Chuckle Brothers

For the newspaper comic, seeChuckle Bros (comics).

TheChuckle Brotherswere an English comedydouble actcomprising real-life brothersBarry David Elliott(24 December 1944 – 5 August 2018) andPaul Harman Elliott(born 18 October 1947).They were known for theirBBCchildren's programmeChuckleVision,which aired from 1987 to 2009 and celebrated its twenty-first series with a 2010 stage tour titledAn Audience with the Chuckle Brothers.The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derived fromslapstick,othervisual gags,andwordplay,and theircatchphrasesincluded "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"

Chuckle Brothers
Barry (left) and Paul (right) in 2008
Born	Barry David Elliott (1944-12-24)24 December 1944 Rotherham,West Riding of Yorkshire, England Paul Harman Elliott (1947-10-18)18 October 1947 Rotherham,West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	Barry: 5 August 2018(2018-08-05)(aged 73) Rotherham,South Yorkshire, England
Medium	Television stage
Years active	Barry: 1963–2018 Paul: 1963–present
Genres	Slapstick Parody Word play
Spouse	Paul: Sue ​ (m.1988)​ Barry: Anne ​ (m.1973)​
Relative(s)	Patton Brothers(brothers) Pete and Sophie Sandiford(nephew and niece)
Notable works and roles	ChuckleHounds(1985–1986) ChuckleVision(1987–2009) To Me... To You...(1996–1998) Chuckle Time(2018)

Early life

The brothers were born inRotherhamto Amy and James Patton Elliott, in 1944 and 1947. Their father was aGang Showperformer whose stage name was Gene Patton; he worked with the 18-year-oldPeter Sellersin 1943 in The No. 10 Gang and gave performances inLondon,Orkneyand theHebrides,Iceland,the Far East, India, andBurma.Their two older brothers, Jimmy and Brian, were known professionally as thePatton Brothersuntil Jimmy's death in 2019. The Patton Brothers appeared inChuckleVision,Jimmy as the nameless character known colloquially as "No Slacking", and Brian as another unnamed character known as "Getoutofit".

The Chuckle Brothers gained wider attention as a support act for singerDorothy Squires.

Career

Television

The Chuckle Brothers, performing as The Harman Brothers,won the televisiontalent showOpportunity Knocksin 1967, followed by success onNew Facesin 1974.The brothers began their television careers as a double act, making their debut in April 1979 on the BBC comedy seriesLennie and Jerry,hosted byLennie Bennettand Jerry Stevens.They made two appearances on the game show3-2-1,hosted byTed Rogers,in January 1980 and April 1982,and appeared on the long-running BBC programme,The Good Old Days,in June 1980.In August 1983, the Brothers appeared onThe Freddie Starr Showcasealongside the comedianFreddie Starr.

Their primary work was mainly focused on children's television, beginning initially on Christmas Day in 1980 with their taking part in a televised children's show,A Merry Morning,in which the brothers entertained around 250 children from the Leeds area inYeadon Town Hall.

In 1985, the brothers launched a pre-school programme on the BBC entitledChuckle Hounds,in which they performed routines with nodialogue,while dressed up in giant dog costumes. Their success in children's television came in 1987, with the launch of their iconic children's show,ChuckleVision,in which their real-life siblingsJimmy and Brian Pattonmade occasional appearances.The show proved a ratings hit with children, running for 21 series over a period of 22 years, and giving them a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement at theBritish Academy Children's Awardsin 2008.The final series of the programme was aired in December 2009.

The two contributed further to children's entertainment, performing at theChildren's Royal Variety Performancein May 1992,and launching a children'sgame showtitledTo Me... To You...,which ran between 1996 and 1998 and which took its name from their signaturecatchphrase.

Outside of children's entertainment, the brothers have made appearances in many other television series, both together and separately. In May 2008, they appeared in theBBCdocumentary seriesComedy Map of Britain,and won the 2010 series ofCelebrity Coach Trip.In November 2011, the brothers starred in a series of TV advertisements for the UK-based van insurance comparison websiteVan CompareIn October 2012, they appeared onComedy World CuponChannel 4,while on 15 March 2013, they were featured inDavid Walliams' sketch forComic Relief.From 2013 to 2014, Barry made a number of appearances in the BBC comedy seriesStill Open All Hoursas dog owner Mr Marshall, first appearing in the role for the 2013 Christmas special.On 13 March 2015, they appeared again on Comic Relief, this time in a sketch based aroundNational Treasures.The duo appeared at the 2016Royal Variety Performance,performing sketches with hostDavid Walliams.In April 2018, it was announced the brothers were in the process of recording a new clip show forChannel 5,entitledChuckle Time;It ran for one series during the summer of that year, although it was cut short following the death of Barry Elliott in August 2018.

