Before Monty Python, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Black Adder, The Office or Spaced, there were Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Breaking onto the scene in 1960 at the Edinburgh International Festival with Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller in Beyond the Fringe, Cook and Moore were the break-out stars of the internationally popular blend of Oxford and Cambridge comedians.
Following the success of Fringe, the BBC offered Moore his own variety show. But, legend has it Moore invited Cook to join him as a co-star because of their unique writing and improv chemistry. The result was Not Only But Also, a ground-breaking exercise in bizarre, character-driven comedy that opened the doors for Python and the others.
BBC Video has now released a DVD compilation of the show’s best bits, The Best of…What’s Left of…Not Only…But Also. British audiences were rocked with the surreal nature of Cook and Moore’s comedy, and the cutting-edge nature of their gags stands up today. The DVD set comes highly recommended and packs the extra treat of watching Cook and Moore endeavor to crack each other up during the show’s daring improv segments.
See a clip above.
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