[1] They started as singers working the pubs and clubs of Greater Manchester and switched to comedy after being told comics earned an extra £3 a night.

In 1974 they appeared in variety series The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club before, in 1978, landing slots on Bruce Forsyth's Big Night.

[citation needed] They also featured in a comic strip, Rock On, Tommy (titled after Ball's onstage catchphrase), published in the magazine Look-in.

During the 1980s, Greg Dyke, then Head of Programming at ITV station TVS and later to hold a similar position at LWT, expressed a concern that northern comedy shows may not suit southern tastes.

The pair revived a touring version of the theatrical farce Big Bad Mouse, originally a highly successful vehicle for Jimmy Edwards and Eric Sykes in the 1960s and 1970s.

The pair starred in pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln including Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Cinderella and in 2014 appeared in Jack and the Beanstalk.