Tony De Meur aka Ronnie Golden Tribute

[00:00:01] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of You Should Have Been Here Last Week, the comedy podcast hosted by myself, Steve Gribbin and fellow comedian Paul Ricketts.

[00:00:42] Hello. Hello. Now as regular listeners and viewers of this podcast will know, You Should Have Been Here Last Week is a podcast aimed at all aspects of the comedy business from performers to promoters to artists and agents and experts.

[00:01:01] And today's edition is a very special one because we're paying tribute to a comedian, actor, singer, band leader, radio jingle composer and all round cool fella, Tony De Meur aka Ronnie Golden who sadly passed away on Saturday evening. Yeah, very sad. Very sad news. I talked to him about getting him on this show.

[00:01:31] So, which would have been quite shortly. I met up with him last summer, end of the summer and went out for a drink. It's good that that was the last summer. I saw him actually. We spent all evening just having a really good chat and a nice laugh. Yeah. But yeah, he should have been on this show and means I might have to move quicker with some of the other people we're thinking of putting on this show. Yeah.

[00:02:02] I mean, that's, I mean, that one of the things that a lot of the tributes have been pouring in obviously for him is a lot of people said that he was one of the world's best sort of storytellers because he'd had such an amazing professional life, hadn't he? I mean, he started the fabulous poodles in 1975 and toured with Shannana, Meatloaf, Tom Petty and even Chuck Berry. Yeah. Bobby Wright. Who apparently, yeah, was a very horrible bloke. Chuck Berry? Yeah.

[00:02:32] Who would believe that? Yeah. Famously the man who once kicked Keith Richard up the arse on stage, didn't he? Because he wasn't happy with the way he was playing. I have seen the footage of him with Keith Richards in a rehearsal and you know he was being micro precise about how the riff was played. And Keith Richard was just taking it because it was Chuck Berry.

[00:02:59] I mean, this is a sort of conversation that you'd love to have with Tony. That's right. Because his musical knowledge is absolutely top notch. Yeah. I mean, he was at once, this is weird, but he was super cool, wasn't he? You know, he always chewed gum and in the early days of the alternative comedy circuit, he used to appear in a gold lame suit, which, you know, nobody dressed up in those days.

[00:03:26] I mean, even Alexi's sales suits were like dirty and like too tight, but he had a proper gold lame suit. But I once went to see Los Lobos at the Jazz Cafe about 15 years ago. And Tony was there because I often used to see him at music gigs in London and it was so hot in there. It was really hot, but he refused to take his leather jacket off.

[00:03:53] And he just sort of sat, he just stood there at the back and it was so loud that me and Sharon and Andy, my mate, we had to go. We said, we're going in the bar. We can't take it. And he goes, lightweight. And just stood at the back with his leather jacket on, just chewing his gum, just nodding his head. And it was too loud. But, you know, that's one of my abiding memories of him. Yeah, he's dead cool, really. Yeah, he's one of the first people. In fact, I met him even before I started doing stand-up.

[00:04:20] It was, I was thinking of running a comedy club and I ended up getting a job, oh God, 2004 at the Red Rose, the last Red Rose New Year's party, comedy night. And I got a job doing the door, but it turned out there was no one there to do the sound for Ronnie and the wrecks his band were on. Tremendous band. Oh, they were great, weren't they? Yeah.

[00:04:49] We were chatting and he said, well, could you do the sound? I said, yeah, of course I could. So he paid me extra money to do their sound. And it was the easiest sound work I've ever done because they were a totally beautifully well-balanced band of professional musicians that don't know what they're doing. Yeah. Because, I mean, one of the, several of the members of that band used to be in the Fabulous Poodles as well, didn't they? Yeah. Was it the drummer? Maybe someone will correct us on that.

[00:05:19] They were great because they did, I remember they did, Ronnie and the Wax did a residency at the comedy store every Tuesday for a few months in 1988 or 89. And I had the sort of pleasure of being on stage and I sang Bright Lights, Big City. You know that one? Bright Lights, Big City. Yeah. Go to my baby. And Ronnie was just, I mean, they did a lot of Edinburgh's, didn't they?

[00:05:45] They had an unfinished festivals and they played the Gilded Balloon quite a few times. He let me get up on stage and do some back in harmonies once, which was really nice. Because he had no idea then, you know, he knew I was, well, because we'd already talked about, I suppose, bands we've been in. And I always told him he should do a show called Name Dropper because there was no one better than him. I mean, my best one is Prince. So I'd run out my Prince story.

