Titter ye not, but comedian Frankie Howerd would have been 100 years old last month. So Sheppey funnyman Paul Harris is touring a national centenary tribute show in the comic’s memory.

The one-man play penned by Paul 18 years ago has been on tour since the start of the year including Herne Bay, Rainham, Maidstone and Folkestone. It is at the Criterion Theatre, Blue Town, Sheppey, tonight (Saturday April 8).

Paul 73, from Minster said: “It shows both sides of the troubled but amazingly talented man who wowed audiences for almost 50 years. I perform as Frankie on stage and at his home away from the spotlight where he was a totally different character.

“He was scared and nervous and suffered from tremendous depression. He would book himself into a psychiatric clinic every weekend.”

The star of the TV show Up Pompeii went from being one of Britain’s highest paid comics in the mid-1940s earning £1,000 a week to being out of work and trying to live on a tenner. He was left skint when the taxman presented him with a huge unexpected bill.

All that changed in the 1980s when, out of the blue, Frankie was booked to talk to undergraduates at the Oxford Union. Paul said: “Almost overnight he became a student cult. He couldn’t believe he was telling the same gags from the 1940s and the young audience was falling about with laughter.”

Paul, a writer, broadcaster and performer who started writing for The Two Ronnies television series and has since written for radio television and stage, recreates the great man with eerie accuracy.

He said: “Titter Ye Not delves into the personal and professional life of this comedy icon and is at times both hilarious and heartbreaking as I explore the life and loves of a comedy legend.”

But Paul’s play, originally written for three actors, almost never saw the light of day. He said: “It was very weird. No one knew I was writing it but one Sunday night when I was living in Rochester I had a call from Dennis Heymer who introduced himself as Frankie’s partner and manager of 38 years.

“He wanted to know why I was writing the play. Shortly after, I received a stream of letters from legal eagles demanding to see the script and asking me to prove everything I wrote. They even sent someone to see the play and complained when I deviated from the script. At times I don’t think they wanted his story told.”

Frankie later suffered illness and died on Easter Sunday 1992 shortly after a final visit from his friend Bruce Forsyth.

Paul, a former BBC Radio Kent presenter who also hosts the Good Old Days music hall at the Criterion Theatre, said: “I never worked with Frankie but I met him once in Margate when I was in summer season and he came to visit a friend. He would go from success to flop. He had such a weird life.”

• Titter Ye Not, Criterion Theatre, Blue Town, Sheerness, Saturday April 8, 7.30pm. Tickets £15 from 01795 662981 and Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs on May 6.