Lady Vera down, er, Clitheroe Avenue, she, er, she reads people's farts.

September 11, 2007 2:29 AM

For the duration of three profanity-laden LPs in the 1970s, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were two disgusting foul mouthed oafs named Derek And Clive. Listen to them here (real); here be transcripts.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (24 comments total)

Dudley Moore died in 2002; Peter Cook passed away in 1995.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:29 AM on September 11, 2007

comedy gold
posted by the cuban at 2:37 AM on September 11, 2007

Lobsterisimus Bummakisimus: I gave myself a mild hernia -- because I'm worth it, dammit -- the first time I heard the Jayne Mansfield bit.

Pretty wonderful Peter Cook resource here.

Amazing stuff.
posted by Kinbote at 3:02 AM on September 11, 2007

Frog and Peach?
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:04 AM on September 11, 2007

FUCKING CUNT
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 3:14 AM on September 11, 2007

Fucking lovely, mate.

[this is good]
posted by psmealey at 3:31 AM on September 11, 2007

Through the years I've heard mention of this Cook/Moore team and their routines, but never got around to searching them out, and never came across any til now, with this post. Thanks so much!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:34 AM on September 11, 2007

Genius. Thanks for these!

I'd highly recommend the "Derek and Clive get the horn"-DVD as well, which contains footage of the recording of "Ad Nauseaum" plus some other bits that didn't end up on the LP.

It's worth just to see Moore trying to keep a straight face when Cook goes off on a rambling diatribe once again, and they describe Richard Branson (to his face) in no uncertain terms. What more could you want?

(Youtube probably has clips, search and ye shall find.)
posted by phax at 3:57 AM on September 11, 2007

I can't get to the audio, but I'm cracking up with the transcripts. Great stuff.
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:57 AM on September 11, 2007

Pete and Dudley sketches were truly great. I felt sure that this has been posted here before but can't find it. Whatever, great post.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:05 AM on September 11, 2007

That BBC Cook bio is fascinating; I'd heard a bit of the earlier stuff but didn't know much about him at all. What a strange career:

Derek And Clive Come Again followed in 1977 and went even further than the first album – most of its subject matter can't really be discussed here, but it's extraordinarily grim, surreal, harsh and obscene. As a result of this Cook was chosen to present Revolver, a showcase for new punk bands including The Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex and a young XTC as a highly-critical dance hall proprietor. A third Derek and Clive album, Ad Nauseum followed in 1978 with even more reliance on shock tactics, racist language and graphic misogynist imagery. This can be seen as brave or appalling, depending on your point of view.

Thanks for posting this. I started with the third album, which I see now was a mistake. It's got a lot of pretty irredeemably bad stuff mixed in with the hilarious bits.
posted by mediareport at 5:15 AM on September 11, 2007

ACE!

Recently I changed jobs and the itunes play list here doesnt include any Derek and Clive.

Its time I introduced this office to them...
And then they'll understand my various uses of "Cunt London"

Also worth checking out, if you can find them, are the Peter Cook and Chris Morris interviews.



A note to the Americans who read/listen to these:
The opinions of Derek and Clive are the actual opinions of modern British folk. And we all innately swear so much better than you.
lol
posted by 13twelve at 5:15 AM on September 11, 2007

To be honest, I think I'd rather hear this:

By now, more than ever, Cook's most inspired pieces of work seem to have been accidental by-products of his attempts to entertain himself. In 1988 he began to ring LBC, a London talk radio station, posing as Sven, a Norwegian fisherman with a Scottish accent. For the next four years listeners of Clive Bull's programme, which went out between four and six in the morning, could hear Swiss Cottage resident Sven pouring his heart out about his estranged girlfriend Jutte and fish.
posted by mediareport at 5:18 AM on September 11, 2007

It's got a lot of pretty irredeemably bad stuff mixed in with the hilarious bits.

"Irredeemably bad" is pretty much Derek and Clive's schtick. Along with "pissed as maggots".

Fully accepting this before you even hit Play is pretty much Derek and Clive 101.
posted by flabdablet at 5:43 AM on September 11, 2007

And we all innately swear so much better than you

For example, no American accent could conceivably make "Oh fucking wank bugger shitting arse head in a hole" work properly. Bill Nighy is a legend.
posted by flabdablet at 5:52 AM on September 11, 2007

After the sexist, racist, nonsense onslaught of Ad Nauseum there is something almost touching about the final track:

DEREK: (barely suppressed sniggering)
CLIVE: I have never seen anything more stupid in my life ..... than you.
DEREK: (sniggers)

posted by ninebelow at 6:57 AM on September 11, 2007

"Irredeemably bad" is pretty much Derek and Clive's schtick. Along with "pissed as maggots".

Right, got it. I guess I was hoping for a bit more "funny" as well. I'll check the first album after work, though; I'm ever-hopeful like that.
posted by mediareport at 7:07 AM on September 11, 2007

I'm a huge fan of Derek and Clive, mostly because they make me laugh at things which I really don't want to find amusing. There was a tribute show to them on Channel 4 (I think) a couple of Xmases ago that I saw when I was back home which had people like Germaine Greer howling to some of their wholly unacceptable (but hilarious) sexism.
posted by ob at 7:32 AM on September 11, 2007

Oh I'm also a fan because they swear and swearing is funny when it's done right.
posted by ob at 7:33 AM on September 11, 2007

Along with "pissed as maggots".

I had these records in college, and remember one bit where Peter actually broke character after one particularly appalling bit and said, "Jesus Dudley ... you're so fucking drunk!"
posted by chuq at 8:36 AM on September 11, 2007

Mr. Tizzie and I have been know to sing "Jump, you fucker, jump," even in the most proper settings, when we get a bit tiddly.
posted by tizzie at 9:52 AM on September 11, 2007

Wow, the only Dud & Pete I had known was the Dagenham Dialogues, which is significantly more tame.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:29 PM on September 11, 2007

I think Dudley's lawyers had decided that no good could come of a US release for Derek & Clive while Dudley still had something resembling a career there. Derek + Bo Derek = appalling cognitive dissonance, gosh darn it :-)
posted by flabdablet at 3:43 PM on September 11, 2007

Along less filthy lines, I just finished reading A Great, Silly Grin, in which Cook is one of the central characters. It includes this great line quoted by Jonathan Miller about the first time he saw Cook on stage: “He didn’t say a word. But all eyes were drawn to him. Then he rustled the newspaper and simply said, ‘Hello, hello, I see the Titanic’s sunk again.’ One knew one was in the presence of comedy at right-angles to all the comedy we’d heard.”

This unfinished series of Cook’s routines based on The Twelve Days of Christmas is fun to listen to. Also, Pete and Dud’s Frog & Peach sketch is true comedy genius, as is their famous Tarzan routine.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:23 PM on September 11, 2007