Dagenham Dialogues

by Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, James W. Moore

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0749310367
• ISBN13: 9780749310363
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Random House (UK)
• Length: 144 Pages

Customer Reviews

Classic Routines from Cook & Moore

Finally, these wondrous routines from the alter-egos of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are available in one delightful package. Those expecting the expletive-laden scatalogy of their DEREK & CLIVE dialogues will be disappointed, as the characters here are far more whimsical and wholesome. These routines detail the relationship of Pete and Dud, two cloth-capped proletarians from Dagenham, who muse and amuse about life, religion, sex, art, music and relationships in exaggerated cockney accents. Cook's amazing ability to generate spiralling nonsense out of the mundane suggests Samuel Beckett on laughing gas. Moore generally falls upon mad reminscences of his youth, but his cloying earnestness is kept in check by Pete's volcanic imagination and deadpan insults. Cook is a master at leading Moore will o' the wisp into heights of dazzling absurdity. All of these bits are better seen/heard than read, but "Art Gallery" is a howling masterpiece of half-digested art criticism. Pete admires Vernon Ward's duck paintings because the ducks' eyes follow him around the room. Dud points out that the ducks are flying sideways, and that only one eye is visible per duck. This doesn't faze Pete: "You get the impression, Dud, that their eyes are craning round the beak to look at you." "Dud's Dream" builds up to a hilarous climax in which Pete restages Dud's birth by sticking him in a wardrobe (closet), after which Dud becomes convinced his mother and the closet are one and the same. The only gripe I have is that their very first routine ("A Spot of the Usual Trouble," in which Pete and Dud recount being hit-on by sexy 1950s film stars like "bloody Greta Garbo") is not included. Nevertheless, one of the few substantial collections of a phenomenal, and almost forgotten, comedy team. A must for fans of British comedy, and a perfect companion piece to THE COMPLETE BEYOND THE FRINGE. I got my copy from A Common Reader.