Playing at Theatre at the Tabard for just one performance, broadcaster and all-round national treasure Johnny Ball performs his show based on his two volumes of autobiography, My Previous Life in Comedy and Stories That Must Be Told.
Born in Bristol to Lancastrian parents, young Johnny became interested in science, mathematics, jokes, and the drums, and found he was rather good at all of them.
He followed Des O’Connor into life as a Butlin’s Redcoat, was mates with The Beatles, and despite indifferent success at school had a mathematical brain. As a young performer, he played with a range of music acts and fellow comics.
This show, running just 60 minutes, is very funny, opening with the observation that Isaac Newton got his reputation “after reading a couple of books” and ending with a story about a catastrophic TV appearance on the Val Doonican show.
The names are dropped throughout – Bud Flanagan, Shelly Manne, Dusty Springfield, Les Dawson, Muhammad Ali – while maintaining an approachable and open style of delivery.
It’s a story of a career that couldn’t be built in the same way now. It’s one of days on the road and warm-ups in Working Men’s Clubs. It’s a story of near misses and a career after TV waved goodbye.
Most people probably remember Johnny Ball as the genial and enthusiastic host of Think of a Number and its successors on children’s TV. Others will recognise him as “Zoe’s dad”.
Now 88, he still has a sharp mind and a lot of energy, performing the Marriott Edgar monologue “Little Aggie” and snatches from his own educational musicals. He’s worked in industry as well as entertainment, valuing both.
Ultimately, though, Johnny’s story is down to his early influences – his parents, performers he saw live like George Formby. His career as a stand-up comic declined during his first, brief marriage, but after Blackpool’s finest fortuneteller read his palm, life and career took off.
With a series of PowerPoint slides to jog his memory and focus the show, this show is warm, witty and full of the wisdom of someone approaching life as a nonagenarian while still retaining a sense of fun and wonder at the world.
I was lucky enough to interview Johnny earlier in the week as he planned the show, hearing some more anecdotes and a poem that didn’t make it into the final presentation.
I don’t use the term legend lightly, but to 70s kids we would definitely count him amongst the greats. It seems fitting that this show runs on the birthdate of the late Brian Cant, who presented Play Away, a show Johnny Ball regularly wrote for.
4 stars. Delightful.
Johnny Ball: My Previous Life in Comedy and Stories That Must Be Told was at the Theatre at the Tabard on 12 Jul.
Find out more about Johnny Ball’s life and career here.