VETERAN pop jokers The Barron Knights bring their new show Bop 'til We Drop to Bournemouth's Pier Theatre on May 7.

The concert is the first of a series of one-night specials planned at the theatre over the next few months to complement this summer's big variety show, Hooked on Laughter, which opens for a marathon summer season on Tuesday May 10.

Hooked on Laughter, featuring a cast of comedians, singers and dancers, will run at the Pier on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until July 21.

It will then run five days a week until early September before reverting to the three days-a-week format until September 29.

The Barron Knights, meanwhile, are promising that tonight's show will feature new songs and routines alongside old favourites.

The band first found fame back in the early '60s with their parodies of groups like The Searchers and the Stones.

Their first major hit was Call Up the Groups, a tongue-in-cheek look at what would happen if rock 'n' rollers were subjected to the then recently scrapped National Service.

The Barron Knights had found their niche. While fashions came and went they just kept on keeping on and now, more than four decades later, are still making gentle fun of the music industry and of coures themselves.

Popular new additions to their act include the Viagra Song and their timely parody of one of Queen's biggest hits, Camilla will be Queen.

More established favourites include a song-a-beat rendition of the Can-Can by way of telling the story of the wheelie bin and what goes in it and the pure nostalgia of Songs We Grew Up With - a medley of some of the most sing-along songs of the '60s.

Tickets are available on 0870 111 3000.