Inside Track

HARRY Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have finally decided to come out and play in a new stage show, running at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow in a couple of weeks.

The comedy pair, who once attracted audiences of 13m, have never toured a stage show in the past because they wanted to protect the ‘purity’ of their act.

Now, it seems the pair are quite happy to pollute their reputations to stank level as they check their professional dignity in at the reception of whichever five star hotel they stay at on their current UK tour.

The pair certainly aren’t doing what the Pythons did however in facing the critical mass head on - and admitting they are doing it for the money.

“We just want to have fun now,” says Enfield.

By ‘fun’ does he mean laughing all the way to the bank? But here’s the question; is that wrong? The pair once grabbed audiences of 13m. They are comedy legends. And if people want to see them in the flesh, albeit made-up to the eyeballs and be-wigged, why not?

Scots TV creators certainly aren’t averse to cashing in either.

In recent times we’ve witnessed the phenomenal Still Game’s 21 night success at the Hydro, with the likes of Gary: Tank Commander and Burnistoun falling in behind.

You could also argue there is nothing new about television’s tastiest material being cannibalized for a live audience. But do the stage versions really work? Infused with this question is ‘Do audiences care?’ Not really, when you get the chance to see Monty Python legends live, in front of your very eyes, (even though they may be so far away you can only see them via a large screen.)

However, when the legends don’t appear, it’s a different matter as was the case with Porridge and the Likely Lads and Steptoe (without Corbett and Wilfred Bramble.) And of course, the writing has to be very good, to take a half hour conceit and spread it over two hours. What really works best is when a hit stage show moves to television; it’s easier to shrink-to-fit than expand, as was the case with Still Game (originally a stage show), The Odd Couple and Mrs Brown’s Boys.

That’s not to say recreating classic TV comedy on stage never works. While the New Statesman (with Mayall) failed to hit the mark, believe it or not, Croft and Perry’s Allo’, Allo’ was surprisingly good, and had a script that provided two hours of laughs.

All of this begs the question, what of Rab C. Nesbitt, vaunted as the next piece of iconoclastic television to transfer?

Well, writer Ian Pattison, it can be confirmed, won’t be taking some of his best material to the microwave and pushing the Warm button. If Nesbitt comes back as a stage show at the Hydro or wherever, the script, unlike Rab’s vest, will be fresh and new.

That’s not to Enfield and Whitehouse are in the doghouse for using re-heats. But the prospect of the live version of Rab and co will be all the more exciting for it.