The Derek and Clive documentary that I was interviewed for was on tonight. It's taken a while to be aired, I did the interview in March. They used two bits from the hour long interview, and not the bits that I would necessarily have chosen. I had found it very interesting to think about the filthy double act and think I'd actually come up with some quite interesting things to say. I usually wouldn't do those "I love
rubbish old bits of nostalgia" shows and have in fact always turned them down, but I thought maybe I had something to say on this one. But, of course, the editing is up to other people and thus they are not really worth doing.
It is sad that Cook was in any way jealous of Moore's Hollywood career, a) because none of Moore's films were that good anyway and b) because Peter Cook was Peter Cook. You'd think that would be enough of an achievement for anyone. I know from experience that it can be competitive in a double act and much as you are happy for the other person's success, it can also inspire envy .
I am sure Peter Cook was generally pleased for Dud, but it is a pity if it made him unhappy. Cook was the greatest, funniest and most influential comedian of his generation. You'd think that would be enough.
Paul McCartney is another person who constantly flabbergasts me. You would think that being in the Beatles and writing all those songs would be enough for him, but he seems to constantly battle against the idea that Lennon was the cool and talented one. But Paul, you're Paul McCartney. You wrote some of the finest pop songs there have ever been. You know what you did, surely that is enough. It doesn't matter whose name comes first on the credits.
I think the Derek and Clive documentary overplayed Cook's nastiness to Moore. In the sketch about cancer of the arse, which Dud's dad had just succumbed to, you can clearly hear Dudley laughing. He's not upset. It isn't Cook having a go. They are laughing in the face of the horror. It reminds me of the relationship that me and Peter Baynham enjoy. We constantly try to shock each other with the most offensive phone messages. When we lived together in the mid-90s, I had just returned from my grandfather's funeral and was a little bit upset. I remember Pete seeing my grief and commenting "I am delighted that your granddad is dead." He made me laugh and cry at the same time. It was a beautiful moment of unacceptable humour between friends.
