Pete and Dud

Pete and Dud were characters played by the comedians and entertainers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

The dialogue format originated in 1964 when Dudley Moore invited Peter Cook to appear in a television performance, whereupon Peter Cook scripted a conversation between two men from Dagenham in flat caps. This proved to be very popular with television audiences and the partnership was continued during the series Not Only... But Also.

Pete is a know-it-all and wanna-be intellectual, very much in the spirit of E. L. Wisty, and Dud a put-upon Herbert in a subservient role, who tries to impress Pete with his knowledge, even though neither one has any real sense.

The "Dagenham dialogues" between the two ranged from paintings in toilets (Pete finds the Mona Lisa snooty whilst he is using the toilets), how the bottoms of Rubens' nudes seem to follow you around the room, reasons as to why geckos don't live long and being annoyed by film-stars (including "bloody Greta Garbo" and "bloody Anna Magnani") pestering them for romance.

In the 1970s, Cook and Moore used a similar formula for the more adult Derek and Clive recordings.

The comic and personal relationship between Cooke and Moore are the subject of the play Pete and Dud: Come Again, by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde.