Tony Hancock Rare Interview Part Two

[@adamhawkins6770]

This is a fascinating and very well-conducted interview which affords us a real insight into his state of mind; despite the physical decline, there is still a burning desire from him to develop his unique talent, and explore new audiences (eg in the US). Tragically, we know this never happened, which adds to the sadness and sense of loss.

[@benhughes5609]

I’ve listened to Hancock’s Half Hour for 25 years, before i had any understanding of why it was funny. I still find him hilarious even though i know the episodes by heart. A true comedy genius that unfortunately self destructed. I play him in the car for my daughter (only 2 yo) in an attempt to pass on his legacy and keep him alive. RIP Tony. Long Live the Lad.

[@GrezH]

Tony Hancock was a unique talent and he never fails to make me laugh. My youngest daughter (age 9) discovered him from a CD of The Blood Donor/The Radio Ham and then found my DVD of his last BBC series and demanded to watch all the episodes -despite the poor quality black and white pictures! It's always a shame to know your heroes are flawed, but Tony has given all my family hours and hours of fun and laughter. Top bloke!

[@boychildnew1]

I think he comes over well here, despite the physical decline. He is clearly smart and still with ideas about moving forward.

[@peterwithers8945]

A very talented man never be replaced.

[@williamsays]

Thanx for posting . Havnt seen that before . Hancocks one of my all time favourites .

[@derby1884]

A very insightful interview. Such a seemingly intelligent man but so beset by a combination of self-doubt and addiction that, when he finally realised that, via the pen of Galton & Simpson, he had in fact always had the type of "core" comedy he was seeking and had actually thrown it all away, then the revelation of that proved too much in the end. That final Australian series, where he vainly tries to re-enact those days, is painful viewing. Even there, though, the viewer can still see the talent, dulled though it was by years of self-abuse. Such a bloody shame. He was the best there ever was and ever will be.

[@midguardz]

a brilliant mind, a sad soul.

[@Sixtiesdude1]

Great interview by the late and lamented Michael Dean of Late Night Line Up.The BBC once had interviewers worthy of the task of extracting facts from talented and interesting personalities, rather than banal banter from mediocrities who pass for talent today. Interesting also that when Hancock did this interview in October 1965, he was still much in demand.The Blood Donor of June 1961, is always held up as the peak of his career, but after moving to ITV in 1963 he carried on with other writers, where there were still flashes of brilliance.There were also cameo appearances in movies such as Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, and the Egg commercials with Patricia Hayes, which are still remembered. Shortly after this interview Hancock appeared in the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore film The Wrong Box as a Detective uttering the immortal line "The Butler Did it ?" to Wilfrid Lawson, another fine actor who liked a drink or two. Hancock certainly seems to have been partaking of liberal BBC hospitality here. I presume he did not drive himself home as he had only just purchased a beautiful 1965 Aston Martin DB5 convertible, and fortunately the car is still around today, unlike Hancock who committed suicide in June 1968.The Satirist Willie Rushton was tasked with bringing his ashes back to England, and the conversation with a customs official at the airport was according to Rushton , a Hancock's Half Hour in itself.

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

During the lockdown/furlough, I found out that Hancock's ashes were scattered in Cranford Park next to Heathrow Airport, very near to me. There is a memorial there (and for his mother who died the following year), it is part of my now previous employers folklore that his ashes were put in 1st Class as the seat next to Rushton was taken, returned on landing with a note from the crew 'thanks for all the laughs'. I had assumed that the ashes were scattered there as it was the nearest church and park to the airport, however I am told that there were family ties to the area as well as Birmingham.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Hancock passed his test but never drove, even though he owned several expensive cars. The accident in 1961 when he went through the windscreen, suffered memory loss and made him reliant on 'idiot boards' happened when his first wife was driving.

[@stripetuffy]

Absolutely fascinating, one never knew how human, really nice thank you john

[@ingridjcollins]

He wanted to reach the essential absurdity of being human, which is why he kept shedding colleagues to try to arrive at the core truth of comedy. His alcoholism was destroying his ability to perform his comedy, and comedy was the only thing he truly cared about. I had the privilege of knowing him for a short time and was surprised at how insecure he was. He would ask his manager to phone me when he wanted to chat, or to play mental chess, in case I might reject his call. As if I ever would!

[@janmcdonald3896]

People always go on and on about the blood donor which is great but 2 me equally great r the missing page, the reunion party & the ladies man. All brilliant!

[@jamesmalone1680]

A amazing talent

[@ekcentrik]

I can't watch him in this condition. I'll just listen. I want to remember him in "Hancock's Half Hour".

[@mjb4983]

He knew himself at the end

[@aewd1980]

such a sad decline. one of britain's funniest comedians ending up the way he did, i shall never quite understand how hancock's career spiralled out of control the way it did. such a waste of a fine talent.

[@markt1387]

Clearly had a few sherbets before this interview. So sad. Such a brilliant talent.

