Derek and Clive
Encyclopedia
Derek and Clive is a double act
of comedic characters created by Dudley Moore
(Derek) and Peter Cook
(Clive) in the 1970s. The performances were captured on the records Derek and Clive (Live)
(1976), Derek and Clive Come Again
(1977), and Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam
(1978), as well as in a film documentary, Derek and Clive Get the Horn
(1979). The characters are foul-mouthed extensions of the earlier characters Pete and Dud
.
Considered highly offensive by many at the time, the sketches primarily took the form of bizarre, sometime drunken streams of consciousness led by Cook, with interjections from Moore. Memorable moments from the records include Clive claiming that the worst job he ever had was retrieving lobster
s from Jayne Mansfield
's anus, Derek claiming his worst job was cleaning up Winston Churchill
's bogeys (leading the pair to conclude that the Titanic was one such bogey), Clive claiming that he was sexually aroused by the sight of a deceased Pope
lying in state, and a horse-racing 'commentary' featuring horses named after sexual organs or their vulgarised derivatives.
Though the recordings were far too crude for television or a mainstream audience, Derek and Clive bootleg recording
s circulated. They became famous as mostly unscripted dialogues, vulgar situations depicting with copious swearing - especially the word "cunt
".
with their revue show "Good Evening", a live version of their television series "Not Only... But Also
." The relationship between the two had become strained as a result of Cook's increasing alcoholism
. To reassure Moore, Cook hired out a recording studio in New York, where the two could simply relax, drink and ad-lib. The resulting recording was padded out with live performances of old favourites, such as "Bo Duddley" and began to circulate as Derek and Clive (Live).
Cook became bemused at the idea that they should not be making money from the increasing popularity of Derek and Clive, and suggested to Moore that the recording should be released officially. By this point, Moore had embarked on a successful Hollywood film career and found the tapes embarrassing, until he too realised his contemporaries were fans.
Two more records were made. They were less like dialogues and more like vindictive attacks on the increasingly successful Moore by Cook, whose career had stalled somewhat in comparison. One such merciless assault was in a cancer
themed diatribe when Cook was fully aware that Moore had recently lost his father to the disease.
The same love-hate relationship between them is evident in the Derek and Clive Get the Horn
movie, during which Moore withstands brutally vindictive verbal tirades from Cook and walks out in anger, only to return, and have Cook reduce him to helpless laughter again mere minutes later.
It is often, mistakenly, assumed that all of their releases were recorded while under the influence of alcohol
. While this can be presumed of "Come Again" - where the sounds of bottles can be heard in the background, featuring some tracks where both Cook and Moore are slurring their words - the home video release of Derek and Clive Get the Horn
shows a very sober looking Cook and Moore drinking coffee
and water
throughout. During the filming, an organised prank was played upon Cook and Moore by Richard Branson
where 'police
' arrive and suspiciously sniff the contents of an ash tray to the dismay of the unnerved and wary pair.
Later CD releases of Come Again and Ad Nauseam featured out-takes, most were recorded during the Ad Nauseam sessions. Surreal at times, these included "Mother" - featured on Derek and Clive Get the Horn
- where Cook pretends to visit his over-possessive and deranged mother, ending with Cook telling his mother to "shut your fucking face and die." "Valerie's Hymen," where Moore discussed cutting out his wife's hymen with a carving knife, and "Lady Vera Fart Teller," wherein Moore elaborates on a visit to a fortune teller who could tell his future by examining his fart
s.
Transcripts of further, unreleased, 'out-takes' are available in a book entitled "Come Again", edited by William Cook and feature "General Eisenhower," where Cook reflects on the perils of counting the late General's dandruff flakes; "Vietnam", where Moore received a paper cut inflicted by the Viet Cong (in one insightful remark Cook mentions a "friend" of his who fought in Vietnam
but he's not sure "on which side"), and "A Million Pounds", where Cook plays an hysterical woman looking for a million pounds off a sympathetic Moore. The remaining unreleased out-takes are variations on actual releases.
