Eddie’s final curtain call
Little & Large legend bows out with style
IN his final appearance on stage with Syd Little, his comedy sidekick of 56 years, a clearly ailing Eddie Large gets the final word and, poignantly, the last laugh.
As the crowd applauds, Eddie, who had a heart transplant in 2003, waves farewell and says: “One final thing – I’ve lived an extra 15 years thanks to this heart and everything.
“I just want to say that I hope everyone here lives long enough to see the end of Brexit.”
The comedy legend, who died in April, aged 78, after catching Covid19, brought the house down as he and Syd wrapped up a 90-minute look back at their careers at the Bristol Slapstick Festival in January 2019.
The show will be put online later this month by Slapstick festival organisers, allowing viewers to see Little and Large on screen once again.
Aside from brief appearances on shows such as Pointless Celebrities and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, they had not performed regularly since 2002, when Eddie developed heart problems.
And kicking off the Slapstick gig at Bristol’s Old Vic, Syd asks: “Hands up all those who thought we were dead?” He and Eddie shoot their hands up.
The pair reminisce about meeting in a Manchester ballroom in 1963, and Eddie then going to see Syd perform in the Stonemasons Arms.
BOUNCING
After a few pints, Eddie got on stage and sang Living Doll with Syd.
Eddie says: “All our mates were saying, ‘More, more’, but I only knew one song. Syd launches into Rubber Ball, and part of it goes ‘bouncy, bouncy’ so, for something to do, I started bouncing around the stage like a ball. We went down a storm.”
Syd adds: “That was it. That was when comedy came into it. All of a sudden we got the idea.”
The “Syd and Eddie” act was born and they went professional in 1963, before becoming Little and Large in the early 1970s.
Eddie explains: “We were a club act, an aggressive club act. We worked places where fights would break out, bottles thrown, bread rolls thrown, but I didn’t mind that so much because I was always hungry.”
Syd adds: “We just used to go out performing all night and then have a curry about three in the morning.”
Eddie chips in: “You always were a slow eater.”
In 1969, Eddie told Syd he was going solo, but a car crash changed his mind. Syd says: “I was coming through Sunderland in a Ford Corsair and this guy came through a halt sign and whacked us. We went round and the car set fire. It nearly killed us.
“Eddie sent me home and he went and finished off the week. So I was in Manchester in bed and, after finishing the week, he came in and said, ‘There’s your money’. I said, ‘No, you did the week’, and Eddie said, ‘No, it’s 50-50’.
“That was a turning point, Eddie had decided we were going to stay together.”
In 1971, they won an edition of Opportunity Knocks, then in 1976 got three TV shows which all aired on ITV and the BBC within a week. Eddie says: “We were catapulted into the public eye – and that was luck.” The Little and Large Show began on BBC1 in 1978, and ran until 1991.
At its peak, the show was pulling in almost 15 million viewers. After the show was cancelled, they continued
In their heyday in 1977 to do panto and other theatre shows. But Eddie says: “I don’t think we became unfunny, just unpopular.”
Syd adds: “Comedy is for young people. As the 70s and 80s go on, other people get into it and it changes, people keep it young.”
Sounding emotional, Eddie tells the audience how they quit touring in 2002 when his heart began to fail him.
He reveals how after one last panto season he had his blood pressure taken and realised there was trouble.
Eddie says: “I came back home and went to the doctor, and he said, ‘This is sky high’. I went into the hospital
EDDIE LARGE ON FALLING OUT OF FAVOUR and they put me on these water tablets, I lost 14lbs in two nights.
“The heart was failing. The doctor said, ‘You must stop work’.” Eddie then had to break the news to Syd. He says: “I had to phone him and say, ‘It’s all over’. And that was horrible.”
At Eddie’s funeral in South Bristol crematorium, heartbroken Syd, 77, told mourners: “I lost my best friend.” ■ See Little and Large reunited from August 14, at youtube.com/user/SlapstickFest. The channel also features Jo Brand, John Cleese and Tim Vine.
We didn’t become unfunny.. just unpopular