Dave Allen (comedian)

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Dave Allen on DVD
Dave Allen on DVD

David Tynan O'Mahoney (July 6, 1936 – March 10, 2005), better known as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, popular in Britain and Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. His act was typified by a very relaxed, intimate style — he would sit on a chair, smoking and holding a glass of whiskey — and would often make jokes about the Catholic church. Along with his seated stand-up routines, his television shows were interspersed with sketch comedy. He had a lasting influence on British comedy, and influenced many 21st century British comedians, such as Mark Thomas. [1].

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[edit] Life before and after television

Born in Firhouse, Dublin, Ireland, the son of Cully Tynan O'Mahoney, managing editor of the Irish Times, and an English mother, he left school aged 16 and followed his father into journalism. He joined the Drogheda Argus as a copy-boy, and went to London aged 19. He drifted through a series of jobs before becoming a Butlins Redcoat at Skegness and hosting pop music shows. He changed his surname to Allen because so few people could pronounce "O'Mahoney" correctly. In 1964 he married actress Judith Stott, whom he met in Australia. The marriage ended in divorce in 1983. Their son, Ed Allen, is also a comedian.

Allen lost part of the index finger of his left hand, possibly through a car accident. However, he told many, differing stories as to how it actually happened. One version was that his brother, John (who later became a down and out), had surprised him by snapping his jaw shut when they were children, resulting in himself biting it off. Another was that it was done deliberately to avoid National Service. One explanation that he told on his programme Dave Allen at Large is that he often stuck his finger in his whiskey glass and that it was eaten away by "strong drink".

Allen had his first television appearance as the host of the BBC talent show New Faces in 1959. In 1961 he toured England and France with a then-unknown band called The Beatles, and toured South Africa in 1962 with Sophie Tucker, whom he described as "one of the most charming and delightful performers with whom I have ever worked". While on tour in Australia in 1963, he accepted an offer to headline a talk show with Channel 9, Tonight with Dave Allen, which was popular.

Allen returned to Britain in 1964 and made a variety of appearances on ITV, including The Blackpool Show, Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium and The Val Doonican Show. In 1967 Allen hosted his own comedy/chat series Tonight with Dave Allen which earned him the Variety Club's ITV Personality of the Year Award. He signed up with the BBC in 1968 and appeared on The Dave Allen Show, a variety/comedy sketch series. This was followed, from 1971, by Dave Allen at Large, which introduced his trademark solo joke-telling-while-sitting-on-a-stool-and-drinking routine. New seasons of the series, which was renamed Dave Allen in 1981, were made until 1990. During the same period, Allen also made The Dave Allen Show in Australia (1975–1977) for Channel 7 in Australia. In 1993, he moved back to ITV, where he starred in their version of Dave Allen, which was to be his final regular television series.

At the end of his acts Allen would usually toast his audience with the words "Goodnight, thank you, and may your god go with you" an original and inclusive toast which typified Allen's gentle style.

His hobbies included painting: his first exhibition, Private Views, was held in Edinburgh in 2001.

[edit] Other television work

Allen made several documentaries, including Dave Allen in the Melting Pot (1969), In Search of the Great Eccentrics (1974) and Eccentrics at Play (1974). He also had a successful stage career. In 1972 he starred in The Royal Court's production of Edna O'Brien's play A Pagan Place, and appeared as both Mr Darling and Captain Hook in the London Coliseum's production of Peter Pan.

[edit] Death

Towards the end of his life, Allen was forced to give up both his cigarettes and excess alcohol, both of which he enjoyed on his television appearances in the 1970s. He died suddenly, but peacefully in his sleep on March 10, 2005, aged 68.

Dave Allen was outlived by his wife of 18 months, Karin. Their baby son Cullum Allan Allen was born 2 months after Dave's death.

[edit] External links

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