The
show, Jus' Like That! has now ended. The show started touring two years
ago on March 5, 2003. The show has visited many UK destinations including, Malvern,
Oxford, Plymouth, the West End, Northampton, Woking, Stoke-On-Trent, Surrey, Mold,
Norwich, Sheffield, Cornwall, Cardiff, Eastbourne, Windsor, Peterborough, Cheltenham,
Nottingham, Southend-on Sea, St Helier, Newcastle, Cambridge, Birmingham, Dorset,
Manchester, Bath, Coventry, Brighton and Liverpool. The show has received numerous
outstanding reviews from the media and the general public.
John Fisher's
play provided an insight into the working life of Britain's most famous magician
Tommy Cooper... Jerome talks to Michael Hellicar about the challenge of stepping
into the comedy magician's size 13 shoes.. One of the nation's most beloved natural
clown's is brought vividly to life in this celebration of the great Tommy Cooper.
All the familiar trademarks are here - the fez, the laugh, the 'hats' routine,
the bottle and the glass - just like that.
But the play also offers a
look at the more private man, providing a behind the scenes insight into a night
in the working life of the manic magician. We meet the perfectionist, and worrier,
whose energy and anger, doubts and anxieties were the driving force of the outwardly
genial giant who died the most public of deaths on live television before an audience
of millions.
"I suppose there is a physical resemblance between myself
and Tommy - people tell me I have the same bulldozer jaw as him and that we share
a manic look around the eyes. But I don't match up to his shoe size. I can only
muster a pathetic 11, and I haven't yet mastered clumsiness as an art form. Nor
did I think I was very good at magic tricks, although I've been getting ready
for my role by having materclasses from magician Geoffrey Durham, and he tells
me I'm a natural. Natural what? Clown? Conjuror? Comic? Tommy was all three, which
made him an enduring star.
As a lad, I used to watch Tommy on TV but
I just didn't understand what people saw in him. My logical schoolboy's mind couldn't
get round the fact that here was someone who got applause, basically, for messing
things up. I found that disturbing. Later, when I was studying to become an actor,
I saw him through different eyes. Here was a man who didn't mind playing the fool
and was happy to laugh at himself. It was a thrill to watch him because he seemed
to be living on the edge. You never knew what might happen - Tommy was like a
live hand grenade rolling around with the pin out.
That was when I first
became a fan. After he died, I sat down one night with a gang of friends and watched
a tribute programme. We stumbled around, imitating his crazy walk, his chuckle,
his 'just like that' catchphrase and we told and retold his pathetic jokes. I
can't deny we were vodka-fuelled, but a strange thing happened that night: we
all felt his presence. There was definitely something happening, something eerie.
Even now, it's too personal, too mystic for me to go into details.
After
that, Tommy was in my system. He became part of my life, always in the background.
Then, last year, I was asked to play him in this show. I didn't particularly want
to do it, because I was taking a long rest from working, and I didn't feel ready
to go back just yet. But then my Father died (Eric Flynn had shot to fame as BBC's
Ivanhoe in the 1970's) and I felt I owed it to him to at least give it a try.
Dad and I had talked about the part and he was very keen for me to do
it. The audition was set for the day before his funeral, and so walking out on
stage and being funny was the last thing I felt like doing. But I went ahead with
it and, as the audition began, I felt myself being taken over by two people -
Tommy and Dad. It worked out very well and the rest is history. I'm daunted by
the role because it's such a challenge. He was so well loved and so much a part
of our comedic heritage, that it seems almost audacious of me to take it on. But,
as Tommy and Dad made it clear to me : I really have no choice."
Banbury
Lardies
The
Banbury Lardies started out as a bunch of middle aged, over weight business people
who met after work to play cards, eat curry and drink beer to chill out. One of
the things about membership to this group is the necessity of having a nickname.
They were not very good at cards and they got into doing good works instead. When
Paul Bithell, editor of The Banbury Guardian and one of the original Lardies,
died of cerebral cancer last Christmas Eve the group expanded and is now devoted
to raising money for MacMillan Cancer Relief.
They have a whole range
of fund raising activities running through the Spring and Summer that will finish
up with 22 of the group riding 400 plus miles around the Nile in a sponsored cycle
ride this coming Autumn.
They saw Jerome on Parkinson. And because he
was terrific and with the Egyptian connection between their bike ride and Tommy
Cooper's fez, the members, 49 of them, decided to hire a bus and went to see the
show, Jus' Like That! at the Garrick Theatre and raise money for MacMillan
Cancer Relief
A number of celebrities have already lent their names in
support of this cause - Jeremy Clarkson, Bishop of Chichester, John Craven, Mohammed
al Fayed to name a few. They have each picked up a Lardie name as a result. They
thought it a good idea to recruit Jerome and approached us about it. As a result
Jerome has kindly accepted the title of "Jus' Like That Lardie".
