The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy
double act
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...
comprising Barry David Elliott (24 December 1944 – 5 August 2018) and Paul Harman Elliott (born 18 October 1947).
They were known for their
BBC children's programme ''
ChuckleVision'', which aired from 1987 to 2009 and celebrated its twenty-first series with a 2010 stage tour titled ''An Audience with the Chuckle Brothers''. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derived from
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
, other
visual gags, and
wordplay, and their
catchphrases included "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"
Early life
The brothers were born in
Rotherham to Amy and James Patton Elliott, in 1944 and 1947. Their father was a
Gang Show performer whose stage name was Gene Patton; he worked with the 18-year-old
Peter Sellers in 1943 in The No. 10 Gang and gave performances in
London,
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
and the
Hebrides,
Iceland, the Far East, India, and
Burma. Their two older brothers, Jimmy and Brian, were known professionally as the
Patton Brothers
The Patton Brothers, comprising Jimmy Elliott (20 August 1931 – 26 July 2019) and Brian Elliott (born 13 December 1933), were an English comedy double act and the two older brothers of Barry and Paul Elliott, the Chuckle Brothers. They began t ...
until Jimmy's death in 2019. The Patton Brothers appeared in ''
ChuckleVision'', Jimmy as the nameless character known colloquially as "No Slacking", and Brian as another unnamed character known as "Getoutofit".
The Chuckle Brothers gained wider attention as a support act for singer
Dorothy Squires.
Career
Television
The Chuckle Brothers, performing as The Harman Brothers, won the television
talent show ''
Opportunity Knocks'' in 1967, followed by success on ''
New Faces'' in 1974. The brothers began their television careers as a double act, making their debut in April 1979 on the BBC comedy series ''Lennie and Jerry'', hosted by
Lennie Bennett and Jerry Stevens. They made two appearances on the game show ''
3-2-1
''3–2–1'' was a British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, from 29 July 1978 to 24 December 1988, with Ted Rogers as the host.
It was based on a Spanish gameshow called '' Un, dos, tres... resp ...
'', hosted by
Ted Rogers, in January 1980 and April 1982, and appeared on the long-running BBC programme, ''
The Good Old Days'', in June 1980. In August 1983, the Brothers appeared on ''The Freddie Starr Showcase'' alongside the comedian
Freddie Starr.
Their primary work was mainly focused on children's television, beginning initially on Christmas Day in 1980 with their taking part in a televised children's show, ''A Merry Morning'', in which the brothers entertained around 250 children from the Leeds area in
Yeadon Town Hall
Yeadon Town Hall is a municipal building in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, England. It is Grade II listed.
History
In the early 19th century the local board of health held its meetings in the old school in what is now Town Hall Square. Meanwhile the ...
.
In 1985, the brothers launched a pre-school programme on the BBC entitled ''Chuckle Hounds'', in which they performed routines with no
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
, while dressed up in giant dog costumes. Their success in children's television came in 1987, with the launch of their iconic children's show, ''
ChuckleVision'', in which their real-life siblings
Jimmy and Brian Patton made occasional appearances. The show proved a ratings hit with children, running for twenty-one series over a period of twenty-two years, and giving them a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement at the
British Academy Children's Awards
The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Aca ...
in 2008. The final series of the programme was aired in December 2009.
The two contributed further to children's entertainment, performing at the ''Children's Royal Variety Performance'' in May 1992,
and launching a children's
game show titled ''
To Me, To You!'', which ran between 1996 and 1998 and which took its name from their signature
catchphrase.
Outside of children's entertainment, the brothers have made appearances in many other television series, both together and separately. In May 2008, they appeared in the
BBC documentary series ''
Comedy Map of Britain'', and won the 2010 series of ''
Celebrity Coach Trip''. In November 2011, the brothers starred in a series of TV advertisements for the UK-based van insurance comparison website ''Van Compare.com'' In October 2012, they appeared on ''
Comedy World Cup'' on ''
Channel 4'', while on 15 March 2013, they were featured in
David Walliams' sketch for ''
Comic Relief.'' From 2013 to 2014, Barry made a number of appearances in the BBC comedy series ''
Still Open All Hours'' as dog owner Mr Marshall, first appearing in the role for the 2013 Christmas special. On 13 March 2015, they appeared again on Comic Relief, this time in a sketch based around ''National Treasures''. The duo appeared at the 2016 ''
Royal Variety Performance
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal f ...
'', performing sketches with host
David Walliams. In April 2018, it was announced the brothers were in the process of recording a new clip show for
Channel 5, entitled ''
Chuckle Time
''Chuckle Time'' is a British television series which was broadcast on Channel 5 in 2018. The show was hosted by comedy duo Barry and Paul Elliott, The Chuckle Brothers. It was based on a similar style to that of '' You've Been Framed!'', '' Am ...
