Buddy political!
Alan Yentob interviews the legendary reclusive Buddy Rivers
Alan Yentob interviews the legendary reclusive Buddy Rivers
Buddy Rivers... where do I start? The legendary stand up comedian has agreed at last to an interview.
This is a very special privilege, his first interview for 20 years...
Hi Buddy, thanks for agreeing to talk to me. What brings you over to London?
Buddy: Pleasure. I'm doing a one-off special standup show at the Leroy Club in Bermondsey, on 26th April 3-6pm. It's a benefit gig, I'm looking forward to it. It's my first show for 25 years!
But why Bermondsey though, such a nondescript district of south London? And the Leroy Club is a slum let's be honest. Surely the West End would have been more suited to you?
Buddy: Well you know, years back - I started my career in Bermondsey, way back in the forties. I'd just left the army, where I'd got involved in comedy shows, and I was hanging around with the likes of Reg Varney, Jimmy Tarbuck, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Worth, Peter Glaze. These were great comedians of course ... and I learned my trade from them. Well, the Leroy Club was owned by Max Hamster, a bit of a villain I suppose, but he was the driving force behind the British comedy scene that erupted in the fifties. The Leroy was the centre of all this, we had such incredible shows there. Now the building is going to be made into yuppie flats, so I'm fighting to save it - I owe it to all those people to save it.
This is the first interview you've done for 20 years. Tell me what have you been up to?
Buddy: Well you know, life's been pretty busy. As you probably know, not sure if you remember, but I used to be on English TV all the time. "Buddy Hell", "Buddy Mary" a whole string of saturday night entertainment shows. I was a household name.
Without a doubt, and you still are. Now, your humour was pretty blue for that era
Buddy: Too right! As blue as I could get away with. It was definitely not PC. My jokes were racist, chauvinist, you name it! I was a tits and bums comedian I suppose.
So what happened?
Buddy: There was all that stuff about me and Jeremy Thorpe, a politician at the time, then I got done for tax evasion. It was like a double punch. There were some dodgy police around in those days, they set me up. I got a bit depressed after that and drank a lot, gradually I fell out with people and started to become less reliable I suppose. I think I had a breakdown in the end... I couldn't leave the house, I certainly couldn't tell jokes. I lost it big time, I wasn't funny any more and I've been living with this fear ever since.
That's terrible. It shows how fragile creativity can be. What did you do?
Buddy: I disappeared. I had thought of faking my own death, but I wasn't organised enough. In the end I just moved to Marbella, like everyone else I knew.
Where you lived near Freddie Starr?
Buddy: Next door actually. Well you know, he's had problems too, and we sort of helped each other, we have a lot in common. He's an alcoholic like me, and we're both divorcees.
You've lived in Marbella for 25 years, you must love it there
Buddy: It's just amazingly beautiful, and life has been great there for me. But I have really missed the comedy scene, the club circuit, let me tell you. I've been in sort of semi-retirement, sort of thinking for a long time of making a comeback, but there have always been problems. When all the so-called 'alternative comedy' started in England, that was like the kiss of death for me, as my comedy didn't fit at all. So I sort of gave up even considering a comeback for a long time.
But somehow Lenny Henry managed to make that cross over?
Buddy: I know Lenny well. He paid a lot of people to put him up there, it was a major job. The political/ social stuff didn't come naturally to him, he was too well off. And I've always felt that - this alternative stuff was just a gimmick. But recently on TV I saw some brilliant shows - Little Britain - my god, when I saw that - I thought those guys are geniuses. How do they manage to be so funny and radical at the same time? Well I haven't got their priveleged social backgrounds, but I thought surely I can mix traditional humour with more political/social material. So I started thinking about this, how could I do this, plus the time is right for a comeback, as I need the money to pay for my wife's divorce settlement, this gives me a big incentive to work again. I just hope I can still make people laugh ...
Oh I'm sure you can! And I'm sorry to hear about your divorce.
Buddy: I know... it's been hard ...
(Quickly changing the subject) But let's talk about your idea...
