Book Ken Dodd for your event

Ken Dodd

Ken Dodd has been a professional comedian for more then 50 years and a household name almost as long. He started his career in Variety Theatre and moved into the famous northern club circuit delighting audiences up and down the country.

He has lived all his life in the village of Knotty Ash just outside Liverpool which frequently appears in his comedy routines, along with his character creations of ‘The Diddy Men’.

A son of a coalminer he worked as a salesman before entering showbusiness with his father (who he considered the funniest man he ever met) writing his first script. In the beginning he worked as a ventriloquist - and indeed still uses the Dicky Mint dummy in his act. However, his success came through his exaggerated on-stage persona - the manic hairstyle, protruding teeth and, of course, trademark tickling stick - combined with a relentless stream of one-liners, peppered with nonsense words like ‘tattifilarious’, that can - and do - entertain audiences for hours.

He built his reputation as a live performer on the variety stage, and famously logs audience reactions to jokes every night, building up a picture of what plays well where. A serious student of comedy he is a workaholic with a packed diary of live shows and has an ambition to play every theatre in Britain.

His career was boosted in the early sixties with appearances on TV, often just guest roles, but his bizarre appearance would always stick in the mind. His TV career has spanned 40 years with his own series on different channels to hour long specials. He also has a penchant for sickly ballads, as well as his signature tune Happiness, recording several albums of love songs and notching up 19 top 40 hits, including the 965 chart-topper Tears.

Ken became embroiled in a tax-dodging case in the late Eighties, and was eventually cleared, but the case revealed much about Dodd’s eccentric private life which put a great pressure on the artiste. His reaction was to get out and work with a record breaking run at The London Palladium with critics like Michael Billington describing him as one of the greatest live performers ever. It’s his love of live performances and his ability to entertain audiences of any age that has kept Dodd at the top for so long.

Print This Page

Back to List

To discuss any bookings, please email Matthew Willetts or call 08448 000 058.