Those we lost in 2021: Sean Lock remembered by Bill Bailey

22 April 1963 - 16 August 2021
The comedian recalls more than 30 years of friendship with a warm and generous writer and performer whose standup sets left audiences helpless with laughter

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• Read the Observer's obituaries of 2021 in full

I met Sean at a gig where we were both performing in the late 80s and we immediately hit it off. We shared a similar sense of humour, and also a sense of outsider status which gave us an added spur to succeed but with a determination to have fun while doing it. The fact that we were able to make people laugh, and make a living from it, felt like we were on a wild adventure that we didn't want to end.

Sean's early gigs in clubs where he was learning the craft were often rowdy affairs where he honed his skill at dealing with the odd drunk heckler, which developed over the years into an effortless ability to riff on whatever subject came up.