Team Captains: Ted Ray and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Graham Stark, Les Dawson and Ted Rogers.
Not much has been said about Ray Martine in this article this time. It's mainly because of the horrible contrivance hanging over this second series, where there's doubt to the truth of any disruption he gives. And with the game now in general disarray anyway (Ted Ray shouting out every other joke needs "10" gets old very quickly) Ray has almost become the sensible one of the panel by default.
There's also the fact that with Ted Ray and Arthur Askey doing their own "interrupting rivalry", it has made Les and Ray just another duo doing the same schtick instead of the main two. It doesn't matter if Les and Ray doing it are funnier (they are), because of the order of the show they go second. (Though Les gets in a nice playful dig at Ray in this one, asking if it's true he puts more people to sleep than Ovaltine.)
As for all the "set up" material, then there are hints that Ray is also "in on it", but not too many. In the first series he'd said "They don't call me the Nina Simone of comedy for nothing", and Barry Cryer's rejoinder of "Yes they do" got a big laugh. So in this series Ray does it again three times, inserting the name of either a female artist or a camp man (Sorry, Lionel!). But this isn't necessarily something pre-planned, perhaps more something that went down well and Ray wants to milk it a bit.
Ray gets some prominence in this episode, as he gets to do a typically chaotic stand-up spot, plus there's an odd piece of editing relating to his first joke. There's a wide shot of Ray getting prepared and putting a cigarette in his mouth, before cutting to a mid-shot of Ray telling his gag... but the sound of him starting to tell the joke is played over the top of footage of him lighting his cigarette. It's not unusual to see such things in television, but is odd for Jokers Wild, where Ray Martine gets to speak so well without moving his lips that he's able to put Arthur Worsley to shame.
Team Captains: Alfred Marks and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Eric Sykes, Les Dawson and Clive Dunn.
One thing that the second series lacks is the variety of the first. Spread over 14 episodes are just 17 separate comedians (all of whom have passed away, incidentally), with Arthur Askey and Les Dawson as permanent fixtures.
Les as a regular is pretty ideal, as he delivers on a consistent basis, but it does mean that there's very little change in series two, with only the "third man" on each team being different from week to week. This one does shake things up a little more, as Ted Ray took a break for the last four weeks of this run, with Alfred Marks standing in. The new face is Alfred's "third man", Eric Sykes.
Again, there's not much mention of Jokers Wild in autobiographies, at least to this point, though Eric Sykes did list Les Dawson in his 2006 book Eric Sykes' Comedy Heroes (2006), claiming: "However, in spite of our many get-togethers, I never really got to know him. I believe few people did. But all who knew him shared a common bond - we thoroughly enjoyed his company."
Eric can't think of jokes in this one and has to be helped out by Alfred Marks, but there's no way of knowing if this is for real or is just pre-rehearsed "schtick". The doubt creeps in even more due to Clive Dunn having two horribly contrived pieces of business in this one. The first bit sees him admonished for telling a joke that's already been said on the series before (the irony!) while the other sees him misunderstand the "quickee" round and tell a rambling joke even into the end titles.
One last piece of trivia - there are around three notable edits on this edition, with the laughter of the audience rising and falling sharply, or quick cuts between conversations. Frustratingly, the show has also developed a habit of having things happening offscreen that make the audience laugh (usually from Ray Martine's direction) that the viewers at home don't get to see.
Team Captains: Ted Ray and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Ray Fell, Les Dawson and Alf Ippititimus (Jack Douglas).
The "up and comers" are somewhat squeezed out during this second series, with the show attracting more household names as it went on. Series three and four, which ran immediately after this one, brought in Warren Mitchell and Bernard Bresslaw, plus other acts you perhaps wouldn't associate with direct comedy, including singers Joe Brown and Lonnie Donegan, along with actor Patrick Cargill. Fast forward to series five in 1971 and you're greeted by the sight of panellists like Sid James, John Le Mesurier, Roy Kinnear and even John Cleese.
So there's not as many opportunities here to look at comedians you may not be aware of, but here we have Ray Fell join the panel, a man whose peak pre-dated Jokers Wild. Ray would still pop up in the odd role in shows like Terry and June and Sink or Swim, but three years earlier he was one of the stars of a sketch/variety show called Three of a Kind. For those of us under 55, it probably brings back memories of Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman, but this was a 1967 show where his co-stars were Mike Yarwood and Lulu. Lulu already had her own show, and Yarwood turned down a third series of Three of a Kind as he wanted to branch out on his own, too.
