Comedian found dead

A veteran comedian who launched the careers of stars including Paul Merton, Harry Enfield and Vic Reeves has been found dead in the Thames.

Malcolm Hardee was pulled from the river by police divers at Greenland Dock, Rotherhithe, two days after he was reported missing by friends.

It is feared the 55-year-old entertainer fell from the rubber dinghy he used to travel from the Wibbly Wobbly Boat floating pub he ran in Surrey Quays to his houseboat, moored nearby.

Mr Hardee was a well-known figure on the London comedy circuit and at his club he launched the careers of stand-up comedians including Merton, Enfield and Reeves as well as Jo Brand and Jerry Sadowitz.

He met Rik Mayall, Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle at the Comedy Store and went on to form his own venue, the Tunnel Club, near Blackwall Tunnel in 1984 and followed that with Up The Creek. Both venues were where thousands of comedians took their first step into the spotlight.

He was also famous in his own right as part of The Greatest Show On Legs, in which he performed a balloon dance while naked, just about keeping his modesty with a handful of inflatables.

Mr Hardee appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at comedy venues across the country and acted alongside Mayall and Adrian Edmondson in the Comic Strip movies. In recent years, he also appeared on a TV show with Jack Dee.

He had a two-year affair with Jo Brand, and his friends included comedian Arthur Smith and musician Jools Holland.

The alarm was raised after Mr Hardee had not been seen since the early hours of Monday.

A police spokeswoman said: " Following information that he may have fallen into the Thames, divers began to search the water near his home and his body was found at 10.20 yesterday morning."

Officers are not treating the death as suspicious and it has not yet been established whether Mr Hardee was drunk at the time of his death, or whether he was using the dinghy.

His business partner Chris Lynam said friends were shocked.

"His death will leave a huge hole,' said Mr Lynam, a friend for over 30 years. "He ran the best club in the world called Sunday Night At The Tunnel Palladium, which was the most extraordinary club ever.

"It set people like Jo Brand, Jack Dee and Harry Enfield up. Malcolm was incredibly good at spotting new talent. There are thousands of comedians that were given open spots by Malcolm and have gone on to carve their niche in comedy."

Mr Hardee had owned the pub since November 2001.

Born the son of a Lewisham tug boat worker, Mr Hardee once served a term in prison for theft. In his 1996 autobiography, he wrote of playing bridge in jail with former Labour MP John Stonehouse, who faked his own death.