The Chuckle Brothers

Barry David Elliott (born December 24, 1944) and Paul Harman Elliott (born October 18, 1947) are English children's entertainers, better known as Barry Chuckle and Paul Chuckle as the double-act the ***Chuckle Brothers***. They are known for their work on their BBC show ChuckleVision. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derives from slapstick and other visual gags, and their catchphrases include "To me, to you" and "Oh dear, oh dear".

The brothers were born in Rotherham. Their father was a well-known Gang Show performer whose stage name was Gene Patton; he worked with the 18-year-old Peter Sellers in 1943 in The No. 10 Gang and gave performances in London, Orkney and the Hebrides, Iceland, the Far East, India, and Burma. They have two older brothers called Jimmy and Brian, who are known professionally as the Patton Brothers and who have appeared in Chucklevision, Jimmy as the nameless character known colloquially as "No Slacking", and Brian as another unnamed character known as "Getoutofit".

In October 1995, the Chuckle Brothers released an album entitled To You to Me featuring eleven tracks. Many of the tracks were based on their catchphrases, such as "To me, to you" and "Silly You, Silly Me".

### Television

The Chuckle Brothers won the television talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967, followed by success on New Faces in 1974. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the four brothers appeared as a quartet on TV.

* April 1979: an appearance on the BBC comedy series Lennie and Jerry hosted by Lennie Bennett and Jerry Stevens.
* January 1980 & April 1982: two appearances on the game show 3-2-1, hosted by Ted Rogers.
* June 1980: an appearance on the long-running BBC programme, The Good Old Days.
* December 25, 1980: they took part in a televised children's show, A Merry Morning, which saw the brothers entertaining around 250 children from the Leeds area in Yeadon Town Hall.
* May 1992: an appearance at the Children's Royal Variety Performance
* August 1983: the Brothers appeared on The Freddie Starr Showcase alongside the comedian Freddie Starr.

They did not have further success until the launch of the BBC television show, Chuckle Hounds, in 1985. These short programmes, which were aimed at pre-school children and contained no dialogue, had the brothers dressed up in giant dog costumes. In 1987, the Brothers began their most famous show, ChuckleVision, which lasted for 21 series over 22 years.

#### ChuckleVision

***ChuckleVision*** is a long running British children's television series created by John Sayle and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy and Brian Elliott (known professionally as the Patton Brothers). It ran for 292 episodes over twenty-one series from September 26, 1987 to December 18, 2009.

Episodes of ChuckleVision are usually independent, with the basic plot for each involving the brothers undertaking a job, task or adventure. They are often employed by a character known as "No Slacking", who despite appearing as a different character in every episode, is always known by this name owing to the catchphrase he says to the brothers ("And remember, No Slacking!"). The character is always inconvenienced by Paul and Barry and is played by the brothers' real-life elder sibling, Jimmy Patton. Jimmy was part of a comedy act with his brother Brian, who also appeared in various episodes, mostly playing a villain with the catchphrase "Getoutofit!". A large amount of the comedy is based on slapstick and usually the jobs Paul and Barry carry out can be somewhat surreal or put them in surreal circumstances.

The format of the first two series (1987–1989) consisted of each episode focusing on a certain topic, a sort of humorous Blue Peter. These episodes had rarely been viewed by the public eye since their original transmission, until the series was released onto DVD in Autumn 2011.

The brothers' main mode of transport is "The Chuckmobile", a quadracycle with a red-and-white striped roof. Barry is usually designated to driving, whilst Paul puts his feet up on the front bar. The registration plate of the bike is CHUCKLE 1.

Paul is the dominant sibling of the two and often due to his blind confidence the two end up in bother. When Paul realises he has made a mistake, he often blames Barry and tends to make Barry do the work whilst taking the credit for himself. Neither brother is particularly bright.

#### To Me, To You

***To Me... To You...*** was a BBC children's game show that ran from June 21, 1996 to December 25, 1998. It was presented by Barry and Paul Elliott, better known as Chuckle Brothers.

The show was set on a desert island. The contestants were children and were in teams of two. The contestants won prizes and coconuts and whoever had the most coconuts at the end of the show won the game. There were tasks such as the Chuckle Challenge (set in a swamp) and the Chuckle Chuck, where contestants would throw custard pies at Barry and Paul and if they failed to hit both of them three times in a minute, then the contestants would have custard pies put in their faces. Each episode would also have a celebrity guest, someone who was famous for being on TV at the time, such as Richard McCourt (better known as "Dick" of Dick and Dom), Dave Benson-Phillips, Michaela Strachan and Mr. Blobby.

### Stage

Paul and Barry have appeared on stage in venues across the UK. Their past comedy and parody shows have included The Blackpool Tower Circus (1974), and a pantomime based on Aladdin (1985).

* To You, To Me (National Tour, 1995)
* Live And In Trouble (National Tour, 1996)
* The Chuckle Brothers Summer Roadshow (National Tour, 1997)
* The Adventures of the Chuckle Brothers (National Tour, 1998)
* Trouble At Sea (National Tour, 1999)