The dressing room set may be spooky, but the uncanny element is the actors’ supernatural embodiment of Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecombe and Bob Monkhouse. Each of the cast have performed these parts separately for years and it was a genius idea to bring the three together (originally in the 2017 film The Last Laugh).
This is an actors show – a unique one
This is an actors show – a unique one – it is difficult to see how it could be as successful with different actors. It takes a special person to be funny just by standing on a stage. Cooper and Morecombe had that talent. What is amazing is that Damian Williams and Bob Golding also possess this magic, while simultaneously impersonating Cooper and Morecombe with 100% accuracy. As the play explores, Bob Monkhouse. the man, lacked that funny bone magic. However, Simon Cartwright certainly shares in the talent of the others in sounding and behaving exactly like their subjects. He also looks so like Monkhouse he could be CGI.
The show hangs on a skeleton of the early career history of the three comics, influenced by the tail end of the music hall tradition. It also offers added insights into their personal lives. But the key is the jokes. The show could perhaps be accused of being a tribute act, but with material and delivery this good, who cares?
