Reviewed by Anne Wollenberg
Stars Dudley Moore, Chris Karan, Peter Morgan | Written by Dudley Moore
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £9.99 | DVD Region x | Runtime 43 minutes | Directed by Ken O’Neill
If, like me, you were introduced to Dudley Moore by watching and listening to the barrage of drunken filth produced by Derek and Clive, the double act Moore created with Peter Cook, you may be surprised to see that Moore doesn’t kick off An Audience With… by staggering onto the stage and swearing at everybody. In fact, he seems quite meek and placid. If this was the first time you’d seen Moore, you wouldn’t think: “Hmm, now there’s a man who likes to get drunk and wax lyrical about Winston Churchill’s snot.”
It’s a shame that An Audience With… isn’t longer, but given that Moore died in 2002, less than a month shy of his 67th birthday, it’s a rare opportunity to gain some insight into what made him tick. Nicknamed Cuddly Dudley or the Sex Thimble because, at less than 5 foot 3 inches tall, he was bloody short for a bloke, Moore teamed up with Alan Bennett while they were at Oxford University. Both were involved in writing comedy revue Beyond the Fringe, through which Moore met Cook. As Derek and Clive, they produced comic sketches that were far too obscene to be shown on TV at the time, peppered liberally with utterances of the word “cunt”. Just imagine all of Mary Whitehouse’s worst nightmares come true and you’ve got Derek and Clive.
An Audience With… is a far more serious beast, though there’s plenty of silliness and music thrown in. Moore kicks off by asking the audience to throw questions at him and talks quite seriously about his life and career, with musical interludes. If you’re interested in Moore, this is a rare opportunity to see him speak candidly. But if you don’t know who the fuck he is, you’re better off checking out some of his other work first or you’ll wonder why you should care. Some An Audience With… specials work well as standalone shows, but in the case of Moore it’s hard to imagine this being appreciated by anyone who doesn’t already have an interest.
EXTRAS ** There’s just an edited version (due to contractual reasons, apparently) of an episode of the South Bank Show that sees Dudley return to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied, so he can bash their piano about a bit. We also get to see his home in California, complete with some very fluffy-looking pet dogs.