Buddy: Well.. I realised my humour is what it is, basically racist, sexist, insulting etc. This doesn't work nowadays, people don't like it, there has to be some social/ political angle. But I'm not a political person, I'm happy dangling my feet in a swimming pool, but somehow I had to find a way of making my material more political.Then I realised one day - computers - that's the answer. Why don't I feed my old gags into a computer and get it to mix in the political 'stuff', so the result would be the best of both worlds! Fuck you little Britain I thought - I mean this has to be the way they write their scripts? Maybe not, I don't know. Also I can make the computer pull in material related to the subject, to make my jokes more custom built for the situation. So for this Leroy Club show it adds in things about Bermondsey, issues like property development and gentrification, nasty stuff that's going on in the area.
I'm amazed you seem so up to date with computers
Buddy: We get the Daily Mail in Marbella you know! I'm pretty up to date with things, I mean I know how to switch the thing on but that's about it. I got this Russian guy to write me a computer program which writes gags for me, so now I have an endless supply of new gags!
That's amazing. I don't think, as far as I know, that other comedians are using this approach with high tech. It's very radical isn't it?
Buddy: Very! And what's more I actually taken things further. The show in the Leroy Club will involve a lot of technology. I don't really understand how this works, but if someone in the audience heckles me- as is quite likely lets face it- then the computer program can write me automatically a funny retort- you know - a clever put down. I read my jokes off a screen at the side of the stage, hidden from the audience.
Won't all this affect the spontaneity of your show, I mean you were well known for that in your live acts?
Buddy: Well you know, I was never spontaneous, I just appeared that way. I was a good actor, before I started drinking! We've have really gone for it with the high tech. I just thought I have to modernise myself, get with the modern era, which is all about technology isn't it? The show is live on the Internet as well as in the club, it's what they call a 'webcast'. So you can watch the show live from home, even heckle me from home! It's all very radical, and I hope my fans like my new approach, bit of a big departure from my old material but hope they still find me funny!.
I'm sure they will, and we're all very excited. Do you see this as a comeback?
Buddy: Very much so, with a brand new image, I've reinvented myself I suppose as a political comedian. Buddy Hell? Buddy political! ha!
Hi Buddy, thanks for agreeing to talk to me. What brings you over to London?
Buddy: Pleasure. I'm doing a one-off special standup show at the Leroy Club in Bermondsey, on 26th April 3-6pm. It's a benefit gig, I'm looking forward to it. It's my first show for 25 years!
But why Bermondsey though, such a nondescript district of south London? And the Leroy Club is a slum let's be honest. Surely the West End would have been more suited to you?
Buddy: Well you know, years back - I started my career in Bermondsey, way back in the forties. I'd just left the army, where I'd got involved in comedy shows, and I was hanging around with the likes of Reg Varney, Jimmy Tarbuck, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Worth, Peter Glaze. These were great comedians of course ... and I learned my trade from them. Well, the Leroy Club was owned by Max Hamster, a bit of a villain I suppose, but he was the driving force behind the British comedy scene that erupted in the fifties. The Leroy was the centre of all this, we had such incredible shows there. Now the building is going to be made into yuppie flats, so I'm fighting to save it - I owe it to all those people to save it.
This is the first interview you've done for 20 years. Tell me what have you been up to?
Buddy: Well you know, life's been pretty busy. As you probably know, not sure if you remember, but I used to be on English TV all the time. "Buddy Hell", "Buddy Mary" a whole string of saturday night entertainment shows. I was a household name.
Without a doubt, and you still are. Now, your humour was pretty blue for that era
Buddy: Too right! As blue as I could get away with. It was definitely not PC. My jokes were racist, chauvinist, you name it! I was a tits and bums comedian I suppose.
So what happened?
Buddy: There was all that stuff about me and Jeremy Thorpe, a politician at the time, then I got done for tax evasion. It was like a double punch. There were some dodgy police around in those days, they set me up. I got a bit depressed after that and drank a lot, gradually I fell out with people and started to become less reliable I suppose. I think I had a breakdown in the end... I couldn't leave the house, I certainly couldn't tell jokes. I lost it big time, I wasn't funny any more and I've been living with this fear ever since.
