What Do You Give a Cannibal Who's Late for Dinner? The Cold Shoulder ; There's Not Much to Smile About Right Now. But in This Hilarious Recollection of His Friend Tommy Cooper, Clement Freud Recalls a Genius -- And His One-Liners -- Who Could Reduce Us to Tears of Laughter ... Jus' Like That!

Daily Mail › March 21, 2009

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Summary

TOMMY COOPER died on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 25 years ago next month. His wife, Gwen, whom he called Dove, was sitting at home watching the show on television.

His mistress Mary, who was also his stage manager, was standing in the wings.

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What Do You Give a Cannibal Who's Late for Dinner? The Cold Shoulder ; There's Not Much to Smile About Right Now. But in This Hilarious Recollection of His Friend Tommy Cooper, Clement Freud Recalls a Genius -- And His One-Liners -- Who Could Reduce Us to Tears of Laughter ... Jus' Like That!

Jimmy Tarbuck was hiding under Tommy's huge red cloak, passing him the props in one of Cooper's best-known acts. Tommy was to have hauled out a succession of unlikely objects -- a bucket, a mannequin's leg for the display of nylon stockings, a large wooden stepladder -- before Jimmy himself emerged to protest he couldn't pass anything more through.

When Tommy collapsed clutching his chest, the audience laughed and cheered until the curtain came down and they realised that this time it was not another stunt deliberately gone wrong.

Since it was being televised live, Jimmy Tarbuc...

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