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One of the disadvantages of living in the United States is that British celebrities are often unknown here, and so the death of Mike Yarwood last September totally got by me. I only just noticed.
He was an enormous part of my adolescence, with his impressions of Harold Wilson and Ted Heath and Dennis Healey and so very many more. When I think back on those happy days I rank him with Eric and Ernie. He made me laugh.
RIP Mr. Yarwood.
He was a funny guyQuote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Booze got hold of him
I think he was lucky in that there were not that many impressionists around when he made his name. Certainly, he was not in the same league as Rory Bremner or Alistair McGowan when it came to the accuracy and variety of his impressions.
I didn’t know that he’d passed away either.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Forgive me if I’ve asked you this before…where abouts in the US are you?
Omaha.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue
Christ it must be cold there in the winterQuote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Nebraska!Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Do you in enjoy it?
I’ve never been and the Great Plains kind of terrify me seeing how bleak things are even here in VA during the winter.
Council bluffs
I think Yarwood, like many impressionists, suffered when the subjects of his best political impressions fell from power.
Warm house, warm car, warm office, warm shopping malls, warm bars, warm movie theaters. Excellent snow clearance. This is the USA, not the USSR, so it's just fine. Air conditioning everywhere in the summer, at least until Greta gets her way. No, it's all good.Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Omaha's great. Wife's hometown. They've built a fine city here. Outstate in the boonies, maybe not so much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue
Yeah, well. You've got Newport.
This is always the issue with impressionists. Their window of opportunity is small. They have to rake it in while they can. I'm not sure Yarwood did. He ended up in that charity home for retired entertainers, with Charlie Drake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie
is in Iowa.Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Newport is Ace.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Be nice and I’ll order some of your famous Omaha Steaks :)
Well as long as you are OK there's no need to worryQuote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular
Some of the phrases, that became associated with politicians, he actually made them ,such as “silly billy” for Denis Healey. Harold Wilson made sure, he appeared on Parkinson alongside Yarwood, which was a great show. There was a documentary on C5 recently, which they’d made just before his death.
I read an obituary that credited Yarwood with the excellent sales that Dennis Healey's memoir "The Time of My Life" enjoyed. It was an interesting insight, and true I think. I have the book on my shelf. It was a very interesting and colourful account of a Labour Party politician who trod the well-worn path from flirtation with communism to a centrist form of democratic socialism. But for Yarwood making him so famous I don't think I would have bothered. Who reads the memoirs of chancellors of the exchequer?Quote:
Originally Posted by SOXY BOY
Agree that Mike Yarwood was one of the best however Eric and Ernie practised their 'ad libs' to death
Yes, true. But I won't hear a word against them. Nobody wrote comedy like what they wrote.Quote:
Originally Posted by slomaj
And Richard O’Sullivan. In Twickenham I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmyscoular