Although I haven't seen many programmes with Tommy Cooper I watched a documentary about him around a year ago. It showed the first scenes of his last perfomance (not the part where he collapsed) and he walked onto the stage wearing a giant pack of Tunes on his head. This was all they showed, can anyone remember why Tommy had a pack of Tunes on his head and what the joke was?
I always thought Tommy didn't look well at the start of the last perfomance. I don't remember him collapsing on stage as I was sonly 4 at the time.
In fact I've just looked back at this part of the David Threlfall drama, which I can only assume used at least some of the original material from the night.
"Do you believe in reincarnation? I do. Sometimes, I think I'm Beethoven. I do, really. Because I've had Tunes through my head all day.
The whole performance- including the emergency break they eventually threw to- used to be on YouTube. I’m not sure it’s still there...and I’d only watch if you’re prepared for it.
I first noticed a shorter clip online in about 2008, and I remember the Daily Mail wrote it up as a story at around the same time. Then a version emerged with the whole routine on. Profoundly macabre to watch, but it was always one of those TV moments I’d read about for years. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the rest of programme where Les Dennis and Dustin Gee had to perform with the hastily-drawn front curtain behind them.
The Channel 4 documentry from a few years ago where they showed some of it was disturbing enough (and I wasn't expecting them to actually show the clip until it appeared), from what I've heard the full, uncut version is even worse.
This topic seems to pop up every few years for some reason. Although there are far, far more disturbing videos you can happily find on YouTube, it is one that's burned into my mind. Morbid curiosity got the better of me when it first circulated, especially having heard so many stories about him falling through the curtain, which struck me odd as he did that very thing at the start of one of his Christmas shows.
If Jimmy Tarbuck's episode of Piers Morgan's Life Stories comes up again, you'll find the "missing" part when the show returned from the break and Tarby introduced Dustin and Les. It's a very difficult subject to tackle, because it deals with something that a lot of us take interest in, which is what happens when a broadcast goes badly wrong, not to mention there are fans of Tommy who might want to see his last ever routine. But beyond that, yes, we're dealing with a man dying from a heart attack. Your own construction will determine how graphic or disturbing you find it, but it's far from a pleasant watch whichever way you look at it.
The original "short" video is still happily circulating because it tends to pop up on any YouTube search of just the name "Tommy Cooper". I find it odd YouTube let that happen, really.
I first noticed a shorter clip online in about 2008, and I remember the Daily Mail wrote it up as a story at around the same time. Then a version emerged with the whole routine on. Profoundly macabre to watch, but it was always one of those TV moments I’d read about for years. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the rest of programme where Les Dennis and Dustin Gee had to perform with the hastily-drawn front curtain behind them.
I don't think Les and Dustin's is online but Howard Keel was on after them and that performance is. Notice that at the start there is a bulge in the curtain which then disappears
https://youtu.be/7l_WWVs3GW8
I remember watching it once out of sheer curiosity and it isn't something I think I'd ever want to watch again.
I watched it once online. It was horrible and deeply distressing. I bitterly regretted watching it and I couldn’t ever watch it again. I wouldn’t recommend anybody else watch it either.
Last edited by AJB39 on 21 July 2020 2:58pm - 2 times in total
I thought the joke would have been something like "Tunes running through his head all day". I didn't know about the drama based on Tommy's life
A clip of the start of this was shown fairly recently on ITV's The Comedy Years episode 2, which I believe is still available to watch via the ITV Hub.
On a related note please do not post a link to any video clips of the entire tragic incident. I'm aware someone posted this a few years ago, though thankfully I didn't watch it. Hopefully this won't be repeated by anyone as bans are likely to be issued if it does, especially it anyone is thoughtless enough to embed such a clip.