Paul Chuckle: I feel Barry with me all the time
The entertainers found fame as comedy double act the Chuckle Brothers.
Paul Chuckle has said he feels the presence of his late brother Barry with him all the time.
The veteran entertainer, whose real name is Paul Elliott, found fame alongside Barry as one half of the Chuckle Brothers and the pair became a staple in British homes with their TV show ChuckleVision.
The 78-year-old said he knows Barry, who died from bone cancer aged 73 in 2018, is “there with me” and is always by his side.
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Elliott said: “It’s just a lovely feeling right from since he’s passed away.
“You have dreams, everybody dreams at night. He was never in my dreams, because I was with him all the time. We were always together.
“But as soon as he died, from that day on, every dream I had, he was there with me doing stuff so I knew he was with me.”
Elliott said that following his brother’s death he starred in a pantomime, marking his first performance without Barry in almost 55 years.
He recounted standing backstage waiting for his cue and said: “I thought, ‘I’m on my own’. And I looked across as, usually, Barry is at the other side of the stage.”
Elliott said that whenever the duo performed together they would gesture to each other as they were waiting to go onstage, and added: “I swear that I saw him suddenly appear and I felt good then.
“I walked out, and the audience lifted me. I’ve never turned back since. And I just feel he’s there all the time.”
Elliott also spoke about his recent fundraising efforts for charity Marie Curie, which saw him travel across the UK from John O’Groats to Land’s End, making stops in a two-seater pedal car, similar to the Chuckle Bike featured in ChuckleVision.
He said: “Punters would come along and want a picture with me in the bike, which was brilliant, because they grew up watching ChuckleVision.
“Every time they got in I said, ‘You know, Barry is with me. You’re sitting on his knee’ – because he always is (with me).”
Elliott also hailed the charity, which he and his brother became official ambassadors for in 2016, as “wonderful”.
The charity’s nurses provided end-of-life care for Barry, and Paul has previously spoken about how the nurses looked after his brother “with incredible care and kindness”.
Elliott was recognised as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s New Year Honours list for his charitable service and his work with Marie Curie.
He told This Morning: “I had to read (the letter) four or five times. It was a wonderful feeling. I can’t wait to get it.”
