Tyne Tees Television reporter Phil McDonnell interviews comedian Tony Hancock on his return home from entertaining the troops in Aden. He talks about the visit and why he went as well as about performing to a live audience rather than on television for his show Hancock’s Half Hour. This report was transmitted 26 July 1967. Sitting in a hotel room in London, Tony Hancock smokes a cigarette while speaking with Tyne Tees Television reporter Phil McDonnell. He has just returned from Aden where...

Tyne Tees Television reporter Phil McDonnell interviews comedian Tony Hancock on his return home from entertaining the troops in Aden. He talks about the visit and why he went as well as about performing to a live audience rather than on television for his show Hancock’s Half Hour. This report was transmitted 26 July 1967. Sitting in a hotel room in London, Tony Hancock smokes a cigarette while speaking with Tyne Tees Television reporter Phil McDonnell. He has just returned from Aden where he had been entertaining the troops. He was one of the first performers out there. He believes the troops need a lot of entertainment, but there wasn’t enough publicity or more performers would have gone. He explains that there are ‘contractual problems’ for entertainers, as they can’t just walk out on a show. He felt the visit was rewarding. It was easy to make the troops laugh as they wanted to, they need it. It means a great deal to them that he was out there. He remembers entertaining the troops during the war and the importance of meeting them after the show. Phil asks how difficult is it to move between a real nightclub from that of Hancock’s club on television. Tony smiles and says this is a very interesting question. There isn’t much difference. He is then asked if it is easier to operate to a live audience or one through a camera lens. Working on television you aren’t really playing to the live audience, you have to direct yourself to the camera. He is asked if his impressions of comedy have changed during his career. He says up to a point as you grow older, you become wiser, but not by much. Of his future plans Tony is interested in film as it gives him a chance to go over a scene again and again until he get it right. Finally, Tony is asked if he would go back to Aden. He say’s he would if he is asked, but thinks the situation is ‘packing up now’.