Yorkshire comedian Norman Collier dies at 87

Collier became a major figure on the club circuit and on TV with his stuttering performances as he pretended to have a sound problem, as well as for another long-running gag where he strutted and clucked like a chicken.

The sandy-haired comic suffered from Parkinson’s disease for a number of years and died in a residential care home close to his home city of Hull.

Collier’s son-in-law, John Ainsley, said he died peacefully in his sleep at a nursing home in Brough, East Yorkshire, on Thursday.

Impressionist Jon Culshaw was among those paying tribute to Collier, calling him a “wonderfully funny man”.

“People would be permanently laughing whenever they were around him,” he said.

Ricky Gervais made a comic reference to Collier’s long-standing microphone gag, in which he would pretend the sound had an intermittent fault causing letters and syllables to be silent. Gervais wrote on Twitter: “R P orman ollier.”

Comedy writer and broadcaster Danny Baker said of the mic routine: “That really was some act.”

Mr Ainsley, who is married to Collier’s daughter Karen, said: “His passion was making people laugh and that’s what he did all his life.

“He was the same at home as he was on stage.

“He was adorable, he was hilarious.

“He was a wonderful person who just wanted to get out there and make people laugh.”

Mr Ainsley went on: “He loved his family and just wanted to be around all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“Everyone who knew him loved him. And to professionals, he was the comedians’ comedian.

“People like Jimmy Tarbuck have always said Norman was the one they would go and see if they wanted a laugh.”