[@richardhumphreys8662]

Of course, he never did the musical 'Noah' and as far as I'm aware it's never been produced. To think that he could have done it is rediculous, he simply hadn't got the physical stamina at this stage in his life. This is something he may have been able to do in the 50s, but not in the 60s. A big press party was arranged to announce the project but Hancock didn't turn up until it was all over and he was drunk. That was the end of that. Frankie Howerd had a big hit with 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum', in the 60s, but Frankie Howerd was a much stronger man and more importantly was not an alcoholic. Like certain other very talented performers, Hancock was his own worst enemy and the only friend he didn't chuck away was the one that lived in a bottle.

[@JamesRichards-mj9kw]

Howerd was an alcoholic.

[@ysgol3]

He was great with Galton and Simpson, but his character was pretty shallow really - for example he (the character) could never have a real relationship, or get genuinely angry, or have any genuine feelings about anything. Then he dumped them, and they went on to much deeper, cleverer writing with Steptoe. And so we never saw whether Hancock (the man) could have handled such material. I reckon that, sober, he could have, would have been brilliant in fact, but by 1965, when alcoholism had gripped him, it was too late.

[@ysgol3]

@King Royal LOL fantastic retcon.

[@esmeephillips5888]

In 'The Punch and Judy Man', which Hancock co-wrote from his own idea, he did try to play a more normal, married man, though childless. The film's most admired scene, with the small boy in the ice cream parlor, is poignant bc it somehow conveys Hancock's feeling that he could never be a father. The film is less succesful overall than 'The Rebel' but is fascinating bc it suggests that, like many comedians, Hancock might have become a fine character actor. His early work in 'The Government Inspector' (on YT) and his eagerness to do Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros' also pointed that way.

[@Marvin-dg8vj]

​@@esmeephillips5888 Hancock could have been a fine character actor but he wasn't a comic as such and thinking he was become part of the tragedy. I can't think of anything worse than the pressure to be a comic when you aren't up to the job

[@esmeephillips5888]

@@Marvin-dg8vj Hancock was not a stand-up comedian firing off gags, though he began that way. His one-man show at the RFH was a sort of meta-performance, getting laughs by depicting himself as an inept has-been in that field. But he was always acting, even if the role was always the same: G&S's 'Anthony Aloysius' the 'artiste', older than his actual age and full of delusions of grandeur and affronted dignity, It really derived, like so many other great British sitcom characters, from Will Hay's persona. Tony Hancock's breakthrough was as a variant of 'The Fourth Form at St Michael's': Archie Andrews's tutor. Like Hay, Hancock was a reaction comic, best in situation comedy where his slow burns and superb facial and vocal inflexions could be put to work. The pleasure of his performance is anticipating how he will cope with the next banana skin. Familiarity with the anti-hero is a prerequisite. The best funnymen wring the most variations out of a settled persona. In the States I guess Jack Benny was the past master. Like Hancock, Benny surrounded himself with stock types and shared the laughs willingly, knowing that he could top the support's cracks with his responses. Unfortunately Hancock came to think he was being upstaged by his troupe (even by Sidney James) and was too localized in appeal. So he set off on a fool's errand to become another Chaplin. The extraordinary, sadistic way his writers guyed the real Hancock- while always claiming it was their own pretensions they were mocking- left no room for the softer side of his nature. Hancock claimed to disdain playing for sympathy, but he let a more wistful side of himself be glimpsed in 'The Punch and Judy Man'. He incurred much criticism for letting G&S go, but I do not blame him; they were wickedly brilliant, and in much the same way they did Harry H Corbett in. The stars and their scribes were locked into a dance of death..

[@Marvin-dg8vj]

@@esmeephillips5888 G and S felt he exploited them ! But I get your point that he was hard to characterise.

[@peterm1826]

what amazes me is when these excellent comedians like tony hancock are alive no body gives a fuck but once their dead everybody turns hypocrite and start complementing them makes me sick

[@mjb4983]

one must understand, a stressed mind is undermined

[@tedsalad4096]

It must be possible to fill-in the interviewers bald patch. Surely. For the love of God.

[@esmeephillips5888]

That was bad lighting.

[@paullevy1592]

He's obviously drunk.

[@sonraysonic3146]

not sure if it's the style of the interviewer or the calibre of subject, but there is a brightness of intellect which is sadly lacking in todaze so-called celebs. You used to see it on Parkinson, it was all a little less insulting to the intelligence. Stone me, sorry I went off a bit there.

[@MrDavey2010]

Hancock just leaves me completely cold. I don’t understand any parts of the humour.

[@MrDavey2010]

James Henderson Totally agree. I’ve listened to many recordings, have watched his movies & seen many TV episodes but for the life of me, I don’t get the supposed comedy at all. I sit stoney faced

[@esmeephillips5888]

@@MrDavey2010 Stony-faced? Stone me!

[@Voxac100b]

​@@MrDavey2010watch the lawyer