British comedy icon Dodd, known for wackiness, dies
Ken Dodd, a titan of a vanishing age of British comedy whose U.K. fame at its peak rivaled that of The Beatles, died Sunday at his Liverpool home, his publicist said Monday. He was 90.
Instantly recognizable for his unruly mop of hair and snaggletoothed grin, Dodd came up through the hardscrabble ranks of Britain’s variety circuit, where performers kept demanding crowds entertained with songs, a bit of dance and a slew of jokes.
Dodd was famous for his rapid-fire one-liners, surreal imaginative flights of fancy, use of fanciful words like “tattyfilarious” and marathon stand-up shows.