The word ‘legend’ is used so much these days that some would suggest its meaning has been diluted somewhat. However, when it came to writing up a bio about Rat 803 it was the obvious and only choice.
Barry Cryer is an accomplished performer but it’s fair to say his name is the first we all think of when asked to come up with a well-known comedy writer.
After a brief stint at the Windmill Theatre as the bottom-billed act, Barry decided to concentrate on writing and joined David Frost’s show A Degree of Frost on a team of writers that included John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman. It didn’t take Barry long to firmly establish himself as a top comedy writer.
The list of comedians he wrote for is as long as it is distinguished: The Two Ronnies, Jack Benny, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emry, Kenny Everett, Bob Hope, Spike Milligan and Richard Prior.
Known as ‘The Line Man’, Barry preferred to write within a partnership: first with Graham Chapman, then later with John Junkin, becoming the team that wrote most of the Morecambe & Wise shows.
Never quite losing that love of performing, Barry was a regular on our TV screens on shows like Jokers Wild, Call My Bluff, and Would I Lie To You?. He spent fifty years appearing on that Radio 4 classic I Am Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
Now I think about it, we could easily add genius to the list of adjectives to describe this great.
Cryer also enjoyed championing the newer comedians, which led to a successful stint as host of the BBC’s The Stand Up Show throughout the 1990’s.
This is a mere snippet of the legend that is Barry Cryer: writer, performer and Water Rat 803.
Biog Written by Brother Rat Paul Adams
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