Just A Minute

 
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Wonderful tribute to Clement Freud

Messages in this topic: 1
Clitheroe KidMay 2, 2009
 

 
Tremendous.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean Bedford" <dbedford@...>
To: <just-a-minute@...>
Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2009 8:23 AM
Subject: [just-a-minute] Keith Matthews on Clement


> My dear friend Keith wrote me a long letter on Clement's death that he
> asked me to put up on the blog. As he has been such a tremendous
> contributor to the site I could hardly do otherwise. I copied it here as
> I'm sure you'll find it very interesting.
>
>
>
>
> My autistic nephew had taken his dog for a walk and had come back with
> today's newspaper. Always a cheerful lad bit I do wish I hadn't heard
> the news from him. "'Ere your mate is dead!" he said with the same
> nonchalance he uses when noticing a sudden shower.
> I had no idea that Clement was showing any sign of waning at his last
> ever recording of Just A Minute - the one he recorded with Paul and
> David Mitchell at Broadcasting House. The thing I noticed and was
> heavily edited out of those shows was the devil-may-care attitude of
> Clement. His performance had a real bite to it and only those regular
> attendees would have noticed the aggression in Clement's performance.
> Thankfully Sheila Hancock was on hand to help Nicholas Parsons jolly the
> shows along when they hit a sticky patch and there were many of them,
> when Clement's challenges hit a momentary wall of silence. He used his
> old tricks, listing and doing a "Freud", getting in just before the end
> of the minute. He also switched tactics and behaved like the more recent
> players, sucking up to the chairman to please him!
> I had seen him literally hundreds of times, first with his comedic
> opposite, Kenneth Williams. What an idyllic pair they were, sitting
> there next to each other like two masks of drama, comedy and tragedy.
> Secondly with Paul Merton. They were the tortoise and the hare! Between
> them they ensured that Just A Minute was never short of laughter or wit.
> I am an epileptic whose seizures come on when they are least expected.
> Three times my seizures have encroached upon my enjoyment of my
> favourite comedy panel game.
> The first was when I collapsed in the foyer of the BBC Radio Theatre and
> the capped commissionaires were scratching their heads wondering what
> they could do with this man who was rolling about on the floor. As I was
> coming round I noticed Clement coming in. He asked what had happened to
> me and told the commissionaire to "look after him". The most recent was
> when Dean and I went to Stratford-upon-Avon. Who should be seated on the
> train opposite us - Clement Freud. He was accompanied by his
> ever-present lady assistant and they were tucking into a lovely looking
> picnic hamper. It was Clement who when the shakes came upon me, offered
> Dean a fizzy mineral water "for your friend".
> He is photograph and autograph shy to the point of obsession. I remember
> Clement's behaviour when at the end of a recording at the Leicester
> Comedy Festival he fled from the stage as quick as a greyhound rather
> than be included with the other participants in an impromptu photo
> session with the local press. He hated the craze of celebrity status and
> at times would probably have wished he was at the racetrack with normal
> everyday punters.
> At his last Just A Minute, after the recording he remained on stage as
> the others left. He was looking for his assistant but she was late. He
> remained on the stage debating whether or not to negotiate the three or
> so steps to the floor of the auditorium. The house lights were switched
> off and the theatre dark.
> I approached him and introduced myself. I thanked him for his previous
> kindnesses and a glimmer of recognition came over him. "Are you better
> now?" he asked in his customary two-edged way. "Yes much better thanks",
> I replied.
> I offered him my History of Broadcasting House to sign. "As you know, I
> never sign autographs", he replied.
> I offered my shoulder to help him down the steps and he accepted. "Thank
> you for helping me," he said with a smile. "Any time Sir Clement."
> As I was leaving, I looked back at the stage set out with its three
> desks. Something must have made me turn around for one final look. How
> much fun and laughter has this show brought to my life, I was thinking.
> Clement and his assistant made his their slow progress up the side
> aisle. I pretended to be admiring the wonderful carved pieces that cover
> the wall of the Radio Theatre to emable Sir Clement to catch up with me
> and my friends.
> As they passed us his secretary asked him "Are you all right?" "I am now
> you're here", replied Sir Clement.
> Clement was integral to Just A Minute from the first show. If the show
> had not had such a witty, point-hungry, Kenneth-Williams-tolerant,
> educated man such as Clement Freud, the show would have collapsed under
> the weight of self-promoting thespians.
> Clement was the calm panellist who never ever lost his cool in public.
> Underneath he probably displayed the nerves of an actor, but he never
> showed them.
> You could always guarantee that Clement would come up with remarks that
> stopped the show. Some of his more recent ones would have been edited
> out in earlier days by over-zealous producers. But thankfully sanity has
> prevailed and many of his performances on the show are in tact.
> He never really got to grips with the new interpretation of the
> deviation ruling that allowed Paul Merton to talk about how he used to
> be a private investigator for MFI unchallenged. Something that an
> outraged Kenneth Williams would have challenged for. But Just A Minute
> was changing with the times and having many improvisational comedians on
> the panel, laughing in the face of rationality, led to this change.
> He never got to grips with the awarding of bonus points for funny
> remarks. It got so bad that anyone could make a remark during an
> incorrect challenge and be awarded a point.
> Clement could no longer play the game his way. He could no longer
> guarantee a last-second challenge to allow him to win or at least catch
> up with the leader because the leader had been awarded so many bonus
> points. Playing the game logically with all the knowledge to hand - the
> same way he carefully bet on horses at the race track - could no longer
> guarantee him his usual win as was usually the case in his first 20
> years on the show.
> Win or lose, Clement was still there in recent years, scrabbling for the
> "benefit of the doubt" and his rarely awarded bonus points. Still
> amazing us all with his long lists and stunning us with his witty
> remarks.
> Nicholas Parsons asked me once if I thought that some of the newer
> players were frightened of Clement. "No," I replied. "They're more
> afraid of playing the game and making a fool of themselves." I continued
> "you need someone like Clement on the panel because he is an eccentric,
> an oddity, an enigma, and he stands out from all the rest. The audience
> love him and his peculiar ways that defy logic. Without him the show
> will become four comedians all trying to get their oar in and the game
> part of the show will go out the window."
> Time will tell.
> Dear witty curmudgeonly tricky clever Clement. I will miss you more than
> words can say. For your laughter and kindnesses and the signed Grimble
> book that you sent me I award you a thousand bonus points. Now let's see
> if the others are clever enough to catch you up.
> Graham Norton once called Clement The Just A Minute ninja, and so he was!

 
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