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Post by Chris Mortimer on Apr 17, 2009 19:48:09 GMT
This is rather sad, but in case anyone's interested someone has uploaded footage of Tommy Cooper's onstage death onto Youtube.
I won't bother posting a link in case it offends anyone, but it's not hard to find.
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Post by Mark Leech on Apr 17, 2009 22:28:03 GMT
I'd never seen this before as I was only 10 at the time so had a look - I now wish I hadn't as the look on his face at the end is awful  Regards Mark |
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Post by Eric Lawton on Apr 18, 2009 10:10:52 GMT
Its awfully sad isnt it...........but !!!!
I should imagine that, as one of the funniest comedians in the world, if someone would have asked Tommy to "pick his death", this would be the way that he wanted to go out.
The audience were convinced it was part of the act whilst it was happening. Imagine him fading away, listening to the crowd roaring laughing at him.
Tommy was a Genius. At a TV Awards show once, he walked onto stage to receive an award, and just stood there looking round............... and stood there looking round...........etc. It was all on 3 minutes before he uttered a single word. The whole of the studio audience were choking laughing, falling off chairs, crying with laughter. And he hadnt uttered a SINGLE word.
How do you define that ?
Thats purely and simply COMEDY GENIUS !!
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Apr 18, 2009 12:20:36 GMT
Apparently it was recently shown on a Dutch TV channel.
Althought it has been transmitted before, hasn't it?
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Post by B Thomas on Apr 18, 2009 12:39:08 GMT
Terribly sad this - as, indeed, it was at the time (a day after my twelfth birthday). An awful day for entertainment but one that cemented his place in comedy legend. One of the most consumate comic acts of all time...
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Post by Chris Mortimer on Apr 18, 2009 12:52:02 GMT
I was almost ten at the time and only heard about what happened on the News at Ten which followed the Royal Variety Performance. It's not usual to collapse so quickly like that and a little distressing to watch, but a unique moment nevertheless.
The clip seems to have been shown recently by a Dutch program and was probably related to the 25th anniversary of Cooper's death - he was very popular in the Netherlands apparently. I expect that it originates from a home video recording and the rest of the show must have been a bit surreal as Jimmy Tarbuck was supposed to have been affected quite badly (he was behind the curtain passing objects to Cooper as part of the 'Magic Cloak' trick).
Tommy Cooper suffered from intense stagefright throughout his career and hence drank heavily. This is undoubtedly a big reason why he passed away relatively early, but also the reason for him developing his act. He performed a trick in front of his workmates and kept mucking it up because he was so nervous, so it wouldn't surprise me if his TV Awards acceptance was him just being himself!
According to Wikipedia, someone is working on a documentary about the last week of Cooper's life which ought to be good. I agree that this is how he would have wanted to go and it was almost the perfect gag in a weird way.
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RWels
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Post by RWels on Apr 18, 2009 15:39:31 GMT
The clip seems to have been shown recently by a Dutch program and was probably related to the 25th anniversary of Cooper's death - he was very popular in the Netherlands apparently. Yes, a public channel, 15 April. player.omroep.nl/?aflID=9308699 Go to 29:05. It was a repeat actually, the fragment was already shown in 1985 and they found this in the Dutch TV archive. They must have rediscovered it while browsing, this is from the same show that found the Dutch monty python sketch. If anyone is interested, the Dutch tv archive also has a normal show from 1984 and two compilations made in 1990. But those may not contain any missing material. It also seems he may have appeared in one Dutch show in person, on the "Willem Ruis Lotto Show", aired 16-7-1982. |
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Post by Pete Seaton on Apr 18, 2009 17:17:31 GMT
they should remove that video from youtube
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Post by Richard Moore on Apr 18, 2009 20:04:03 GMT
Agreed. I'm afraid this is the sort of material that SHOULD have been wiped.
I can't understand why people on Youtube or the dutch tv station concerned think this is acceptable. ITV have NEVER reshown any of this for reasons of taste and out of respect for his family.
Why would anybody want to see someone die!!!
I went to you tube and found the footage just to see what comments were made. I didn't and wouldn't watch it, but it is surprising how many have!
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Post by B Thomas on Apr 19, 2009 13:24:22 GMT
Agreed. I'm afraid this is the sort of material that SHOULD have been wiped. I can't understand why people on Youtube or the dutch tv station concerned think this is acceptable. ITV have NEVER reshown any of this for reasons of taste and out of respect for his family. Why would anybody want to see someone die!!! I went to you tube and found the footage just to see what comments were made. I didn't and wouldn't watch it, but it is surprising how many have! I agree: it's very distressing and in very poor taste to plaster it all over YouTube. A sad indictment of what today's audiences have become... |
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Post by Colin Anderton on Apr 21, 2009 11:00:34 GMT
I agree, it's in bad taste to put it on YouTube - but I watched it. Not because of any wish to "see someone die", but because I remembered watching the programme that night, and thinking that something wasn't quite right with the way they switched to the interval; I think it happened just before the first advert break.
I watched this clip with great sadness - and definitely with a sense of respect.
I don't really know why I wanted to see it again, but certainly not to "enjoy" it in any way.
Very sad - but it happened. And I definitely do NOT agree that it should be wiped. History is not always pleasant, but there is a need to preserve it. Why? Frankly, I'm not sure, but it just seems right to do so.
Being a space fan, I have a copy of the audio of the Apollo 1 fire. I've only listened to it a couple of times (the second time to contribute to a debate about exactly what was said); it was very shocking - I socially aware up with the sound in my head the next morning - but it's there in the pages of history. It happened.
Colin.
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Post by Andy Howells on Apr 21, 2009 14:40:02 GMT
I agree with Colin's sentiments, I do wonder if YouTube is the right venue for it, after all, new and younger fans of Tommy, may find it upsetting, particularly children.
In this case, a sense of history needs to be preserved, after all, if you start wiping things like that, you will then have to question other events caught on camera or audio, 9/11, Apollo 1 (as already mentioned), Kennedy's assassination, none of these events were or are "enjoyed" but all were documented.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2009 16:05:52 GMT
Couldn't agree more with you guys. Those events may not have been pleasant but they happened, were recorded and are now history. Wiping programmes for whatever reason is not something we should ever get into again.
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Post by Richard Moore on Apr 21, 2009 19:25:44 GMT
You missunderstand or perhaps I put it wrong.
I don't mean it should now be wiped - I just feel that if they were going to wipe TV programmes then I had rather it had been this than anything else, although of course i'd prefer that nothing had been wiped at all!
Putting this footage historically on a par with the Kennedy footage or Apollo 1 though is silly. We know that the poor man died on live TV, we don't need to see it.
Sorry, but this should have been locked in the archives and never seen again! Fine keep it for historical reasons but don't ever show it on TV (rightly it has never been repeated on any UK programme about Cooper i've ever seen).
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Post by Colin Anderton on Apr 22, 2009 8:31:38 GMT
I respect all views on this matter, whether or not I agree with them.
Sorry, Richard, I did misunderstand - I thought you meant it should be wiped at this present time.
And I definitely agree with Andy - YouTube is not the place for this, and perhaps there is a good case for suggesting they remove it.
As I stated before, I - and I'm sure members here who've seen it - would watch with a sense of respect. But we all know that there are many people these days who would watch for other reasons.
Colin.
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