Frankie Boyle - Modern Comedy

He’s very good, yes.

 

There’s no one there I would pay to watch live, or even spend an hour watching on TV. Some are quite good in small doses though.

 

Sarah Millican 4th, Katherine Ryan 6th? Ugh.

Can’t say I’ve heard too much of the others beyond being talking heads on Channel 5/Sky One ‘Best Of’ programmes and no doubt appearing on a Channel 4/Comedy Central panel show or 20. Which immediately eliminates them from being worth my time.

 

It is a fine line. Some bigoted and racist comedy is designed to be laughed at not laughed with.

The ultimate example of that was Warren Mitchell and his Alf Garnett character.

It was obvious to anyone with a scintilla of intelligence that Alf's views were so ridiculous that they were comedic. You were meant to laugh at the character not laugh at the target of his bigotry.

Of course many racists don't have a scintilla of intelligence and Alf became a foke hero with some of the people Mitchell so despised.

As I say, it's a fine, blurry, line and depends as much on the audience's interpretation as it does the comedians intentions.

 

Wow, you’re treading a fine line. Are you Frankie in disguise?

 

And of course Michell was a Spurs fan. I bet he loved playing a bigoted West Ham fan.

 

I quite like her on the Great Pottery Showdown, in fact I don't think I'd watch much of it otherwise.
However, it's one of life's mysteries to me how Ellie Taylor can speak normally yet show all of her teeth at the same time. Watch her then try it.

 

...and Kathy Burke blows all female comedians out of the water when she's just being herself.

 

If you do pay to watch live comedy, particularly at the less mainstream venues (my last visit to the Comedy Store was a soulless one), then you will have a chance of seeing female (& male) comedians who will serve up good and original material, less bothered about being the next Macintyre, or whatever his female equivalent is.

I saw Sara Pascoe close the night at Bush Hall earlier this year. She was good. I don’t think she’s amazing, but a decent performance. Felicity Ward hosted the night. She’s ok. I preferred her a few years ago when she was starting out, with a more thoughtful and offbeat approach. But she has ditched that for the bigger paycheque.

Saw Josie Long doing her own show at the Soho Theatre a year or so back. Wonderful stuff from a truly clever woman who’s won Edinburgh awards etc. I’ve also been impressed with some of Sindhu Vee’s stuff, but I can’t be sure what you’ll get from her these days, now she’s broken into Live at the Apollo territory.

From that list someone posted above, must say I’ve not been too amazed by many of them. But I saw Aisling Bee headline a difficult gig in a pub in London a good few years back. Really good. Head and shoulders above the rest that night.

 

Ha ha. But why am I? How many genuinely funny black stand-ups can you think of, off the top of your head? And please don't say Lenny Henry

 

C’mon? Seriously? Chris Rock, Richard Pryor are two of the GOAT.

You are pulling my leg.

What is rare though is a funny Tory. Is Geoff Norcott still the only one?

 

Truss was hilarious.

 

OK, I'll let you have Chris Rock and Richard Pryor. So that's two...

 

Aberdeen , doesn’t he always lay into that place?

 

I totally agree with this .

It’s now in the culture that comedy characters that are designed to be laugh at for racism/ bigotry etc at are now being taken as celebrations of that character . For instance a number of the Little Britain characters are clearly designed to laugh at ie racist lady who vomits, fat fighter,

 

Lenny Henry

 

It must be tough for comedians as these days you can be arrested and thrown in jail if you say you’re English.

 

About time.

 

I do like challenging comedy so love Frankie Boyle. I'm like his World Order TV show audience members when he says something near the knuckle - laughing guiltily, with a sort of 'Did he really just say that?' look on their faces. I don't think all of his stuff is funny, but the majority is. To me. I do like Jo Brand as well and having seen Dom Joly live recently I'm a fan of his as well.

We do need dark humour for these dark times - gallows humour in many professions is vital to help keep a sense of perspective and sanity - as long as it doesn't get repeated outside the enclave or to senior management I suppose! For the same reason, hardship experienced during recessions often result in a surge of artistic creativity, whether in music, comedy art etc. I look forward to the next few years!

 

I find Frankie Boyle a bit boring as he puts so much value on shock. My in laws went to see him and were less than impressed as he spent ages going on about Harvey Price and they have a similarly disabled child.

One that annoys me is Rosie Jones. Good on her for not being held back by her disability, but just not funny. She's only got where she is because people are patronising.

Sean Lock was a fantastic stand up and general entertainer, sadly missed.

Been quite impressed with Sara Pascoe's stand up and going to see her in a couple of months. She did a travel program, which wasn't very good as she was taking the p1ss out of the people she was meeting too much.

 

You are Geoff Norcott and I claim my £4.42

 

Such a shame they have canned "Mock the Week". That was a nursery for so many excellent young comedians, Ed Gamble, James Acaster, so many more. No idea why they killed it yet "Have I got news for you" continues its' dull tedious existance.

 

Top 5 are great then it drops off alarmingly. I like Angela Barnes too. And Fern Brady.

 

Because Tories.

 

Don't find either funny. Rich Hall is the only consistently funny US comedian, with Reg D Hunter occasionally excellent but sometimes poor.

 

ISTR that MtW and Live at the Apollo has the reputation (in the trade) of being pwned by a couple of agencies getting their acts exposure. Case in point was Gina Yashere, her style and act (which I really liked) was spectacularly ill-suited to the MtW format yet there she was week-in and week-out...

 

Nina Conti??????????? Jenny Eclair?????????????? FFS

 

When did this come in?

 

She was only on the show 8 times in 21 series. Never more than twice in a series. A long time ago.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mock_the_Week_panellists

In my view it has got better and better over the years, look at the variety of comedians on over the last 5 or 6 series...

 

Right, the US has only one consistently funny comedian?

You’re having a laugh.

 

Not at US comedy I'm not....
I appreciate different people like different stuff. I just happen to find UK comedians far funnier. Honestly. Can't think of another very funny US stand up comedian. Probably only one or two in my top 30. Someone like Kevin Bridges is just so much funnier.

 

All of these below who have been on MTW in alpa order are good to great...
Angela Barnes
Catherine Bohart
Dara O'Briain
Desiree Burch
Ed Byrne
Ed Gamble
Ellie Taylor
Eshaan Akbar
Frank Skinner
Gary Delaney
Glenn Moore
Greg Davies
Hal Cruttenden
Ivo Graham
James Acaster
Joe Wilkinson
Josh Widdicombe
Kerry Godliman
Kevin Bridges
Laura Lexx
Marcus Brigstocke
Mark Simmons
Miles Jupp
Milton Jones
Nigel Ng
Olga Koch
Rachel Parris
Rhod Gilbert
Rhys James
Ria Lina
Rob Beckett
Romesh Ranganathan
Rosie Jones
Sara Pascoe
Sarah Keyworth
Sarah Millican
Tom Allen

 

As Robert Peel said, Rosie Jones is painfully unfunny.

No Chris Addison? Or Stewart Francis (Canadian, not American)?

I note you have not listed Russell Howard or Macintyre…

And pity poor Hugh Dennis, an ever present who does not make your list.