funny
Tommy Cannon – This Is Me
PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER – PRE-ORDER NOW
By Tommy Cannon
with a Foreword by Robbie Williams
Tommy Cannon was half of one of the most popular comedy duos British television has ever produced. Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club … Royal Variety Performances … Saturday night light entertainment … end of the pier during many a seaside season … the pair even made a popular feature film. In short, Cannon and Ball were everywhere.
But just who is this unassuming welder from Oldham, real name Tommy Derbyshire, whose life changed on the day he met Bobby Harper? And when you’re the straight man in the partnership, what happens when you lose your beloved best friend to Covid? You question everything: past, present and whether there’s a future.
Here, for the first time, are Tommy’s reminiscences of a tough start in life, the unexpected fame, fortune and loss of all that – and of how hard he found it to grieve
for his little mate in the red braces. Now, five years on, back on the road and doing what he does best with a huge social media following, he is ready to tell his story.
Phil Cool – Stand Up Chameleon
Ever wondered what happened to one-of-a-kind comedian Phil Cool?
Well now you can find out, as told by the man himself…
Young Mick, next door, played drums and bagpipes. Separately, of course, but it still annoyed our neighbours. He’d say stuff like: ‘I’m quitting my band. They’re a bunch of big-heads; not one of them is as talented as I am.’
Then one day, in the early 1970s, he said something sensible. ‘Phil, if you don’t start doing proper gigs now, you’ll be too old and it won’t happen.’ So I made a decision to get serious, leave my job and make the transition from wage to stage. By 1985, after playing every dive in the UK, I’d honed a few hours of decent stand-up and landed a series on BBC2. Game-changer. After that I landed another, which won a Royal Television Award for originality.
A third series, a special and two ITV series followed. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the phone didn’t stop ringing; my memorable face was everywhere. I had realised a dream. Then, as far as most viewers knew, I all but vanished. It’s true big theatres progressively grew smaller, but in fact I carried on walking the boards until my retirement, aged 65.
I am now 76. So here’s the book. I think you’ll like it. For a fair price, you get the head … the tale … the whole damn thing.