''; It ran for one series during the summer of that year, although it was cut short following the death of Barry Elliot in August 2018.
Stage
As well as regular TV appearances, Paul and Barry appeared on stage in venues across the UK. Their annual nationwide tours often included them performing with
The Patton Brothers, magic duo ''Safire'', ''The Magic Light Puppet Company'' as well a full cast. Their comedy and
parody shows have included ''The Blackpool Tower Circus'' (1974, 1987), ''To You To Me'' (1995), ''The Chuckle Brothers in Trouble'' (1996), ''The Chuckle Brothers Summer Roadshow'' (1997), ''The Adventures of The Chuckle Brothers'' (1998), ''The Chuckle Brothers Trouble At Sea'' (1999), ''The New Adventures of The Chuckle Brothers'' (2000), ''Spooky Goings On'' (2001), ''Raiders of the Lost Bark'' (2002), ''Star Doors - The Chuckle Brothers Strike Back'' (2003), ''Barry Potty and his Smarter Brother Paul in The Chamber of Horrors'' (2004), ''Pirates of the River Rother'' (2005), ''Doctor What and the Return of the Garlics'' (2006), ''Spooky Goings on 2'' (2007), ''Aladdin'' (Christmas 2007), ''Indiana Chuckles and the Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk'' (2008), ''Chuckle Trek - The Lost Generation'' (2009), ''A Christmas Chuckle'' (Christmas 2009), ''An Audience With....The Chuckle Brothers'' (2010), ''The Twelve Days of Christmas'' (Christmas 2010), ''Barry Potty and his Full Blood Brother Paul in the Ghostly Shadows'' (2011), ''The Return of the Pirates of the River Rother 2: In Strangers Tights'' (2012), ''The Chuckle Brothers meet the Phantom at the Theatre'' (2013), ''A 2014 Space Oddity'' (2014) and ''The Chuckles of Oz'' (2015).
Live recordings of ''Pirates of the River Rother'' and ''Spooky Goings On 2'' were released on DVD 2007, the latter under the title ''The Chuckle Brothers – Spooky Goings On Live!'' A box set of the two was also made available. A dress rehearsal of the duo's 1996 tour ''The Chuckle Brothers in Trouble'' was released on DVD in 2008. In addition, the brothers' 2008 tour, ''Indiana Chuckles and The Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk'', set in
Ancient Egypt, was released on DVD later that year.
The brothers toured theatres annually with their shows until 2015. Although, they performed regularly in pantomimes, festivals, events and holiday parks until Barry's death in 2018.
During their career, Paul and Barry performed in fifty one pantomimes together. Their first was ''Babes in the Wood'', which they performed as ''The Harman Brothers'' in Malvern from 1967 until 1968 with
Sandy Powell. Their final pantomime became ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, which they appeared in from 2017 until 2018 with
Craig Revel Horwood. They were awarded a ''Great British Pantomime Award'' for Best Double Act for this production. Since Barry's death, Paul has stated his intention to continue to appear in pantomime productions.
Other appearances
In
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
the Chuckle Brothers won the first
''Celebrity Coach Trip''.
From 2014 until 2018, the brothers made appearances at various nightclubs and student events, performing sets and posing for photographs. After Barry's death, Paul stated that he would continue with these appearances.
In March 2016, the brothers appeared in a promotional video for the computer game
''Hitman''.
In 2017 both brothers appeared in ''The Funniest Man in the World'', a short film directed by Jon Conway about
Joseph Grimaldi
Joseph Grimaldi (18 December 1778 – 31 May 1837) was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era.Byrne, Eugene"The patient" Historyextra.com, 13 April 2012 In the early 1800s, ...
, played by Barry.
Following Barry's death, Paul has appeared in a number of quiz shows for charity, including ''
Pointless Celebrities'', ''
Tenable All Stars'' and ''
Celebrity Mastermind
''Celebrity Mastermind'' is a celebrity version of ''Mastermind'', a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. It began in 2002 as a one-off special, expanding to the current arrangement of 10 episodes, broadcast during December a ...
''.
Music
In October 1995, the Chuckle Brothers released an album entitled ''To You to Me'' featuring eleven tracks. Many of the tracks were based on their catchphrases, such as "To me, to you" and "Silly You, Silly Me".
In October 2014, the Chuckle Brothers collaborated with
Tinchy Stryder to release a charity single "
To Me, To You (Bruv)" to raise funds for the
African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust
African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) is an independent UK charity for peoplewith leukaemia and other life-threatening disorders. The ACLT aims to raise awareness on stem cell, blood and organ donation in the UK, with a particular focus on bla ...
.
In September 2015, the Brothers performed for twenty minutes at the music festival
Bestival, citing it as the biggest crowd they had ever performed in front of.
