Dave Brooks, who was an early member of comedy group The Greatest Show On Legs, has died.
The Greatest Show On Legs, which also featured Malcolm Hardee and Martin Soan, made their name in the early 1980s with their balloon dance, when the members performed naked and covered their genitals with too few balloons to go around.
Brooks was also a versatile musician and played a number of instruments including the bagpipes (pictured). In a lengthy career he played with musicians including Joan Armatrading, Graham Bond, Elkie Brooks, Phil Collins, George Harrison and Dick Hecksall-Smith.
In the comedy world he also played with Arnold Brown, John Hegley, Marcel Steiner (Smallest Theatre in the World) and Keith Allen.
Martin Soan paid tribute to Brooks in John Fleming's blog So It Goes: “Dave joined The Greatest Show on Legs very early on… I don’t know what year or indeed how we came to meet him in the first place, but he was a valued member and was a very funny man indeed.
“He excelled on stage and personally made sketches of ours complete and perfect and, after he went his own way, we had to drop the routines he had made his own. The Human Scottish Sword Dance and Dirty Ol Men were his sketches
“Going on tour with ‘The Legs’ wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea: it was a hand-to-mouth existence and a lot of anarchy to put up with, but he fitted in without any trouble and sometimes led the way in outrageousness.
“His temperament was sunny and always even but also he was very educational (important when spending long hours in a van), He introduced Malcolm Hardee and me to garlic, which Malcolm hated… He knew what was happening politically and, of course, musically expanded our minds… Above all, I will always remember his wicked sense of humour and infectious laugh.
“I performed with him a few times in later years and we both slotted in where we left off. It was simply natural to perform and hang out with him. RIP Dave Brooks, a very lovely man.”
Read John Fleming's full obituary here.
Below is what The Greatest Show On Legs used to do featuring Hardee, Soan and 'Sir Ralph' Clarke.
