Open The Cage, Murphy by Paul O’Grady
Aug. 3rd, 2025 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Open The Cage, Murphy takes us on a roller coaster ride through a decade of Paul O’Grady’s life. Full of hilarious stories, extreme situations and outrageous one-liners, the book begins as Paul’s brilliant comic creation Lily Savage embraces success as to the manner born, and world domination beckons!
The action comes thick and fast. Paul is involved in a plane crash, gets caught up in the LA riots and has a close encounter with Madonna. He takes us to a gay-themed weekend at Butlin’s in Skegness, on a rowdy tour with Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical and into the depths of the Australian rainforest, where he befriends a rare bird that can disembowel a man with a single kick. The cast of characters includes a family of dolphins, Charlton Heston and the ghost of Joan of Arc. And there’s a starring role for a certain remarkable dog, Buster Elvis Savage.
But whether he’s writing about star-studded Hollywood parties, the devastating loss of close friends to AIDS, or late night shenanigans at the end of Blackpool Pier, Paul’s wit and humanity never desert him. Open The Cage, Murphy is a genuine delight - all the more so for being delightfully genuine.
Paul O’Grady was a comedian, actor, TV presenter, chat show host and British national treasure. The last of his autobiography quartet picks up shortly after the death of his mother and tracks his career transition from drag queen host of the Vauxhall Tavern to TV presenter and national treasure set against a back drop of personal tragedy as the AIDS crisis strikes close to home. Told with his wit and warmth, it’s a bittersweet testimony to the man.
This book had been on my To Read Pile for a while because although I had galloped through the first three books in O’Grady’s autobiographical quartet last year - AT MY MOTHER’S KNEE AND OTHER LOW JOINTS, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and STILL STANDING: THE SAVAGE YEARS - I found myself putting off reading the last one, in part because I knew this was the last one and that due to his untimely death in 2023, there would not be any more.
O’Grady has an introduction to this book (first published in 2015), where he recounts a conversation with his mum about wanting to go to drama school and his desire to do something theatrical (something that is addressed in his earlier books as well). He then picks up very shortly after STILL STANDING: THE SAVAGE YEARS, where Lily has a regular gig hosting the talent show at the Vauxhall Tavern where Vera works behind the bar. He has recently been on THE BILL and is wondering what to do with their career but at the same time AIDS has started to affect his friends - first fellow Scouser, Chrissy and then Hush.
One of the saddest and yet hilarious scenes in the book is O’Grady’s memory of visiting Chrissy at Westminster Hospital where Chrissy is having religious hallucinations where he’s being visited by the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc and O’Grady - being O’Grady - makes sharp comments about it and they end up rowing. All of the scenes about AIDS are moving, whether it’s Hush’s denial or the resigned way that O’Grady and his friends keep track of how the epidemic is hollowing out the community.
O’Grady’s on-off partner Brendan Murphy is now acting as his manager and has a plan for how to get him on in his career. If I had a criticism, it’s that O’Grady never goes into what was going on with his relationship with Murphy. Clearly there was an emotional love between them even though they were also very fiery and neither was monogamous and Murphy had a lot of faith in O’Grady and was confident that he would make it - first as Savage and then as himself. The final quarter of the book deals with Murphy’s cancer diagnosis and O’Grady opens up about how it affected him and how he nursed him and I have to say my heart did break a little at the happy note that the book ended on, given what eventually happened.
What comes through all 4 books in the quartet is what a grafter O’Grady was. He had a hell of a work ethic and as he talks about touring the UK clubs and how it made him feel it is easy to understand why he wanted to get on. This is particularly the case where he talks about how he took on THE BIG BREAKFAST after Paula Yates left and was combining doing late night shows with having to get up early in the morning to do the show. At the same time, O’Grady remains honest, talking about his panic as he worries about how he is going to pull something off, most notably with his role in bringing PRISONER CELL BLOCK H - THE MUSICAL to the West End and then on a national tour.
As a snap shot of where the UK was in terms of gay rights, the book is actually very revealing. O’Grady’s account of what happened when he took part in a gay-themed weekend at a Butlin’s and how despite its success Butlin’s bailed out of doing it again because the tabloid press caused a stink about it.
There is a surprising number of celebrities who get mentioned in the book - from Charlton Heston and Robin Williams to Linda Nolan and Dora Bryant - with the most scathing judgment being reserved for Madonna. What’s telling is that even as O’Grady starts to experience success, he still knows who he is and doesn’t put on airs. I would have liked more of his sense of Paula Yates, particularly whether he was ever in contact with her after he took over her role on THE BIG BREAKFAST - but I did like the way he mentions his friendship with Julian Clary (something which was particularly poignant to me as Clary has paid tribute to O’Grady both in his Palladium pantomime and in his 2025 comic tour).
All of the books in O’Grady’s autobiography were big commercial successes and the secret is simple: he keeps his distinctive voice so this feels less like a book and more like a catch up with an old friend over a mug of tea and an iced bun. It is a real shame that he died at such a comparatively young age (although ironically, he does talk about his heart health in this book) because I think it would have been interesting to have had a fifth book dealing with his transition from Lily to Paul and the establishment of his chat show and involvement with Battersea Dogs’ and Cats’ Home. That said, this book ends with an optimistic note and is as good a place to end as could be expected - not so much a goodbye, as a ta-ra, chuck.
The Verdict:
Paul O’Grady was a comedian, actor, TV presenter, chat show host and British national treasure. The last of his autobiography quartet picks up shortly after the death of his mother and tracks his career transition from drag queen host of the Vauxhall Tavern to TV presenter and national treasure set against a back drop of personal tragedy as the AIDS crisis strikes close to home. Told with his wit and warmth, it’s a bittersweet testimony to the man.
