Stand-Ups

I've just finished reading "How I Escaped My Certain Fate" by Stewart Lee, a fantastic book of memoirs/annotated transcripts/musings on comedy in general which my friend and part-time double act partner got me for my birthday, and it's completely re-energised my love of stand-up as a form. So, all this is really just a w**ky way of setting up the following question:

Who are you favourite stand-up comedians? Youtube clips welcome, but not essential.

To get things started, here's Mr Lee in action, taking a wonderfully fresh approach to the stand-up favourite of political correctness:

I would rate Stewart Lee as one of the best standups there is - his Ang Lee routine  from Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle reduced me to tears and was easily the best thing on TV last year. 

Edited by Dean - August 07 2010 at 13:40

For the past few months I've been listening to a lot of Maria Bamford. This is one of her best bits.

moreitsythanyou wrote: For the past few months I've been listening to a lot of Maria Bamford. This is one of her best bits.

Edited by mystic fred - August 08 2010 at 08:08

mystic fred wrote: My top funny men...   Bob Hope - had all his jokes written for him but his delivery and timing were perfect, it's the way he told 'em.   Bob Monkhouse - a walking encyclopaedia of funny gags.   Benny Hill - underrated misunderstood genius.   Tommy Cooper - master of the art of the bumbling incompetent.   Robin Williams - very talented stand up always has me in fits.   Marty Feldman - genius of stage and screen, took British humour way ahead.   Jasper Carrot  - wasted on that silly game show.   Billy Connolly - very funny guy but the swearing is a big turn-off.   Bill Bailey - will  he ever get a tune from that guitar?   Jack Dee - the best comics, they say, never laugh, Jack is a master of the dead pan.   Jo Brand - from the Jack Dee mould, very funny lady.   Omid Djalili - very clever muslim comedian treads a very fine line...   Ricky Gervais - more than a silly dance.   Lenny Henry - very talented opened new doors for black comedians.   Michael Mackintyre - king of the "everyday observation" style of comedy, heard it all before but very funny man.       Ones i can't stand..     Ken Dodd - silly unfunny idiot should be on at kiddy time, a saddo.   Roy Chubby Brown - smutty northern workingmen's club comic.   Julian Clary - sick homosexual innuendos rubbed in your face.   Jim Davidson - not much material after nick nick and chalky got very boring.   Lee Evans - based his whole act on Norman Wisdom and failed.   Harry Hill - holiday camp nonsense.   Russell Grant - dangerous talentless clown.   Peter Kay - his videos and books are wasting space in charity shops...

Some great mentions in both lists, but there ate a few I disagree on, so I hope you don't mind if I dissect it a bit, (as I've said before I am a MASSIVE comedy nerd).

Bob Hope - great timing for sure, but not the best of his generation, IMO.

Bob Monkhouse - Never bought into his style. He always seemed disingenuous and vaguely creepy at times.

Benny Hill - Agreed, it's a shame that he's now remembered for nothing but chasing scantily clad girls around to that bloody sax tune.

Tommy Cooper - Absolute bloody genius. Perfect delivery, magnetic stage presence, and his 'shambolic' magic tricks were the epitomy of brilliant stagecraft.

Robin Williams - Argh. No, not for me. All delivery, no content.

Marty Feldman - Not so much a stand-up, but ahead of his time for sure. His influence on Monty Python is rarely mentioned but all too apparent if you know where to look.

Jasper Carrott - Good delivery, but a bit too broad and mainstream for my tastes.

Billy Connolly - There is a reason this man's a household name. In other hands his material would seem pedestrian, desperate or simply non-existance, but his personality and presence transforms it.

Bill Bailey - Past his prime now, sadly, but check out his "Bewilderness" tour to see a masterclass in intelligent, idiosyncratic and gently surreal humour, not to mention some of the best musical comedy of all time.

Jack Dee - Well past his prime, but he still knows how to deliver a gag.

Jo Brand - Cannot STAND her. I have never seen her deliver a decent five minutes of comedy.

Omid Djalili - What I've seen hasn't impressed me all that much.

Ricky Gervais - Don't see what the fuss is about. The Office was a great comedy drama, but his stand-up is terribly weak, IMO.

Lenny Henry - You say he opened new doors for black comedians, I'd say he opened new doors for Lenny Henry. The UK stand-up scene is still dominated by white, middle class men and what few black/asian comedians there are out there, the vast majority seem to trade off their ethnicity and little else, as though they're afraid to do material about other issues.

Michael McIntyre - Nooooo. He is the stand-up equivalent of a Ginsters pasty - a miserable, mass-produced imitation of the real thing.

As for the ones you didn't like, I'm mostly in agreement but I think you're a bit harsh on Ken Dodd and Harry Hill is VERY misunderstood, I think. Did you mean Russel Brand instead of Russell Grant? The latter is an astrologist...

Trouserpress wrote: Jasper Carrott - Good delivery, but a bit too broad and mainstream for my tastes.

Dean wrote: Trouserpress wrote: Jasper Carrott - Good delivery, but a bit too broad and mainstream for my tastes. When he first appeared in the 1970s he was a complete revelation - along with Connolly, Boyce, and Harding, he came out of the early 70s folk scene doing extended chats between songs, then the songs became shorter and shorter until they were just one-liner gags ("If I were a Carpenter, I'd screw you to the bed" ... "Hangman, hangman, come slacken your noo-")  and was alternative before alternative became the lame buzz-word of the PC 80s.

Thanks for that, Dean. I wasn't aware of Carrott's origins - I was just going on what I've seen of his stuff without necessarily placing it in context (which can be crucial to understanding comedy).

Right then, here's a partial list of some of my favourite stand-ups, with illustrative links.

Stewart Lee - as mentioned above, easily the most intelligent, refreshing and bold stand-up this country has ever produced, IMO.
Richard Herring - not as polished as his former double act partner, but that's a conscious choice of his. He's brilliant at creating utterly obscene imagery undercut by satirical or metatextual ideas which neatly deflect any accusations of puerile childishness.
Simon Munnery - Baffling, scattershot, too clever by half, but utterly utterly brilliant.
Josie Long - Don't judge her by her appearences on sh*t panel shows, her actual stand-up shows are much much better.
Bill Bailey - Finely-honed whimsy.

I could go on, but I'll leave it there for now. I'm sure there's something useful I ought to be doing instead.

My, my, there are SOOOOOO many great stand up comedians. Here are a few I love, but too many to list all of them-favorites:

Some of my faves