1. Jasper Carrott appeared on Top Of The Pops in 1975 to promote his single Funky Moped. The story about how this came to be - how the single actually only sold on the B-side, a routine called Magic Roundabout ('"I say", said Dougal, 'I wonder if Florence is a virgin…"') - has been well documented (mainly by Carrott himself). The TOTP appearance saw him miming to a (slightly different mix) of the A-side, wearing a self-parodic white suit. Clips of this appearance have been aired since the original broadcast, notably on The Rock N'Roll Years and the John Peel section of TV Hell. The latter airing was odd in that it appeared to be culled from sessions rushes - it depicted Carrott waiting for his cue for the playback (and pretending to use his mic as an electric razor). Why this clip was chosen for TV Hell above a straight performance shot is an eyebrow-raiser. Even odder is the fact that this session survives in the BBC archives after all these years.

2 . Following the success of the Funky Moped/Magic Roundabout single, Carrott's first LP (Jasper Carrott Rabbits On And On And On…) was released on DJM records. However this wasn't the first time Magic Roundabout was released on an LP. As an early promotional device, Carrott pressed up a load of private LPs called Carrott In The Club (the cover of which apparently depicted a photo of him with a cushion up his jumper). Rabbits On And On… featured a selection from several different gigs so it's likely that a large proportion of his original promo made it to the latter LP.

3. Okay, here's a question.  If you're a Jasper Carrott fan, what is actually available in the shops right now for you to satiate your cravings?  Not a lot is the sad answer.

As far as we're aware, none of Carrott's LPs have ever been released on CD.  In a world where even Max Boyce's Live In Treorchy can be given the digital treatment this seems a bit odd.

Morover, barring stray releases of The Detectives or Commercial Breakdown, how many of Carrott's classic TV performances are available?  Again, none, unless you're prepared to dodge the ageing whores or amiable drug pushers and search the dusty corners of second-hand Soho emporiums.

Specifics?  Carrott Del Sol, which we've never seen but is given several anecdotal chapters in Carrott's Sweet & Sour Labrador book and described as an experiment in improvised comedy drama.  The Unrecorded Jasper Carrott, a live TV broadcast, also released as an LP which was available on video for a short while (and also given a CED Videodisc release - see EDIT NEWS/MONTY PYTHON FILMS for furtherness).  Beat The Carrott, recorded live at the London Palladium, was shown on TV a few times and was given a slightly edited video release - most recently on the Video Collection label.  American Carrott, a great little 1995 one-off show (C4/HBO presentation) following Carrott on tour in the USA alternating between performance footage and odd little sketches (the latter a ridiculously heavy-handed take on the alien-in-a-strange-land routine).  The latter was available in video on the Castle Vision / Giggle Box label.  24 Carrott Gold, a Celador Production for BBC is a more recent video release now deleted.

A flip through Lewisohn has just reminded us - Carrott's 'I've Got This Mole' routine (from Unrecorded...) was animated as a short cartoon in 1984.  Lewisohn reckons this was only shown in the London region but we were nowhere near London at the time and we definitely saw it.  On BBC2 probably.  Around the same time, Jasper Carrott appeared on Saturday Live and, following a short routine, introduced an animated version of the 'Mother In Law Driving' sketch from Beat The Carrott.