In his 2001 autobiography "Bananas can't fly!", Des O'Connor stated that it was his idea for Freddie Starr to come out dressed as a monk on rollerskates. Although the rollerskates idea was discarded, Freddie began his appearance in a Monk's robe.
Des recalled: "Freddie has never been much fun at production meetings. It doesn't take much to send him into one of his darker moods. That day I understood his frustration. He needed the shop window of television, but we appeared to be going round and round in circles over what he could do and what he couldn't. All that talent, and yet there seemed to be nothing we could really use on TV. It was becoming clear to me that Freddie's strength was his ability to improvise on a good idea, but that someone else had to provide him with that idea. He was funnier doing physical comedy without talking . . . wait a minute. If he was funnier doing that, why not have him subvert the concept of the talk show by doing a spot on a talk show where he didn't talk? 'Freddie, listen, how about this? I introduce you as a man who has seen the error of his ways; a man who has decided to turn over a new leaf, et cetera. You enter backwards on roller skates, dressed as a monk. You sit down, and I ask you questions, but you don't reply. You just smile. Eventually, you show me a printed sign which says that you have taken a vow of silence. And during all this you can do your visual comedy bits.' Freddie loved the idea. He immediately saw the comedy potential in it and already his brain was working out visual gags. He wasn't just all right on the night, he was a riot, and I knew that from then on he would become a regular on the show."