Derek and Clive are controversial cult characters created by double act Dudley Moore and Peter Cook repectively on the records Derek and Clive (Live), 1976; Derek and Clive Come Again, 1977 and Derek and Clive Ad Nauseam, 1978 and a film documentary, Derek and Clive Get the Horn , 1979. The characters are seen as more foul-mouthed extensions of their earlier characters Pete and Dud. Though the recordings were too controversial for television or a mainstream audience, Derek and Clive bootleg tapes circulated, becoming famous for their unscripted dialogues, vulgar situations and copious use of profanity - especially the word "cunt". 

Memorable moments from the records include Clive claiming that the worst job he ever had was retrieving lobsters from Jayne Mansfield's bum, Derek claiming his worst job was cleaning up Winston Churchill's bogies (leading the pair to conclude that the Titanic was one such bogie) and Clive claiming that he was sexually aroused by the sight of a deceased Pope laying in state.

The characters, supposedly two lavatory attendants, first surfaced in the mid-seventies. Cook and Moore were touring Broadway with "Good Evening", a live version of their television series "Not Only... But Also." The relationship between the two had already become strained, as a result of Cook's alcoholism. To relax Moore, Cook hired out a recording studio, where the two could simply ad-lib. The resulting recording was padded out with live performances of old favorites (such as "Bo Duddley"), and began to circulate as Derek and Clive (Live).

Cook became bemused at the idea that he should not be making money from the increasing popularity of Derek and Clive, and suggested the record should be released officially. By this point, Moore had embarked on a successful film career, and found the tapes embarrassing, until he realised his contemporaries were fans.

A further two record were made. However, they became less like dialogues and more like vindictive attacks on the increasingly successful Moore by Cook, whose career had stalled. These attacks culminated in Moore walking out of the Ad Nauseam sessions, effectively ending their comedy partnership which had begun nearly twenty years earlier. In one particular hurtful attack, Cook rants about his annoyance at his father dying of cancer. He was well aware that Moore's father was dying of cancer, and that Moore was having a particularly hard time coping with this. Nevertheless, Moore not only joins in ad-libbing the song 'My Old Man's Got Cancer', but is reduced to helpless laughter by Cook's lyrics.

The same love-hate relationship is evident in the Derek and Clive Get the Horn movie, during which Moore withstands brutally vindictive verbal tirades from Cook, and walks out, only to return, and have Cook reduce him to helpless laughter again minutes later.

After Cook's death little mention was made of the 'Derek and Clive' material. It was largely swept under the carpet, so to speak. However, despite the fact that Cook was clearly coming tragically unravelled, and was bitter and drunk most of the time, the records contain copious moments of brilliantly surreal, stream of consciousness comedy, and are not merely excercises in offensiveness. Though on the later records Moore was largely reduced to a sounding board for Cook's monologues, the latter's improvisational comic skills were still disconcertingly intact.