Who makes you laugh
We have a series on movies.
We have a series on small screen shows.
We have a number of series on different sports.
How about a series on comedians, those who make you laugh?
It can be people of old.
Like Monte Python
or Mel Brooks
or Red Skelton.
But it can also be more recent.
I recently came across Mike Birbiglia.
Watch his routine The Good Life on Netflix.
Wickedly funny without swearing.
Open for other suggestions.
We have a series on small screen shows.
We have a number of series on different sports.
How about a series on comedians, those who make you laugh?
It can be people of old.
Like Monte Python
or Mel Brooks
or Red Skelton.
But it can also be more recent.
I recently came across Mike Birbiglia.
Watch his routine The Good Life on Netflix.
Wickedly funny without swearing.
Open for other suggestions.
Comments
And then there was Jeremy Hardy singing…
Or learning Swedish -
F U N E X?
S, V F X
Have you seen Shooting Stars doing Roxy Music? Easily found on YouTube…
The Souvenir Programme gives the lie to that. Except season 9 which my brain is too small to follow.
Trae Crowder's takes on California are especially funny to me, as you might imagine!
In a strange way, I can sympathise with both characters in the sketch, but that's another story.
As for individual comedians, Dave Allen, Rod Gilbert, Jack Dee and Victoria Wood hit my comic sweet-spot.
But there are a few I really can't stand - Jo Brand, Ben Elton and Jimmy Carr topping that list.
I lost an entire evening years ago at an ISIHAC recording - Jack Dee, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and David Mitchell at the New Theatre Oxford. Wonderful.
I was really a fan of Humph, Willie Rushton and Peter Jones though. But who now remembers the original team captains were John Cleese and Bill Oddie? 85-odd series ago…
'All brothels are marked with a blue lamp'.
'There is a french widow in every bedroom, affording delightful prospect ...'
Other than that, Honorable Mention to the Great Stoneface, Buster Keaton. "The General" (1926) is one of the few comedies I can watch and re-watch multiple times with the same enjoyment. Most comedies fade. That one persists.
I agree that he was very clever and talented, but from what I could see, he only had one routine that he performed for around 40 years
Favourites that I can immediately recall are Beautiful Teamsters, Hello Muddah hello Fadduh and Crazy Downtown. Happy memeories!
On a vaguely related note, Tom Lehrer still raises a laugh with me. As do Flanders and Swann, despite my knowing the routines backwards now.
"Olé! 'E 'as made an 'ole!"
"Before the gutted olive can hit the floor it is caught by the matador, on his mat!"
Jokes are funnier when set to music.
Anyone seen Bill Bailey's "everything sounds better done as heavy metal" thing?*
Expanding the brief a little, anyone familiar with Friday Night Dinner? It starts a little MoTR IMO but as the series progress it just gets more and more surreal. The premise should for all the world yield a gentle and horribly nice Terry and June middle class sitcom but that just adds to the way it absolutely and completely doesn't.
*it's true, as well. Honest. Crank up the gain, scoop the middle out and play everything as power chords. Works for absolutely everything.
Sitcom....Early Doors
Yes, my favorite too.
ones who make me laugh .
For those of a certain age in Wales, Ryan. and Ronnie - Ower Ows - Phyllis Doris, Nigel Wynn, Mam and Dad - don’t call Will on your father, I’ll lampoon you.
Of other comedies of that era, "I'm sorry, I'll read that again" (that was radio), and Monty Python. Others over the years include the various Blackadder sagas, Drop the Dead Donkey and more recently, Upstart Crow. Also, if you've ever worked in a large organisation, W1A.
I'm not sure that either of these technically count as comedy, but I'll also mention Withnail and I, and Michael Palin's East of Ipswich.
Being able to listen to things like Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me whenever and wherever you want is what NPR podcasts are for!