Tracks from Derek and Clive (Live), specifically the Bo Duddley sketch, were sampled on one of the first UK house music
tracks, 1988's "Voodoo Ray
" by A Guy Called Gerald
.
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
of comedic characters created by Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
(Derek) and Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
(Clive) in the 1970s. The performances were captured on the records Derek and Clive (Live)
Derek and Clive (Live)
Derek and Clive is the debut comedy record recorded by Derek and Clive, drunken alter-egos created by comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The double act began as a private joke between the two of them at the Electric Lady Studios, as a way of easing the tension of their 1973 Broadway show Good...
(1976), Derek and Clive Come Again
Derek and Clive Come Again
Derek and Clive Come Again, subtitled on the CD reissue as "Further Ejaculations From......" is the second record released by Derek and Clive, a pair of characters created by comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore...
(1977), and Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam
Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam
Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam is the third and final recording made by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore featuring their characters Derek and Clive. It also charts the breakup of Cook and Moore's partnership....
(1978), as well as in a film documentary, Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get The Horn is a 1979 documentary that chronicles the recording of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 1978 comedy album Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam, their third and final outing featuring their controversial alter-egos Derek and Clive, two foul-mouthed lavatory attendants who banter at...
(1979). The characters are foul-mouthed extensions of the earlier characters Pete and Dud
Pete and Dud
Pete and Dud were characters played by the comedians and entertainers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.The dialogue format originated in 1964 when Dudley Moore invited Peter Cook to appear in a television performance, whereupon Peter Cook scripted a conversation between two men from Dagenham in flat caps...
.
Considered highly offensive by many at the time, the sketches primarily took the form of bizarre, sometime drunken streams of consciousness led by Cook, with interjections from Moore. Memorable moments from the records include Clive claiming that the worst job he ever had was retrieving lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
s from Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
's anus, Derek claiming his worst job was cleaning up Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's bogeys (leading the pair to conclude that the Titanic was one such bogey), Clive claiming that he was sexually aroused by the sight of a deceased Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
lying in state, and a horse-racing 'commentary' featuring horses named after sexual organs or their vulgarised derivatives.
Though the recordings were far too crude for television or a mainstream audience, Derek and Clive bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s circulated. They became famous as mostly unscripted dialogues, vulgar situations depicting with copious swearing - especially the word "cunt
Cunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...
".
Characters
The characters, supposedly two lavatory attendants (although in one sketch, 'Back of the Cab', they play the roles of two London taxi drivers) first surfaced in the mid-seventies.Development of the show
Cook and Moore were touring BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
with their revue show "Good Evening", a live version of their television series "Not Only... But Also
Not Only... But Also
Not Only... But Also was a popular 1960s BBC British television series starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.-History:The show was originally intended as a solo project for Moore, called Not Only Dudley Moore, But Also His Guests...
." The relationship between the two had become strained as a result of Cook's increasing alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. To reassure Moore, Cook hired out a recording studio in New York, where the two could simply relax, drink and ad-lib. The resulting recording was padded out with live performances of old favourites, such as "Bo Duddley" and began to circulate as Derek and Clive (Live).
Cook became bemused at the idea that they should not be making money from the increasing popularity of Derek and Clive, and suggested to Moore that the recording should be released officially. By this point, Moore had embarked on a successful Hollywood film career and found the tapes embarrassing, until he too realised his contemporaries were fans.
Two more records were made. They were less like dialogues and more like vindictive attacks on the increasingly successful Moore by Cook, whose career had stalled somewhat in comparison. One such merciless assault was in a cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
themed diatribe when Cook was fully aware that Moore had recently lost his father to the disease.