Open The Cage, Murphy takes us on a roller coaster ride through a decade of Paul O’Grady’s life. Full of hilarious stories, extreme situations and outrageous one-liners, the book begins as Paul’s brilliant comic creation Lily Savage embraces success as to the manner born, and world domination beckons!
The action comes thick and fast. Paul is involved in a plane crash, gets caught up in the LA riots and has a close encounter with Madonna. He takes us to a gay-themed weekend at Butlin’s in Skegness, on a rowdy tour with Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical and into the depths of the Australian rainforest, where he befriends a rare bird that can disembowel a man with a single kick. The cast of characters includes a family of dolphins, Charlton Heston and the ghost of Joan of Arc. And there’s a starring role for a certain remarkable dog, Buster Elvis Savage.
But whether he’s writing about star-studded Hollywood parties, the devastating loss of close friends to AIDS, or late night shenanigans at the end of Blackpool Pier, Paul’s wit and humanity never desert him. Open The Cage, Murphy is a genuine delight - all the more so for being delightfully genuine.
Paul O’Grady was a comedian, actor, TV presenter, chat show host and British national treasure. The last of his autobiography quartet picks up shortly after the death of his mother and tracks his career transition from drag queen host of the Vauxhall Tavern to TV presenter and national treasure set against a back drop of personal tragedy as the AIDS crisis strikes close to home. Told with his wit and warmth, it’s a bittersweet testimony to the man.
This book had been on my To Read Pile for a while because although I had galloped through the first three books in O’Grady’s autobiographical quartet last year - AT MY MOTHER’S KNEE AND OTHER LOW JOINTS, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and STILL STANDING: THE SAVAGE YEARS - I found myself putting off reading the last one, in part because I knew this was the last one and that due to his untimely death in 2023, there would not be any more.
O’Grady has an introduction to this book (first published in 2015), where he recounts a conversation with his mum about wanting to go to drama school and his desire to do something theatrical (something that is addressed in his earlier books as well). He then picks up very shortly after STILL STANDING: THE SAVAGE YEARS, where Lily has a regular gig hosting the talent show at the Vauxhall Tavern where Vera works behind the bar. He has recently been on THE BILL and is wondering what to do with their career but at the same time AIDS has started to affect his friends - first fellow Scouser, Chrissy and then Hush.
One of the saddest and yet hilarious scenes in the book is O’Grady’s memory of visiting Chrissy at Westminster Hospital where Chrissy is having religious hallucinations where he’s being visited by the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc and O’Grady - being O’Grady - makes sharp comments about it and they end up rowing. All of the scenes about AIDS are moving, whether it’s Hush’s denial or the resigned way that O’Grady and his friends keep track of how the epidemic is hollowing out the community.
O’Grady’s on-off partner Brendan Murphy is now acting as his manager and has a plan for how to get him on in his career. If I had a criticism, it’s that O’Grady never goes into what was going on with his relationship with Murphy. Clearly there was an emotional love between them even though they were also very fiery and neither was monogamous and Murphy had a lot of faith in O’Grady and was confident that he would make it - first as Savage and then as himself. The final quarter of the book deals with Murphy’s cancer diagnosis and O’Grady opens up about how it affected him and how he nursed him and I have to say my heart did break a little at the happy note that the book ended on, given what eventually happened.
What comes through all 4 books in the quartet is what a grafter O’Grady was. He had a hell of a work ethic and as he talks about touring the UK clubs and how it made him feel it is easy to understand why he wanted to get on. This is particularly the case where he talks about how he took on THE BIG BREAKFAST after Paula Yates left and was combining doing late night shows with having to get up early in the morning to do the show. At the same time, O’Grady remains honest, talking about his panic as he worries about how he is going to pull something off, most notably with his role in bringing PRISONER CELL BLOCK H - THE MUSICAL to the West End and then on a national tour.
As a snap shot of where the UK was in terms of gay rights, the book is actually very revealing. O’Grady’s account of what happened when he took part in a gay-themed weekend at a Butlin’s and how despite its success Butlin’s bailed out of doing it again because the tabloid press caused a stink about it.
There is a surprising number of celebrities who get mentioned in the book - from Charlton Heston and Robin Williams to Linda Nolan and Dora Bryant - with the most scathing judgment being reserved for Madonna. What’s telling is that even as O’Grady starts to experience success, he still knows who he is and doesn’t put on airs. I would have liked more of his sense of Paula Yates, particularly whether he was ever in contact with her after he took over her role on THE BIG BREAKFAST - but I did like the way he mentions his friendship with Julian Clary (something which was particularly poignant to me as Clary has paid tribute to O’Grady both in his Palladium pantomime and in his 2025 comic tour).
All of the books in O’Grady’s autobiography were big commercial successes and the secret is simple: he keeps his distinctive voice so this feels less like a book and more like a catch up with an old friend over a mug of tea and an iced bun. It is a real shame that he died at such a comparatively young age (although ironically, he does talk about his heart health in this book) because I think it would have been interesting to have had a fifth book dealing with his transition from Lily to Paul and the establishment of his chat show and involvement with Battersea Dogs’ and Cats’ Home. That said, this book ends with an optimistic note and is as good a place to end as could be expected - not so much a goodbye, as a ta-ra, chuck.
The Verdict:
Paul O’Grady was a comedian, actor, TV presenter, chat show host and British national treasure. The last of his autobiography quartet picks up shortly after the death of his mother and tracks his career transition from drag queen host of the Vauxhall Tavern to TV presenter and national treasure set against a back drop of personal tragedy as the AIDS crisis strikes close to home. Told with his wit and warmth, it’s a bittersweet testimony to the man.
