Allen dies aged 68

Staff and agencies
Friday March 11, 2005


Dave Allen

Dave Allen, the irreverent and quirky Dublin-born comedian, has died at the age of 68, his agent said today.
Allen, born Dave Tynan O'Mahoney in July 1936, died in his sleep at his home in west London. The cause of his death is not yet known.

His relaxed and intimate style had a huge impact on British comedy, and his taboo-breaking, expletive-ridden musings on subjects such as sex and Catholicism paved the way for future generations of comedians. He became a household name in Britain in the 70s thanks to the success of his TV shows Tonight With Dave Allen and Dave Allen at Large.

Allen learned his trade the old-fashioned way, touring extensively with theatre groups and performing in nightclubs and working men's clubs. His first television break came in Australia, when his own show, Tonight With Dave Allen, was commissioned in 1963. Initially intended to run for eight weeks, its popularity was so great that it lasted 18 months.

He returned to England and appeared on the ATV television show Sunday Night at the Palladium alongside the Beatles. His appearance on the Val Doonican Show in 1965 led to the BBC offering him his own show.

The result, the British version of Tonight With Dave Allen, began in 1968, and its wittily engaging and informative style proved an immediate success.

In 1971, BBC2 commissioned Dave Allen at Large. With a mixture of straight to camera monologues and sketches, it became one of the decade's highest-rating programmes, although satirical attacks on religion meant controversy was rarely far away.

During the 70s, Allen also returned to acting, appearing on the London stage in several productions, produced documentaries for the BBC and American TV, and wrote several books.

In 1978, he appeared in an Alan Bennett play for television, and returned to live stand-up comedy with successful tours of Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In 1981, a two-week engagement at the Wilbur theatre in Boston proved less successful, with the US audiences finding the sacrilegious content of his act more difficult to stomach.

His superb storytelling ability ensured that he remained on TV screens until recent years. Between 1981 and 1990, he made two series, simply entitled Dave Allen, for the BBC, and one for ITV in 1993-94. His use of the word "fuck" on air in 1990 prompted the BBC to issue a public apology and MPs to ask questions about him in the Commons.

Allen, who is survived by his wife and three children, spent recent years in semi-retirement.

Mach said:

if memory serves me,didnt he have a finger missing?..

in 1978, his show "dave allen at large" was shown in the us on PBS for a little while. i remember it

TheRealFiness said:

Nah, not an entire digit. I ain't his physician like, but I think he had his 2nd distal and middle phalanx missing on his left hand


I remember him on telly when I was a kid, the fella was quite funny, very irreverent Liked to poke fun at his Catholic roots.

I thought he was already dead.

Cloudbuster said:

He was..... for many

No!!! I loved Dave Allen.