Chuckle Brothers legend Paul reveals plan to ditch comedy for Shakespeare plays after collecting MBE in New Year Honours
CHUCKLE Brothers comedy great Paul Elliott says he wants to show that all the world’s a stage — by appearing in Shakespeare plays.
The funnyman, 78, who received an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for his charity work, said he would love to play parts in the Bard’s repertoire given a chance.
But alas, poor Paul — famed for his “To me, to you” catchphrase with late brother Barry — admits he might struggle to learn all the lines.
Asked if he had any ambitions to do Hamlet, Paul said: “To me, or not to me, that is the question?
“I doubt very much I’d be able to learn those lines, but if it was offered, I’d have a go.”
One role he knows he does not stand a chance of getting is as the next James Bond.
He said it would be more like “the retired James Bond, at my age”.
But despite a Shakespeare play appearing to have neither rhyme nor reason it would be another chance for him to expand his acting range.
He played a gangland enforcer in last year’s crime flick Fall To The Top and said that he “jumped at the chance” to do it.
Paul said: “I thought, ‘well, that suits me down to the ground.’ I used to bully Barry around in Chuckle Brothers. Why not go one step further?”
The Chuckle legend also works as a club DJ and sells personalised videos to fans for £40 each on shout-out website Cameo.
Paul and Barry, from Rotherham, South Yorks, made almost 300 episodes of ChuckleVision for the BBC from 1987 to 2009.
Barry died of bone cancer in 2018, aged 73.