Cook, Peter Edward

Cook, Peter Edward (1937-1995), British comedian and writer. Born in Torquay, Devon, Cook was a precocious talent who as an undergraduate at Cambridge University was already writing for West End revues. He became famous as a performer of surreal monologues for the Cambridge Footlights Club and graduated to become the godfather of the 1960s satire movement.

Acknowledged by many as the funniest man of his generation, Cook transformed British humour with the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe (1959-1964). He co-starred with Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore, and wrote the bulk of the sketches for this mould-breaking stage show. His impersonation of the then prime minister Harold Macmillan marked a new beginning for irreverent political humour. Cook extended his comic influence by opening the Establishment Club in Soho in 1961 and becoming the owner of the satirical magazine Private Eye in 1963. He and Dudley Moore became a stage double-act in Behind the Fridge (1971-1972) and Good Evening (1973), hits both in London and on Broadway, then moved on to television in the hugely successful Not Only but Also (1965-1971). This classic BBC series turned the characters of Pete and Dud into household names. Their comic dialogues on the subjects of life, death, art, religion, and sex remain timeless masterpieces of the absurd. The two later created Derek and Clive, foul-mouthed versions of Pete and Dud, on records and videos.

After the partnership with Moore ended in the 1970s, Cook appeared less frequently, performing odd cameos in indifferent films. None matched the brilliance of his own Bedazzled (1967), a retelling of the Faust legend in which he appeared as Beelzebub. Cook retreated from public view in later life but had a late flowering with the widely admired Clive Anderson Television Special (1993), which again proved his genius for characterization. He has been highly influential on subsequent generations of comedians.