Comedians you recommend

[minute5072]

Went to see Michael Legge at the festival yesterday. Very funny, angry man

[The Nal]

[t8yman]

Just a heads up, Kitson is playing a few dates, I nearly missed out on tickets yesterday but managed to get 2. Woohoo!!

http://www.danielkitson.com/Site/_.html

also, just found out he released an mp3 of a full show in october, its available from his bandcamp page for a paltry £2 (although I paid more than that by choice)

http://danielkitson.bandcamp.com/

Edited March 23, 2013 by t8yman

[Purple Monkey]

Ross Noble is naturally funny - seen him on so many things and he's spontaneous, just natural.

Sometimes you don't really appreciate that by putting someone like that on a stage.

[Kowalski]

Really enjoyed the BBC4 documentary on Sunday night about Richard Pryor. He was really one of a kind.

[guypjfreak]

Really enjoyed the BBC4 documentary on Sunday night about Richard Pryor. He was really one of a kind.

ah man yea i saw that bloody amazing . was mad that he set him self on fire and even came back from that.

i looked at the amount of albums he did with the thought of starting a collection on the go .......he did LOADS of albums lol

as you said old son one of a kind

[t8yman]

Really enjoyed the BBC4 documentary on Sunday night about Richard Pryor. He was really one of a kind.

I saw him live. I'm sure I posted a picture of it on here a while back actually. twas on my honeymoon, at the comedy store in L.A. in '94 I think. A legend.

[The Nal]

Was only watching this last night from a Richard Pryor doc. Good read.

[The Nal]

Fantastic. Just hilarious.

https://youtu.be/KctO7S62ZfY

[Bisque]

Going to see Carl Donnelly on Saturday, he's always good for dropping a c-bomb.

[gary1979666]

We have a rare night out next week (yay babysitter) to see Dave Gorman do a warm up gig at a pretty small venue (Cambridge Junction) - can't wait. Modern Life is Goodish has been consistently great and to see him in an intimate setting will be fantastic.

[LondonTom]

Fantastic. Just hilarious.

https://youtu.be/KctO7S62ZfY

The reaction has been fantastic hasn't it? Proper uproar some have over it!

[t8yman]

Its comedy. And strangely enough - its very funny.

Saw Stewart Lee last week, he was - once again - fantastic

[feral chile]

calling it comedy isn't a free pass to say anything you like

well, maybe it is. I didn't find any of it funny. I'm not outraged or offended, just disappointed.

Humour is a powerful weapon for undermining people and ideas. Whether you see that as justifiable would depend on how you feel about the subject matter. Think Spitting Image.

[The Nal]

In fact it's worse, you're trivialising it, and giving it a level of acceptance

I disagree. I think by trivialising it you're bringing it to the attention of people. Not taboo to discuss it. Which a lot of these issues are. People put their fingers in their ears. Chris Rock did it with racism (particularly between black Americans), Kinison did it with homophobia (by making awful jokes).

Comedians have a power to shine a light on these subjects in a way that no other person can.

[feral chile]

but, for me, there has to be a funny bit. Just saying provocative things with a smile isn't enough.

All I got from the 'mildly' racism thing was, it's ok to be mildly racist. That's why people laugh. It's giving permission against a (healthy) tide of what's not. And the (mildly) racist punters like that.

Maybe. It might also make people think...'I do that' - but now he's associated it in their heads with being mildly racist. he couldn't do a neil on them, because they'd stop listening. It's more a case of 'I'm not racist but...'. Lots of messages strike home if you can present them in a non threatening way. Nobody thinks of themselves as a bad person, so this might be a way of getting 'good' people to realise they might have a questionable response to things. To challenge racial stereotypes.

[philipsteak]

All I got from the 'mildly' racism thing was, it's ok to be mildly racist. That's why people laugh. It's giving permission against a (healthy) tide of what's not. And the (mildly) racist punters like that.

Whereas I got the opposite. A large part of that audience would've been similar to Louie CK. White, middle class, liberal, probably don't think of themselves as racist. But then they've also had those same thoughts. A lot of that laughter sounded nervous, like they recognised something

ETA or what feral just wrote

2nd edit. A Louis CK joke is rarely just a joke.

Edited May 19, 2015 by philipsteak

[feral chile]

But that's like Jimmy Carr's comment that his favourite sound is the audience collectively responding with a sharp intake of breath in outrage. Well done, you pushed a button. It's not that hard. If I walked into a meeting and farted loudly I'd get a response. Is that so great?

But yeah, I sometimes simply don't get it. I'm not saying he shouldn't have said it. I just don't think it's funny, or even that provocative.

I was uncomfortable with the paedophile bit at the end, where he implied the reward was worth the risk - again, he played on the 'us' and 'them' thing. didn't find humour in that. I wasn't sure what the message was either - I certainly got the 'he's relating to paedophiles kneejerk angry mob suspicion finger point' response so maybe that was the reaction he wanted us to question.

The strongest lesson I ever learnt from humour was a Dave Allen sketch, where he was describing parents smacking children for hitting those smaller than themselves. Such a powerful message wrapped up in irony.

Edited May 19, 2015 by feral chile

[The Nal]

Maybe not in America

And not on SNL

But that's like Jimmy Carr's comment that his favourite sound is the audience collectively responding with a sharp intake of breath in outrage. Well done, you pushed a button. It's not that hard. If I walked into a meeting and farted loudly I'd get a response. Is that so great?

But yeah, I sometimes simply don't get it. I'm not saying he shouldn't have said it. I just don't think it's funny, or even that provocative.

Jimmy Carr is a pointless joke teller and not within an asses roar of Louis CK in terms of depth.

Hes a step above Saturday night in Butlins. A single step.

Edited May 19, 2015 by The Nal

[ThomThomDrum]

calling it comedy isn't a free pass to say anything you like

well, maybe it is. I didn't find any of it funny. I'm not outraged or offended, just disappointed.

You must be great craic altogether. Say you are one barrel of laughs

Didnt get it? Fair enough.

To come away disappointed leads me to think you have an issue with processing different forms of communication. Even if you dont find it funny I thought it was obvious the issues he was highlighting............disappointed?..............Thats something I personally dont get................

[philipsteak]

I was uncomfortable with the paedophile bit at the end, where he implied the reward was worth the risk - again, he played on the 'us' and 'them' thing. didn't find humour in that. I wasn't sure what the message was either - I certainly got the 'he's relating to paedophiles kneejerk angry mob suspicion finger point' response so maybe that was the reaction he wanted us to question.

What is it that drives child molesters to molest children. Whatever it is, it must be pretty powerful. So maybe we need to figure that out and do something about stopping that in order to cut down on the the number of abused children. Cos punishment clearly isn't working

[philipsteak]

I thought it was funny. Probably the weakest of the 3 sections but still funny. Did it go into the subject in any great depth or really explore the complexities. Nope. But then it was the opening monologue for Saturday Night Live rather than the keynote speech at a conference on the causes and prevention of child abuse. Cos if only people with full, in depth knowledge of a subject can talk about it then Neil should probably close this bit of the forum

[philipsteak]

Oh, and meant to add, that by comparing a child abuser's motives to his love for Mounds bars (American version of a Bounty I think) he still managed to give more depth than any discussion usually presented in the media about this. Which was probably also the point

[gary1979666]

That's too depressing for words.

Exactly, Snickers, maybe, but Bounty! Christ!

[fred quimby]

Off to see Stewart Francis tomorrow so will see what he is like