[00:06:11] I've met Prince and the sheer weight of people he could come back with made me go, well, that's it. That's all I've got now. I've only got Prince. I've only got Prince. You've got loads. I mean, the first time I met him was in, I think it was 1983. We were doing a gig at, which is ironic because it's the last time I met him as well. It's the Bedford Arms in Ballon, which was Bernard Acabri. And it was 1983.

[00:06:38] And he'd just been on a very, very early sort of alternative comedy. One of the first ones to be on television called Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights, which was produced by Paul Jackson, who also produced The Young Ones. And he did that song that was sort of like his calling card for the first few years of his solo career, stomping on the cat. We started stomping on the cat. Meow. Meow. Which I thought was very funny.

[00:07:08] We were on the same bill as him and Paul Merton was on that bill as well, but he was called Paul Martin. And they had to change his name because someone else was called Paul Martin, was in equity. I think the clip's on the Daily Mirror website. Really? Yeah, with your quotes, funnily enough. Oh, well, it's interesting because my daughter contacted me last night and said, Dad, Dad, you're in the Daily Mail. Yeah.

[00:07:38] It's the Daily Mail. But it's only because I was one of the first people to post. And they've just lifted it from the Chortle website and just quoted it. But it makes it look – I would like to assure everybody that I did not speak directly to the Daily Mail. Yeah. Or Chortle. Or Chortle. For that matter, no, not Chortle either. I want to make that clear. Yeah.

[00:08:01] I like the fact that because they've lifted it wholesale from Facebook, I'm mentioned in it. And I'm just thinking, do the audience, the readers of the Daily Mirror have any ideas? It's the Daily Mail. It's not the Mirror. It's the Mail. Daily Mail. Well, even less chance they're going to go, oh, he's at Paul Ricketts' party. Well, that makes sense. I mean, why – they won't – I'm just weirdly mentioned. He's a very funny man.

[00:08:31] Let's just say that first. Yeah, yeah. He looks funny. Cool, funny, great guitarist. We should mention his partnership, one of the great comedy partnerships with Barry Cryer. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I did get the chance to see them. They did a benefit. I told you before, which is like the irony of ironies.

[00:08:58] It was a benefit for ovarian cancer because of Linda Smith. And they appeared on it. And they did, you know, their famous song, I think, was Peace and Quiet. Yeah. Which is a very, very funny song. Which we can't do it for copyright reasons. But, uh... Oh, and a plus, yeah, I don't think we should. No, we shouldn't. Suddenly, if you were to get out of guitar and say, OK, let's do it, you know, what worst

[00:09:27] sort of tribute could we do for him? No, that's true. Yeah. I mean, he did, that was a partnership that lasted about 10 or 15 years, wasn't it? And they did several Edinburgh festivals together. Rock and Droll was one of them. Yeah, there's lots of clips of him being on, of Tony on BBC News, isn't there? You know, the good morning shows, talking about that show and playing a bit of guitar. It was great.

[00:09:57] I have to say, by the way, you also did a brilliant show in Edinburgh with Arthur Smith, who we both know. And it was in Edinburgh, and oh, God, I can't remember the year, but it was Arthur Smith sings Leonard Cohen. Oh, God, that book from a show, yes. Which I had the pleasure of seeing. It was at the Pleasance, downstairs at the Pleasance. It was a brilliant show, brilliant show. Yeah, again, just a, yeah, really, really well put together musically as well as comedically,

[00:10:27] you know. That's the thing about him. He was like an encyclopedic, you know, backup. He knew loads and loads of stuff about, specifically rock and roll and blues and stuff like that. He was like, you know. Yeah, R&B. He was like, yeah, encyclopedic. And he would test you on things. You know, have you ever heard of little Walter? Oh, you mean the harmonica player? Yeah. Oh, yes, you do know him. Yeah, yeah.

[00:10:55] Yeah, I mean, it is, I mean, a lot of people said that he's one of those people, you know, especially at the Pleasance Christmas party of the year. If Ronnie was there, everyone would be, you know, really chuffed because he was so good to talk to, you know. He was just, yeah. Well, I suppose it is sad, really. But, so, I've met up with him a couple of times this summer to help him out. He wants to do a podcast. Oh, right.

[00:11:22] With him and Dick Fiddy, he's a famous film writer and comedy writer and critic. I said, well, is it going to be about film? Because, well, it's going to be about whatever we end up talking about. And I thought, well, yeah, okay, that sounds great. I was going to contact him to see how that was going on. But anyway, it would have been great for him to do something like that. He'd have been a natural, you know.

