Best Comedian

shortfall

cougie wrote:

Izzard was up there a few years ago

Was he? I put him in the same bracket as Russel Brand which is comedian in name only.

darkhairedlord

Shortfall wrote:

cougie wrote:

Izzard was up there a few years ago

Was he? I put him in the same bracket as Russel Brand which is comedian in name only.

I blame him and his supporters for Brexit.
Wheeling him onto any and all political panel shows was a monumental own goal.

timothyw

KingstonGraham wrote:

cougie wrote:

Izzard was up there a few years ago but things change.
I've got tickets to see Acaster next year and looking forward to that.

Oh Johnny Vegas before he was well known. Hilarious and slightly disturbing to watch.

Acaster puts together a pretty much perfect show every time. Saw this one as a work in progress and it was pretty damn good then.

Have you read his book?

Acaster's routines are just ridiculously tight. Absolutely nailed on.

A couple of years back for his Edinburgh show he did an 'outtakes' bit at the end of his show (as was fashionable at the end of comedy films at the time) and it was sublime (and hilarious!)

Really made the point of how carefully planned and choreographed everything that we had seen before was.

Will have to have a look for the book - perhaps hint someone get it me for Christmas....

crescent

bianchimoon wrote:

Although not a particular fan of his, Bob Monkhouse's joke
"When I was young and said I wanted to be a comedian, they laughed at me... Well they're not laughing now!"
has to be one of the best ever?

"I'm a difficult man to ignore, but well worth the effort." is another of his finest one liners, I think.

"Doctor, I need some sleeping tablets for my mother-in-law."
"Why?"
"Because she's woken up". [Les Dawson c. 1975]


Billy Connolly takes the title for me, though.

lesfirth

bonk king wrote:

Tommy cooper, bob monkhouse, les dawson.

I once saw Bob Monkhouse live. He was amazing. The jokes and humour were fired at the audience at a relentless pace. One joke followed another without a pause. He did not give you time to laugh. Half of his act went over the heads of the audience. Well it was in Oldham.

mr_goo

Robin Williams
Bob Newhart
Ken Dodd
Bob Monkhouse
Eric & Ernie
2x Ronnies
Rowan Atkinson
*Rik Mayall*
Tom Allen
Joe Lycett
Bill Bailey
Rhod Gilbert
Lee Evans
Lee Mack

FocusZing

Chris Rock is good.

darkhairedlord

Peter Richardson, Hands down the most infuencial comedian of the last 40 years

laurentian

Shortfall wrote:

Was he? I put him in the same bracket as Russel Brand which is comedian in name only.

I'm no particular fan of Russell Brand but, as the Mrs wanted to go, I went to see him a few years ago. In his defence, I have to say that he made me laugh more than any other stand up I have seen. Billy Connolly made me cry with laughter at some points during his routine when I went to see him but, for start to finish laughter, RB was surprisingly good. I'm still not a fan of his as he's a dick . . . but live he was a funny one.

Ricky Gervais stand up is very funny indeed although I've never seen him live.

I can remember, probably 20 or so years ago, there was an Evening With Ken Dodd on TV. I didn't see it myself but distinctly remember it being the sole topic of conversation among everybody who had the following day.

Don't really get Peter Kaye in stand up. Some of his TV stuff (Phoenix Nights) is very good though.

Tommy Cooper will always be funny to almost every age group - that was a rare gift.

kingstongraham

laurentian wrote:

I can remember, probably 20 or so years ago, there was an Evening With Ken Dodd on TV. I didn't see it myself but distinctly remember it being the sole topic of conversation among everybody who had the following day.

I went to see Ken Dodd a few years ago. Left at the interval because it was already 10:30 and he hadn't really been very funny. Apparently went on for another few hours. Unfortunately the only thing lazy about him was the racism and sexism. Still the same act that worked in the 70s.

crispybug2

bianchimoon wrote:

Although not a particular fan of his, Bob Monkhouse's joke
"When I was young and said I wanted to be a comedian, they laughed at me... Well they're not laughing now!"
has to be one of the best ever?

“When I die I want to die like my dad, peacefully In my sleep....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus!”

Quite simply the funniest one liner ever, Bob Monkhouse was a brilliant stand up.

cougie

KingstonGraham wrote:

cougie wrote:

Izzard was up there a few years ago but things change.
I've got tickets to see Acaster next year and looking forward to that.

Oh Johnny Vegas before he was well known. Hilarious and slightly disturbing to watch.

Acaster puts together a pretty much perfect show every time. Saw this one as a work in progress and it was pretty damn good then.

Have you read his book?

Yes ! His scrapes book. Hilarious ! Loved it and have passed it round the office.

cougie

darkhairedlord wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

cougie wrote:

Izzard was up there a few years ago

Was he? I put him in the same bracket as Russel Brand which is comedian in name only.

I blame him and his supporters for Brexit.
Wheeling him onto any and all political panel shows was a monumental own goal.

