Charlie Chuck is the stage name of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

David Kear.

Biography

Kear began his

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...

as a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

with various bands in the late-1970s and early-1980s, including a stint with the

Small Faces Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The b ...

and the Amazing Bavarian Stompers with whom he performed on an edition of the children's television series ''

Tiswas ''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV. It was c ...

'' in 1981. In the late 1980s, he turned to solo

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

as the surreally manic 'Charlie Chuck' and, in 1990, he was talent-spotted by the comedian

Malcolm Hardee Malcolm Hardee (5 January 1950 – 31 January 2005) was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor. His high reputation among his peers rests on his outrageous publicity stunts and on the help and advice he gave to successful British Altern ...

who arranged for him to appear on ''

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric ...

's The Happening'', a Sky TV series produced by

Noel Gay Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city * Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community *1563 Noël, an asteroid * Mount Noel, Briti ...

Television. He later appeared on the Sky TV

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

''Sky Star Search'' where he was spotted by disc jockey

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The Old ...

, who booked him on several editions of his late night series ''The James Whale Radio Show'' (a radio show that was simultaneously broadcast on television by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

on the ITV Network). In 1993-1995, he was a cast member of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

TV series ''

The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer ''The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer'' is a BBC TV sketch show written by and starring double act Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Its first series appeared in 1993 following the duo's move to the BBC after parting company with Channel 4. The show de ...

''. He appeared performing his Charlie Chuck character act, but was always referred to on-screen as 'Uncle Peter'. His long-running Charlie Chuck stage act often involved the destruction of a

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

and was peppered by references to fantasy characters including One Eyed Dog, Cakey Pig and a Donkey. The words "Donkey!" and "Woof! Bark! Donkey!" shouted out more-or-less at random had been part of his Charlie Chuck act and became his 'Uncle Peter' catchphrases on the Reeves & Mortimer TV shows. As a result of these TV appearances,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

became a fan and invited Chuck to perform at one of his birthday parties. In 2001, he appeared as his Charlie Chuck character in a series of TV adverts for

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

Double Decker chocolate bars, with music by Lester Barnes. In 2002 he appeared at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in a comedy show ''Charlie Chuck is Scrooge'', very remotely based on the

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

character and, that same year, his company Charlie Chuck Productions also staged Scots comic Ian Watt's one-man Fringe show ''

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom '' Dad's Army'' (19 ...

, Frazer & I'', which he directed as David Kear. In 2004, he guest-starred in the Edinburgh Fringe show ''Nudge''. In 2006, he appeared as one of the acts in a 5-hour-long memorial tribute show at London's

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in ...

theatre in memory of his mentor the late

References

External links

*
Charlie Chuck on Chortle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chuck, Charlie Living people English male comedians Year of birth missing (living people)