Elton’s first solo stand-up vehicle, broadcast on BBC1 at peak time. Two series were made, in 1990 and 1994 respectively, the first of which capturing Elton at a transitional period - he looked like he did on Saturday Live, but the conversational delivery was new, as was most of the material. Yes indeed.
1.
In the third show of his first BBC1 stand-up series (15/2/90 - 22/3/90), Elton did his ‘Stuff To Do’ routine about the various household distractions which prevent people from getting on with life. Performing this in a kitchen set, he demonstrated that kitchen cupboards are often in a poor state of repair:
Elton
The noise of the leccy bill wakes up...the broken cupboard door. (Silly voice) ‘Fix me! Fix me! I’ve only got one decent hinge!’. Actually, that’s the way they are actually fitted (Leans on worktop, adopts workman-type voice): ‘There you go, missus - beautiful kitchen. And all the doors will start falling off...tomorrow!’ (Slaps worktop; two cupboard doors unspectacularly fall to the floor)The huge round of applause that greeted this gag seemed inappropriate, and Elton was quick to acknowledge this to the home audience:
Elton Fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, I must tell you at home...all those people at home, thinking ‘Blimey those people in the audience don’t half laugh a lot at a very bad joke’...it took ten minutes to fix up that special effect, and it was still rubbish! So, back to the routine...
A lesser producer would perhaps have cut this line.
2.
The ‘Farties’ Guide To Setting Up Home’ sketch (Show 2) featured a sequence where Elton drizzled flour-and-water paste over scrunched-up tissues and scattered them around a bed, pausing later to dollop more of the paste onto the bed sheets themselves. This was clearly a masturbation/semen reference, but - this being BBC1, and 1990 (a time when some viewers had famously objected to the word ‘fanny’ in the first episode) - Elton did not allude to wanking directly. Indeed, he even referred to ‘snotty’ hankies before doing the joke, which may have been a requirement by BBC censors. Judging by the audience response, however, most viewers seemed to pick up on the filth. If Elton was performing such a routine nowadays, it would doubtless be full of clearly-signposted innuendo.
[Note: The first show (which ended with a sexually-explicit routine about contraception) over-ran its thirty-minute slot slightly, meaning that most of the complaints came from people who had tuned in for Question Time. Producer Geoffrey Perkins noted that there were less complaints about the even-ruder sixth show (featuring the ‘Toot-toot’ routine), and that most of the letters were of the ‘I know you’re going to get lots of complaints, but you should tell them all to fuck off’ variety.]
[NOTE (2):
The joke about spattering your bed sheets with flour paste was first used in the Young Ones book 'Batchelor Boys' (1984) in the 'Craft Corner' section ('Mike Stains A Duvet').
3.
The 1991 video release from the series (‘The Farties Guide To The Man From Auntie’, BBCV 4677, which features almost all of the ‘Stuff To Do’ episode) is notable for two things:
(a) It does not feature the theme music, or indeed the opening titles. In their place is the sting from the ‘Farties Guide To...’ sections, which is also used as a structural device for the video. This is unlikely to be a PRS situation, since the theme music was used (gloriously mixed for stereo) on the CD release of the second series; however, it is possible that it took a while to clear. Unlike...
(b) ...the routine about suddenly remembering you haven’t paid your TV licence while making love. Elton originally sang a section from Jennifer Rush’s ‘The Power Of Love’ as an illustration of appropriate shagging music; however, this was cut for the video, making his bathetic ‘…TV licence!’ exclamation sound very awkward indeed.
[NOTE: If anyone has been put off having sex because they’ve been too busy pondering on first-series Man From Auntie edits, please get in touch.]
