Baz

We did the stage tour of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue mainly round East Anglia and the West Country during February and March. Those involved were Rory Bremner, Tony Hawks, Pippa Evans, Marcus Brigstocke and Miles Jupp, with, as ever, Jack Dee chairing. It was highly successful and enjoyable, and played to packed houses.

The tour was of course overshadowed by our losing Barry Cryer in January. I’d known Baz since I first started working on Clue  in 1975, and then was fortunate enough to be asked to play for his stage show with Willie Rushton, Two Old Farts in the Night, and soon after for his own one-person stage show which changed titles regularly but which was each time, as Barry put it, “same meat, different gravy”.

His shows were a pleasure and a privilege to do, and we never once had a duff night. Barry would walk on stage at the top and I could feel the warmth and affection pouring off the audience for him. He was of course very funny, he had an endless store of anecdotes, he was fascinated by people in all walks of life, and most of all he was always a firm friend of mine. I miss the shows, I miss the phone calls, I miss the deep, Consulate-filled guffaw.