21 Facts About Malcolm Hardee

Malcolm Hardee was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor.

Malcolm Hardee was born in Lewisham, South East London, near the River Thames, and came from a long line of lightermen who earned their living on tugs pulling barges on the river.

Malcolm Hardee was the eldest son of Frank and Joan Hardee.

Malcolm Hardee served prison sentences for cheque fraud, burglary and escaping custody; in 1967, he escaped from Gaynes Hall Borstal dressed as a monk.

Malcolm Hardee had convictions for arson and once infamously stole a Rolls-Royce which he believed belonged to British cabinet minister Peter Walker.

Malcolm Hardee stood again in the 1992 election in order to publicise his comedy club because the election rules allowed him a free mailshot to all registered voters in the constituency.

Malcolm Hardee regularly appeared in his own shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Malcolm Hardee obtained a nearby tractor and, entirely naked, drove it across Bogosian's stage during his performance.

Malcolm Hardee used this incident as the title of his 1996 autobiography I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake which he wrote with John Fleming.

Malcolm Hardee had mistaken the room for that of a friend.

Malcolm Hardee rarely appeared on television, though he did play minor roles in six Comic Strip TV films and one episode in the first series of Blackadder.

Malcolm Hardee was renowned as a talent spotter and owner of clubs which gave vital early exposure to up-and-coming comedians including Charlie Chuck, Alan Davies, Harry Enfield, Harry Hill, Paul Merton, Vic Reeves, Frank Skinner, Johnny Vegas and Jo Brand, with whom he had a two-year affair and whom he persuaded to become a comedian.

Malcolm Hardee hosted the first-ever outing of the new circus group Ra-Ra Zoo, who performed comedy mime to a, for once, silenced audience.

Malcolm Hardee worked for a time as the manager of Jerry Sadowitz and was an occasional promoter and tour manager for his friend and neighbour Jools Holland.

The Tunnel closed in 1988 and, in 1991, Malcolm Hardee opened the Up The Creek comedy club in Creek Road, Greenwich.

In 2001, after he sold his percentage in Up The Creek, Malcolm Hardee took over a floating pub, The Wibbley Wobbley, on a converted Rhine pleasure cruiser in Greenland Dock, Rotherhithe, by the River Thames.

On 2 February 2005, Malcolm Hardee's body was recovered from Greenland Dock, after he was reported missing from The Wibbley Wobbley on 31 January; he had been last seen late-night on 30 January.

Jo Brand, Arthur Smith, Stewart Lee and his son Frank Malcolm Hardee all delivered eulogies, and the musician Jools Holland played the piano.

Malcolm Hardee was cremated at Hither Green in South East London.

The Malcolm Hardee 'Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid' Award was started in 2010.

Malcolm Hardee wrote a number of columns in comedy magazines in which he gave tips and told anecdotes about life as a comic.