''Little and Large'' were a British comedy double act comprising straight man

Syd Little Syd Little (born Cyril John Mead; 19 December 1942) is an English comedian who was the straight man in the double act Little and Large, with Eddie Large. Life and career Born in Blackpool, Little was raised in Manchester. After leaving Yew T ...

(born Cyril John Mead; 19 December 1942) and comic

Eddie Large Edward Hugh McGinnis (25 June 1941 – 2 April 2020), better known by the stage name Eddie Large, was a British comedian. He was best known as one half of the double act Little and Large, with Syd Little (the stage name of Cyril Mead). Early l ...

(born Edward Hugh McGinnis; 25 June 1941 – 2 April 2020).

Comedy duo

They formed their partnership in 1962, originally appearing as singers in local pubs around north-west England. According to an interview with Eddie Large in ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

'' newspaper (11 January 2019), they went professional in October 1963. After deciding to concentrate on comedy, Little and Large's big break came in 1971 when they appeared on ITV talent show '' Opportunity Knocks''. They won the programme's vote, turning them into household names virtually overnight. Within five years, the duo had their own prime-time show on ITV called ''The Little and Large Tellyshow''. It began with a pilot episode in 1976, which earned the pair a commission for a series in 1977. However, the duo transferred to

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

with a new show called ''

The Little and Large Show ''The Little and Large Show'' was a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broa ...

'' from 1978, and remained on the channel for over a decade until its cancellation in 1991. At its peak, the series was watched by an estimated nearly 15 million people each week.

was generally the funny man while

was the more serious 'straight guy'. Eddie Large performed a number of impressions, particularly cartoon characters like

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...

Fred Flintstone Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...

, Barney Rubble and

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by ...

,'The Story of Light Entertainment' BBC Two, 25 February 2012 while Syd Little simply stood next to him, looking perplexed and distressed. They continued to appear in theatres and pantomimes, including ''Babes in the Woods'', written by Ian Billings. The partnership's popularity peaked in the 1980s but, as mainstream comedy moved away from their

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

style towards alternative comedy, it dwindled. Eddie Large was told he might have a heart attack at any moment. The partnership split up when Large had to have a heart transplant. Syd Little performed on

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s, such as the ''QE2'', during September 2007, and used to run The "Little" Restaurant at the Strawberry Gardens pub and now runs a restaurant in the oldest pub in his home town Fleetwood, called The Steamer. Eddie Large remained in showbusiness. Large said in a 2010 interview he had not spoken to Syd Little for several years. They did subsequently have a reunion in 2018 when they appeared on ''

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), an ...

'', featuring in the sketch serial "Saturday Knight Takeaway", and in February 2019, appearing together on ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers t ...

''. They reached the head-to-head round (in effect, the semi-final). On 2 April 2020, Eddie Large died following contraction of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

References

External links

* {{authority control British stand-up comedians British male television actors British television personalities British comedy duos