Bob Larbey says his wife claims that his curmudgeonly character Lionel Hardcastle is based on himself.
No way.
It's not just that Larbey stands only about 5 foot 7, a big contrast to the much taller Geoffrey Palmer, who plays Lionel in the popular BBC comedy As Time Goes By.
And it's not just that Larbey, comfortably middle-aged, is well short of Palmer's 73 years.
No, more than anything, it's the fact that the twinkle never leaves Bob Larbey's eye: There's nothing remotely curmudgeonly about him.
After Larbey talked to a group of American university students in London in July 2000, everyone agreed that he came off like everybody's favorite uncle - gentle, witty and patient. Not one of the millions of ATGB fans worldwide would describe Lionel as a patient soul.
Larbey appeared at the request of University of Dayton professor Larry Lain, who was teaching a class in Dimensions of British Communication in UD's London summer program. The topic of the day was British humor - or perhaps it should be written humour.
"I think there's a fear in America of working class comedy," he said. "My heroes as writers are [Ray] Galton and [Alan] Simpson, who wrote Steptoe and Son. It was groundbreaking! Suddenly there was a comedy that was almost savage - but was screamingly funny."
That series, which ran on the BBC from 1962-65 and 1970-74, inspired the American series Sanford and Son.
Larbey also appreciates Frasier, calling it "a little oasis of civility in the middle of a load of rubbish." The early episodes of Cheers are favorites. Same with MASH. "But it went on too long," he says, "and got all soft and mushy and preachy."
Good comedy often pokes fun at authority, Larbey maintains. "Government, authority, and religion are always good," he smiles.
There's not much savagery or antiauthoritarianism in his current hit, though, loved by its fans for its gentleness, quiet humor, realistic conversation, and depth of feeling. And that may be the reason why the program was the most successful British television comedy of the 1990s while more topical programs have fallen aside.
"As Time Goes By isn't really about anything," Larbey explains. "It's just a sort of romance, really. So it doesn't automatically go stale.
"You can't write realistic dialog. Everybody would fall asleep. You write the essence of dialog."
Other comedies fail, he explains, when everything everybody says is funny. "That's not realistic and it's hard to watch. It's just wisecracking."
It also helps that he doesn't have to write more than 20 episodes a season as is the usual case with American comedies.
"They have to have writing by committee. Nobody could write that much. We do as many shows a season as we need to do, then stop," he says. That way a series can have a single writer. That's one reason his shows have a consistent feel that American programs often lack.
Larbey knows comedy writing as well as anyone. He's been doing it successfully for 35 years.
"I began as a radio writer for BBC in 1965. My partner and I sold our first sketch for £10 while we were still at work at office jobs."
His longtime writing partner was John Esmonde, with whom he wrote numerous comedy series.
Does that "still at work" comment suggest that writing isn't work?
"I work 24 hours a day," Bob says. "Lots of observation, lots of people watching. That's the best part of it all."
But the real work? As in: How long does it take to write a 30-minute episode of ATGB?
"About two good weeks. The story is the hard part. You know what they're going to say. But you have to figure out what they're going to do."
At the urging of his agent, Larbey's even tried his hand at writing for the stage.
"I didn't make any changes to what I consider my style," he says. Then he looks skyward. "But what's so different is the sheer number of words. I'm used to 30 minutes and I had to do 90!"
(His play A Month of Sundays will be performed September 14-16 at Prompt Corner as part of the South London Theatre 2000 season.)
Larbey loves working with Dame Judi Dench, star of ATGB and wrote for her in his popular series A Fine Romance, which ran 1981-84 on BBC.
"When I did A Fine Romance with Judi it was a huge breakthrough here, this great classical actress doing a situation comedy. But Judi has no pretensions. She's just a joy to work with.
"You Americans would call her a den mother. She just takes care of everybody, puts everybody at ease. She doesn't act like the big star. We were having lunch at a restaurant one day and she got a call on her mobile phone. She went off to the side and took the call and came back to the table and picked up the conversation right where she left off. I found out the next day that call had been informing her that she'd been nominated for an Academy Award. She didn't even say anything!"
The big question for fans of As Time Goes By is simple: Will the series continue into a ninth season?
"It really depends on Judi's availability. She's so busy, but she's a real workaholic. We're talking about it and there's nothing decided yet, but I think we will do another season."
It's seldom been certain at the end of any season that ATGB would return. Lain asked if he sometimes writes the last episode of a season knowing that it could be the series finale pointing to the candlelight kiss at fadeout at the end of Season 8. Larbey smiles, then nods. "But we'll just have to see…."
Larry Lain is a journalism professor at the University of Dayton. He is the author of four travel books (three about London) and some boring books about journalism education. He, too, is becoming comfortable with middle age.
Copyright 2000 by Larry Lain. All rights, both print and electronic, are reserved. This article has been written for the exclusive use of the As Time Goes By website of Bonnie Rottstin. Reproduction by any means without the permission of both the author and the website owner is prohibited.