Stage

Paul and Barry Elliott, aka The Chuckle Brothers, on stage at theFuturist Theatrein Scarborough in 2013

As well as regular TV appearances, Paul and Barry appeared on stage in venues across the UK. Their annual nationwide tours often included them performing withThe Patton Brothers,magic duoSafire,The Magic Light Puppet Companyas well a full cast. Their comedy andparodyshows have includedThe Blackpool Tower Circus(1974, 1987),To You To Me(1995),The Chuckle Brothers in Trouble(1996),The Chuckle Brothers Summer Roadshow(1997),The Adventures of The Chuckle Brothers(1998),The Chuckle Brothers Trouble At Sea(1999),The New Adventures of The Chuckle Brothers(2000),Spooky Goings On(2001),Raiders of the Lost Bark(2002),Star Doors – The Chuckle Brothers Strike Back(2003),Barry Potty and his Smarter Brother Paul in The Chamber of Horrors(2004),Pirates of the River Rother(2005),Doctor What and the Return of the Garlics(2006),Spooky Goings on 2(2007),Aladdin(Christmas 2007),Indiana Chuckles and the Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk(2008),Chuckle Trek – The Lost Generation(2009),A Christmas Chuckle(Christmas 2009),An Audience With....The Chuckle Brothers(2010),The Twelve Days of Christmas(Christmas 2010),Barry Potty and his Full Blood Brother Paul in the Ghostly Shadows(2011),The Return of the Pirates of the River Rother 2: In Strangers Tights(2012),The Chuckle Brothers meet the Phantom at the Theatre(2013),A 2014 Space Oddity(2014) andThe Chuckles of Oz(2015).

Live recordings ofPirates of the River RotherandSpooky Goings On 2were released on DVD 2007, the latter under the titleThe Chuckle Brothers – Spooky Goings On Live!A box set of the two was also made available. A dress rehearsal of the duo's 1996 tourThe Chuckle Brothers in Troublewas released on DVD in 2008. In addition, the brothers' 2008 tour,Indiana Chuckles and The Kingdom of the Mythical Sulk,set inAncient Egypt,was released on DVD later that year.

The brothers toured theatres annually with their shows until 2015. Although, they performed regularly in pantomimes, festivals, events and holiday parks until Barry's death in 2018.

During their career, Paul and Barry performed in fifty one pantomimes together. Their first wasBabes in the Wood,which they performed asThe Harman Brothersin Malvern from 1967 until 1968 withSandy Powell.Their final pantomime becameSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsat The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, which they appeared in from 2017 until 2018 withCraig Revel Horwood.They were awarded aGreat British Pantomime Awardfor Best Double Act for this production. Since Barry's death, Paul has stated his intention to continue to appear in pantomime productions.

Other appearances

In2010,the Chuckle Brothers won the firstCelebrity Coach Trip.

From 2014 until 2018, the brothers made appearances at various nightclubs and student events, performing sets and posing for photographs. After Barry's death, Paul stated that he would continue with these appearances.

In March 2016, the brothers appeared in a promotional video for the computer gameHitman.

In 2017, both brothers appeared inThe Funniest Man in the World,a short film directed by Jon Conway aboutJoseph Grimaldi,played by Barry.

Following Barry's death, Paul has appeared in a number of quiz shows for charity, includingPointless Celebrities,Tenable All StarsandCelebrity Mastermind.

Music

In October 1995, the Chuckle Brothers released an album entitledTo You to Mefeaturing eleven tracks.Many of the tracks were based on their catchphrases, such as "To me, to you" and "Silly You, Silly Me".

In October 2014, the Chuckle Brothers collaborated withTinchy Stryderto release a charity single "To Me, To You (Bruv)"to raise funds for theAfrican-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust.

In September 2015, the Brothers performed for twenty minutes at the music festivalBestival,citing it as the biggest crowd they had ever performed in front of.

