulhenshall2221 yes i remember parkinson s interview with peter sellers and michael caine esp. he was laughing so much. Michael caine loves telling stories and is so funny. I loved these two interviews.

[@Phil-l7n3p]

Endlessly interesting.

[@martinjones5965]

13:08 I love the way KW takes back dominance of the proceedings at this point which coincides with it resuming being interesting.

[@shaunigothictv1003]

Nowadays most whites kids in London speak English with a hybrid Jamaican dialect which is very different from the anglo saxon dialect of English which was spoken by Kenneth Williams. In the early 2000's, young white kids on council estates in London became JAMAICANISED. This is when they starting speaking with English with a hybrid Jamaican dialect. For example, Essex county is the only place in Britain where the cockney dialect/and or accent is still spoken.

[@nebularain3338]

Just say you're a racist and be done with it.

[@stevegray5263]

Ja-fake-an

[@shaunigothictv1003]

@@stevegray5263Interesting. Its actually referred to as MLE though. Google it and you will see.

[@rnw2739]

Not true. Cockney is also very much alive in parts of Kent and parts of Hertfordshire. Londoners didn't just flee into Essex you know, so Cockney is not going to be extinct any time soon, thankfully.

[@teralmiles]

2:36 is such a total mood.

[@martinjones5965]

13:56 One of his favorite sayings "Bugler alarm on the dust bin".

[@David-h4z2s]

What 🤣 A Character RIP

[@alanchamberlain9902]

Ken looked old here, I don't think he realized how good his work on the Carry On's were, its a shame he didn't live a bit longer into the 90s and maybe 2000. There isn't comedy actors around like that anymore.

[@leytonjay]

This is basically stand up! It's brilliant. Why didn't he do stand up? He could've jumped straight into the big middle class tours, bypassing the backrooms in pubs which he would've hated. I guess stand up was still pretty old school at that time, but these routines are good 5mins strung together which is the starting point of a good hour show.

[@garethmorgan3665]

Great point.

[@musicbybackinnyc1]

the doctor said hold it in hold it in lol

[@tylerlately]

9:54 I LOVE that joke

[@kevintraynor4508]

Wonder what Kenneth Williams would have thought about Y. Tube if he had been around to see it. Would he have thought of it the same as teleivision

[@JuggiesArchive]

He may not of known about it... he wasn't much into tech I think.

[@clarehennessey3653]

I so miss this quality, this British humour. I remember Round The Horne, there is nothing these days, it's all doom and gloom.

[@nebularain3338]

There's plenty good these days. You just want to believe that the past was better becasue you are getting old and feeling irrelevant.

[@kennethMorrison-j3t]

Such a funny intelligent man but a sadness etching from his face .

[@Useaname]

Dear Kenneth. He clearly was in pain here.

[@HonkyTonkParade]

Imagine if both Kenneth Williams and Robin Williams were booked to appear on a chat show at the same time. The host would struggle to get a word or a question in edgeways!! I also reckon Robin got inspiration from him.

[@marccas10]

Sadness transformed into comic genius. Such a fantastic shame.

[@lakehayden]

What are you doing the dying swan for 😂🤣

[@mrdeathgaming1457]

🤣😂🤣

[@justsayin644]

i love the lack of political correctness we all so sadly miss these days

[@pietjepuk9575]

So this was in 1987 and he died the year after , he was 62 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

[@npc3po301]

No wonder these types of shows irked him, plebs laughing at anything, fellow guests needing prompts to intervene, he loved to engage but surrounded by those without any verve of their own he felt dutybound to just ramble

[@happyuk06]

I've read the Kenneth Williams diaries and he was clearly suffering terribly during the last year or so of his life. Poor soul, he looks haggard in this video.

[@rcmakingtracks18]

One of a kind, very special human being.

[@mojofilter96]

2023 and most modern "celebs" are superb at nothing. Kenneth Nostradamus 😂

[@LordOfLight]

He was a tormented soul - and suspected of killing his own father.

[@fayesouthall6604]

His dad wasn’t a nice guy

[@bentattersfield7987]

A burglar alarm on the dustbin lol 😆

[@rosemaryallen2128]

That reminds me of how I went to see a lady doctor for some minor thing, and she stared at me with shocked glee and announced, "You're MENOPAUSAL!" I was quite unconcerned at this normal eventuality, which was doubtless a great disappointment to her...

