Thought-provoking read.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/29/tony-slattery-had-very-happy-time-went-slightly-barmy

We need to be more open about mental health. Be careful out there, folks.

Tony Slattery has done the same interview for 20 years. The Guardian's today was in the Mirror last week, the Telegraph two years ago, the Indie in… 1998.https://t.co/vXDRJ9xtOnhttps://t.co/U8BLsrp2Xchttps://t.co/prHJFzoTjE

— John Walker Definitely Is (@botherer) April 29, 2019

It’s odd. But reported quite a lot today, including this one from 15 years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/jul/06/features.magazine17

Wow, that’s a fascinating story. He was my sort of comedian back then.

My old man was bipolar. er, that’s it really.

Thanks for posting.

It’s odd. But reported quite a lot today, including this one from 15 years ago

Occasionally tries to make a comeback, but doesn’t quite make it?

Occasionally tries to make a comeback, but doesn’t quite make it?

Looks like it…

2003

he production notes for Dishing the Dirt, a new eight-part series billing itself as an ‘intelligent but entertaining look at the biggest, best, worst and silliest aspects of British popular culture’, made especially for the cable channel UK Horizons. The first episode is called Getting Naked. It starts tonight at 9pm; Tony is the presenter.

2019

The ostensible reason for us meeting today is that Slattery is reuniting with some of his old Whose Line colleagues for a show in Edinburgh this summer. “So people can come to that and say: ‘**** me, I thought he was dead,’” he says.

I’d watch that, if I was in Edinburgh

Yeah, sad.

A man not comfortable in his own skin and with some demons lurking. There but for the grace. . . go I.

Never really got on with him as a comedian back then, it seemed like he was always trying too hard. I do remember a couple of attempts to come back but he clearly wasn’t ready. Still sad though as it’s never fun to watch someone crash and burn.

Tony Slattery has done the same interview for 20 years

I think it’s because he’s well known enough for people to occasionally wonder whatever happened to him while not been well known enough for anyone to remember the answer when they find out.

A bit like that bloke who’s name I can’t remember who dies a lot which each time is news to someone.

It is a sad story but it has the great positive that he has a partner who has stuck with him through it all. Anyone who has that in their life is at least in that respect a very lucky person.

Interesting.
I now understand why he had such a spring in his step when I saw him outside the Groucho in 95!

His behaviour was always a bit wired and unpredictable on stage, I can recall my Dad (senior nurse lecturer in mental health) spotting that he was suffering from something.

His name randomness and quirkinesses was always made him funnier that most on Whose Line. His story and humour is not dissimilar to Kaufman and to a certain extent Williams.

My god I barely recognised him! Slattery was a loose cannon on Whose line – quite brilliant to cringe worthy in the time it takes to draw breath but highly entertaining nonetheless!

He’s at the end of this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0004xb3/this-week-09052019

Struggling for your words isn’t ideal for someone in media/comedy. 🙁

Oddly I asked the same question to my other half last week. I half expected to hear that he was burned out mentally, sadly I wasn’t wrong.
Reminds me of a very good friend who struggled for years on the dole in Edinburgh, despite having a degree. Finally got a good job in London working for Reuters. Lived it large for a couple of years and then basically had a breakdown and retreated back to his home in Edinburgh and that was it. That was over 20 years ago. We still meet up a couple of times a year in London for some beers.
I think I’m one of the few people that kept in contact with him, because he was hard work after the breakdown. He has issues with paranoia at times and can be a bit nasty personally, but I’m not going to be the one that cuts him loose.
We had a period where we were out of contact for about 5 years, but we sorted that out and we’re in regular contact. Meeting him in a couple of weeks in fact.

He’s at the end of this

Lot of tosh to skip through there!
Hard to see that he’s “come out the other side”, but best of luck to him.

@bigyinn, I have a friend who is the spitting image of Tony Slattery, who also worked in a busy job in the City in the 90s, and had a breakdown from which he hasn’t really recovered at all.
It is all very sad.
Tony Slattery was taking on far too much work in the 90s, I think creative careers can be so demanding as you feel the need to take the work whilst it is there, but the long-term consequences can be devastating given there is a lot of bipolar sufferers in the creative sector. Something similar seems to have happened to Peter Cook in the 70s.

Yeah. That clip was hideous. He was reasonably funny back in the day. I’m glad he’s seen the light, but he no longer has the faculty to be coherent, let alone funny, let alone a meaningful ambassador for mental health awareness. An exemplar, but not an ambassador. It’s a shame.

If you get a chance watch the BBC Horizon documentary about him on iPlayer. Excellent TV.

What a genuinely lovely chap he is.

On my Sky box from last week, “Whats the Matter With Tony Slattery”, if thats the same prog.

Yes it’s a heartbreaking watch