Editing Ken Dodd (section)

==Comedy==
Dodd was described as "the last great [[music hall]] entertainer".<ref>{{cite news | title = Arise, Sir Ken | work = The Daily Telegraph | date = 31 December 2016 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/ken-dodd-retire-at-88-never | access-date = 9 January 2017| last1 = Cavendish | first1 = Dominic }}</ref>  His [[stand-up comedy]] style was fast and relied on the rapid delivery of [[one-liner joke]]s. He said that his comic influences included other Liverpool comedians like [[Arthur Askey]], [[Robb Wilton]], [[Tommy Handley]] and the "cheeky chappy" from [[Brighton]], [[Max Miller (comedian)|Max Miller]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/04/02/6598/the_men_who_tickled_me...|title=The men who tickled me...|publisher=Chortle.co.uk|date=2 April 2008|access-date=2 April 2008}}</ref> 

In a radio interview in 2002 he recalled how he was very happy to meet [[Max Miller (comedian)|Max Miller]] while they were performing on the same radio show recorded live at [[Hulme Hippodrome]] (probably, ''The Show Goes On'', 1955) saying: “I once had the honour of being on the same bill, on the radio show as Max Miller, ‘the' Max Miller, the man, the grand-daddy of all comedians, was on that bill and I was on with Max Miller and he was a lovely man. Very happy days, the Hulme Hippodrome.”<ref>BBC Radio 4, Palace of Laughter, 2 April 2002.</ref> 

He interspersed the comedy with occasional songs, both serious and humorous, in an incongruously fine light baritone voice, and with his original speciality, ventriloquism.<ref>{{cite web | title = Ken Dodd | website = chortle.co.uk | publisher = Chortle | url = http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/k/227/ken_dodd | access-date = 9 January 2017}}</ref> Part of his stage act featured the Diddy Men ("diddy" being Scouse slang for "small"). At first an unseen joke conceived as part of Dodd's imagination, they later appeared on stage, usually played by children or puppets.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/12/ken-dodds-diddy-men-7379944/?ito=cbshare|title=Who were Ken Dodd's Diddy Men|newspaper=Metro|date=12 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref>

Dodd worked mainly as a solo comedian, including in a number of eponymous television and radio shows and made fifteen appearances on BBC TV's music hall revival show, ''[[The Good Old Days (UK TV series)|The Good Old Days]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06rhv2r/episodes/guide|title=The Good Old Days|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref> Although he enjoyed making people laugh, he was also a serious student of comedy and history, and was interested in [[Sigmund Freud]] and [[Henri Bergson]]'s analysis of humour.<ref name=stage>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2018/obituary-liverpool-comedian-ken-dodd/|title=Obituary: Liverpool comedian Ken Dodd|work=The Stage|date=12 March 2018|access-date=13 March 2018}}</ref> Occasionally, he appeared in dramatic roles, including [[Malvolio]] in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' on stage in [[Liverpool]] in 1971; on television in the cameo role of 'The Tollmaster' in the 1987 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[Delta and the Bannermen]]''; as Yorick (in silent flashback) in [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s [[Hamlet (1996 film)|film version]] of Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]'' in 1996; and as Mr. [[Mouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Mouse]] in the 1999 television movie adaptation of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1999 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''.<ref name=tickled/> Marking Dodd's ninetieth birthday, an appreciation by ''Guardian'' theatre critic [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] noted that "Ken has done just about everything: annual Blackpool summer seasons, pantomimes, nationwide tours, TV and radio. He was a very fine Malvolio."<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/nov/04/ken-dodd-at-90-comedy-standup-liverpool| title=Ken Dodd at 90| work=The Guardian, 4 November 2017| date=4 November 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Ken Dodd, Civic Hall, Ellesmere Port (January 2006).jpg|right|thumb|upright|Dodd at the Civic Hall, [[Ellesmere Port]] in 2006. [[Stand-up comedy|Stand-up]] theatre work was the mainstay of his career.]]
Dodd was renowned for the length of his performances, and during the 1960s he earned a place in ''[[The Guinness Book of Records]]'' for the world's longest ever joke-telling session: 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours (7.14 jokes per minute), undertaken at the [[Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool]], where audiences entered the show in shifts.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/jul/22/top-10-record-breaking-comedians|title=Dedication's what you need: top 10 record-breaking comedians|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 July 2010|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref>

Dodd appeared in many [[Royal Variety Performance]]s. The last was in 2006, in front of [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince Charles]] and his wife [[Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Camilla]], at the [[London Coliseum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/12_december/05/variety.shtml|title=Jonathan Ross hosts Royal Variety Performance|publisher=BBC Press Office|access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref>

Dodd toured frequently throughout his professional career, performing lengthy shows into his eighties, that often did not finish until after midnight. In his final year, he continued to tour the UK extensively, with his comedy, music and variety show. His final performance was on 28 December 2017 at the Echo Arena Auditorium in Liverpool.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/mar/12/comedy-legend-sir-ken-dodd-dies-aged-90|title=Sir Ken Dodd, legend of comedy, dies aged 90|first1=Kevin|last1=Rawlinson|first2=Frances|last2=Perraudin|date=12 March 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=7 April 2018}}</ref> He said the secret of his success was simply, "I love what I do".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/ken-dodd-retire-at-88-never/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/ken-dodd-retire-at-88-never/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Ken Dodd on the art of making people happy: 'My secret? I love what I do'|first=Dominic|last=Cavendish|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=12 March 2018|access-date=13 March 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>