Derek and Clive, the evil incarnations of two of my favourite comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. These two characters represent, I am afraid to say, the worst example of improvised comedy I can think of. Foul mouthed, crude, offensive and more than just a little funny. The fact is improvisation is not supposed to be like this, rules for improvisation are generally:
1. You go with the first thing in your head
2. You work together with the other people involved with the improvisation
3. Try and keep it clean
Now this unscripted comedy by the 'Not Only But Also' duo seems to completely defy these rules. Peter Cook seems obsessed to go with how he sees the improvisation to be going and in many ways it feels like he has already worked out his half of the routine before. Maybe this is because he was such a good comedian or because he had worked on ideas beforehand. Although this can be explained by the genesis of these two filthy characters.
Whilst touring America with the live show of their TV series Cook was suffering from his increased alcoholism, the pair of comedians to rehearse hired studios and getting bored of their Dagenham Dialogues started improvising more obscene language and subject matters but still in the Pete and Dud style. In fact the truth is Clive (Pete) and Derek (Dud) were just hugely ramped up versions of the two flat cap wearing bar philosophers from Dagenham. All the typical traits of Pete, his self perceived intellectual superiority and general leadership of this duo and Dud's put upon and subservient behaviour not to mention his annoyance with Film stars (which takes a very nasty tone during a Derek and Clive skit called Joan Crawford) are in Derek and Clive but moreso and the subservience of Dud/Derek has become full on abuse of Derek. Peter Cook should have been ashamed for some of the disgusting things he said to Dudley Moore when they were supposed to be improvising comedy skits. Many people have said that due to their bond as a great comedy duo Dudley felt he needed to work with Peter to help him out when his own career was starting to kick into high gear and Peters were stalling. Now Peter was apparently jealous and with the unscripted no holds barred approach of these recordings they recorded a track called 'Cancer' in which Derek asks Clive how he is going to 'go out' and Clive answers laughing and then launches into a quick quip about Cancer which Dudley Moore pretty much doesn't react to. The reason he probably didn't react too well is his father had only just passed away from Cancer. It is a tragic representation of a relationship that would eventually become strained and broken until the late 1980s and early 90s when Cook and Moore would work together for charity benefits.
Then there is Peter Cooks obsessive control over virtually every skit and sketch, if something doesn't go the way he wants in many of them he will stop co-operating with Moore. A great example of this is the sketch 'Mother' which does have some very disturbingly filthy material but the Mother character that Moore creates is silly and of course the, supposed, driving force of this improvisation. Cooks role is to just follow and fit his character in and he does start off very amiable and co-operative but at a certain point where I believe he realises that Moore is both outshining him and taking the improvisation somewhere he doesn't want it to go he starts breaking character and ruining the sketch. Cook seems to be the sort of performer who has to show off how clever he is, especially during these years when he was battling drinking problems, and validate his talent.
Saying that this type of comedy and the content is not good would be a complete lie on my behalf. Filthy yes, wrong yes, distasteful yes and unfunny... rarely. There are some very clever sketches hidden within the filth and sketches that when cleaned up would be very funny, my favourite of these ones is definately Horse Racing which is a very good piece of radio/audio comedy. It is the commentary of a horse race but all the horses names are parts of the human anatomy and sexual references which does create some very funny situations within the piece and the way Peter and Dudley perform it is spot on as a spoof. Of course despite the utter filth these records hold and their dubious improv style I do have an overall favourite and it is so wrong in many places but its performed so well and the words they use and ideas that come out come across as naughty schoolboys talking and its harmless to me mostly, the piece I am talking about is the 20 minute sketch 'The Horn'. Anyone who doesn't know the meaning of that phrase please don't google it because I don't know what would come up but it won't be good. From talking about dead popes to sending letters to Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit this is a very funny sketch topped off with a beautifully performed dramatic song by Moore.
So were Cook and Moore wrong? Artistically yes, today this would be seen as filth of the kind teenage boys make with microphones and thinking they are making a funny recording. Lets not forget the only reason these recordings were made popular was as bootlegs and sold on the black market before Cook and Moore clocked onto the potential profit, in this day and age it would probably never happen or only make it as some DVD extra on some obscure world region dvd set. Business wise... good business decision they made a good lot of money out of it.
Cook and Moore failed on all 3 rules but still their talent shone through. Its a shame as comedians both needed each other to shine, you just have to watch an abysmaly bloated and tired Peter Cook on the first series of Whose Line Is It Anyway? to see that. Poor Dudley Moore's Hollywood pull faded quickly after the Arthur Movies and 10 but went back to his first talent music. Cook was doing call ins on LBC at the end of his life to perform for his once adoring public but he had faded to a shadow of his former self. Its a shame we never did get a Pete and Dud reunion before both sadly passed away, too young, but its also a blessing we never got a Derek and Clive reunion.
My advice to anyone wishing to hear Cook or Moores work is to look up 'Not Only But Also' and the 'Dagenham Dialogues' and give Derek and Clive a wide berth. This isn't their best work and an insult to improvised comedy and theatre.
RIP Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
For more on Peter Cook's work both with Dudley Moore and as the 20th Centuries best Satirist go here.
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