I just wanted to write a
little addendum to last night’s piece on Ken Dodd's death.
This morning, I listened to
the 2013 documentary celebrating Dodd's life, titled ‘How Tickled I Am’ and found it
both interesting and amusing in equal parts, but there was something he said
right at the end of the programme that touched me enough to note down.
It was while
discussing with clear joy what he did for a living that he exclaimed, “All
the rotten jobs people have to do, and here's me, I have this wonderful job
where I only see people happy; I only see them smiling. How wonderful is
that?"
What a lovely way
to put it; I’d never thought of a comedian’s job that way. For someone like
Dodd who was a notorious workaholic who’d do five-hour-long shows as a matter
of course, his level of commitment suddenly makes sense when
framed like that; why would you want to stop, when you’re playing to a room
filled with such delight?
It reminds me of
something I’d tell myself from time to time when I used to do actor / muso work.
It’s easy when you’re in the midst of a long tour or run to forget that for
your audience, it’s a special night out. Going to the theatre isn’t cheap and
is something most people seldom do, but when you’re in the show and you’re tired, it’s so easy to just phone your
performance in.
Sometimes, just
remembering you’re part of what's essentially a luxury item can be enough to make sure you don’t
take what you’re doing for granted; it not fair to be unenthusiastic when
people are paying good money to see you; it doesn’t matter how many times
you’ve retraced your steps in a show, to the audience it’s something new and therefore
shouldn’t just be thrown away. And if you’re part of something as popular as what
Ken Dodd did (diddy?) there’s all the more reason to give it your all. I’ll try
to keep that sentiment in mind in future.