How many times have you laughed so hard you thought you were going to die? Or you have doubled over in agony pleading for them to stop ’cause it hurts so much? If you have never experienced this in your life then I pity you. You obviously have never watched a stand up comic…
I love stand up comedians. I mean really good stand up comedians – observational ones that make you think about and appreciate the absurdity of life. Stand up comedy can be so very good and sometimes so very bad. I don’t know about you but I physically squirm with embarrassment when I see bad stand up. I wish they would just stop and leave the stage to stop causing themselves and the audience any further discomfort.
So I’m only going to talk about a handful of the really good ones – some we have seen live – the others on DVD or TV. This is obviously very subjective as what makes me laugh isn’t necessarily what makes the next person laugh. I’m definitely not a fan of “gross out” humour – tit and bum jokes just don’t do it for me. I have good friends and family who adore the Hangover films or anything with Adam Sandler in it – I simply find them silly and just a bit lame… It’s all subjective isn’t it?…
Here are some favourites in no particular order…
Bill Bailey
First of all thanks go to Bill for the title of this piece…
I worship at the temple of Bill Bailey – I am a Baileyist – this eccentric man has had me in stitches for many, many years. We’ve seen him twice live here in Melbourne and own every DVD he’s ever produced. I follow him on Twitter!
Why you may ask? Bill Bailey is so special. There isn’t a malicious bone in this man-child’s body. His act is joyous and ridiculous. His way of thinking astounds me and I wish I had half his intellect. Apart from being hilariously funny he is also a classically trained musician which he incorporates into his comedy like a sort of hippie Victor Borge. Check out his “Introduction To The Orchestra” DVD – you will be in awe of his musical ability… It’s wonderful uplifting stuff and I never grow tired of watching him. He is also a passionate animal lover. He also looks funny and refers to himself as a “Part Troll“. Bottom line – he is gorgeous and I love him to bits. He’s on my list of people I would love to have a drink with…
Lee Evans
What can I say about the amazing Lee Evans. We first saw him here on TV at a Comedy Gala doing his assigned three minutes and he mimed wearing “Octopus Shoes” by walking across the stage with his feet sticking tightly to the floor as if held down by suckers. I laughed so much it hurt…
This man is such a physical comic and in many ways reminds me of Norman Wisdom – shy and nervous. Then he launches into all the things that annoy him and you just sit back and marvel at his mobile face, his silly accents and the amount of sweat he loses every night! He pounds up and down the stage like a madman and is absolutely exhausting to watch. He is also a talented singer and plays the mandolin at the end of each show and this is when he turns into normal Lee Evans not the manic one you just spent the last couple of hours with…
Lee Evans is one of the funniest men on the planet and I would love to meet him to tell him so… He made a movie called Funny Bones in 1995 which is still one of my favourite films… Genius…
Jo Brand
This is one very funny lady with a distinctly laid back delivery that is quite unique. I could listen to her for hours. Being a psychiatric nurse for ten years in her pre-comedy life, Jo incorporates a lot of her experiences into her work as a comedian and spends a lot of time raising awareness of mental health issues. She is also a very successful author with nearly a dozen books to her name. Jo Brand is seen a lot on British TV where she is very popular and winning the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comic in 2012.
There is a definitive shortage of truly funny women so discovering Jo Brand years ago was like a breath of fresh air… She is also a joy to watch on Stephen Fry’s ” QI” which is just about the only time we see her on Australian TV. She shares very, very clever observations about life and people – again the fierce intellect shines through and dazzles me every time…
Billy Connolly
The daddy of them all for us both is The Big Yin – Billy Connolly. I have been a fan since my teens all the way from his early concerts on tape to his films and TV appearances. We always see him live when he comes out but it gets harder each year due to his incredible popularity in Australia… When we watch Billy Connolly something happens that I can’t explain – it’s like a kind of hysteria comes over us. My husband has tears running down his face and is hunched over in pain! He just tickles the right funny bones in both of us… His rambling stories are a joy and he never does exactly the same show twice… His routine about the Swiss Army and their wee knives still remains one of the funniest things I have ever seen as is his monologue about the crippled and the maimed leaving the Clyde Shipyards at the end of the working shift – pure magic man…
Billy’s appearances on Parkinson are hilarious as are his filmed concerts. Lately he has branched out into travel documentaries and these are as entertaining as they are educational. He also appears in movies as a serious actor and was nominated for a BAFTA for Mrs. Brown.
