Eric Morecambe was a very nervy person like Tony Hancock and most of the greats.
Eric used to come and have a drink with us at lunch with his crew and, before they went back to their rehearsal or whatever, used to sit down with Benny (Hill). And Eric used to say the same thing every time. He used to say: ‘It’s all based on fear, Ben,’ and Ben would say: ‘Fingernails and aspirins!’ And the pair of them used to sit there moaning about their lot: ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Oh I don’t know,’ and all that and take the mickey out of me, which was fine.
After a show, Eric would come up to the bar, and Ernie of course, and their various marvellous guest stars, and within seconds Eric would be wondering: ‘Could we have done that bit better?’ and ‘Is there any chance of doing that again?’ Or: ‘We’ll never do that again on the next show, I promise you.’ So the euphoria with people like that lasted for minutes. A lot of them are like that. Eric Morecambe was one of the funniest men we ever presented to the world and people don’t understand that there was tension behind it all – and nor should they. All they want is their hero on the telly.