So with Ray Fell unwittingly the David Copperfield of the original Three of a Kind, he still carried on working, but with a lesser profile than before. (Lulu only briefly mentions Ray in her 1985 autobiography, errrr... Lulu... stating: "I remember Ray Fell best for always being late; I hope he does not mind my saying so.") Ray gets to do the stand-up spot in this one, and Barry Cryer's increasingly dubious method of scoring "laughs" comes to the fore when he gets a low-key response, including a guy in the audience who looks angry at how unamused he's feeling, only for Barry to tell viewers he scored 12 laughs. There should be some extra calculation going on, working out the real number from 12 moderate/polite chuckles minus one grimace, divided by the audience member even refusing to look at Ray. Arthur Worsley only achieved one more "laugh" in his stand-up spot, but there the audience were roaring.
Team Captains: Ted Ray and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Charlie Brown with Arthur Worsley, Les Dawson and Kenneth Connor.
In the previous article it was mentioned that Barry Cryer had focussed on a particular episode from this run in his 2003 book Pigs Can Fly. This is the episode in question, with ventriloquist Arthur Worsley receiving praise: "[...] we had Arthur Worsley and his doll on one week and it was quite uncanny. There was a moment at the end of the first half of the show where a comedian would have to mount a small rostrum and tell jokes to the audience for one minute and we would log how many laughs he got in that statutory minute. So Arthur was up there with the doll and they were about half-way through when the doll leaned back over Arthur's shoulder and said, 'How long have we got, Barry?' and I actually leaned over so I could speak to him, so complete was the illusion".
Strangely, the moment doesn't appear in the broadcast, which is a shame as it sounds particularly striking. Worsley is a very good ventriloquist, though as with most practitioners of the trade, there are some signs. You can sometimes see his lips move, and his throat can be seen doing a lot of the work. But if there was a ranking of ventriloquists with, say, the likes of Ray Alan and Maxwell Frere at the top, all the way down to Roger De Courcey and Nookie Bear, then Worsley would definitely be at the top end of the table, with no need to grow a moustache to cover his tracks.
But what makes Worsley's act so striking is the unusual dynamic between the vent and his dummy. Worsley seldom speaks a word, instead standing there mute as his bolshy, somewhat aggressive dummy does all the gags and screams vitriol in Arthur's face. It's a fascinating act, as Worsley's doleful expression suggests all manner of thoughts within.
Despite this being one of the better editions of a generally lacklustre and disappointing second series, Jokers Wild was never a critical darling. This edition, for example, was savaged by Jean Blackmore in the Western Daily Press (11th June 1970), with comments including: "The great leveller is death. But as far as comedians are concerned, the next best thing ia Jokers Wild. This appalling quiz panel game, in which the rival teams struggle desperately to be spontaneously funny to order, cannot fail to damage the reputation of every professional comic fool enough to appear in it".
Incidentally, Les Dawson does a gag on this one about an alien needing the toilet that he would later tell on 9th May 1987 when he was recording episode 11.20 of Blankety Blank. Perhaps notable is that Les gives the alien flapping gills under his head using his hands, whereas on Blankety Blank he was able to use his whole body to create the illusion. It's a fun gag either way, probably funnier on Blankety Blank, but is again testament to how much Les recycled, given that it was 17 years later.
Team Captains: Ted Ray and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Ray Fell, Les Dawson and Alf Ippititimus (Jack Douglas).
Despite this article previously decrying character-based comedy on the panel, Jack Douglas's Alf Ippititimus is a surprisingly good fit for the show. I personally found the character slightly irritating in the "Carry On" movies, though this was probably not helped by him appearing in eight of the weakest entries in a distinctly post-prime run of the films. The northern, twitching, nerve-wracked, cloth-cap wearing creation works very well in the context of Jokers Wild, possibly because it has a bit more "energy" to it than some of the muskier surroundings.
There is some debate about where the character of Alf first originated, which is why articles on this site always try and get autobiographical information. That way, even if the person in question has got mixed up in a haze of forgotten memories, you'll at least have it "from the source". You'll find articles online claiming that Jack came up with Alf on the fly after his comedy partner of more than ten years, Joe Baker (the same Joe Baker in this second series) was accidentally locked out of a theatre and he was forced to improvise.
This may be true, but in December 2001 Jack took part in a BBC Radio 4 show called That Reminds Me, where he discussed his double act with Joe and how he later came up with Alf while working with Des O'Connor. (Newspaper articles aren't entirely reliable in this regard, as a stage show wouldn't attract as much attention as national television, but for what it's worth, the first print references to Alf came in June 1965 with his appearance on The Des O'Connor Show.)
