33 years after outselling Bruce Springsteen, Cannon and Ball are ready to rock on (Tommy) in Las Vegas...
Tommy, too, was struggling with the “whirlwind of excess”. And the legacy of those days hit home last year when he went bankrupt over an €890,000 tax bill.
But fans had no idea that, at the pinnacle of their success, Bobby and Tommy had fallen out, and didn’t speak to each other for three years, except while on stage, obviously.
It was only after Bobby turned to a theatre chaplain and found God that they healed the rift.
Bobby’s wife, Yvonne, forgave him, and Tommy and his second wife, Hazel converted to Chris- tianity seven years after Bobby. And they’re closer than ever, as is clear hearing them banter about Vegas. And they are every bit as funny as when they shot to fame 44 years ago on TV’S Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club variety show.
Tommy says: “You’ll have to wait to see the full show but it went really well. We were a bit apprehensive but once we went on, showbiz took over.” But how did US audiences take to their Lancashire accents and catchphrases like “That’ll do for me cocker!”, and “You’ve got me skin!”
“Oh, it were fine,” says Bobby. “We’ve performed in Florida and did the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville once, so we just have to slow down... talk more like Hilda Baker.” Some of their fellow stars did encounter language barriers though. One local had a bit of a shock when he asked Bobby Crush what he did. “I’m sorry... you say you’re a penis?”, he asked, baffled.
“No, no – a pianist,” the former boy-wonder explained.
But the pair reveal that their Vegas dream almost fell ROCK ON AND ON Our Rachael with Tommy & Bobby victim to a terrible tragedy. On October 1, in the middle of filming, gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers opposite the Mandalay Bay Hotel killing 58 people and injuring 851.
Tommy recalls waking up to the news: “No one spoke, we were shocked. We talked about scrapping the show, but we all said ‘No, we’ve to go on, it’s what audiences expect’, so we got on with it.”
But there were more laughs than tears during their stay in the States
“We had great fun in our spare time,” Bobby says. “I went proper cowboy riding – brilliant – but Tommy went pole dancing with Su Pollard.”
“I was a natural,” says Tommy, who turns 80 in June.
“You should do more of your pole dancing, Tom,” chips in Bobby. “Go round all the old folks homes Lytham – you’d make a fortune.”
And he grins: “I don’t have a fitness regime. Apart from sex – once a year.”
What about all the groupies though? “I still get loads, but not Tom, says Bobby. “Back in the day they used to throw their knickers on stage at us.”
Thankfully, they don’t get that in panto – a favourite annual outing.
“It’s Jack and the Beanstalk at Crewe this year,” says Tommy. “We love it. Kids of seven or eight come up afterwards with nan for an autograph.
“They go, ‘Why aren’t you two on the telly? You’re really funny’.”
A new generation of TV viewers will now enjoy the Cannon and Ball experience. And Tommy and Bobby really will have the Last Laugh in Vegas.
■ Last Laugh in Vegas starts on April 3 at 9pm on ITV. in