To me, to you… Paul Elliott reflects on a lifetime as half of comedy institution The Chuckle Brothers

GENERATIONS have grown up with The Chuckle Brothers, and they are still constantly asked for selfies.

They remain in demand too for theatre shows, panto and television. They turned up in Benidorm earlier this month and will be on Channel 5 soon in a brand-new show which is guaranteed to do what they do best — make us laugh.

Of course, they have not always been The Chuckle Brothers, but Rotherham-born Paul and Barry Elliott have certainly been entertaining the crowds for a very long time.

“We have been in this business for over 50 years,” Paul reveals.

“It’s hard to believe as the time goes so quickly and we look so young — well one of us does!

“As our audiences are mostly young, we are still like big kids ourselves. Having been entertaining for half a century doesn’t really register unless we really think about it.

“How did it start? A lot of people have asked that so let’s go back to the beginning when the Chuckles were just a smile.

“Our dad was good at smiling, and he was even better at making other people smile. Really, the Chuckle Brothers are all his fault!

“He was a comedian, you see, and a very good one who knew the business well, even though he was once banned from BBC radio for two years for ending a gag with the line ‘smooth as a baby’s bottom’!

“His working life dated back to just after the First World War, when he was 13 and took a job down the pit,” explains Paul.

“Down the mines, like in factories and other workplaces there was always a lot of banter, and Dad spent the whole day making all the guys laugh with his gags and impersonations.

“It backfired on him though because one day, the foreman called him in and told him — through tears of laughter — that he would have to go as no-one was getting any coal out while he was keeping up the gags!

“He did make a suggestion though, which was to make a big difference to our lives. He added: ‘Why don’t you try out with the Carroll Levis talent show at the local theatre on Monday night? I’m sure they’ll love you.’

“The only family member who had anything to do with showbiz was his uncle, a magician with the stage name of Patton.

“So Dad called himself Gene Patton and went along for the talent show. He stormed it, and made it through to the final on the Saturday night.

“That’s how it worked in those days. Carroll Levis would bring his talent show to town for a week, with local talent and a couple of his own regulars on stage every night, and the final on Saturday. The theatres used to be packed.

“The local paper reported how funny the young Gene Patton was.

“He turned professional and never looked back,” Paul smiles.

“He earned a good reputation, and toured the country in revues, music hall and variety shows.

“It was all live entertainment in those days, as TV didn’t really take off until he retired in 1954, though he did radio broadcasts.

“On stage, he certainly learned the trade and became a much-loved entertainer who knew how to give his audience the best and get the best out of them.

“Barry came along on Christmas Eve 1944, and I followed just over two years later. We had three older brothers, Jimmy, Brian and Colin, and a lovely sister, Sheila.

“Jimmy and Brian went into show business as the Patton Brothers. You will have seen them on Chucklevision and in all our stage shows.”

Barry and Paul both tried their hand at proper jobs, but the call of the stage was too strong.

“We found it hard to settle at anything and talked a lot about working together like Jimmy and Brian,” reveals Paul.

“Barry bought The Stage newspaper every week and scoured the job adverts.

“We were not that keen on working the clubs even though we appeared in them regularly. We felt much more at home on a theatre stage. Still, we were learning the trade all the time, and weren’t tempted to do anything other than a family act.

“One day, Barry saw an ad that was to make a huge change to our lives. It was for Sunshine Holiday Camp in Hayling Island.

“We had work for six months. It was tiring, as we were busy near enough all day. We had to be on duty at 7.25am in the dining hall to welcome the campers in for breakfast. Have you ever tried encouraging someone with a hangover to eat eggs, bacon and beans first thing in the morning?

“We led the sports activities for most of the day, but we also did what we were really booked for — we entertained in the evenings.

“Barry and I loved every minute of it. The audience knew us from what we were doing during the day so it was like them having their pals up there on the stage.

“It was a great grounding for us.

“We also did some song and dance routines, but Dad always told us not to be too versatile. ‘If you do all sorts, the promoters will just use you to fill the bill instead of building you up as a main act,’ he told us. It was good advice.

“The season was great, hard work but great, and we were a little sad when it came to an end.

“One thing was definite. We were now professional entertainers and could not go back to having ‘proper jobs’.

“We went back to Rotherham and lived off a little dole money and occasional gigs at working men’s clubs.

“We tried to get a panto season but we were always told the same thing: ‘Tell us where you are doing panto, and we’ll come and see you with a view to something for next year.’ To get a panto, we had to already have a panto!

“Eventually though we got the breaks. The summer seasons got better until we were doing theatres in the summer and pantomimes in the winter, with some one-nighters and variety work in between.

“We especially liked the pantos. We had always made sure that we remained family entertainers, and the panto was the best possible kind of show for us.

“One day we were having a chat with Jimmy and Brian and had the idea of working as a foursome. There hadn’t been four brothers working as a comedy act since the Marx Brothers.

“The format was a little off the wall. Brian was the straight man, Jimmy the simple one, Barry the funny, bandy one, and I was the slightly camp one — just acting you understand!

“We named the act, wait for it — The Chuckle Brothers!

“That’s how it all started, and The Chuckle Brothers have been very good to us since then.

“We never dreamed we would fill huge theatres, have our own TV shows and be asked for photos and autographs everywhere we went.”

The full story is in Paul’s recent autobiography Fifty Years of From Me . . . To You.

The brothers still work together, and Paul explains part of the reason for their success is that their comedy can be enjoyed by the whole family.

“People, especially kids, laugh at the same things that their grannies laughed at and even their grannies’ grannies,” he smiles.

“The setting for the gags changes. A few years ago, you couldn’t joke about a mobile phone because they didn’t exist! But we still use many of the gags that we used to use, and many of them came from our dad.

“We still love what we do.

“We love a good slapstick routine.

“We’re huge fans of Laurel and Hardy and, just as they are still making people laugh all these years later, we hope the Chuckle Brothers will go on having fun and laughter for many years to come.

“An annual season in Benidorm will do very nicely. As long as the custard pies don’t melt!”