Cornish comic Jethro dies of Covid aged 73
HIS near-the-knuckle material would have today’s woke audiences reaching for the smelling salts.
But that didn’t stop Jethro, who died this week aged 73, being a firm favourite for thousands of fans of risque humour.
The Cornishman – real name Geoff Rowe – passed away on December 14 after contracting Covid. It is understood he was double-jabbed and had received his booster.
In the 1970s, the farmer’s son built up a cult club following in the West Country before he reached a national TV audience with a performance on the Des O’Connor Show in 1990.
After that he said his career ‘went haywire’ and in 2001, he appeared on the Royal Variety Performance.
Paying tribute to him yesterday, Dawn French, who has made her home in Cornwall, tweeted: ‘Oh. Bugger. This gloriously un-PC Cornishman, Jethro, has left us.
‘Some of my most helpless with laughter moments were in his presence. A supremely gifted comedian. Thoughts with all he loved. Geddon bey.’
Jim Davidson, who Jethro appeared with on primetime TV shows including The Generation Game, said: ‘My good friend Jethro has left us. RIP Jethro, you will be greatly missed.’
Boxer Frank Bruno tweeted: ‘RIP Jethro. Very funny man. Had his own unique style of comedy. Great fun to be with and spent a bit of time with him a couple of weeks ago in Plymouth.’ Jethro’s manager, John Miles, said: ‘He just loved to make people laugh ... and he did make millions of people laugh.
‘It didn’t matter what age, or where anybody came from, whether he was royalty or he was just a normal guy like me – he appealed to everybody.’
Speaking to the BBC last year, Jethro said making people laugh was ‘like a drug’ to him.
‘I love seeing old women laugh, because they don’t get out much... they are wonderful,’ he said. He explained his decision to retire this year after 50 years was partly due to difficulties remembering his jokes. ‘My memory is not too good and sometimes I get in a theatre full of people and they are all laughing, and they are going to stop in a minute, and there’s nothing in my head – that isn’t much of a place to be,’ he said.
The St Buryan-born star leaves behind his life partner Jennie, sons Jesse and Lanyon, step-daughter Sarah, daughter-in-law Stacey and grandchildren.