At this time this episode was filmed, the character of Alf was still popular, but Jack was starting to want to outgrow the part, and would appear in later Jokers Wild episodes as himself. This edition aired in April 1970. Come December 1970 and Douglas would be saying to the Wolverhampton Express and Star: "I'm trying to develop my career as Jack Douglas. Most people seem to know me as Alf, but they get a bit confused when they see me as I really am".
Team Captains: Alfred Marks and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Eric Sykes, Les Dawson and Clive Dunn.
There's naturally going to be a drag factor when you've watched 34 episodes of Jokers Wild in two weeks for research - it's not really normal behaviour, is it? Neither is writing an article about it. Yet Alfred Marks stepping in as a substitute for Ted Ray gives the show an injection of energy. Not only does it curb the excess and indulgence of the Arthur Askey/Ted Ray dynamic (because one of them isn't there), Alfred picks up where he left off in series one with his antagonistic relationship with Ray Martine. Having them on opposing teams is a decent idea, but having them on the same side is a masterstroke. (Marks: "I hate him and he's on my team!")
Another interesting angle with Alfred Marks taking over from Wigan-born Ted Ray is that it creates a "north vs. south" divide with the main two members of both teams. The show's lack of support from the London ITV region is perhaps quite puzzling as there are actually more London comedians on the show than there are comedians from the production company's home area. In fact, while there are quite a few "northern" comedians on the show, for a programme made by Yorkshire Television, then there's almost as many panellists born in South Africa as there are Yorkshire.
Out of 94 performers who appeared on the show (including the host) then the number of comedians that came from Yorkshire is.... 4. And that again includes the host. Barry Cryer, Norman Collier, Bobby Dennis, Jimmy Marshall... that's your lot. Really quite odd, when you think about it, that Yorkshire Television wasn't mining comedic talent from its own area, particularly as the Granada-made The Comedians was making Charlie Williams a star the following year. (Having said that, Charlie Williams derailed his own career just a couple of years later as host of The Golden Shot, which required more "off the cuff" patter.)
The idea that the subject cards for jokes are in any way really "random" is once more brought into doubt with this being the second occasion where Ray Martine gets "fairy tales". And while there's clear love between Ray and Les Dawson, watching this 55 years after it was made you may get a little shocked when Les refers to him as a "bent blacksmith". It was the '70s, and it was just meant in fun. (Les Dawson also does a gag about a surprised vicar with eyes that "went like saucers... and he was Chinese.")
Alfred and Clive Dunn interrupting each other to do jokes about car registration plates in the car park is a little contrived, but Eric Sykes forgetting every joke he goes to tell, whether "put on" or not, is amusing. With Eric's involvement, Marks claims he wants the other team to win and is looking for a way out.
Let's end on a piece of trivia. While the smoke still billows around the studio, from Barry Cryer and Les Dawson particularly, this second series has a majority of panellists as non-smokers. This particular edition has half the panel not smoking, with "unless I blinked and missed it" Clive Dunn, Eric Sykes and Arthur Askey not partaking. In other episodes there's also the tobacco-free Joe Baker, Ray Fell, Stubby Kaye, Graham Stark, Stanley Unwin, Charlie Brown and Arthur Worsley.
Team Captains: Alfred Marks and Arthur Askey. Panellists: Ray Martine, Clive Dunn, Les Dawson and Stanley Unwin.
There's a certain "end of term" quality to this one, with a lively atmosphere and much bickering, even though the third series had already been commissioned, filmed and would air just the following week. Clive Dunn gets the solo spot and breaks the laugh record, showing that the "blowing out a candle" routine wasn't the exclusive domain of Les Dawson, while the laughter the panellists provide in each other - Alfred Marks clearly finding Stanley Unwin hilarious - is infectious.
It brings back some of the spirit of Jokers Wild and what the show is really supposed to be about - at least the pretence that it's "spontaneous", without rehearsed ad-libs. There's also multiple failed jokes by Ray Martine, which is rapidly becoming his "thing", but is still, at least at this stage, pretty amusing.
Let's end on some more trivia. The ratings seemed to have picked up during the final five weeks of the show. While it was unable to make the National Top 20 (largely because it wasn't even shown nationwide) it did achieve some regional success. From the first nine weeks, then the ratings for Episode Two are unavailable, while Episode Five was joint 8th in the ITV South region. The remaining seven episodes didn't make any regional Top 10.
The last five weeks saw all five episodes enter a Top 10 regional chart somewhere, even if it was just one region. Four episodes charted in the Ulster region, two of them charted in Yorkshire and North East Scotland, while the South and East of England each had an episode enter their respective Top 10s. Perhaps the most impressive feat was Episode Ten making 2nd place in the Central Scotland chart.
This particular episode in question, Episode Fourteen, was joint 10th in Ulster, joint 7th in the South and joint 4th in Yorkshire.
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