[@johntaylor6345]

The Carry On films can't be made any more. We've lost almost the original cast. Kenneth was there from the start. Today's comic actors just simply haven't got the talent of the original Carry on team. My favourite Carry on is at your convenience. Kenneth played Mr Boggs the owner of the toilet factory.

[@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361]

before 'They' took over ...

[@chickenbento]

The immediately unforgettable, Mr. Michael Aspel. What a bore, with his tedious quips and interjections, paling in the light of the inimitable Kenneth Williams.

[@geoffreylaverne7859]

What's wrong with the host ???? Michael who ??😮

[@ijustwatchyoutube1242]

Him and sid made the carry ones it's a shame Kenneth took his own life

[@grai]

*WE* enjoy it but sadly he didn't he was far too unhappy and had been for most of his life to take any satisfaction in his own GENIUS at making people laugh which is such a gift being gay in his time wasn't easy and he wanted to be a serious actor and was deeply disappointed in his career He looks very worn down here and killed himself soon after

[@Regi869]

Did old Kenneth ever partake in any of that nose candy??

[@christinedewick2874]

Not with those nostrils 😅😅😅

[@sirbarnabyst.johntoffingto9017]

I must say I am absolutely superb at doing nowt to speak of . . . so I won't bother.

[@johnrider3749]

Kenneth Williams would be cancelled by the woke brigade these days,

[@sinclairwhitbourne2090]

Oh you poor little soul...

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

Erudite. intelligent ..intellectual ....-that WAS Britain .....what happened ? .. . . Immigration happened . . .!

[@alegomanYTPs]

how come this looks dreadfully worse than the 1974 one?

[@JuggiesArchive]

It's from a low-quality VHS tape originally. The 1974 one is from a more recent TV broadcast.

[@BenMoore-w7n]

Understand not people old

[@EddieDeeVee-pf1iu]

Tour de Force 10x over

[@philipusher4282]

10 seconds in and he starts talking about his jacksy. It's boring, he was much better than that.

[@thomasm1964]

Geordies in Carlisle? Wrong side of the country, Kenneth.

[@markflatters9819]

I think what he probably meant was they all sound like Geordie's....which the Carlisle accent is very similar too!

[@nevana1656]

The army camp.was in Carlisle where new recruits from Newcastle area went

[@thomasm1964]

@@nevana1656 Interesting. Were there no camps available in the north-east? It must have felt like crossing the Alps into a foreign land for the poor buggers! After his retirement, my Dad (a Lancashire lad and a career soldier who spent almost his whole service abroad) would roll up the windows of the car and claim that the wheel-mounted machine guns were extended and armed as we crossed the Lancashire / Yorkshire border. According to him, he couldn't relax again until we returned and could once more breathe the clean fresh air of God's own county. I don't know how he felt about County Durham though.

[@Man-From-Another-Place]

A lot of Geordies end up in that part of England. The country narrows up there, so it isn't that far away from Newcastle.

[@thomasm1964]

@@Man-From-Another-Place I know. I live between the two.

[@a34rwl]

Anally fixated, wasn't he.

[@somnambulist7705]

Did Aspel ask him about his father’s poisoning? Shame the police dropped it

[@Useaname]

Why. If they hadn't, we would have lost him.

[@somnambulist7705]

@@Useaname So you would value letting an alleged poisoner go free so you could have had the memories. I wouldn’t myself, not that I’m saying he did anything of course. But I’m allowed to think it.

[@Useaname]

@@somnambulist7705 yes, but I think of the value a person brings to the table. One value will always be above another. That is our world.

[@Useaname]

@@somnambulist7705 and it is way more likely than not, that he did what he supposedly did. After all, how did that substance get into the bottle otherwise? There were only 3 people living there. But a bigger question is why did the authorities not pursue it? That question is stranger.

[@somnambulist7705]

@@Useaname so if someone poisoned a family member of yours, but was a celebrity you’d be fine with it? We will never know what he did but I agree it’s a crime it was never investigated properly. We did have the death penalty in 1962 so if found guilty he could have faced that.

[@ColinH1973]

The canned laughter and the screeching at Kenneth Williams's every word was just abominable. It spoilt what could have been an interesting interview. Shame.

[@jmichael4002]

Recorded in front of a live audience……..