Rock off, Tommy

[Snake Plissken]

Bobby Ball has died, aged 76. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...tive-for-covid

[Sean of the Shed]

Another Saturday evening kid's staple gone. It seems it pays to be the straight man in the kid's entertainment double acts as far as Corona is concerned, wonder if SAGE have done any research on this?
Like Little and Large they seemed funnier when we were kids, but at least Bobby Ball had other strings to his bow and did a fair few acting jobs.

[elguapo4]

I remember him on Breakfast TV having a right go at the likes of Frank Bruno and Ian Botham getting panto roles when working actors were on the dole. You could see Fern Britton thinking " I wasn't expecting this ". As said above, he was more than a double act comedian.

[Satchmo Distel]

Yes, and I think it's unfair to compare Tommy Cannon to Syd Little. Cannon wasn't just standing there while Bobby did Deputy Dawg impressions. I think they studied Abbott and Costello quite closely and did a decent British version, but unfortunately it wasn't a routine you could string out for 15 years of TV unless you had very good writers and a Benny Hill-size budget (they had neither AFAIK). I regret never seeing them live when I was young enough to appreciate them.

Eddie Large plus Bobby Ball trying to outdo each other would have been a cracking two-hander around 1979.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

A lot of Reeves and Mortimer's early stuff lifts from Cannon and Ball, with the idiot Reeves spoiling Bob's big performance. It's done for maximum absurdity and surreality, of course, but the basic structure of the joke is the same. 'Alternative' comedy never really was THAT alternative.

[Snake Plissken]

Rik Mayall and Bobby Ball going toe to toe in a sketch, anyone? (There is one line from Mayall that absolutely killed me. I wonder if he improvised it.)

[Sean of the Shed]

Reeves and Mortimer have never been 'Alternative'. Absurdist, maybe, but their act has very little to do with most of the Alternative scene.

[Sean of the Shed]

Yes, and I think it's unfair to compare Tommy Cannon to Syd Little.

Fair enough, I'd agree Cannon was more of a Wise than a Lyttle. I was more pointing out that the dafter half of the double acts have been taken out by the virus first. Vic might want to think about self-isolating.

[Satchmo Distel]

AFAIK they always resisted the easy testicle pun: Ball's out, Ball's deep*

*"Where is he now and how was the sex?

Ball's deep, underground. And balls dee..."

[Artificial Hipster]

Bobby Ball once punched a 'mate' of mine at his club in Rochdale. As said 'mate' grew up to be a racist wanker I can, with hindsight, only conclude that Bobby must have been an excellent judge of character.

Tommy Cannon may also have been an excellent judge of character. He was definitely a right twat. His mercifully brief spell as chairman of the football club saw this image adorn the cover of the matchday programme on a weekly basis though it was soon replaced with a black and white version as finances grew tighter and tighter.



The story goes that having painted himself as some sort of messiah figure, sent from heaven to save the club from oblivion, Cannon's ultimate plan was to sell off the land on which the stadium was built and make himself a small fortune in the process. It was only after it was pointed to him (as legend has it by a teenager at a shareholders meeting) that the shares he 'owned' weren't actually in his own name that his plans were scuppered and he was forced out of the club soon after, albeit as a richer man than when he joined. This event more than any other is seen as the catalyst for the upturn in the club's own fortunes such that the past 30 years or so have seen, in relative terms, unparalleled success at Spotland.

Oh, and I also once stood next to Bobby Ball at a urinal at a pub in Littleborough. He made a joke about something but I've long since forgotten what.

[sw2borshch]

A lot of Reeves and Mortimer's early stuff lifts from Cannon and Ball, with the idiot Reeves spoiling Bob's big performance. It's done for maximum absurdity and surreality, of course, but the basic structure of the joke is the same. 'Alternative' comedy never really was THAT alternative.

That's more ripping off Morecambe and Wise, really. And they probably never invented it.

[longeared]

He's the second person namechecked in Hello by the Beloved to die this year, following on from Little Richard. Just saying that Jeffrey Archer was also in the lyrics.

[Guy Profumo]

They were on one of those radio panel thingummies back in the day where the conceit was old guard v current crop v up and comers

Called up to do their one minute set they launched straight in without being cued in and slew the entire audience.

An a bravura performance bar none

[Jah Womble]

RIP, of course, but I could never really see the appeal of Cannon and Ball: it all seemed so cheap and infantile - and not in a good way. I'd argue that Little and Large were better in that at least they exhibited a bit of craft now and again. (That said, they weren't exactly great either. If you also factor-in Mike and Bernie Winters, then ITV double acts really were pretty piss-poor during the seventies - especially when you consider that The Two Ronnies and [especially] Morecambe and Wise were on the other side.)

He's the second person namechecked in Hello by the Beloved to die this year, following on from Little Richard. Just saying that Jeffrey Archer was also in the lyrics.

Must admit, I thought Tommy Cannon had popped off already, but he's still about.

That really was one of the oddest records of all time. I mean, what were they thinking?

[Snake Plissken]

Nah, Cannon and Ball were light years ahead of Little and Large. I have no idea how L&L were so popular, they were non-League when it comes to quality and even as a ten year old I could see it. C&B were a lot of shouting, but Bobby had that anarchic streak where you couldn't really tell what he might do next and that was incredibly appealing.

Mike and Bernie Winters were a little before my time, though their memory lives on in the form of the Glasgow theatre heckle.

[Mr Delicieux]

I second the sense of anarchy when Bobby Ball was about on television. His whole persona screamed mischievousness to this 5 year old, and I was so down for that.

[MsD]

Here's the show with Adam Ant if anyone's interested. Obviously not my favourite AA period and I used to hate this song but have warmed to it now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtXuVHSZpw

[Jah Womble]

Nah, Cannon and Ball were light years ahead of Little and Large. I have no idea how L&L were so popular, they were non-League when it comes to quality and even as a ten year old I could see it. C&B were a lot of shouting, but Bobby had that anarchic streak where you couldn't really tell what he might do next and that was incredibly appealing.

Mike and Bernie Winters were a little before my time, though their memory lives on in the form of the Glasgow theatre heckle.

Fair enough - a lot of folk seem to agree that C&B had an anarchic streak that endeared them, and I can see that. I guess what they did just wasn’t my thing, especially once ‘alternative’ comedy came along. (I much preferred Alexei Sayle, etc.)

I can remember L&L having a brief stint on Crackerjack around 1972. That was sort of their level.

[Benjm]

I wonder whether Take That's act was based upon the C&B/L&L template, only with four straight men.