You might have to explain this a bit more. We've Brexited because of Izzard ???

daniel_b

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

Top man, what a great off the wall comedian.
I would wager the vast majority of people don't 'get' him.
Also like Richard Herring, and Jon Richardson is a very intelligent comedian.
Dave Allen was superb, and have seen Bill Bailey several times live, and always excellent.

crumbschief

There are many but here are a few i can think of that always make me laugh

Dick Emery
Milton Jones
Stanley Baxter
Benny Hill / Bob Todd
Alan Carr
Kevin Bridges
Bill Hicks
Ardal O'Hanlon

Stevo_666

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

In the interests of balance I'll nominate my home town comedian, Roy 'Chubby' Brown

DeVlaeminck

Dave Allen had great delivery
Stewart Lee is good
Bernard Manning - often undeniably unacceptable material but even so consistently funny standup.
Steve Coogan - more for his Alan Partridge TV stuff which is getting a little old hat but at the time was unmissable - sunday bloody sunday joke is as funny as they come.

kingstongraham

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Steve Coogan - more for his Alan Partridge TV stuff which is getting a little old hat but at the time was unmissable - sunday bloody sunday joke is as funny as they come.

Steve Coogan at the Lyceum Theatre 1998 with Partridge doing a motivational speech was the closest I've come to literally pissing myself laughing. Truly an all time great.

lakesluddite

I think Stewart Lee is the Radiohead of comedy. Sometimes appears inaccessible, but if you tune into the wavelength, it's damned near genius.
Of the 'old style' TV comedians, still love watching Les Dawson, and I also think Bob Monkhouse was ahead of his time.
Honourable (that's definitely the wrong word) mention for Frankie Boyle - very divisive, but skewers his subjects in a way nobody else get close to (perhaps Bill Hicks on form). His recent documentary in Russia before the World Cup was superb.

sniper68

Stevo 666 wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

In the interests of balance I'll nominate my home town comedian, Roy 'Chubby' Brown

I saw Chubby in the 80s...sadly he's still doing the same material :roll:
Frankie Boyle
Bill Hicks
Rich Hall
Billy Connelly
Eddie Murphy(before he became a film star)
Steven Wright.

I saw Greg Proops in the mid-90s and he was very good despite not actually telling any jokes.

CiB

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

And as a rizzled old [ok, 57] lifelong Tory, I'd agree. It's good to see some well-worded attacks that hit the spot, even if it's mostly incoming. Genius is SL.

Mark Steel esp his In Town on the radio is brilliant.
Dara O'Brian is too.
Milton Jones and some of the new faces on MTW like Ed Gambol hit the spot.

Nish Kumar's review has evolved into a v good programme, and because I'm old school Rachel Paris off that very programme wins too as she's easy on the eye, comes from Leicester and is sharp as a knife doing the dizzy blonde routine.

joe_totale-2

Lots of great comedians and most of my favourites have already been mentioned.
One who surprised me with how good he was live was Al Murray. I wasn't expecting much as I'm not a fan of his TV shows but took a chance as it was a fiver to see him in the back room of a pub a couple of years ago.
He was fantastic, I've personally not seen someone so good at working the room or as quick witted as he was. Despite not having any rehearsed material he seamlessly filled an hour.

CiB

Joe Totale wrote:

Lots of great comedians and most of my favourites have already been mentioned.
One who surprised me with how good he was live was Al Murray. I wasn't expecting much as I'm not a fan of his TV shows but took a chance as it was a fiver to see him in the back room of a pub a couple of years ago.
He was fantastic, I've personally not seen someone so good at working the room or as quick witted as he was. Despite not having any rehearsed material he seamlessly filled an hour.

Saw him live on stage a couple of years ago and he was absolutely superb. genuinely the funniest live act I've seen. Thanks, had forgotten about him.

Also add Mitchell & Webb. Separately they're both good but together brilliant in just about everything - Back, Peep Show, That M&W Look and its precursor That M&W Sound on R4 a few years ago.

Pross

CiB wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

And as a rizzled old [ok, 57] lifelong Tory, I'd agree. It's good to see some well-worded attacks that hit the spot, even if it's mostly incoming. Genius is SL.

Mark Steel esp his In Town on the radio is brilliant.
Dara O'Brian is too.
Milton Jones and some of the new faces on MTW like Ed Gambol hit the spot.

Nish Kumar's review has evolved into a v good programme, and because I'm old school Rachel Paris off that very programme wins too as she's easy on the eye, comes from Leicester and is sharp as a knife doing the dizzy blonde routine.

I hadn't seen Rachel Parris before so took a look at her doing a piece about Piers Morgan's interview of Trump - very good!

kingstongraham

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38QuMtv5KyY

robert88

Rik Mayall.

Where would we be today without Sir Alan Beresford B'Stard?

darkhairedlord

Robert88 wrote:

Rik Mayall.

Where would we be today without Sir Alan Beresford B'Stard?

Peter Richardson, ade edmundsen, alexie Sayle, all tied to the "comic strip" club and subsequent series.

eric_draven

Robert88 wrote:

Rik Mayall.

As Lord Flashheart ,maybe didn't write his part,but both episodes were brilliant

eric_draven

Stevo 666 wrote:

Jez mon wrote:

Being a wimpy millennial leftie Liberal snowflake, it has to be Stewart Lee.

In the interests of balance I'll nominate my home town comedian, Roy 'Chubby' Brown

Saw Chubby 20 odd years ago live,and he was telling jokes that were about 4-5 years old

bianchimoon

Saw Ben Elton and Rick mayall live years back, it’s no wonder this is the first mention of Elton on here.... dire stand up, but writes some great scripts