Maybe Dark Matters: November 17th Birthday

Peter Edward Cook
Peter Cook was a British satirist, writer and comedian. He is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as 'the funniest man who ever drew breath'. Cook is very closely associated with the anti-establishment style of comedy that first emerged in Britain and the US in the late 1950s.

Cook was born in Torquay, Devon, in 1937. Cook meant to become a career diplomat, but unfortunately Britain "had run out of colonies", as he put it. He attended Pembroke College where he performed and wrote comedy sketches as a member of the prestigious Cambridge Footlights Club, of which he became President in 1960.

While still at university, Cook wrote professionally for Kenneth Williams, for whom he created a successful West End revue show called ‘One Over the Eight’, before becoming a star of the satirical stage show, ‘Beyond the Fringe’, together with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore. The show included Cook impersonating the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan; this was one of the first occasions that satirical political mimicry had been attempted in live theatre. He opened The Establishment Club in Soho which gave him the opportunity to present fellow, including the American Lenny Bruce. Cook also befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club.
His comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to the popular tv show ‘Not Only... But Also’. Using few props, they created a unique style of dry and absurd television which was immediately successful, ultimately lasting for three seasons. Here Cook showcased his characters, such as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and the pair's Pete and Dud. Other memorable sketches include "Superthunderstingcar", a send-up of the Gerry Anderson marionette TV shows and Cook's pastiche of 1960s trendy arts documentaries — satirised in a parodic TV segment on Greta Garbo.

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore acted in films together, beginning with ‘The Wrong Box’ in 1966. Their best work in the medium was the cult comedy ‘Bedazzled‘, now widely regarded as a comedy classic but which was not financially successful at the time.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Cook's developing alcoholism placed a strain on his personal and professional relationships. He and Moore fashioned sketches from ‘Not Only....But Also and Goodbye Again’ with new material into the stage revue ‘Behind the Fridge’. This toured Australia in 1972 before transferring to New York in 1973 as ‘Good Evening’. Cook frequently appeared drunk and incapable.

Cook made noteworthy appearances at the first three of the fund-raising galas staged by humourists John Cleese and Martin Lewis on behalf of Amnesty International. The series of benefits were retrospectively dubbed ‘The Secret Policeman's Balls’ though it wasn't until the third show in 1979 that the ‘Secret Policeman's Ball’ title was used.

Cook made an appearance as Richard III in 1983, both before and after death, in "The Foretelling", the first episode of ‘Blackadder’. In 1986 he appeared as a sidekick to Joan Rivers on her UK talk show. He appeared as Mr Jolly in 1987 in ‘The Comic Strip Presents' Mr Jolly Lives Next Door’, playing an assassin who covers the sound of his murders by playing Tom Jones records at full volume. Cook also appeared in ‘The Princess Bride’ that year, as the "Impressive Clergyman".

Cook died on 9 January, 1995 at the age of 57, his death was officially reported as resulting from internal haemorrhaging. Ten years after his death, in January 2005, Peter Cook was ranked number one in a list entitled ‘The Comedian's Comedian’, a poll of more than 300 comics, comedy writers, producers and directors throughout the English speaking world.