[00:11:51] I mean, I'd never have run out of stories. No, that is true. I mean, you have to say that. He never did run out of stories. I do remember about the first time I met him. But he was also involved with the comic strip very early on at the Boulevard Theatre in Soho, with the likes of Alexei Sale and French and Saunders and Rick Mayles. So he's mates with All Eleven. And, of course, one of his most famous bits is the upside down Buddy Holly hanging from a parachute in an episode of The Young Ones,

[00:12:21] with a song which apparently he wrote in the back of the taxi on the way to the filming, which is amazing. I mean, that was the first thing I knew him for, because that was such an amazing – I ended up doing dissertation on that particular episode. Really? Yeah. He also did a – I remember seeing them at Covent Garden.

[00:12:46] Now, there's a guy called Matt McDonald who used to do a street act called The Human Jukebox, which is fantastic. You know, basically it'd be covered up like that, and then you just go in and you press the buttons, and he would just play the song. It was a great idea. But he formed a group with Ronnie called The Dialtones. They performed together, and they were great. Really, really good.

[00:13:11] Again, you know, the musical – musical it was always, you know, because he had some – people forget, by the way, he had a great voice as well, a great singing voice. Yes, he did. Yeah. We were talking about our favourite lines of his, weren't we? Because I do remember very early on that I used to run a – together with my partner in Skim Video, Brian Mulgan. We ran a comedy club for a few months in about 1983, 84, at the South Bank, Polly.

[00:13:43] And he was one of our first guests. But I remember him being really late as well. People have often said it was never on time for anything. And we booked him to headline, and he just – I was – this is the day before mobile phones. We had no idea where he was. And he arrived about 40 minutes late, but he did – you know, he came in and he said the immortal line, you know, yeah, I'm sorry, God forgive me, man. You know, I'm just a bit freaked out. I've just got back from NAMM. Top NAMM.

[00:14:14] I mean, I've heard a lot of people have done a version of that, but he was the first person I heard that did that version of it. Yeah. It's become something that people do now. Well, it was like, I grew up in a NAMM, Chelten NAMM. Yeah. It's – That wasn't his. Yeah. And he also had one of my favourite lines as well. He was going to – about people in the civil rights protesters in the 60s singing,

[00:14:43] we shall overcome. He goes, I don't know about you, ladies and gentlemen, but I've never overcome. It's always been just enough. Yeah. He was great. And he still – I mean, he was still gigging right up until the last few weeks, wasn't he? Yeah. Yeah. He was disciplined with that. Yeah.

[00:15:09] He did do several shows in Edinburgh that were very, very well received. He had great reviews. And with great names. First Defender, which I love, which is – it's a guitarist joke. Yeah, it is, yeah. First Defender. Forget that in. First Defender. I know Nick Ravel, who's a great friend of ours, isn't he?

[00:15:34] He said that they would have these long car journeys on the way to gigs and Ronnie just absolutely loved puns and Nick hates them. And so he'd like try and force a pun into everything, you know, change the names of films, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But, yeah, I mean, people forget as well he was in Speaking Image as well. Yeah. He sang on that – the number one single they had called The Chicken Song. Oh, my God.

[00:16:04] Oh, that one. Yeah, that one. I don't know whether he was on – I've never met a good South African person. He must have been. I want to say, by the way, as well, he was quite a generous person as well, wasn't he? You talk about stuff with him, especially to do with your act. One time we were in the dress room and he showed me the proper jazz chords to Cry Me A River, which I still use today. They're brilliant. And it's one of my fondest memories of him, just him sat in the dress room and going,

[00:16:34] nah. It's – I can't explain it, but it's – It's nice chords. It's nice chords. Keep the A and then you move down one, which I would never have – and when you play it, you think, oh, God, yeah, yeah. And he was doing sort of the Maury Wilson version because she did a fantastic version in the 80s of Cry Me A River. Yeah. Yeah, I miss him. I really will miss him having chats about – just stuck there.

[00:17:03] Like, time seems to stand for the building when you were talking to him about obscure 1950s blues records. Yeah. Yeah, and politics as well. Well, we had – you know, you always have a good conversation with him about that. His heart was always in the right place. As he says, he was a boy from – the boy from Tottenham. Nab. Tottenham. Tottenham.

[00:17:29] And I believe that – well, they did – the Fabulous Pools did get together, didn't they, again? They did a reunion thing. Probably. I mean, I know – I think, in a way, he had the opposite of most of those bands' careers, that he was actually bigger in the States. They were much bigger in the States than they were over here. Yes, I know. Yeah.

