Crossword Genius

Comedian's article Charlie pawned? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hancock

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'comedian's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'article charlie pawned?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'article' could be 'an' (English indefinite article) and 'an' is found in the answer.
'charlie' could be 'c' (phonetic alphabet) and 'c' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'hock' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for hancock that I've seen is " Tony --, English comedian".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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