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100 Greatest Stand Ups.
Debrajoan
Posts: 1,917 Forum Member
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I caught the last 30 - 40 minutes of this last night, on, (I think), Channel 4.
After a snippet of the stand up, other comedians would comment on that person.
No matter who it was they'd just seen, they almost ALL said of that person, "funniest person on the planet", they couldn't ALL have been the funniest person on the planet!
Most of the top comics, from 27-28 up to No.2 were ones that I personally thought were funny.
All this is subjective though, for example I think that Lee Evans is absolutely dire, like a cross between Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis, both on ecstasy pills, or speed.
As time wore on, my eyelids were getting heavy, but I thought, hang in there, let's see who Channel 4 think is No 1.
I couldn't believe it when it became obvious that it was that tactless, insensitive Scot, who made the extremely tasteless alleged joke about Ken Bigley, the British hostage who was decapitated in Iraq in 2004.
After a snippet of the stand up, other comedians would comment on that person.
No matter who it was they'd just seen, they almost ALL said of that person, "funniest person on the planet", they couldn't ALL have been the funniest person on the planet!
Most of the top comics, from 27-28 up to No.2 were ones that I personally thought were funny.
All this is subjective though, for example I think that Lee Evans is absolutely dire, like a cross between Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis, both on ecstasy pills, or speed.
As time wore on, my eyelids were getting heavy, but I thought, hang in there, let's see who Channel 4 think is No 1.
I couldn't believe it when it became obvious that it was that tactless, insensitive Scot, who made the extremely tasteless alleged joke about Ken Bigley, the British hostage who was decapitated in Iraq in 2004.
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Comments
It was Channel 5.
You cant dismiss Billy Connolly on one ill-judged thing he said in 2004. He has been entertaining for decades, continues to sell out theatres despite ill health and is an incredible story teller. A worthy winner.
I dismiss him. He went out with the 70s and hasn't been relevant since. The Bigley 'joke' was him trying desperately to be current and 'edgy'.
Who would you have at Number 1 then? (Not trying to catch you out by the way, just curious)
If Connolly was number one, I'm guessing the latter. Great comedian, but I'm not sure he'd top a similar poll these days.
He should be no.1, but it's been a long time since he was at the heady heights of 41st best comedian.
(Hmmm, that rumbling noise must be a herd of Stewart-Lee-haters stampeding in this direction...)
I like Stewart Lee - but he should only be No. 2 - to Bill HIcks - but then he would probably agree with that.
C4 had their list, although it might have been Top50. Channel 5 then took over the same style show and recalculated the list.
I dismiss those who dismiss him.
Stewart Lee at No 1 and so many others above Billy Connolly.
Stewart Lee my number 1 also. At a guess id say he wouldn't have made the Top50 either but i didnt see any of the programme.
Domestically, I'm not sure at all.
You dismiss us do you?
Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but now I know what Dennis Healey meant in 1978, when he said that being attacked by Geoffrey Howe was like being savaged by a dead sheep.
There'll never be another.
Kitson was on such a list, not sure it was this one though. He is brilliant.
Lee buried Hicks in a broadsheet a while back saying his material dated badly & that the Shane metaphor was the only bit of his stand up he liked.
Though Lee has also moaned about having to work with a "poor bald man with a terrible speech impediment who only gets gigs out of sympathy" (Kitson) so as ever with Lee maybe it's not to be taken that seriously.
I think the reason why Billy is normally in all these types of list is No.1 is just due to longevity.
Also that fact that almost all (british) standups since the mid-80's owe a debt to Billy Connolly and Jasper Carrott, as these two were the guys who were successfully doing stand-up alternative comedy a decade before it became mainstream and accepted.
As hard as some will find it to believe I honestly think that without the 70's work (both on stage and on TV) of Connolly & Carrott there would have been no alternative comedy movement of the early 80's and thus no Young Ones, no Ben Elton, no Rik Mayall, no Ade Edmonson, no Victoria Wood, no Alexei Sayle, no Comedy Strip, no French & Saunders and all the stuff that came afterwards.
As for Stewart Lee he is good, but I rate Richard Herring as funny. Lee makes me laugh and think, Herring just has me in tears of laughter with some of his stand-up stuff.
However with all these lists its always subjective. Can anyone here name one comedian that everybody loves? I wager its impossible. Every comedian annoys the vast majority of people, but those who work hard enough to build a loyal following are the ones who can make a living out of it and I'm sure that every single one in the Ch5 Top 100 had enough fans to make a career out of it.
Yeah I agree with that,they took comedy away from the straight forward joke telling of the old Comedians.I know someone might jump in and say they weren't the first to do the story telling comedy but they were the ones to make it mainstream and viable,so many followed after them.
I'm a big Stewart Lee fan as well but he was best when partnered with Herring I still laugh at their reunion gig even though it's the same old jokes.The Beeb didn't really know what to do with them though.
He was a genius but he was never known as a stand up comic.