Comedy auction to fund Fringe play

Some of the biggest names in British comedy, including Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais and Simon Peg have donated memorabilia to raise money for an Edinburgh show about Dudley Moore’s turbulent relationship with Peter Cook.

Producers approached a host of stars to help finance the new play Come Again, which tells the story of Pete and Dud’s partnership from Moore’s point of view, at the Assembly Rooms.

And those offered also items include Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Dawn French, Jimmy Carr, P Mitchell and Webb, Prunella Scales, Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson, Ken Dodd and writers David Renwick, Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

The play is not the first to explore the difficult relationship between Pete and Dud, with the Channel 4 film Not Only But Always being screened over Christmas.

But writers Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde say their version differs by examining the partnership from Moore’s point of view.

A spokesman for the production said; “The play explores how their partnership worked and evolved, why Dudley was often unfairly dismissed as the junior partner and Peter thought of as the comedy icon and how Dudley then managed to spread his wings to emerge as an internationally famous solo star.”

The items they donated, including signed scripts, pictures, DVDs and CDs, will be auctioned off on eBay, starting at 10am this Thursday. Click here to visit the auction once it starts.

Published: 24 May 2005