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Unfunny comedians


sadoldgit

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According to Stewart Lee, yes.

 

McIntyre in same camp.

 

Personally, I've no problem with comic performers fronting themselves as that. Since the 80s though, there's been an assumption on the part of the stand-up audience that the person performing the material wrote the material. Whitehall and McIntyre exploit that assumption.

 

Interesting. Good to know.

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I watched a couple of programmes over Christmas that I had missed when first on. One was a life story of the terrific Dave Allen and the other a look back at wonderful Rik Mayall and his work. The programmes reminded me just how excellent, clever and risque both were. Unfortunately, someone then showed me a recorded programme of 8 out of 10 cats and I was reminded of how shyte modern "comedy" programmes are.

 

It was the Rik Mayall programme that prompted me to start this thread. I was laughing so much through the tribute that I suddenly realised that I don't laugh much during comedy programmes nowadays. His occasional appearances in Blackadder still crack me up. Sadly missed.

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I know he isn't a comedian in the same sense as some above but I really don't like James Cordon.

 

As others have eluded too the material today is a lot weaker due to the age we live in. When you get sacked for saying someone looks like a spoon it tells you all you need to know really.

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I know he isn't a comedian in the same sense as some above but I really don't like James Cordon.

 

As others have eluded too the material today is a lot weaker due to the age we live in. When you get sacked for saying someone looks like a spoon it tells you all you need to know really.

 

I don't think it's just that. Frankie Boyle has done alright on terrestrial TV, considering how off colour he is. Was never a fan of him, he just seemed to be offensive for the sake of it.

 

I get it's a hard line to tread, and I do like people that can be offensive (I've done some major cringing, and flat out not liked some of what Doug Stanhope has said - who also gets time on the Beeb via Charlie Brooker - but still think he is v funny), but there needs to be a point to it. That may be what the problem is, comedians aren't very often trying to actually say anything now.

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I know he isn't a comedian in the same sense as some above but I really don't like James Cordon.

 

As others have eluded too the material today is a lot weaker due to the age we live in. When you get sacked for saying someone looks like a spoon it tells you all you need to know really.

 

Not a great Cordon fan either. For some reason me and Mrs SOG sat through Vampire Lesbian film for a second time ( we didn't think much of it first time round) and sure enough, it was still rubbish.

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I'm not a fan of sweary or slapstick comedy. I much prefer observational comedy. That's why I loved Dave Allen so much.

 

So far, in the recent past, we've seen Rich Hall, Bill Bailey, Dave Gorman, Ardal O'Hanlon and Jasper Carrott (very poor) and we are seeing Ross Noble next month. I'm also a big fan of Stewart Lee.

 

Seeing the trailers for Mrs Browns Boys was enough for me - never watched a single episode and don't intend to.

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Since The Office Gervais is totally unfunny.

 

Jo Brand is about as funny as Ebola and Lenny Henry is just pathetic .

 

There is not one decent UK sit com , phoenix nights was brilliant and Peter Kay great, but nothing compares to curb your enthusiasm. Larry David is a genius.

 

I cannot stand Peter Kay, but did like Phoenix Nights.

 

Have to agree on Curb though, by some distance my favourite comedy show. Has me howling.

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Since The Office Gervais is totally unfunny.

 

Jo Brand is about as funny as Ebola and Lenny Henry is just pathetic .

 

There is not one decent UK sit com , phoenix nights was brilliant and Peter Kay great, but nothing compares to curb your enthusiasm. Larry David is a genius.

 

I think Gervais was playing himself in the Office. His sidekick, Karl Pilkington is much funnier.

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Rich Hall is a good shout as some have said above. Mark Steel is also very funny live and makes a real effort to tailor every gig to the local area he's playing.

 

James Corden has done well to make himself unlikeable after writing and starring in one of the biggest UK comedy shows in recent memory. Quite an effort that. Read the other day that he's moving to the States to take up the job fronting the Late Late Show.

 

Reginald D Hunter was good live when I saw him although I feel the quality of his output can be somewhat related to the amount of weed he's smoked before an appearance.

 

Steve Coogan deserves a mention. Alan Partridge is a genius character and some of The Trip has been achingly funny.

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I used to love their XFM show but now find them all quite unfunny. Stephen Merchant's stand up is appalling.

 

Me too, Saturday afternoons weren't they? Karl Pilkington would do better to go off on his own. The premise that he is the idiot abroad doesn't really work when there are two bigger idiots sitting up home trying to make their mate look stupid.

 

Sat through the Merchant American sitcom which was painful.

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Me too, Saturday afternoons weren't they? Karl Pilkington would do better to go off on his own. The premise that he is the idiot abroad doesn't really work when there are two bigger idiots sitting up home trying to make their mate look stupid.

 

Sat through the Merchant American sitcom which was painful.

 

Yes, pretty sure I only heard them on Saturdays when Saints weren't playing. No listen again in those days.

Adam & Joe's shows on XFM were amazing. Some of the podcasts are here:

 

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As soon as you start listing your favourites it invites criticism from those with different tastes, so here we go...

 

I love Jack Dee, ditto Rich Hall, particularly doing Otis Lee Crenshaw, also Emo Phillips is very clever.

Stuart Lee is brilliant, as Bill Hicks occasionally was in his day.

For me Peter Kay is a funny bloke, as is Lee Mack, while McIntyre clearly isn't.

Or to be more accurate, McIntyre, Flanagan, Miranda, Mrs Brown, that's all aimed at a certain market and does very well, as does The Sun and Poundland.

I'm not their market.

I also don't get Izzard, nor Harry Hill, Python, Vic and Bob, Lemon - they must be on a different wavelength.

