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Re: The New Breed of JAM Performers - Tony Hawks

Messages in this topic: 2 View All
CatJun 8, 2008
 

 
He's a great panellist. Consistently funny and always good-humoured.
That same personality comes through in his books too.

You mentioned 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' - the most famous of them
- but I've also read 'A Piano in the Pyrenees' and 'One Hit
Wonderland' (where he teams up with Tim Rice and Norman Wisdom in
search of that elusive 2nd hit single), and 'Playing the Moldovans at
Tennis' which inspired him to setting up a children's centre in
Moldova after witnessing the poverty they are subjected to.

If anyone gets a chance log onto his website, he's released some songs
to raise money for the centre which are really good....even if Chesney
hawkes features!

I can't think particularly what he does on Just A Minute that makes me
laugh. I think he's just an excellent storyteller and has good
one-liner challenges. I love it when he gets all petty and pedantic,
calling for the Law Lords to sort the situation out. And on one
episode he declared that as a member of the EEC we should have an
official cut-off point for a pixie.

Excellent stuff.


--- In just-a-minute@..., "roseysaidwhat"
<roseysaidwhat@...> wrote:

>
> It's weird, because I just listened to Tony's first episode yesterday,
> and I had thought it was just like a normal episode nowadays! He is
> really good, even from day one. I know he did really well so he
> definitely knows how to play the game.
>
> I remember that episode. I was kind of sad, but after his challenge I
> just laughed it off. That was a great moment. I always enjoy his
> contributions and he's definitely one of the better, funnier players.
>
>
> --- In just-a-minute@..., Robert Torres
> <bobbyshaddoe3004@> wrote:
> >
> > Moving right along, I'd like to talk about someone else who has
> become closely associated with Just a Minute as part of the next
> generation, or the New Breed of performers to follow Paul Merton onto
> the series: Tony Hawks.
> >
> > He premiered on the series I believe in 1992 along with Paul,
> Clement and Peter Jones, and did exceptionally well to make his
> presence felt, and I recall his debut appearance being a very
> entertaining show in that Tony was very funny and caught on to how to
> play the game rather quickly, and has since made many memorable
> appearances over the years.
> >
> > Tony was definitely very quick-witted, vocally agile, intelligent,
> cheeky, and very playful and also just damn funny. He also had
> something of a persona of being something of a ladies' man, or as
> Nicholas would call him 'an international toy boy'. I've seen
> pictures of Tony, and it's not hard to see why such a label should be
> given to him. He certainly is good looking, and has a certain quality
> in his looks similar to matinee movie idols of the old days of
> Hollywood.
> >
> > Tony was amongst the few regular radio panelists on JAM to take
> part in the two televised versions of JAM both in '94 and in '99, and
> his appearances were excellent in that he injected some stability to
> what could be seen as a very unstable experiment.
> >
> > One of my favorite moments came from two episodes where he was on
> the panel with Clement, Sue Perkins and Jeremy Hardy, and it was a
> situation where Sue, Jeremy, and Tony had each spoken for a full
> minute without being interrupted, and the thought was hopefully
> Clement would do just as well, being an experienced player, and Tony
> had the bold face cheek to interrupt him, with what I feel was a very
> funny and humorous challenge. Clement was talking about going to some
> restaurant and he had said that he spent many years eating bacon,
> sausage and tomato, and Tony's challenge was that it doesn't take many
> years to eat bacon, sausage and tomato, that 'he has to eat quicker'.
> >
> > Another one of my favorite moments came from an episode where he
> had been talking about dressing up like Florence Nightingale, and
> saying that he would stride or walk about with an elegance that would
> surprise viewers, and he gets challenged by Paul in that no one would
> be surprised, and an incredible debate erupts because of it, although
> most of it was due in large part to Stephen Fry coming to Tony's
> defense.
> >
> > I seem to recall that he did have some success as a musician years
> ago in a group called 'Morris Minor and the Majors'.
> >
> > And I also seem to recall that he wrote a book called 'Round
> Ireland With a Fridge' recounting how he essentially went around
> Ireland with a fridge to win a bet of some kind.
> >
> > I also know he's something of a philanthropist, but what other
> professional things aside from stand up comedy has he done? Anyone
> wish to share their memories?
> >
>

 
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