Comic got the hump over all the drinking jokes

Barry Cryer was famed for being unfailingly good-natured… well, almost.

Tony Hawks has told of the one time his fellow comedian failed to see the funny side – during a warm-up for I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

As the team prepared to start recording, Cryer was the butt of a barrage of jokes about his drinking. When a recycling truck was heard picking up an enormous number of glass bottles, Sandi Toksvig quipped: ‘They’re just clearing out Barry’s minibar.’

It all proved too much and Cryer stormed off in a huff, Hawks told the Petworth Literary Festival in a story repeated in The Times’ Diary column today.

Hawks duly went off to find his co-star and calm him down, returning him to the microphone.

And where was he found? 

The bar.

Published: 2 Nov 2024