Showing at the Eric Morecambe Centre…
Following the success of his 2023/24 tour, Neil Brand invites you to celebrate the centenary of Laurel and Hardy with a brand-new show. In 1926, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy signed separate contracts with Hollywood film mogul Hal Roach, and appeared for the first time in a film together, “45 Minutes from Hollywood”. The following year they would become an official comedy partnership that would set the whole world rocking with laughter. Nobody could have anticipated at the time how this unlikely Anglo/American comedy duo would become global icons in over 130 countries around the world.
We are pleased to announce and celebrate those 100 years with the brand new production of Neil Brand’s “Evening with Laurel & Hardy” 2026 Centenary Tour. Neil has established himself as the foremost exponent of silent film and improvised piano accompaniment.
Thanks to new restorations of their silent films, and the rediscovery of some of their lesser-known comedies, Neil will uncover gems of hilarity from the team whose comedy never ages, and bring them to jaw-dropping life with the demanding live piano improvisations for which he is so famous. Featuring extended scenes from the best of their silent comedies, particularly You’re Darn Tootin, The Finishing Touch and The Second Hundred Years.
Neil’s concerts have proved really popular with his personal contact with the audience & his unique insight into Laurel & Hardy and the birth of the cinema industry. His engaging easy-going style, along with his Q&A at the end of the show answering all the questions from the audience, followed by his after-show ‘Meet and Greet’, makes for a highly entertaining evening.
Currently working on a television documentary and a new book about ‘The Boys’, Neil is once again looking forward to sharing his knowledge and expertise with audiences around the country, and celebrating the life and times of comedy legends, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy.
Show Trailer
The Cast
Over the last four decades Neil Brand has established himself and is acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost experts on the history and influence of the birth of the motion picture industry and the advent of the silent movies.
During his long and distinguished career as a composer, musician, broadcaster and presenter, his body of work is quite extraordinary.
As a composer, his credits include over a hundred original radio dramas, documentaries and feature series. Working with the BBC, Channel 4 and his work for radio, TV, films, musicals, concert dramas, his music has been heard extensively and his live performances have been featured in over 30 countries.
He has composed the orchestral scores for the classic silent movies of Hitchcock, Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks & Jackie Coogan and the adaptation of the classic novels for symphony orchestra and choir Dickens’s “Christmas Carol”, “The Wind in the Willows” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.
