AS far as showbiz CVs go, Tom O’Connor’s is pretty impressive. With no less than eight successful TV game shows to his name and a further six of his own programmes, he was one of the best-known comedians of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties.
If you turned on a TV during those three decades, you’d be unlucky not to come across the presenter, dressed in one of his distinctive woolly jumpers.
Now 69, Tom is still entertaining audiences with his clean-cut comic routines, and he’s calling in on the Princes Theatre, Clacton, as the host of this year’s Best of British Variety tour.
But it could have been another story for the veteran comedian, had he not started life as a maths and music teacher.
“I was a teacher in a fairly rough school and just to get any kind of response I used to play the guitar and tell jokes,” he recalls.
“It just got a bit of banter going.
“Because I could stand up in front of a class of kids all year, no matter how unruly, it gave me confidence and a bit of an air about me. That gave me an edge over other comedians and it was a great learning curve for me.”
Before long, Tom was performing at nightclubs in his home town of Liverpool, and further north in Lancashire, while still teaching pupils by day.
“I used to sleep in shifts,” he says. “When I came in from school I would sleep for an hour and then go on to the nightclubs.
“I’d sleep for a bit when I got in, and then go to school again.
“Because I was a maths teacher, the questions I gave the kids were either right or wrong, so my wife used to mark their papers.”
As the double life continued, and the bookings kept flooding in, Tom was eventually forced to make a choice between learning and laughter.
“One had to go so I packed in teaching and have never looked back,” he says.
“I still have a power nap now and that’s the lasting memory of that time.”
Aside from helping build a strong stage presence, Tom’s academic roots proved essential during his long career.
In 1974, the comic had a winning run on TV talent show Opportunity Knocks, and was spotted by showbiz mogul Bernard Delfont.
This led to appearances on other game shows, such as Name That Tune, which invited contestants to identify songs. “It was due to my mathematical brain and music knowledge that it worked,” he claims.
“I have a lot to thank for that career, and, of course, a few lucky breaks along the way.”
Which ever it was, Tom was soon hosting game shows including Crosswits, That’s News to Me and Password, and his own shows like the Tom O’Connor Show, Wednesday at Eight and London Night Out.
“In a couple of cases, I knew they would bring me in to put a quiz show right, and then replace me,” he says.
“Once I learned to live with that, it was fine. In retrospect, I would have preferred not to have done so many stand up shows as I did, it was overkill.
“Eighteen half-hour shows going out every quarter – people couldn’t write enough jokes.”
Since his heyday in the Seventies and Eighties, Tom has continued to entertain, branching out into corporate events, anniversaries and birthday parties.
But he’s back doing what he does best as the host of the Best of British Variety Tour, which features double act Cannon and Ball, impressionist Faith Brown, ventriloquist Roger de Courcey, comedian Norman Collier and pop group Bucks Fizz.
“On this tour, I’ve got five acts I have admired for a long time, and I get to boss them around,” he jokes. “Hopefully I’m going to keep them under control.”
So what’s Tom’s secret to success and survival in the cut-throat world of showbiz?
“I decided early on that I wouldn’t do anything offensive,” he says.
“It’s hard work and bit of luck.”
Yet ultimately, his decision to swap the classroom for comedy, was a defining moment.
“If the teacher would have stayed in school, I could have been out of a job all these years,” he concludes.
Tom is at the Princes Theatre, Station Road, Clacton on Saturday, at 7.30pm. Call 01255 686633
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here