Remembering the late Dave Allen and the art of "just holding a microphone and making people laugh"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Hear the name Dave Allen and what immediately appears in your mind’s eye? A comedian perched on a stool recounting a winding yarn, stopping to take a sip of whiskey, a puff of a cigarette, before rounding off with a perfectly timed punchline.

Ahead of what would have been the Irish comedian’s 90th birthday on 6 July, BBC Four is marking the occasion with a night dedicated to his unique brand of comedy: the sketches where he delighted in poking fun at figures of authority, and the monologues by, as he described himself, “a comedy fool who drank and told gags as he sat on his stool”.

Allen’s longtime friend and producer Paul Jackson marks what made him stand out in an era full of stand-up stars like Jimmy Tarbuck and Bob Monkhouse. “Tarby and Bob told great jokes, but Dave brought the colour. He was a storyteller with funny bones. He loved life, whiskey, painting, people and he had a gift for communicating it all.”

Born David Tynan O’Mahony in 1936, Allen grew up in Dublin, enjoying a mostly happy childhood checked by harsh Catholic schooling and the death of his journalist father when he was just 12, prompting his family’s move to England. Work as a Butlins Redcoat inspired what he called “the dormant fool lying in me” and he got his TV break on The Val Doonican Show. Other guest appearances followed, before his own show Dave Allen at Large made him a household name.

Often we hear about the private tears of the public clown, but Allen, it seems, had no such dark side, according to his friend. Jackson remembers: “He was the best company. Around his dinner table, or in front of a million people on TV, he was the same. He was one of life’s explorers, who would take whatever was going and make something of it.”

A mystery to this day is how Allen lost half a finger on his left hand, something he delighted in including in his gags. Does Jackson know where it went? “No!” he laughs. “He gave so many different versions of the story, I have no idea.”

Amid all the mirth, Allen wasn’t afraid of stirring up controversy, particularly with mockery of religion. Jackson remembers: “He didn’t like any abuse of authority. He knew of lots of children who’d been abused and he felt really angry about it, and thought the best way to express that was to make fun, with the possibility of showing up the hypocrisies where they existed.” And there was a ripple of letters to the BBC in 1990 after Allen made his famous joke about, “Working to the clock for 40 years and you retire – what do they f**king give you?”

Three years later, Jackson exec-produced Allen’s last series, this time for Carlton Television. “He was happily retired, but he agreed to it, saying: ‘No sketches, I’ll just sit in the chair and talk for six half-hours.’ And that’s what he did. He’d arrive at the Mermaid Theatre, no rehearsal, and he’d do the show.” For this final TV outing, Allen was named Performer of the Year at the 1993 British Comedy Awards.

Allen died in 2005, but he remains beloved by fans and respected by fellow comedians, for what Jackson calls “the art of just holding a microphone and making people laugh – if you’re good enough, which is very rare”.

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Dave Allen: The Immaculate Selection is at 9pm on Tuesday 30 June on BBC Four followed by an episode of Dave Allen at 10pm.

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