I don't if anyone will get to read this as I am not a serial blogger. Hence it may be that no one will know of its existence! However, I am compelled to write in order that I can record, if only for posterity, my thoughts and feelings about the passing of one, Charlie Adams, scriptwriter and humorist extraordinaire.
Charlie and I had not really kept in touch over the last few years but news of his death came as a huge shock to me and, as is often the case, was a stark reminder of one's own mortality.
I first met Charlie when I was performing in a radio show for BBC Radio 4 called, Don't Stop Now, It's Fundation. Also in the show were Gareth Hale and Norman Pace and, up until this time, we mostly wrote our own comedy material. However, given the amount of material this show consumed, it was necessary to bring in additional writers of whom Charlie was one. Charlie seemed to like our style of humour and was soon producing material which fitted perfectly into our shows. As a result, he became a regular writer on the show and one that we all got to know very well. At that time Charlie was living in Chislehurst, which actually made him a reasonably close neighbour of mine. So, over the years, I got to see him quite a lot on both a professional and social level. As time passed I moved away from performance and more into writing and it was down to Charlie that I was able to forge a reasonably successful career. It was in 1990 or 1991 that Charlie was working on a number of programmes at the BBC one of which was called Up To Something, which featured a number of up and coming performers, one of whom was Shane Richie. Another was David Schneider. Charlie encouraged me to submit some material to the producer, Mike Leggo, who liked what I'd done and subsequently commissioned me to write more for the series. After my second submission I was then asked to be Assistant Script Editor to Charlie and became heavily involved in every episode of the series. That started a relationship with the BBC which lasted for a few years, but it also forged a much stronger relationship with Charlie. Charlie knew the value of just being around Television Centre and would always make sure that I accompanied him there as much as possible. Every morning he would pick me up from home in South London and we would drive up to BBC TV Centre together, a journey that would take the best part of one to two hours. Then of course there was the journey home again. Those hours in the car with Charlie were priceless. Between us we would put the world of comedy to rights and talk about how television programmes should be made, if only the powers that be would give us free rein to do so.
In all that time however, the one thing I came to love about Charlie was that everything could be summed up in a funny line and, as proud as he was of his own material he was always the first to acknowledge a good line created by someone else. He could do this because he was secure in his own ability to come up with something funnier when necessary. Many writers are insecure, paranoid and worry a lot about their material being stolen, or whether it's actually funny enough, and it would be wrong to say that Charlie didn't sometimes display these traits - I know I certainly did - but he never let those feelings overtake him because he knew that, whatever he wrote was funny. The one phrase he used to repeat a lot was, "Just because people don't laugh, doesn't mean it's not funny." He would also add to that, "Just because they do laugh, doesn't mean it is funny." This latter comment usually made about material that he didn't write. Charlie was the King of the one-liner and in a world where comedians rely on more "observational" humour, his style may seem a little old fashioned, belonging more to the era of Bob Monkhouse and Bob Hope, both of whom benefitted from Charlie's talents. But, the fact remains that Charlie was a funny man, someone who could create a joke out of most situations. Comedy was in his DNA and it flowed through his veins and out of his pen regularly and richly.
As I said earlier I hadn't seen Charlie for some years, so to say that I will miss him may sound somewhat insincere but I will miss him. I will miss him because the world has lost a man who believed his purpose in life was to make others laugh and I'm sad that there will be no one to take his place.
Rest in peace Charlie.
Charlie and I had not really kept in touch over the last few years but news of his death came as a huge shock to me and, as is often the case, was a stark reminder of one's own mortality.
I first met Charlie when I was performing in a radio show for BBC Radio 4 called, Don't Stop Now, It's Fundation. Also in the show were Gareth Hale and Norman Pace and, up until this time, we mostly wrote our own comedy material. However, given the amount of material this show consumed, it was necessary to bring in additional writers of whom Charlie was one. Charlie seemed to like our style of humour and was soon producing material which fitted perfectly into our shows. As a result, he became a regular writer on the show and one that we all got to know very well. At that time Charlie was living in Chislehurst, which actually made him a reasonably close neighbour of mine. So, over the years, I got to see him quite a lot on both a professional and social level. As time passed I moved away from performance and more into writing and it was down to Charlie that I was able to forge a reasonably successful career. It was in 1990 or 1991 that Charlie was working on a number of programmes at the BBC one of which was called Up To Something, which featured a number of up and coming performers, one of whom was Shane Richie. Another was David Schneider. Charlie encouraged me to submit some material to the producer, Mike Leggo, who liked what I'd done and subsequently commissioned me to write more for the series. After my second submission I was then asked to be Assistant Script Editor to Charlie and became heavily involved in every episode of the series. That started a relationship with the BBC which lasted for a few years, but it also forged a much stronger relationship with Charlie. Charlie knew the value of just being around Television Centre and would always make sure that I accompanied him there as much as possible. Every morning he would pick me up from home in South London and we would drive up to BBC TV Centre together, a journey that would take the best part of one to two hours. Then of course there was the journey home again. Those hours in the car with Charlie were priceless. Between us we would put the world of comedy to rights and talk about how television programmes should be made, if only the powers that be would give us free rein to do so.
In all that time however, the one thing I came to love about Charlie was that everything could be summed up in a funny line and, as proud as he was of his own material he was always the first to acknowledge a good line created by someone else. He could do this because he was secure in his own ability to come up with something funnier when necessary. Many writers are insecure, paranoid and worry a lot about their material being stolen, or whether it's actually funny enough, and it would be wrong to say that Charlie didn't sometimes display these traits - I know I certainly did - but he never let those feelings overtake him because he knew that, whatever he wrote was funny. The one phrase he used to repeat a lot was, "Just because people don't laugh, doesn't mean it's not funny." He would also add to that, "Just because they do laugh, doesn't mean it is funny." This latter comment usually made about material that he didn't write. Charlie was the King of the one-liner and in a world where comedians rely on more "observational" humour, his style may seem a little old fashioned, belonging more to the era of Bob Monkhouse and Bob Hope, both of whom benefitted from Charlie's talents. But, the fact remains that Charlie was a funny man, someone who could create a joke out of most situations. Comedy was in his DNA and it flowed through his veins and out of his pen regularly and richly.
As I said earlier I hadn't seen Charlie for some years, so to say that I will miss him may sound somewhat insincere but I will miss him. I will miss him because the world has lost a man who believed his purpose in life was to make others laugh and I'm sad that there will be no one to take his place.
Rest in peace Charlie.
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