The Show What Paul Merton Did

On the television...

Paul Merton hosts this hour long special, looking at the lasting appeal of Morecambe on Wise through clips and guest interviews.

First broadcast on 2nd January 2009, the show includes many clips from their shows, and not just the ones usually used, although the Stripper and Grieg do get a mention.

Paul covers their early life, illustrated with stills and audio clips before introducing his first guest of the evening, Eddie Izzard.

What has Eddie Izzard got to do with Morecambe & Wise would be your first question, and the only answer I can think of is that he, along with Morecambe & Wise, were advertised as being on “The World’s Best Comedy DVD Ever” despite not actually being on it!

Eddie chats about Eric and Ern being surrealist – an interesting concept which was illustrated by the giant ventriloquist doll routine. Funny, I agree, but hardly surreal in comedy terms.

Next they discuss ad-libbing, something we knew the Eric and Ern didn’t actually do very much, they just made it look like they did. A set of clips are shown that show Eric throwing a few ad-libs in, which make it appear he did it all the time.

Briefly they chat about America, and how Eric and Ern didn’t make it big there, but it was mainly Ern who wanted that market, Eric was happy to stay in England.

Next guest was Bruce Forsyth, chatting about the early days of variety and watching them on stage. An interesting observation he made was the actual room allowed for double acts, and that there was only ever room for just one great act at any time. Before Eric and Ern it was Jewell and Warriss, an act mentioned by Ann Hamilton in our interview.

One particular clip that caught our eye was the original Grieg Piano Concerto from way back in 1963, before Andre Previn or Eddie Braben.

Talking of Eddie, he was the next guest on the show, looking spritely and chatting about his days writing for the boys.

Jack Dee is next up, talking about the paper bag trick, and trying to do it on the show. A clip demonstrates how Eric did it, although it was not the full routine, just a quick throw and catch sadly.

Ernie’s role is mentioned, and it seems at last he is beginning to get the recognition he deserves.

Andre Previn shows up to chat about the Grieg Piano sketch and appearing on the show followed by Angela Rippon.

The ex-newsreader talks about her time on the show and about Eric and Ern off camera. She fondly recalls their great humour and playing her part in the famous dance routine.

Finally we are treated to a few short clips of their dance routines before Paul closes the show with a unique clip of the boys doing Bring Me Sunshine.


© morecambeandwise.com 2008