This hour long BBC Northern Ireland tribute to the popular if controversial Irish comedian Dave Allen did justice to him I believe. I was a big fan of his early 70's BBC2 Show "Dave Allen At Large" and was interested to learn more about him. In truth his comedy shows probably haven't dated too well being occasionally un-P.C. in its depiction of women but he admirably took pot-shots at the Catholic religion, provoking much viewer anger especially in his home country even to the extent of garnering death threats.
The show adopted the format of dropping in on key years in Allen's life, starting naturally with his formative years in Ireland. Much is made of the early loss of the tip of one of his fingers, the cause of which he retold in different ways throughout his career but the major influence on his early life appears to have been his newspaper editor father who died when he was only 12. Unusual I'd say that his mother didn't feature more despite living longer than her husband.
I was surprised to learn that he made his name initially on Australian TV and then as an almost daredevil presenter back in Britain, as highlighted by a hair-raising stunt involving the submersion of a car. I knew already about his appearance on the same bill as the emerging Beatles in the early 60's.
He really found his feet in his BBC series at the end of the 60's especially "At Large" when he interspersed his laconic sit-down joke-telling, cigarette and drink in hand, with zany comedy sketches, besides the religious ones I particularly recall with affection his regular "Mexican last request" skits.
Due to his anti-establishment acerbic humour (even tackling apartheid in one sketch), he never became the type of TV dinosaur that the alternative comedians of the early 80's so aptly vilified, continuing on in TV specials into his older age, particularly highlighting eccentrics.
Away from the camera, he was married twice, had children and interests in painting and gardening. He seemed to live a full and happy life with none of the familiar comedic demons at his back, dying too young at age 68.
A comedic rebel, unafraid to tilt at established mores of the day (even to the extent of using the "F" word to embellish a joke), this was an enjoyable reminder that early 70's British humour wasn't all Benny Hill and Carry On.
