Meet the Author: Robert Ross

28 October 2025

What was your first introduction to film and TV comedy?

I’m pretty sure my earliest memory – of anything – is watching The Goodies on television. They started the same year as I was born, so that makes sense. Certainly my parents worked out fairly early on that I would stop crying if they put me in front of something funny, and I have clear recollections of watching Morecambe & Wise and The Two Ronnies, and Monty Python, that my Dad let me stay up late to watch with him because he was a fan of The Goons and he considered the Pythons the Next Generation. And he was right!

Your first book was The Carry On Companion which was published in 1996. How did you make the leap from being a fan to being a comedy historian and working with your heroes?

Absolutely. The Carry On Companion was in the works for a very long time before publication, actually. Around eight years! By my early teens I had started writing, and corresponding with comedy heroes, like Kenneth Williams and Bernard Cribbins. The leap from fan to historian was a pretty gradual one, really. It was organic. The more I watched and learned and researched, and the more people I got to be in touch with, the more I wanted to celebrate them in print. And, bingo, a fanzine called Stop Messin’ About published my first articles, I then established my own fanzine, called Cor!, all about British comedy, and then The Carry On Companion was published. I haven’t had ‘a proper job’ since!

In your interviews we get little glimpses of your archive which is probably unique. What are some of your treasures?

Yes. Our home is dubbed Comedy Cottage. It’s a living museum, really. Cosy. And very, very funny. I have been collecting comedy-related items for most of my life, so it is bursting with treasures. I love the whole of Double Act Corner. And I’ve also been lucky enough to be gifted some totally one-off items from the families of some of my comedy heroes. If I had to whittle it down to just one item, maybe it’s Frankie Howerd’s Grand Order of Water Rats award for Show Business Personality of 1969 which is beautiful. And extremely heavy!

Você pode nos contar um pouco sobre Seriously Silly and how you came to write the authorised biography of Terry Jones?

This is very much the most personal book I have ever written. And probably ever will write. Memories of my friendship with Terry are peppered throughout Seriously Silly but, I suppose, the catalyst was me writing the Monty Python Encyclopedia and then meeting Terry, after the Python at 30 party, in 1999. There followed twenty odd years of friendship, although his final years were plagued with dementia. We talked about his autobiography and before he became unwell he told me that he didn’t have the time to write it but, when he was dead, I should do it. So I have! With the full blessing of Terry’s family.

Terry directed your stage play Jeepers Creepers. What was it like to work with a comedy legend?

The whole pre-production and working relationship with Terry on Jeepers Creepers is in the book. Suffice to say he was already struggling with dementia at the time but, when the comedy synapses were sparking, he was utterly brilliant. A calm and understanding and creative director. He was my friend at this stage, so it was a comfortable time albeit challenging because of his condition, but, of course, I did catch myself thinking that the man who directed Monty Python’s Life of Brian is directing my play. That was something of a ‘Wow’ moment.

You were friends with Terry. What was he like away from the cameras?

Terry away from the cameras was the most unassuming and generous and affable person you could hope to meet. He had absolutely no side to him, no sense of his own celebrity, no ego at all. Which, considering what he had achieved in his career, was nothing short of remarkable. I genuinely miss him on a daily basis. Our chats over a few pints, just discussing what we were writing at the time, and putting the world to rights with a resigned shrug of the shoulder that we could change absolutely nothing, remain some of the happiest times of my life.

He was a thoroughly good man, was Terry Jones.

You are appearing at the Southwold Literary Festival on Saturday 8 November. What can your audience expect?

Gosh! What can an audience expect at one of my book festival appearances? Well, on this occasion, lots about Terry Jones and the book, Seriously Silly, of course. But, with no pun intended, my writing work is an open book, so I’m very happy to chat about any of the comedians I have met and worked with and/or written about.

O que vem a seguir para você?

The ‘What’s next for you?’ question is the one that every writer throws their head back and laughs at, because you are on the promotional trail for one title and people expect you to have rushed straight into writing the next one… which is exactly what I had done rather frequently of late.

Over the last year I’ve been juggling three books: Terry, in production, finishing off and touring the country with the autobiography of Hi-De-Hi! star Jeffrey Holland (that’s called The First Rule of Comedy…), and discussing my Peter Sellers celebratory biography Best Sellers Peter Sellers A Life in Comedy, during this, his centenary year. So… I’m taking a little breather, in-between talking about Terry Jones.

Having said that, I have at least one book already commissioned and another one, hopefully, in the pipeline, and I write regular columns for nostalgia magazines. My favourite is Forgotten Heroes of Comedy, for Yours Retro. I also keep busy with the Comedy Historian Facebook page and urge everyone to follow me there. That, and my official website, robertross.co.uk is where all the latest information and releases are announced first.

Você pode nos contar uma coisa sobre você que seus leitores talvez não saibam?

Finally, a fact that people may not know. Well, in terms of writing, maybe my passion for comedy has overshadowed my love of Doctor Who. Along with The Goodies, my first television memory is of watching Tom Baker defeat the Cybermen! And I am thrilled to have written three full-length audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, starring Colin Baker, dear ‘Old Sixie’, as the good Doctor. A lifetime ambition came true with those.

Of course, I couldn’t completely keep comedy out of the plays. The guest stars included the late Roy Hudd as music-hall comedian Max Miller, and Leslie Phillips as… well, you will have to listen to them. A young David Tennant is in the first one too. What ever happened to him?