Mobile game

In July 2016, the Chuckle Brothers released their firstmobile appforAndroidandiOStitled "Chuckle World". It is aquizgame withTinderstyle sliding mechanics and endless style mobile gameplay.

Critical reception

In November 2005,Jacques Peretti,a reporter forThe Guardian,remarked "The appeal of the Chuckle Brothers remains a mystery to anyone over eight, but to anyone under eight, they're the ultimate entertainment experience. The little people think they're hilarious, and if you add up all the little people across the country who think they're hilarious, you'd think it'sChuckleVisionthat should have the 28 comedy gongs, notLittle BritainorThe Office."

On 31 January 2007,Rotherham Unitedchairman Denis Coleman announced that the brothers had both been made honorary presidents of the football club.

In 2008, they were honoured with the Special Award at theBritish Academy Children's Awards.

Personal life

The brothers regularly appeared at events and openings, an example being the unveiling of the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre inNorth AnstoninSouth Yorkshirein July 2013, which Barry attended.Supporters ofRotherham United Football Club,they were made Honorary Life Presidents of the club in 2007.

Both brothers have been married: Barry was married to Ann from 1973 until his death and Paul has been married to Sue since 1988.Both brothers weresmokers,although Paul had apparently quit by 2000.Paul lives in Serlby,Doncaster,whilst Barry lived inRavenfield,Rotherham,until his death.

In April 2007, whilst on holiday on the Greek island ofCephalonia,Paul broke his nose and suffered cuts and bruises when he lost control of his motorcycle after suddenly braking to avoid a goatherd and his herd. It was reported at the time that, instead of helping him, tourists who stopped at the accident shouted the Chuckle Brothers' catchphrase, "To me, to you".Paul later revealed on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast that the story of tourists shouting out catchphrases was an invention in order to get the story in the newspapers.

Anurban legendsurrounding Barry Chuckle's supposed death from a heart attack had circulated since at least 2008. In 2010, the brothers issued a statement on their website stating that the story was "complete and utter rubbish".The BBC reported that the death hoaxes had upset young viewers, and had shocked Barry when they re-surfaced.The hoax was said to have initially spread viaFacebookin 2008, but re-surfaced in 2010 viaTwitter.

In December 2010, Barry announced his support for a proposal that one of theConservative–Liberal Democrat coalitiongovernment's plannedfree schools,a taxpayer-funded school independent of the local authority, should be established in Rotherham.In January 2011, it was announced that Barry had planned to incorporate a 100-pupil free school namedRotherham Central Free Schoolin his hometown of Rotherham. His son's partner was to serve as the head teacher of the school.By February 2012, no premises, staff or pupils for the school had been confirmed, despite announcing an intention on opening in September of that year.

In February 2014, the Chuckle Brothers attended the trial ofDave Lee Travis.Paul stated that he had no knowledge of the alleged events.After giving evidence, the pair posed for aselfieoutsideSouthwark Crown Courtwith Paul sharing it on hisTwitteraccount.The Brothers had smiled for the photograph, and some deemed their actions inappropriate.

In March 2016, Barry received condemnation for sharing aFacebookpost from thefar-rightpolitical partyBritain First.The post, originally shared in June 2015, called on politicians to strip migrants of their citizenship if they left the country to join a terror group. Following the unearthing of the post,Tommy Robinson,former leader of theEnglish Defence League(EDL), came to Barry's defence, calling on people to "leave the man alone".Britain First subsequently described the incident as a "non-story".

In March 2020, Paul contractedCOVID-19and suffered mild illness (which he described as "not nice" ). He recorded a video message for his Twitter followers, urging them to stay at home to slow the spread of the disease.

Barry's death

On 5 August 2018, Barry died after a period of ill health.Paul grieved Barry's death: "I've not just lost my brother, I've lost my theatrical partner of many, many years and my very best friend."

Paul later revealed that his brother had been diagnosed withbone cancer,but had kept it secret from his manager, fans and Paul himself as he had wanted to perform for as long as possible.His funeral was held on 17 August at theNew York Stadium,where Rotherham United play their home matches, and was attended by a number of show business friends; a large number of fans waited outside to pay their respects.

External links

• Paul ElliottatIMDb
• Barry ElliottatIMDb
• Paul ElliottatBritish Comedy Guide
• Barry ElliottatBritish Comedy Guide