Mobile game
In July 2016 the Chuckle Brothers released their first
mobile app for
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
and
iOS titled "Chuckle World". It is a
quiz game with
Tinder style sliding mechanics and endless style mobile gameplay.
Critical reception
In November 2005,
Jacques Peretti, a reporter for ''
The Guardian'', remarked on how "the appeal of the Chuckle Brothers remains a mystery to anyone over eight, but to anyone under eight, they're the ultimate entertainment experience". "The little people think they're hilarious, and if you add up all the little people across the country who think they're hilarious, you'd think it's ''ChuckleVision'' that should have the 28 comedy gongs, not ''Little Britain'' or ''The Office''."
On 31 January 2007,
Rotherham United chairman Denis Coleman announced that the brothers had both been made honorary presidents of the football club.
In 2008, they were honoured with the Special Award at the
British Academy Children's Awards
The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Aca ...
.
Personal life
The brothers regularly appeared at events and openings, an example being the unveiling of the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre in
North Anston
Anston is a civil parish in South Yorkshire, England, formally known as North and South Anston. The parish of Anston consists of the settlements of North Anston and South Anston, divided by the Anston Brook.
History
Anston, first recorded a ...
in
South Yorkshire in July 2013, which Barry attended. Supporters of
Rotherham United Football Club, they were made Honorary Life Presidents of the club in 2007.
Both brothers have been married: Barry was married to Ann from 1973 until his death and Paul has been married to Sue since 1988. Both brothers were
smokers, although Paul had apparently quit by 2000. Paul lives in ,
Doncaster,
whilst Barry lived in
Ravenfield
Ravenfield is a small village and civil parish in South Yorkshire, England. It is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, east of the town of Rotherham. The older part is a former farming village and over recent years has become a ...
,
Rotherham, until his death.
In April 2007, whilst on holiday on the Greek island of
Cephalonia
Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It i ...
, Paul broke his nose and suffered cuts and bruises when he lost control of his motorcycle after suddenly braking to avoid a goatherd and herd. It was reported at the time that, instead of helping him, tourists who stopped at the accident shouted the Chuckle Brothers' catchphrase, "To me, to you." However, Paul later revealed on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast that the story of tourists shouting out catchphrases was an invention in order to get the story in the newspapers.
An
urban legend surrounding Barry Chuckle's supposed death from a heart attack had circulated since at least 2008. In 2010, the brothers issued a statement on their website stating that the story was "complete and utter rubbish". The BBC reported that the death hoaxes had upset young viewers, and had shocked Barry when they re-surfaced.
The hoax was said to have initially spread via
Facebook in 2008, but re-surfaced in 2010 via
Twitter.
In December 2010, Barry announced his support for a proposal that one of the
Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government's planned
free schools, a taxpayer-funded school independent of the local authority, should be established in Rotherham. In January 2011, it was announced that Barry had planned to incorporate a 100-pupil free school named ''Rotherham Central Free School'' in his hometown of Rotherham. His son's partner was to serve as the head teacher of the school. By February 2012, no premises, staff or pupils for the school had been confirmed, despite announcing an intention on opening in September of that year.
In February 2014, the Chuckle Brothers attended the trial of
Dave Lee Travis. Paul stated that it was a "complete shock" that such an attack had occurred in their presence. After giving evidence, the pair posed for a
selfie outside
Southwark Crown Court with Paul sharing it to thousands of followers on his
Twitter account. The Brothers had smiled for the photograph, and some deemed their actions inappropriate.
In March 2016, Barry received condemnation for sharing a
Facebook post from the
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
political party
Britain First. The post, originally shared in June 2015, called on politicians to strip migrants of their citizenship if they left the country to join a terror group. Following the unearthing of the post,
Tommy Robinson, former leader of the
English Defence League (EDL) came to Barry's defence, calling on people to "leave the man alone". Britain First subsequently described the incident as a "non-story".
In March 2020, Paul contracted
COVID-19 and had a mild illness. He recorded a video message for his Twitter followers, urging them to stay at home to slow the spread of the disease.
Barry's death
On 5 August 2018, Barry died after a period of ill health. Paul grieved Barry's death stating "I've not just lost my brother, I've lost my theatrical partner of many, many years and my very best friend."
Paul later revealed that his brother had been diagnosed with
bone cancer, but had kept it secret from his manager, fans and Paul himself as he had wanted to perform for as long as possible. His funeral was held on 17 August at the
New York Stadium, where Rotherham United play their home matches, and was attended by a number of show business friends; a large number of fans waited outside to pay their respects.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1940s births
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
British children's television presenters
Comedians from Yorkshire
English comedy duos
English game show hosts
English male comedians
English male stage actors
English male television actors
Male actors from Yorkshire
British parodists
Actors from Rotherham
Sibling duos
Slapstick comedians
1967 establishments in England
2018 disestablishments in England
Living people