 

Saddest bit for me is remembering how good Ben Elton was as a stand-up before he completely ran out of talent - a comic's reputation can go up or down over time.

For instance, Bob Monkhouse was a smarmy presenter, but top joke teller.

I liked early Frankie Boyle but he has gone from close to the mark to outright offensive and not funny - the key element with being offensive is that it has to be funny first - Jimmy Carr is treading that fine line.

 

Blackadder excellent, as was Curb, Conchords, Frasier, very slick writing.

2012 was excellent, as was Lead Balloon, Extras, Partridge, anything by Iannucci.

And of course Rik and Ade were responsible for the best frying pan assaults in comic history.

 

The main problem is that a show or act designed to entertain the masses has to dumb down and that splits opinion so don't expect to see anything too clever on at peak time.

When you list them there is a lot of funny material out there - which hopefully stands the test of time as the likes of Mrs Brown sinks to make way for the next trend fed to the masses.

 

 

There we go, I think I've mentioned enough names to annoy a few - and to get some to agree.

Vive la difference!

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I actually think a lot of the best comedians aren't on TV. I used to go to comedy clubs pretty much every week and have seen some very very funny comedians live that will never make it on TV for whatever reason, I have also seen some horrendous dross too.

 

I don't get the BBC's love for Miranda and Mrs Brown's Boys as shows and I can't stand most "TV comedians". I can't stand most of them, including Stewart Lee; just boring political drivel. I do like Sean Lock though, him, Peter Kay and Jack Dee are the funniest big names I've seen live, by a long way. Oh and Greg Davies is worthy of a mention too as a stand-up - just not his weird TV shows.

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Point one; wasn't this thread sposed to be about comedians we find unfunny?

 

Point two; how did we get to page two without a mention of frank skinner?

 

Frank skinners earlier stuff was funny, when he was disgusting, then he stopped swearing and cleaned his act up. Not been any good since the 90's

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Those who think Frank Skinner unfunny I presume have suffered the misfortune of never having seen the great man perform live. I saw him do a standup routine many years ago - when he was drinking I guess - and you can trust me when I say he almost brought the house down.

 

I genuinely don't believe I have ever laughed as much either before or since.

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Miranda getting slaughtered unfairly IMO. Not always my cup of tea but tougher to do comedy relatively innocently without being cynical and at expense of others.

 

You've overlooked the ubiquitous self-deprecating humour of the fat person, which I'm not keen on at all. In the episode I saw, if you took out all the omg I'm so fat jokes, I don't know that there would have been a lot left.

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Those who think Frank Skinner unfunny I presume have suffered the misfortune of never having seen the great man perform live. I saw him do a standup routine many years ago - when he was drinking I guess - and you can trust me when I say he almost brought the house down.

 

I genuinely don't believe I have ever laughed as much either before or since.

 

Saw him many years ago and I have never know so much laughter. Not just laughing but the place was in tears. Saw him recently, but nowhere near as funny.

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Comedy is a weird beast. There are very few comedians that remain consistently fresh and relevant. As much as I loved Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, outside of the some of the Comic Strip films and their cameos in Blackadder, they were basically doing the same act. I saw John Fothergill compere the Comedy Store, liked him so much that I looked up some of his earlier stuff. He was telling the same jokes a decade ago.

 

I know I said Jack Dee only had about three years worth of material, but those were some fine years. Got a couple of his DVDs which carried distinct gags, so was a little disappointed to see him recycling it on future tours. He's in the Grey Havens of Radio4 now. A happy ending. But definitely check out Live at the Apollo.

 

Jimmy Carr does my títs in. Technically, he's a great performer. Can't fault the delivery or his general presentational skills, but he's representative of a whole class of stand-ups that seem to like the pound a bit more than the punchline. Viz rips the píss out of him for his "no corporate customer turned away" take on appearances, and I wonder myself if there anything he wouldn't do. 8 out of 10 cats does Running Man? I wouldn't rule it out.

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Those who think Frank Skinner unfunny I presume have suffered the misfortune of never having seen the great man perform live. I saw him do a standup routine many years ago - when he was drinking I guess - and you can trust me when I say he almost brought the house down.

 

I genuinely don't believe I have ever laughed as much either before or since.

 

A few comedians were funnier before they kicked the bottle. I guess Skinner could have been one of them, but he sure as hell isn't funny now.

 

Another one I never really got is Alexei Sayle. He had a few half decent routines back in the day, but as he mentioned himself recently, in the eighties all you had to do to cut it as a comedian was shout something Marxist then call Thatcher a bastard.

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I've been away from Blighty for decades now, so I don't recognise half the names here, but unfortunately I still remember Bernard Manning. The only time he was funny was when he appeared on Spitting Image. Also, the lack of mention of Carrot Top means you lot over there probably are lucky enough to have been spared his "humor".

 

One of the best American comedy shows were the early episodes of Married With Children. Ed O'Neill was a genius in those.

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Another one I never really got is Alexei Sayle. He had a few half decent routines back in the day, but as he mentioned himself recently, in the eighties all you had to do to cut it as a comedian was shout something Marxist then call Thatcher a bastard.

 

Alexei Sayle was good, if not great in his day. His solo skit in The Young Ones "Boring" is superb. I also enjoyed his series on BBC2, which featured the talents of a young-ish Angus Deayton and Felicity Montagu, who later on became Alan Partridge's long-suffering assistant Lynn.

 

I've heard Sayle on a couple of interviews recently and he's come across like a proper tosser. He may well be the godfather of alternative comedy in the UK, but that's really an accolade for others to bestow on him, not something that he bangs on about incessantly in Richard Herring's podcast.

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