In keeping with his
name, Krazy Town's risible rozzer Constable Chuckle could
always be relied upon to provide arresting law enforcement laughs.
The funny flatfoot made
his first Cheeky Weekly appearance in the 'Easter to April Fool's Day' issue dated 01 April 1978. In fact he appeared in two elements that week - on Sunday Evening and again on Easter Monday.
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| Chuckle's debut Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Chuckle's badge number was depicted for the first time in the 09 September 1978 issue, where it was shown as 99. The next occasion on which the badge was seen to contain a number was 20 January 1979, but this time it had changed to 321 (a reference to the popular TV game show of the same name which had started in July 1978), and it remained 321 in all subsequent issues in which a badge number was present. Frank McDiarmid was the only artist to show the badge number (although not every time he drew the character), with the exception of the 22 September 1979 comic in which Chuckle was drawn, with badge number 321, by an artist who I'm unable to identify.
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| Chuckle evidently felt it wasn't a crime to recycle jokes Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Our perky patrolman pal (who of course lived at 999 Letsby Avenue) provided Cheeky with a copy of the Mystery Comic (from within a police box of the type favoured by a certain TV time-traveller - although in reality these boxes had almost entirely disappeared from British streets by the late 1970s) in the 15 April 1978 comic.
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| 15 July 1978 - Mike Lacey includes Chuckle's address |
Chuckle was honoured
with a front page slot on only his fifth appearance (13 May 1978)
and was further privileged to appear in the same issue's SkateboardSquad tale (in which he appeared non-chuckling in one panel due to
near miss by Skipper's speeding board), as well as on
Wednesday.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid/Frank McDiarmid pencils |
The convivial copper
made a return visit to Cheeky Weekly's cover on 22 July 1978, where
he shared a What A Cheek gag with the toothy funster.
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| 14 July 1979 - Mike Lacey gives a different spelling of the address gag |
A bewhiskered Cheeky
encountered Chief Inspector Chuckle when the toothy funster was given a
glimpse ahead to his life in 2038 in the 19 August 1978 comic.
Assuming Chuckle was around 40 in 1978, he would have been 100 years
old when Cheeky's older self met him!
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
The laughing lawman (in full uniform) was the first guest to arrive at Cheeky's New Year party in 13 January 1979's slightly-late-new-year issue.
Cheeky's Dad was the
subject of 20 January 1979's Burpo Special, wherein our punning plod pal made a cameo appearance, but in the 10 March 1979 comic
Chuckle himself was the subject of Burpo's interview. The comical constable's third and final Burpo Special appearance was in the 07 April
1979 episode, in which Spiv (whom Chuckle had arrested for trading without a licence in the 20 May 1978 comic) was the infant interrogator's subject.
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| Art: Barrie Appleby |
The Skateboard Squad strip in the 03 March 1979 comic was the second to feature a guest appearance by Chuckle, and 2 weeks later our chortling chum made his third and final Skateboard Squad appearance in the 17 March 1979 issue.
The potty policeman was seen on the cover of the comic dated 25 August 1979, among the
residents of Krazy Town caught unaware by one of Yikky-Boo's
ultra-loud unintelligible utterances. The same issue included the most appearances by the perky patrolman, who featured in
5 Cheeky's Week elements, although there was no narrative connection
between them. The convivial copper's
fourth and final front page appearance occurred in the issue dated 22
December 1979.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Constable Chuckle appeared on page 30 of the final Cheeky Weekly,
where he was seen in the background of one of the panels as Cheeky met future Whoopee! colleague Super Mum.
Chuckle never appeared in the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in Krazy.
Chuckle was featured on
a Pin-Up Pal poster only 4 weeks after his debut. In the poster,
printed in the 22 April 1978 comic, the humorous helmet-wearer is seen
enjoying a good laugh, entirely unaware that a jewel robbery is
taking place behind him. Since this poster was printed before
Chuckle's badge number first appeared, artist Frank McDiarmid leaves
his shoulder badge blank, but does include the letter K on each of
Chuckle's lapels (presumably standing for Krazy Town Police).
The snappily-titled
Cheeky's Cut-Out Catalogue of Constable Chuckle Jokes (try saying
that five times fast) was included in the 22 December 1979 issue.
Chuckle never appeared in the 'Ello, It's Cheeky strip in Krazy.
| Character | Total Issues | First Appearance | Final Appearance |
| Constable Chuckle | 83 | 01-Apr-1978 | 02-Feb-1980 |
Constable Chuckle - Number of appearances by Element
| Element | Number of Appearances |
| Sunday | 26 |
| Wednesday | 18 |
| Thursday | 16 |
| Tuesday | 10 |
| Friday | 8 |
| Monday | 8 |
| Saturday | 4 |
| Cover Feature | 3 |
| The Burpo Special | 3 |
| Easter Monday | 1 |
| Sunday evening | 1 |
| What a Cheek | 1 |
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Artist | Total Elements |
| Constable Chuckle | Frank McDiarmid | 58 |
| Constable Chuckle | Mike Lacey | 16 |
| Constable Chuckle | Frank McDiarmid pencils | 15 |
| Constable Chuckle | Barrie Appleby | 5 |
| Constable Chuckle | Dick Millington | 2 |
| Constable Chuckle | Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 | 1 |
| Constable Chuckle | Jim Watson | 1 |
| Constable Chuckle | Not known | 1 |
Of course based on the song the laughing policeman...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho he he he he he he etc..
ReplyDeleteYes, I originally intended to include a link to the record in the above post, but I found the song so annoying that I couldn't bring myself to include it! I probably should have mentioned it though, so thanks for reminding us about it.
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