That's terrible. It shows how fragile creativity can be. What did you do?
Buddy: I disappeared. I had thought of faking my own death, but I wasn't organised enough. In the end I just moved to Marbella, like everyone else I knew.
Where you lived near Freddie Starr?
Buddy: Next door actually. Well you know, he's had problems too, and we sort of helped each other, we have a lot in common. He's an alcoholic like me, and we're both divorcees.
You've lived in Marbella for 25 years, you must love it there
Buddy: It's just amazingly beautiful, and life has been great there for me. But I have really missed the comedy scene, the club circuit, let me tell you. I've been in sort of semi-retirement, sort of thinking for a long time of making a comeback, but there have always been problems. When all the so-called 'alternative comedy' started in England, that was like the kiss of death for me, as my comedy didn't fit at all. So I sort of gave up even considering a comeback for a long time.
But somehow Lenny Henry managed to make that cross over?
Buddy: I know Lenny well. He paid a lot of people to put him up there, it was a major job. The political/ social stuff didn't come naturally to him, he was too well off. And I've always felt that - this alternative stuff was just a gimmick. But recently on TV I saw some brilliant shows - Little Britain - my god, when I saw that - I thought those guys are geniuses. How do they manage to be so funny and radical at the same time? Well I haven't got their priveleged social backgrounds, but I thought surely I can mix traditional humour with more political/social material. So I started thinking about this, how could I do this, plus the time is right for a comeback, as I need the money to pay for my wife's divorce settlement, this gives me a big incentive to work again. I just hope I can still make people laugh ...
Oh I'm sure you can! And I'm sorry to hear about your divorce.
Buddy: I know... it's been hard ...
(Quickly changing the subject) But let's talk about your idea...
Buddy: Well.. I realised my humour is what it is, basically racist, sexist, insulting etc. This doesn't work nowadays, people don't like it, there has to be some social/ political angle. But I'm not a political person, I'm happy dangling my feet in a swimming pool, but somehow I had to find a way of making my material more political.Then I realised one day - computers - that's the answer. Why don't I feed my old gags into a computer and get it to mix in the political 'stuff', so the result would be the best of both worlds! Fuck you little Britain I thought - I mean this has to be the way they write their scripts? Maybe not, I don't know. Also I can make the computer pull in material related to the subject, to make my jokes more custom built for the situation. So for this Leroy Club show it adds in things about Bermondsey, issues like property development and gentrification, nasty stuff that's going on in the area.
I'm amazed you seem so up to date with computers
Buddy: We get the Daily Mail in Marbella you know! I'm pretty up to date with things, I mean I know how to switch the thing on but that's about it. I got this Russian guy to write me a computer program which writes gags for me, so now I have an endless supply of new gags!
That's amazing. I don't think, as far as I know, that other comedians are using this approach with high tech. It's very radical isn't it?
Buddy: Very! And what's more I actually taken things further. The show in the Leroy Club will involve a lot of technology. I don't really understand how this works, but if someone in the audience heckles me- as is quite likely lets face it- then the computer program can write me automatically a funny retort- you know - a clever put down. I read my jokes off a screen at the side of the stage, hidden from the audience.
Won't all this affect the spontaneity of your show, I mean you were well known for that in your live acts?
Buddy: Well you know, I was never spontaneous, I just appeared that way. I was a good actor, before I started drinking! We've have really gone for it with the high tech. I just thought I have to modernise myself, get with the modern era, which is all about technology isn't it? The show is live on the Internet as well as in the club, it's what they call a 'webcast'. So you can watch the show live from home, even heckle me from home! It's all very radical, and I hope my fans like my new approach, bit of a big departure from my old material but hope they still find me funny!.
I'm sure they will, and we're all very excited. Do you see this as a comeback?
Buddy: Very much so, with a brand new image, I've reinvented myself I suppose as a political comedian. Buddy Hell? Buddy political! ha!