Ronnie Corbett, the diminutive half of The Two Ronnies – one of the funniest duos of their generation – was a highly versatile comedian who was just as much at home doing stand-up comedy (although usually sitting down) on his own, or acting in sitcoms, as he was with his famous partner Ronnie Barker.
His long professional association with Barker produced one of the most popular TV programmes of the late 20th century until Barker’s retirement in the mid-1980s, after 12 series.
The Two Ronnies, which ran from 1971 to 1987, invariably ended with the two saying: “It’s goodnight from me … and it’s goodnight from him.”
Most TV critics rated them as funnier, even, than Morecambe and Wise.
When on his own, Corbett specialised in long, rambling jokes delivered from an outsize armchair with his legs dangling in the air. The punchline came after the beginning had long been forgotten, so many twists and turns were there in the telling along the way.
In the late 1950s, Corbett worked in the late-night revues at Danny La Rue’s Club at Hanover Square, where he met his wife Anne Hart, the actress and singer.
He was spotted at this club by David Frost who invited him to join Barker and John Cleese in The Frost Report, one of the most influential TV shows of the 1960s. “David turned my life around,” Corbett said later.
After subsequent TV successes with Frost on Sunday, Corbett’s Follies, and sitcom No, That’s Me Over Here, the Ronnies got their biggest break thanks to a mishap at the Bafta awards.
His long professional association with Barker produced one of the most popular TV programmes of the late 20th century until Barker’s retirement in the mid-1980s, after 12 series.
The Two Ronnies, which ran from 1971 to 1987, invariably ended with the two saying: “It’s goodnight from me … and it’s goodnight from him.”
Most TV critics rated them as funnier, even, than Morecambe and Wise.
When on his own, Corbett specialised in long, rambling jokes delivered from an outsize armchair with his legs dangling in the air. The punchline came after the beginning had long been forgotten, so many twists and turns were there in the telling along the way.
In the late 1950s, Corbett worked in the late-night revues at Danny La Rue’s Club at Hanover Square, where he met his wife Anne Hart, the actress and singer.
He was spotted at this club by David Frost who invited him to join Barker and John Cleese in The Frost Report, one of the most influential TV shows of the 1960s. “David turned my life around,” Corbett said later.
After subsequent TV successes with Frost on Sunday, Corbett’s Follies, and sitcom No, That’s Me Over Here, the Ronnies got their biggest break thanks to a mishap at the Bafta awards.
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