I woke up yesterday to the news that Barry Chuckle had died. Sad times indeed!
Chucklevision was a staple of my childhood. Anybody in their 30s who fails to move furniture by repeated ‘to me, to you’ is essentially doing life wrong. And who can forget Dan in his van?
What is particularly sad is that there was a McCartney-esque rumour doing the rounds that Barry Chuckle had died quite a while ago. There was even some speculation that Barry had been replaced by a body-double to keep the act going. Alas, that stupid rumour has become a reality (except the body-double bit, of course).
What is particularly heartening is that nobody has a bad word to say about him. It seems Barry Elliot (his real name) was a lovely, genuine bloke. In fact, there was a story some while back in which both Chuckle Brothers lamented being rejected for Celebrity Big Brother on the grounds that they were ‘too nice’. That pleases me no end. I can only hope he heard the gospel at some point and responded to it. It gives us a good reminder of the importance of reaching everybody with the good news of Jesus Christ, that there comes a point when we no longer can, so we must make the most of the time we have while we have it.
As a fitting tribute, let me share one of my most favourite things ever to be found on the internet. I liked it when it first came out back in 2014 but, lest we should ever forget it, here is Tinchy Stryder doing a collaboration with the Chuckle Brothers. Enjoy and remember the childhood laughs.