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British performer Tim Brooke-Taylor, a member of comedy trio The Goodies, has died after contracting coronavirus. He was 79.
Key points:
- Brooke-Taylor's agent said the comedian died from COVID-19
- His fellow Goodies members remembered him as a funny man and a great friend
- Their television show was a hit in the UK, Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s
Brooke-Taylor's agent said he died Sunday morning (local time) "from COVID-19."
Fellow Goodies star Graeme Garden said Brooke-Taylor was "a funny, sociable, generous man who was a delight to work with."
"Audiences found him not only hilarious but also adorable," he said.
"His loss at this dreadful time is particularly hard to bear."
Bill Oddie, the third member of the trio, remembered Brooke-Taylor as a "true visual comic and a great friend".
Announcing the death, his agent said he was "an exceptional client" who had "many fans whom he always treated cheerfully, even after long and exhausting rehearsals and recordings".
Comedians David Walliams, Ross Noble and Stephen Fry were among some of the British entertainers who paid tribute to Brooke-Taylor on Twitter.
"He was so kind and generous. It is so sad he is gone," Walliams said.
London-based Australian comedian Adam Hills wrote that Brooke-Taylor was "a lovely, wonderful, talented, generous, friendly human being".
Brooke-Taylor was part of Cambridge University's Footlights revue, the breeding ground of several generations of British comedic talent.
He broke into radio and television comedy in the 1960s alongside future Monty Python members John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
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Brooke-Taylor then went on to form The Goodies with Garden and Oddie: the trio specialised in slightly surreal sketches incorporating visual inventiveness, slapstick and songs.
Their song Funky Gibbon even became a UK top 10 chart hit in 1975.
Their TV show, which ran throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, was a hit in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
For more than 40 years, Brooke-Taylor was also a panellist on BBC radio's much loved comic quiz show 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'.
Brooke-Taylor is survived by his wife, Christine, and two sons, his death comes just months after Monty Python star Terry Jones passed away.
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ABC/AP
Topics: comedy-humour, television, arts-and-entertainment, covid-19, diseases-and-disorders, respiratory-diseases, united-kingdom