Little and Large’s final bow: Comedy duo’s last stage show together will be put online four months after Eddie Large died aged 78 from coronavirus
- The performance was filmed in January last year but has stayed hidden until now
- Comedy duo appeared at the Bristol Slapstick Festival talking about their lives
- One joke saw Syd Little tease that the audience thought they were ‘already dead’
Comedy duo Little and Large’s last stage show together will be finally broadcast – four months after Eddie Large died aged 78 from coronavirus.
The showbiz pair, who were huge stars in their heyday, will be seen by fans again, despite one half of the act sadly passing away.
Comedy lovers will be able to catch the 90-minute look back at their careers at the Bristol Slapstick Festival, which was filmed in January 2019.
Eddie Large and Syd Little at the Bristol Slapstick Festival filmed at the start of last year
The poignant footage of the duo, who had a partnership spanning 56 years, shows Eddie is battling poor health but is still determined to get the last laugh.
He waves to the crowd and declares: “One final thing – I’ve lived an extra 15 years thanks to this heart and everything.
“I just want to say that I hope everyone here lives long enough to see the end of Brexit.”
Eddie died in April after catching Covid-19 and his partner joked at the start of the gig most of the public probably thought they had already perished.
Syd quipped ‘Hands up all those who thought we were dead?’ before he and Eddie raised their arms.
Mourners gathered to see off the cortege for Eddie Large’s funeral after his death in April
Later they reminisced about meeting in Manchester and Eddie then going to see Syd perform in the Stonemasons Arms, according to the Mirror.
It sparked the “Syd and Eddie” act which saw them turn pro in 1963 before changing their name to Little and Large in 1970.
Eddie told the crowd: “We were a club act, an aggressive club act. We worked places where fights would break out, bottles thrown, bread rolls thrown, but I didn’t mind that so much because I was always hungry.”
Syd added: “We just used to go out performing all night and then have a curry about three in the morning.”
Eddie Large and Syd Little had huge success with their double act in the seventies and eighties
The footage will be put onto the internet by Slapstick festival organisers later this month and give fans a final look at the two funnymen in action.
Syd Little said goodbye to Eddie in April after he passed away in hospital from coronavirus while being treated for heart failure.
In heartbreaking scenes he was consoled by his wife Sheree as he touched the hearse carrying his old friend whom he graced British television screens with as Little And Large for five decades.
The star was joined by around 50 well-wishers who turned out to show their support for Eddie as his body was taken to a crematorium in Portishead, Somerset.
Eddie, a lifelong Manchester City fan who lived with his wife Patsy in Portishead, near Bristol, died alone in hospital because of a ban on visitors during the current crisis, with his son Ryan saying ‘his heart was sadly not strong enough to fight’ coronavirus. He had a heart transplant in 2003.
See Little and Large reunited from August 14, at youtube.com/user/SlapstickFest. The channel also features Jo Brand, John Cleese and Tim Vine.