Poor Tommy :(

I remember every 5th year of his death - since the 15th anniversary onwards - either the BBC or ITV would have a 'Tommy Cooper' tribute night remembering the man and, thanks to the numerous viewings of documentaries, I'd end up knowing the life story of Tommy Cooper quite well including the detailed documenting of his death from people who witnessed it.
I'm a massive Tommy Cooper fan: I always have been thanks to my Dad who was an even bigger fan than me. He went to see him a few times, a couple of which when he and my Mum was "Courting", as he would say. Tommy was my Dad's hero and as a result I grew up watching his comedy and still to this day, I have never witnessed a man who was as genuinely and honestly funny as he was. For my money, there hasn't been anyone greater than him and (whilst I'm always open to the idea) there probably never will be.
As most know, Tommy Cooper died in 1984 quite famously after suffering a heart attack whilst on stage in front of a live TV audience for the show Live from her Majesty's. When he collapsed on stage everyone thought it was an act and continued to laugh profusely. anyways, he died 10 mins later on his way to hospital once people realised that he was in trouble. Never seen the moment itself, I'm not sure if anyone has except maybe those who were watching that night.
Anyways, the main reason for this thread, after 25 years of his death, the Video finally made it's way onto the internet as of late last month.

I watched it for the first time 3 nights ago and its kinda haunted me ever since (although I don't particularly regret watching it because I see it as being an important moment in television history and an important document of that man's life). The first time I watched the 36 second long video I wanted to cry... then second time I watched it, I was exactly the same (and so on). The irony of his death too painful. It's a deeply distressing video which I genuinely found heartbreaking - the stupid thing is I knew exactly that it would have broken my heart, yet I did it anyway.
My dad saw it too, as we both talked about we both understand exactly why the audience was laughing. (in retrospect, it does seem a bit odd that he does fall to the floor, but he has does some extremely odd things in his routines). A night later, he rang to tell me how much that video upset him. There's nothing like watching your hero dying

I'm certainly not encouraging people to watch it at all (it's not a pleasant video as you can imagine & I assume that kind of thing would be against TOS). This thread is not only a tool for me to try and come to terms with what i experienced better or to remind people that life is short and yada yada yada, but it's quite poignant that this emerged a quarter of a century later after the event itself. I'm not able to say 'I miss him' because he died before I was born... but I'm sure there's many who are fans too who might wish to mark the anniversary. (some fan I am, huh? Missing the actual anniversay date)

Still a genius 25 years after he's gone! Here's to the great man