Funny how he wasn’t Jewish... farewell to beloved Barry Cryer - The Jewish Chronicle

He was the genius of comedy who was loved for his wit and is celebrated as perhaps Britain’s “most Jewish non-Jewish” star.

Now, after his death at the age of 86, Barry Cryer is being mourned — but also fondly remembered with a smile for the joy he brought to so many.

Dan Patterson, producer of Mock The Week, spoke to the JC about his cherished memories of Cryer and his distinctly “Jewish warmth”.

He remembered appearing on stage with Cryer at the JW3 centre in 2016, as the peerless gag writer went off-script to share a steady, effortless stream of Jewish jokes.

Mr Patterson said: “He absolutely had the audience in the palm of his hand.

“He did that one about four Jewish women in a restaurant and at the end of the meal, the waiter comes and says, ‘Hello ladies, was anything all right?’

“He also did one where he said, ‘Jewish scientists are reported to have discovered five new ways of disappointing their mothers.’ He just had one after the other.”

The next day the organisers called Mr Cryer to get his bank details to pay him. Mr Patterson recalled: “Barry said, ‘I had such a great time, I don’t want it. I want to donate it to the cause.’ He was a true mensch.

“He was probably the most Jewish non-Jewish person I ever met.”

Leeds-born Mr Cryer was neither brought up nor presented himself as Jewish.

However, he was often mistaken for being a Jew and was warmly embraced by Britain’s Jews. He once said: “My local rabbi calls me an honorary Jew.”

Mr Patterson said: “The things that made him loved by the Jewish community made him loved generally, which is that he was incredibly generous.

“He laughed a lot. He was very quick. I think he identified a lot with Jews. He’d grown up in a Jewish area of Leeds and had lots of Jewish friends.

“He knew a lot about Jews and Jewish ways of life. I think his jokes weren’t mean jokes for Jews, they were ones that Jews would be very happy to tell themselves. You know, I always thought he was Jewish. He just had that sort of Jewish warmth.

“He was funny throughout. He had funny bones and he had time for people. He loved schmoozing. He loved in a non-Jewish way of going to the pub and chatting but he had time for people and he was just a very warm-spirited, generous person.”

Over a career of more than 60 years, Mr Cryer was a mainstay of British comedy, effortlessly churning out gags for The Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise, as well as Tommy Cooper, Kenny Everett, Rory Bremner and many other stars.

A master of timing as a performer and a fixture as a panellist on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Mr Cryer enjoyed awed admiration across the world of comedy.

Mr Patterson told the JC: “I was producing a show for TV called Clive Anderson Talks Back and we had a whole room of writers, terrific writers.

“One year, we got Barry Cryer to come in and be a writer on the show, and productivity went down by about 90 per cent.

“I said to some of the writers, ‘What’s going on, what’s happened?’ and they said, ‘Well, Barry was regaling us with his anecdotes. He was so entertaining that no one was doing any writing.’”

David Baddiel was one of many devoted fans sharing anecdotes after Mr Cryer’s death last week, tweeting: “He told me a story — this was only about three months ago — about how he was described as Jewish in his local paper. He told them he wasn’t. They said: ‘Do you want us to print an apology?’ That really made me laugh.”