MaysLanding wrote:
There's something wrong with this thread. Comedy comes down to what makes you laugh, on your own personal tastes. There are comedians that come out and say about ten words and people are rolling on the ground, then you have athletic comedians like Lee Evans.
To sit and tell others what is and isn't funny is quite clearly fucking daft. Obviously it comes down to what tickles them and nothing more. So all this thread has a use for is to find out what makes people laugh at who and what.
Personally, for example, I think Billy Connolly is the most unfunny boring cunt I've ever had the misfortune to watch. However, obviously some people find him hilarious or he wouldn't still be a comedian, and he wouldn't still be wildly popular.
Well, that is me told.
To an extent, I agree. For example, I can't stand Mrs Browns Boys whereas it is popular. However, I can tell you
why so many people find it funny. On a technical level, it is end of the pier music hall and partly works because no-one has done end of the pier music hall for a while. It is quite unlike anything else, aims broadly, fires lots of shots and enough of them hit. I've never found Bottom to be all that amusing either, but it worked the same way.
I can see why Dylan Moran has so many detractors - he took the character in Black Books, which was totally awesome in the situation it was in - and brought it onto a stage and a spotlight and it just doesn't work. The Pub Landlord isn't to everyones taste but is amazing live and never really worked on telly. (Didn't help that Al Murray found himself in the same position as Warren Garnett, being enjoyed by the very people he was taking the piss out of.)
Tate is a fine example of one of the worst things in TV comedy. Ever noticed that there are male comedians, but female "comedy actresses"? Jack Dee and Vic Reeves are comedians who act, and Tate and Hart are actors who do comedy. You can tell the difference. It is one of those oddities that female standups largely get ignored (I'm thinking Linda Smith, Susan Calman, Sarah Kendall, Jo Caulfield) yet the ones who have had a shot at a TV gig (Sarah Millican) rapidly hit stardom. Hart has the delivery and timing of Beethoven - the dog, not the composer. Tate can't fucking act. Her "characters" are a one-note sledgehammer with a laugh track.
(But then I can take you through Little Britain and explain how every single sketch and every single character and every single situation is exactly the same. The Fast Show spawned many imitators, all of whom missed the damned point.)
Funnily enough, I was discussing Billy Connolly with Mrs P last night (she had watched "Audience with..." and was unable to breathe through laughter) and the description of him as "genius". Connolly is not a genius, because that implies some level of pre-meditation and inspiration in what he does. And he isn't pre-meditated, he doesn't work on his craft, his writing or his performance skills. His brain just operates on that level naturally. There are very few like that in the world - Robin Williams, maybe. Spike Milligan?
Sure you can define comedy as "whatever makes people laugh". But then you can define McDonalds as "food" exactly like anything Heston Blumenthal makes, and Westlife as "music" and lump them in with Mozart, Hendirx and Gershwin. There is good comedy and bad comedy. There are good comedians and bad ones. The thing is, knowing that the bad ones are Westlife.
Sorry, rambling now.