[00:17:55] And I played with the guy that was in the band as well, Bobby Valentino. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. The fiddle players played in my band loads of times. And he's a nice chap, but unfortunately, I don't think him and Tony particularly got on very well together. But, yeah. There's a great clip. If you've seen the one that's been doing the rounds on YouTube of them playing Revolver, you know, the show that was presented by Peter Cook.

[00:18:21] And it's a clip of them in 1978 doing Mirror Man, which is probably the most well-known song. Certainly a hit in America. Oh, by the way, as someone's pointed out, this is a terrible, terrible intro by Peter Cook going, oh, a lot of people have said since I've done this, I've become a sex symbol. Then there's a scantily clad woman. Oh, no. It's just so sort of 1970s. It's terrible.

[00:18:49] But anyway, the band is terrific. It's great. Really good performance. I like that show. They had some great bands on that you couldn't see anywhere else, you know. But we'd just like to say, yeah, thanks, Tony, for, you know, 40-odd years of fun and joy and laughter, really. Yeah. But being a great guy. Yeah. I think that's – what more is there to say? I don't know.

[00:19:18] I mean, I think you'll be up there telling stories. Unfortunately, there might be people there who said, well, wait a minute, I've heard that one. I've just had a rest for 10 years from you telling that story. You'll be able to get together with Tom Petty again. Well, yeah, they'll all be there, won't they? I mean, even like – because last time I saw him, he was telling me about his – he had a short affair with Bonnie Raitt, which he'd never told me before.

[00:19:47] Oh, I wonder what that was about. Somebody mentioned that in – yeah, in one of the Facebook posts. Yeah. I didn't know that. I love Bonnie Raitt. Great. Well, he did as well. Well, yeah. We can say that now without fear of libel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And don't forget that he'd also – I didn't know this, that he wrote lots of music jingles for radio.

[00:20:16] I didn't really know. Well, I wish I knew. I'd have got some tips off him because, yeah. I've had me one go theme tune for this thing. And I think he – even he was impressed with – Oh, that's good. Well, that's high praise indeed. He did like off theme tune. It's catchy. Have you said all we can say? Yeah. Yeah. Just a lovely, lovely, lovely man, really. Always encouraging.

[00:20:48] Yeah. He's a – yeah. He's a good friend as well. Lots of – lots of love to Grace as well. Yeah. You know, my heart goes out to you. Mm-hmm. Oh, God. Sad news. But he left behind a lot of people that – you know, it's – I know it's a cliche I said, no one's got a bad word to say, but that is true. Mm-hmm. That he's one of those people that people remember very fondly.

[00:21:17] Because he – I was going to say he touched a lot of people, but I don't want it to come out in the wrong way. But he did. He made everybody feel – if he was talking to you, he made you feel – he gave you all his attention. Yeah. Yeah. It was great. Yeah. I'd also say I admire the way – the fact that he could go on stage and play the guitar and sing and tell jokes all the while while chewing gum. Yeah. That's a hard skill to master, that is. Just go –

[00:21:47] Well, of course. Yeah. It's hard, isn't it? When he got a lift in my car, he wasn't allowed to chew gum. Why not? Because I have a chewing gum ban in my car. Do you? Why? Because I don't like chewing gum. This is disgusting. You don't like the smell of it, or? All of it. You name anything that I might possibly not like, I don't like it. You don't like this action? No. Okay. Horrible. Don't like people masticating in front of me. Wait. Stop. Stop masticating. Yes.

[00:22:17] That's what I would say. Spit it out. All of it. All of it. All of it. Not into your hand. Anyway. All right. We'd better end on that note. Yeah. He was banned for my car. But he was one of the top notch. Yeah. And comics on circuit. And, yeah. All around great guy. Yeah. And who, who, good thing he was supporting. You'd turn up for our stuff.

[00:22:46] You'd turn up for, so you get to see him more socially than you did a lot of other comics. And we'd turn up for his stuff. When the band running the rex was on parties and things that you'd be doing, we'd turn up for those. Because they were a great band. Yeah. So I feel, yeah. There's not many comics that I feel like I had a bit of a friendship with. He's a friend. Because he saw him more socially. And he was always such a lovely bloke. Yeah.

[00:23:15] And, and plus he'd fill you in on his life in between. So it was always good to see him. Yeah. It was good. So if you have, yeah. Please like and subscribe, et cetera. We all say this at the end of every podcast. Yeah. Share it. If you can, if you want to. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Ding Dong, Wibble. Blue Sky. Yeah. Novi Chok. That's it.

[00:23:44] Novi Chok. Yeah. Novi Chok. That's a, that's a very niche one. Yes, it is. It's the killer social media site. It really is. Just, uh. We'll see you at the next one. I think that's the best way to finish this. See you later.

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