Charlie Chuck returns to his first Edinburgh Fringe venue for a special autobiography book signing

Forty years after he first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, comedy legend Charlie Chuck returned to his very first Fringe venue for a special two-day event celebrating his new autobiography.

Charlie returned to his former theSpaceUK home at the enigmatic Venue 45 - the Scottish Episcopal Church beneath North Bridge, where he first appeared at the Fringe over four decades ago. The special event ended with a book signing and Q&A with Charlie Chuck and the book’s editor, Tim Wilkinson, allowing fans to meet one of comedy’s great cult figures and hear stories from his extraordinary career.

Dressed in his trade mark chequered suit, Charlie regaled an audience packed with fans new and old alike with tales of his life at the Edinburgh Fringe, from those early days performing to a couple of audience members to being a regular TV star.

Plans are afoot for the eighty-year-old comedy legend to bring his last-ever show, Scrooge, back to the venue where it all started for a limited run of six shows.

Charlie Chuck: The Chronicles of a Chaotic Comedy Career - I’ll Tell Yer That! charts the highs, lows and unpredictability of a career that has taken Charlie from playing drums in bands to becoming a much-loved alternative comedy performer and television personality.

Left: Author Tim Wilkinson, Right: Charlie Chuck
Photographer: Richard Daniels

Born David Kear, Charlie began his career as a drummer in the 1970s and 1980s, playing with various bands including the Small Faces and the Amazing Bavarian Stompers. In 1981, the latter appeared on the children’s television programme Tiswas.

By the late 1980s, David had reinvented himself as the surreal and manic Charlie Chuck, developing a famously chaotic stage act involving drums, bizarre fantasy characters and the increasingly familiar cries of “Donkey!” and “Woof! Bark! Donkey!”

His breakthrough came in 1990 when legendary comedian Malcolm Hardee spotted his talent and arranged for him to appear on Jools Holland’s Happening.

Charlie became a household name among alternative comedy fans through his appearances on the BBC Two series The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer between 1993 and 1995. Performing his Charlie Chuck character, he was known on the show as Uncle Peter - a character whose surreal catchphrases, eccentric mannerisms and unpredictable outbursts became cult comedy moments.

His television appearances also earned him some famous admirers. Paul McCartney became a fan of Charlie’s act and invited him to perform at his daughter’s birthday party.

He also directed and produced Edinburgh Fringe work, including Scots comedian Ian Watt’s John Laurie, Frazer & I, and appeared alongside fellow cult comedy figure Frank Sidebottom at the 2008 Magners Glasgow Comedy Festival.

Now, four decades after making his Fringe debut, Charlie returned to the place where it all began.