Showbusiness
Phil Cool – Stand Up Chameleon
Ever wondered what happened to one-of-a-kind comedian Phil Cool?
Well now you can find out, as told by the man himself…
Young Mick, next door, played drums and bagpipes. Separately, of course, but it still annoyed our neighbours. He’d say stuff like: ‘I’m quitting my band. They’re a bunch of big-heads; not one of them is as talented as I am.’
Then one day, in the early 1970s, he said something sensible. ‘Phil, if you don’t start doing proper gigs now, you’ll be too old and it won’t happen.’ So I made a decision to get serious, leave my job and make the transition from wage to stage. By 1985, after playing every dive in the UK, I’d honed a few hours of decent stand-up and landed a series on BBC2. Game-changer. After that I landed another, which won a Royal Television Award for originality.
A third series, a special and two ITV series followed. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the phone didn’t stop ringing; my memorable face was everywhere. I had realised a dream. Then, as far as most viewers knew, I all but vanished. It’s true big theatres progressively grew smaller, but in fact I carried on walking the boards until my retirement, aged 65.
I am now 76. So here’s the book. I think you’ll like it. For a fair price, you get the head … the tale … the whole damn thing.
Pleasantly Disturbed
by Lee Stuart Evans
The late 1980s.
Robin dreams of becoming Jim Kerr, singer in the best band in the world, Simple Minds, despite having no talent whatsoever.
Fliss is a musical genius, perhaps the East Midlands’ answer to Kate Bush, if only she had more confidence.
Until rock stardom inevitably descends upon him, Robin takes a job at the local garage, where for the first time in his life he finds a sense of purpose; while Fliss, pushed by her mother, reluctantly auditions for TV’s biggest talent show and proves an instant hit.
When dozens of fast cars are stolen, old mechanic Vern recruits Robin to help him investigate suspicious goings-on at a derelict railway yard on the edge of Sherwood Forest.
It’s all a bit of a lark until somebody gets killed and Robin and Fliss find themselves entangled in a police investigation.
But does death mean the end of their romantic and musical dreams, or is it only just the beginning?
‘Alive and kicking with big laughs and an even bigger heart…’ – Patrick Kielty
‘My favourite funny writer…’ – Harry Hill
Revelations of a TV Director – Royston Mayoh
by Royston Mayoh
