Series · 1985 – 1988 · Comedy

Cool It

Cool It is a British television comedy series which first aired on BBC Two between 1985 and 1990. It was a vehicle for the rubber-faced comedian Phil Cool. Whereas in 1985 there were irritating comedians, Cool was an "irritating impressionist" and would impersonate some of the most famous figures of the day. But these wouldn't be just vocal Impressions of the intended victims, they would be full-fledged and extremely accurate facial expressions too, with Cool being able to contort his rubbery features into a caricature semblance of whoever he was impersonating. Sometimes so uncanny was this facial transformation that he didn't need any sketch material or props to back him up and could rely solely on the transformation. Impressions ranged from political/important figures such as Robin Day, Roy Hattersly, Arthur Scargill, Neil Kinnock, The Pope and Ronald Reagan. To popular celebrities, comedians and musicians such as Mick Jagger, Bryan Ferry, Mike Harding, Terry Wogan, Billy Connolly, Clive James, Rik Mayall and his signature impression Rolf Harris. Fictional characters like Quasimodo, Bugs Bunny and E.T were also impersonated; Cool even created personalities for inanimate objects such as Morris Minors and Volkswagen Beetles.