| Cooper's gags | - I bought some HP sauce the other day, it’s costing me 6p a month for the next two years.
- Do you know it’s been 70 degrees in the shade? I was clever. I stayed in the sun.
- I rang up a local building firm, I said ‘I want a skip outside my house’. They said ‘We’re not stopping you.’
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Tommy Cooper is one of Jerome Flynn's heroes. "He was a great clown who connects to that clown in all of us," he says. "People saw themselves in Tommy. There's a universality about him." Jerome Flynn is a deep thinker. He's thought a lot about Tommy Cooper. He's watched hours of video of him in performance. He's analysed his technique. He admits to becoming obsessed with his "perfect comic timing". Now Jerome is bringing his celebration of the much-loved, fez-wearing comedian to the Royal Theatre as part of a national tour. "With Tommy I feel a freedom I've never before felt on stage," Jerome revealed. "I don't feel at all trapped by his character. There was a kind of child-like, innocent part of himself that just went crazy. It sparked something off in me. It feels Tommy is with me." Chart topper
 | | Jus' Like That!: Jerome Flynn as Tommy |
Jerome Flynn is best known as Paddy Garvey in TV's Soldier Soldier in the 1990s. That led to a series of hit records, Including 'Unchained Melody', with his Soldier Soldier co-star Robson Green. More recently he's appeared as DC McCabe in the BBC's Badger series about a police wildlife liaison officer. But it's on stage in 'Jus' Like That!' that Jerome is revelling in now. Tommy Cooper was one of the most impersonated showbiz stars of the last century. But Jerome doesn't do impersonations: "I wouldn't be doing it if it was just an impersonation. The reason I said I would act him was that feeling of being taken over by a character - finding something in yourself that helps the character light up and being swept away with it." Purity
 | | The real Tommy Cooper |
And then there are the gags. "So I got home, and the phone was ringing, I picked it up, and said ‘Who’s speaking please?’ And a voice said ‘You are’.” They may be silly (and very old) but you can't help laughing. "They're not blue, they're not cynical," says Jerome. "They're not bringing anyone down. There's a purity about him. He wasn't nasty." No matter what age you are, Jerome believes Tommy Cooper's humour is timeless: "He stood up there and said 'you don't have to be perfect; you don't have to look great in this world; you don't have to get everything right'. "We're always being told you have to look perfect and get everything right - especially for the British: we get so uptight. "Tommy was a wonderful release in our subconscious." | 
