Laughter Is The Best Medicine – Jimmy Tarbuck

‘Excuse me, sir,’ he asked. ‘Are you a member here?’ ‘No, I’m not.’ ‘And are you playing with a member today?’ ‘Yes, I am.’ The guy clearly didn’t believe me. ‘And would you care to tell me which member it is?’ he sniffed, with one eyebrow raised. ‘He’s with me,’ said a voice behind me. And there was Bob Hope. Well, the snotty feller almost bowed when he saw him: ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr Hope. I had no idea.’ Because Bob Hope was royalty in those parts. All over America, in fact.

We played a round. Bob was a great golfer; he’d already begun running his US Bob Hope Classic pro-am tournament. But I’d got good enough by then to give him a decent game. Bob must have been impressed, because he said, ‘Jimmy, you must come and play my Classic one year.’

And I said the same thing that I’d told him five years earlier: ‘Yes, I’ll take you up on that.’ While I was in California, I did a set at Bob’s golf club, which he put on his TV show. I also had a walk-on part on his friend Don Rickles’s telly show. Rickles was known as ‘the insult comic’ because he insulted all of his guests. I was unknown in America, but that didn’t stop Don taking the piss out of me. ‘This is Jimmy Tarbuck,’ he told his viewers.

‘And if you don’t know who he is, he’ll soon tell you. Because all he ever says is, ‘I’m Jimmy Tarbuck. Jimmy Tarbuck. Jimmy Tarbuck from the London Palladium. Jimmy Tarbuck. London Palladium …’ It was a brilliant trip to America – so exciting that I went back just a few weeks later. And, let me tell you, this trip was even more memorable. By the early seventies, I was proper big mates with Tom Jones.

Jonesy had made it massive in America, and by now he was doing months-long residencies in Las Vegas. And he invited me over to see him play at Caesars Palace. Yes, please! The girls were in school, so Pauline and I left the kids with her parents and flew into Vegas. Jonesy looked after us well: we got picked up at the airport in a Lincoln limo and driven to our hotel on the Strip.

Now, I’ve heard that Vegas is very tacky nowadays, but it wasn’t so gaudy back then. I was surprised by how small it was. Pauline and I had our gobs hanging open at some of the big American stars who were performing on the Strip: Frankie Laine, who was a brilliant singer; Phyllis Diller, a fantastic comedian; Jimmy Durante, the legendary comic.

Pauline and I went to see all of them. Durante was nearly eighty by then, and he was sensational. But one name towered over all the others.

Comedy legend Jimmy Tarbuck OBE has had a hugely successful career in entertainment for over sixty years. After his breakthrough moment on ITV’s Sunday Night at the Palladium in 1963, he shot to fame, and became host of the show from 1965 to 1967. In that time, he also became the youngest British comedian to have his own TV show, with his ITV series It’s Tarbuck! Jimmy went on to host numerous popular quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, which he presented for over a decade, as well as Full Swing and Tarby’s Frame Game.

He then returned to stand-up and presenting variety shows, such as Live at the Palladium, Live from Her Majesty’s and For One Night Only. Jimmy is an avid golfer and has competed in pro-celebrity golf matches. Every year, he hosts Jimmy Tarbuck’s Golf Classic charity tournament. He is also the President of the charity Variety Golf. In 1994 he was awarded an OBE for his services to comedy, as well as his charitable contributions.

In 2016, the Variety Club honoured him with a lifetime achievement award. Jimmy continues to tour, reflecting back on a remarkable life in showbusiness. Jimmy lives in London with his wife, Pauline. This is his first book. OceanofPDF.com Jimmy Tarbuck with Ian Gittins LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE My Autobiography OceanofPDF.com Contents Introduction: The last of the dinosaurs CHAPTER 1 Dan Dare is from Liverpool CHAPTER 2 Cold tea on my willy CHAPTER 3 Tarbuck, England schoolboys CHAPTER 4 Sell it to the Everly Brothers CHAPTER 5 What’s trumps?

Crusts. Buttered. CHAPTER 6 A Meccano death trap CHAPTER 7 She needs no introduction from me CHAPTER 8 Hair like a lavatory brush CHAPTER 9 The man who runs the Palladium CHAPTER 10 Look at Buttons. He’s pissed! CHAPTER 11 A difference of opinion, Geoffrey CHAPTER 12 I’ve run out of soap CHAPTER 13 This isn’t right.

We haven’t rehearsed this. CHAPTER 14 You nearly took my bloody head off! CHAPTER 15 On a cold day, a tea leaf CHAPTER 16 If it had been ten Tiller girls … CHAPTER 17 My God, you’ve given the catalogue a bashing Epilogue: PAULINE! WHERE’S THE CRISPS? Image Credits OceanofPDF.com For Tom Jones who introduced me to Elvis Presley OceanofPDF.com Introduction The last of the dinosaurs It wasn’t that long ago that my son, James, suggested making a documentary about my life.

I was up for that.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 9a68992203d77603
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 12,655,134 bytes (12.069 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 282
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 430.4 minutes
• Total Words: 86,081
• Total Characters: 451,187
• Average Words per Page: 305.25
• Average Characters per Page: 1599.95

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