As a writer, comedian, radio quiz panellist, chatshow guest and occasional actor, Barry Cryer, who has died aged 86, was part of the backbone of British television and radio comedy for more than 60 years. He wrote for performers including Morecambe and Wise, the Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, George Burns, Frankie Howerd, Kenny Everett and Les Dawson, and was a member of the ramshackle but hilarious BBC radio show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue from its inception in 1972.
In the 1960s and 70s comedy writing was, with a few notable exceptions, dominated by men, often working in pairs, and Cryer’s partners included John Junkin, Marty Feldman, Graeme Garden, David Nobbs and Graham Chapman. Lacking a developed attention span (he called his 2009 autobiography Butterfly Brain), he left the basic idea, plot and structure to his partner, then funnied everything up, providing punchlines, gags and retorts. This is known as being a “line man” and Cryer was generally regarded as the best line man in the business.