The same love-hate relationship between them is evident in the Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get The Horn is a 1979 documentary that chronicles the recording of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 1978 comedy album Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam, their third and final outing featuring their controversial alter-egos Derek and Clive, two foul-mouthed lavatory attendants who banter at...
movie, during which Moore withstands brutally vindictive verbal tirades from Cook and walks out in anger, only to return, and have Cook reduce him to helpless laughter again mere minutes later.
It is often, mistakenly, assumed that all of their releases were recorded while under the influence of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
. While this can be presumed of "Come Again" - where the sounds of bottles can be heard in the background, featuring some tracks where both Cook and Moore are slurring their words - the home video release of Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get The Horn is a 1979 documentary that chronicles the recording of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 1978 comedy album Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam, their third and final outing featuring their controversial alter-egos Derek and Clive, two foul-mouthed lavatory attendants who banter at...
shows a very sober looking Cook and Moore drinking coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
throughout. During the filming, an organised prank was played upon Cook and Moore by Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
where 'police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
' arrive and suspiciously sniff the contents of an ash tray to the dismay of the unnerved and wary pair.
Later CD releases of Come Again and Ad Nauseam featured out-takes, most were recorded during the Ad Nauseam sessions. Surreal at times, these included "Mother" - featured on Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get the Horn
Derek and Clive Get The Horn is a 1979 documentary that chronicles the recording of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's 1978 comedy album Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam, their third and final outing featuring their controversial alter-egos Derek and Clive, two foul-mouthed lavatory attendants who banter at...
- where Cook pretends to visit his over-possessive and deranged mother, ending with Cook telling his mother to "shut your fucking face and die." "Valerie's Hymen," where Moore discussed cutting out his wife's hymen with a carving knife, and "Lady Vera Fart Teller," wherein Moore elaborates on a visit to a fortune teller who could tell his future by examining his fart
Fart
Fart is an English language vulgarism most commonly used in reference to flatulence. The word "fart" is generally considered unsuitable in a formal environment by modern English speakers, and it may be considered vulgar or offensive in some situations. Fart can be used as a noun or a verb...
s.
Transcripts of further, unreleased, 'out-takes' are available in a book entitled "Come Again", edited by William Cook and feature "General Eisenhower," where Cook reflects on the perils of counting the late General's dandruff flakes; "Vietnam", where Moore received a paper cut inflicted by the Viet Cong (in one insightful remark Cook mentions a "friend" of his who fought in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
but he's not sure "on which side"), and "A Million Pounds", where Cook plays an hysterical woman looking for a million pounds off a sympathetic Moore. The remaining unreleased out-takes are variations on actual releases.
Tracks from Derek and Clive (Live), specifically the Bo Duddley sketch, were sampled on one of the first UK house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
tracks, 1988's "Voodoo Ray
Voodoo Ray
"Voodoo Ray" is a 1988 Acid House single by Gerald Simpson, recording under the name A Guy Called Gerald. The single was released the UK in 1988, in the 7" and 12" vinyl formats, on the Rham! label. It reached number 12 in the UK singles chart, and was the best selling independently released single...
" by A Guy Called Gerald
A Guy Called Gerald
A Guy Called Gerald is the stage name for the musician, record producer and DJ Gerald Simpson ....
.
Discography
- Derek and Clive (Live)Derek and Clive (Live)Derek and Clive is the debut comedy record recorded by Derek and Clive, drunken alter-egos created by comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The double act began as a private joke between the two of them at the Electric Lady Studios, as a way of easing the tension of their 1973 Broadway show Good...
(1976) - Derek and Clive Come AgainDerek and Clive Come AgainDerek and Clive Come Again, subtitled on the CD reissue as "Further Ejaculations From......" is the second record released by Derek and Clive, a pair of characters created by comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore...
(1977) - Derek and Clive Ad NauseamDerek and Clive Ad NauseamDerek and Clive Ad Nauseam is the third and final recording made by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore featuring their characters Derek and Clive. It also charts the breakup of Cook and Moore's partnership....
(1978)