{"id":7131,"date":"2025-10-11T10:24:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T09:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comedykings.co.uk\/?page_id=7131"},"modified":"2025-10-11T11:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T10:22:47","slug":"tv-laughtermakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/comedykings.co.uk\/index.php\/tv-laughtermakers\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Laughtermakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

TV Laughtermakers by Anthony Davis, published 1989. Includes profiles of many TV comedians.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Cannon and Ball<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cannon and Ball relate with pride that Eric Morecambe told them they would inherit the Morecambe and Wise crown. To the extent of becoming the country\u2019s most popular double act, this is probably true, though they have not become the institution that Morecambe and Wise were. Possibly no one ever will. Their act is more traditional, Cannon smooth, serious and conscientious, struggling to get things right, Ball in baggy suit, twanging his braces dangerously, as the irresponsible but anxious- to-please kid brother figure.<\/p>\n

They came from Oldham, Lancs. Tommy Cannon (born Thomas Derbyshire in 1938) and Bobby Ball (born Robert Harper in 1944) first met in the early Sixties as welders doing repetitious work in an engineering factory. After two impromptu performances at the factory social club they formed a singing partnership, the Harper Brothers. By day they welded and at night, in their best suits, they entertained in Lancashire clubs. Cannon would start singing a romantic ballad. Ball would interrupt with a gag. Gradually the comedy content became stronger.<\/p>\n

After two years they had more club work than they could cope with, though when Ball\u2019s cousin, a professional comic, got them a week\u2019s booking at a club in Wales it was the first time they had been out of Lancashire. At the end of the week they put in their notices at the factory and went on the road.<\/p>\n

They changed their names to Cannon and Ball on a wet morning in a dreary Lancashire cafe with their manager. \u2018We got through several pots of tea before someone came up with Cannon and Ball,\u2019 says Cannon. \u2018We decided those names fitted us perfectly.\u2019 As Ball recalls it, his partner picked Cannon after American singer Freddie Cannon, and Ball was the natural choice to go with Cannon.<\/p>\n

They made the change for their TV debut in Opportunity Knocks!,<\/em> which they still recall with shudders. \u2018It was a real disaster,\u2019 says Cannon. \u2018We were full of confidence and imagined that stardom was just around the corner. However, our impact was such that we failed to budge the clapometer. We were Opportunity Flops.\u2019 This may be understood by resurrecting one of their jokes on the show:<\/p>\n

Ball: \u2018I dreamed last night I was out playing golf with Jack Nicklaus.\u2019<\/p>\n

Cannon: \u2018I had a better dream than that. I dreamed I was in bed with Elizabeth Taylor and Raquel Welch.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ball: \u2018Why didn\u2019t you call me?\u2019<\/p>\n

Cannon: \u2018You were out playing golf with Jack Nicklaus.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018At that time singing was our forte so we set about restructuring the act,\u2019 says Cannon. \u2018Bobby leaned more on his comedy attributes and his scruffy stage image was mirrored by my suave appearance. Since then we\u2019ve built up the act through our experience as live entertainers but we\u2019re not a conventional comedy double act. We try to combine all elements including crosstalk patter, knockabout comedy, pathos and of course singing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Their first series was ITV\u2019s The Wheeltappers\u2019 and Shunters’ Social Club<\/em> in 1974, after which they were booked for a regular spot on Bruce Forsyth\u2019s Big Night<\/em> in 1978, but were crowded out week after week. When they were given their own series it was hit by an ITV strike. \u2018Cannon and Blackout\u2019 they styled themselves, but finally The Cannon and Ball Show<\/em> got on screen. \u2018Rock on, Tommy!\u2019 cried Ball.<\/p>\n

In a 13-week tour in 1983 they played 134 shows in 45 theatres, and at the Dominion Theatre in London they broke its all-time record with \u00a3650,000 in advance bookings. They made their film debut in a police comedy, The Boys in Blue,<\/em> though they were no more successful on the big screen than Morecambe and Wise had been. Nevertheless, they were able to indulge themselves with matching two-tone gold and pale yellow Rolls-Royces until they decided these were too osten\u00adtatious. Offstage, they go their own ways, as Morecambe and Wise did.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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