COR!
T H E
C O M E D Y
M A G A Z I N E
The Goodies
At Christmas Issue 1
DECEMBER 2020
Barry Cryer Interview
Contents Gerald Thomas A centenary celebration of the Carry On film director.
page 4 Christmas Goodies A history of seasonal silliness  from Tim, Graeme, and Bill
page 12 The Cor! Interview Welcome to Cor! Magazine. Editor: Robert Ross Designer: Gemma Fanning
Robert Ross exclusively chats Christmas Comedy, with Barry Cryer O.B.E.
page 18
HELLO CHUMS!
Editor's note Well, what a year it’s been. And what a turn-up for the books! From the malaise of lockdown we started delivering daily comedy filmed updates, and live Book Club chats over on the Comedy Historian Facebook page. There have been jolly little short recommendations for blu rays and books you might want to buy, and there’s been a myriad of anniversary celebrations across Twitter and Instagram. Now, the resurrection of an old favourite: Cor! Magazine.
We decided to start from issue one for this digital age version. We may plunder the past for inspiration although we’ll never duplicate material completely. For example, in this issue we salute Gerald Thomas, the Carry On director who would have turned 100 in December. In issue 3 of the old Cor!! Magazine I wrote a tribute to him. That’s a very different piece. A very different time. Twenty-seven years ago to be precise!
Similarly, the late lamented Tim Brooke-Taylor - who was a loyal, and vocal supporter - agreed to an exclusive interview for Cor! Magazine. It eventually turned up in the very last issue of the original run - a Goodies special. Our salute to The Goodies at Christmas this time is a brand new article, specially written to mark 50 years of my allBack when I was but a fledgling comedy time favourite television comedy show. historian, I was happily writing quiz Oh. One lovely nod back to the old days. We are still giving books, and scripts, and short stories, our back page over to a portrait of an absolute comedy and articles for various fan magazines. A legend for the Hall of Fame. The original issue one few of these were even published! When celebrated Peter Butterworth. Well, the new issue one comedy behemoths Bernard Bresslaw does exactly the same. With a different pose, this time and Les Dawson died within hours of from Follow That Camel. I still adore that man. Of course. each other in June 1993, I was So, buckle-up and delve in to the new Cor! Magazine. determined to celebrate them. Hence, I Please do let us know your thoughts, and any suggestions founded my very own comedy fanzine. you may have. And remember, this year comedy is the
Over five years we produced fourteen answer. I have a feeling comedy may be pretty useful editions of Cor! Magazine, with the page throughout two thousand and twenty one as well. count getting ever heftier. My spare time, Carry On! meanwhile, was getting ever scarcer. Commitments to writing books became my priority. So, without fanfare in 1998, I put Cor! Magazine to bed. The old girl 3 was only slumbering, for now she is back. Fresh for the 21st century!
Robert x
Exclusive interview with Barry Cryer O.B.E. Barry Cryer is the God of Comedy. He is a one degree of separation to everyone from Max Miller to Ross Noble. He’s also contributed to some of the best-loved of all Christmas comedy. One of my favourites is hardly discussed, and that’s Kenny Everett’s Christmas Carol. I wondered who came up with the idea for that one: “Charles Dickens!” exclaims Baz, “but seriously folks! We were a threesome. I wrote that one with Neil Shand, although Ev. was always there when we were discussing the next show. It was just great fun. Hugely productive. We would be joking around, me and Kenny and Neil, just making each other laugh. I’m not quite sure which one of us thought of doing A Christmas Carol. I’d like to claim the credit but I really can’t! I suppose I’m the last man standing so I can, but it was always a team effort.” Kenny Everett’s Christmas Carol featured an impressive line-up of comedy legend guest stars. Peter Cook, Spike Milligan, Willie Rushton, John Wells… “Everybody wanted to work with Everett. We had the big names queuing up to be on the show. Ev. was bowled over to have these heroes on his show, but there was mutual respect. They all reckoned Kenny.”
“Rod Stewart told me that when they were travelling around on the tour bus, they didn't listen to music, they listened to comedy. All the bands wanted to be on Everett’s show and it wasn’t just to plug their latest record. They all enjoyed being with Ev. because he was going to take the piss out of them! Cliff Richard was the best. Talk about a Christmas Superstar. He did the show several times. Cliff was great. He really got it, and he loved being sent up. We once put him in a wheelchair and a white wig and he wheeled himself passed Ev. who said: ‘Ah! There’s Cliff on his way to make-up!’ At the end of part one, just before the commercial break, we hung him upside down and Everett pointed to him and said: ‘Oooh. That’s a cliff-hanger!’”
The Cor! Interview