Billy’s odd take on the world endears him to everyone he seems to meet…. I would love to have a cup of tea with Mr. Connolly…
Jack Dee
We saw Jack Dee live just last weekend here at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. We have been fans for years and first discovered him over 15 years ago. Again that magic combination of deadpan delivery and the dour persona are just so appealing to my husband and me. He is fascinating as he talks about the mundane and the ordinary but makes it so very interesting and genuinely funny. On Saturday night he talked about what a terrible week he had just had beginning with a blown light bulb in his garage. It was truly hilarious and we enjoyed every minute of it.
He has also branched out into acting and his TV show “Lead Balloon” is a big hit. We have all his live DVD’s and never tire of watching them again and again. We quote reams of his routines to each other which tends to leaves most people around us totally baffled…
George Carlin
The late, great George Carlin – what can I say. One of the few American comedians we really loved. I remember his early routine about “Stuff” – if you can find it on YouTube have a listen – it is gold. He also broke barriers with his routines about dirty words you couldn’t say on TV which landed him in court in the late 70’s.
Articulate, intelligent and not afraid to speak out George Carlin became the voice of truth as he got older. His stand up comedy became more social criticism on the slow decay of not only American culture but all Western society as it battles the uneducated, the fat, the lazy who inhabit our lives and shopping malls… His voice is a warning and boy we really should be listening to him… Luckily for all of us there is a lot of George Carlin material available on YouTube and on DVD…
George Carlin passed away in 2008 and I miss him terribly…
Julian Clary
Who can go past the delicious Julian Clary. I’ve been fascinated by him since we discovered him in “Sticky Moments” on British TV in 1989. We were riveted by this exotic creature we knew would have never been allowed on staid old Australian TV at that time. It took several years for his show to be aired in OZ and then it was on really late at night so as to not offend anyone! His outrageous, over the top, stereotypical camp persona was like nothing we had ever seen before and his way of ad-libbing with an audience or one on one with a contestant was masterful. The fact that he had the face of an angel also added to his appeal. I think that women were probably his biggest fans…
Over the years he has toned down the costumes but his sarcastic style of humour remains. He’s hugely popular in Britain and actually won Celebrity Big Brother! Julian appears on heaps of talk shows and he is so beautifully spoken but still quite deadly with his wit and is seen often in the newer crop of clever quizz shows like “QI”
Dylan Moran
As if the dreamy Irish accent and the carefully tousled hair isn’t enough to make me swoon, Dylan Moran is also one of the cleverest performers I’ve seen. His monologues are almost poetic and his biting satiric humour stabs his targets like a rapier… We’ve got all his live DVD’s and never tire of listening to him.
And as if that isn’t enough he is also the wonderfully obnoxious Bernard Black of “Black Books” fame – that’s an accolade all on its own. This was ground breaking TV – a thoroughly unlikable character that everyone somehow adores…
Again it’s observational comedy at it’s very best and I would really like to meet Mr. Moran just to shut my eyes and listen to that divine voice…
Honourable mentions:
This list will just get longer and longer as I think of all my favourites. Please feel free to contribute as I’m sure I’ve left out some pretty important people. Here are some others worth looking our for:
Dara O’Briain, Dave O’Neil. Ricky Gervais, Rich Hall, Alan Davies, Judith Lucy, Dave Hughes, Rob Brydon, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay, Lee Mack, Wil Anderson, Ardal O’Hanlon
Dead Flies and Oose! 