Shamelessly piggy-backing off Tigger’s movie thread, name the five people (be they actors, writers, musicians, or otherwise) who make you laugh the most.
If you’re so inclined, post a taster that suggests why you find each of them so amusing.
I’ll start:
1. Groucho Marx
The little dance at 1.55 alone is comedy genius. He could do absolutely everything.
2. Julia-Louis Dreyfus
A genius of physical comedy. Here she is realising that her unwanted weekend guest has overslept and missed his flight home. 90 seconds of absolute gold.
3. Eddie Murphy
Karate man bleed on the inside.
4. P.G Wodehouse
“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove”.
5. Steve Martin
Sooooo many others, but those are the ones who’ve made me laugh out loud the most.
Incidentally, if you’re looking for inspiration, here’s a great article from Rolling Stone, ranking all 141 Saturday Night Live stars in order of quality. Some very, very funny human beings listed in here (and also Will Ferrell): http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/lists/saturday-night-live-all-141-cast-members-ranked-20150211
Three spring to mind.
– Nick Revell. I once went to one of his shows in a pub and don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much as that night.
– Terry Thomas, just about anything but above all for the scene in I’m alright Jack when he bemoans the workers, “an absolute shower, some of them would break into a muck sweat just by standing still” and then finishes off his rant with a “sorry about that old chap, doing a spot of time and motion last night, redhead, very athletic” and finishes off with a characteristic T-T twinkle.
– Ian Sansom, he has a fabulous turn of phrase and his mobile detective series in particular had me constantly laughing out loud.
Generally I get my laughs from clever verbal humour, but if I am asked to name ‘funny people’ I can immediately think of two with the famous ‘funny bones’, who could make me laugh just by standing up, and those are Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe.
To throw in a couple who are still with us, Billy Connolly and Ross Noble have both made me laugh so hard when I saw them live that I thought I night have trouble ever breathing again.
I’d suggest these two:
Eric Morecambe – just a naturally funny man, made it look effortless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JmuaxvsX_M
Billy Connolly – At his peak, he was innovative and subversive without ever being hurtful. This clip is a random selection; it could have been anything…the man just has funny bones.
Cruel, crude, but very very funny, it’s a shame that Jerry Sadowitz was cancelled.
I agree about Eric Morecambe.
From a completely different comedy world, I also think this guy is hilarious…the great Don Rickles.
I’m with Gatz as regards clever verbal humour. A lot of being funny is also timing. It’s not just what you say, it’s the way that you say it.
Strange how some hilarious people stop being funny. Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy have had very fallow periods.
A few suggestions.
Rowan A in Blackadder.
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Pretty much everybody in 30 Rock. Tina Fay and Alec Baldwin are magnificent.
John Cleese, although a shadow of his former self, still has funny bones.
Jackie Leven was a wonderful
raconteur. As good at being funny as being serious.
All three of them in Black Books.
The really strange thing is that Tina Fey, despite being hilarious on SNL and 30 Rock, and despite writing Mean Girls, has yet to be truly funny in a feature film.
She has to be one of the foremost comedians on the planet, but it just won’t seem to happen for her (so far).
Anyone watched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt which Tina had a huge hand in writing?
I watched four episodes in awestruck horror – maybe the unfunniest sitcom ever?? And Netflix have commissioned a second series god help us all
Good point. Maybe doing a feature requires a different kind of acting than a series? I’ve seen her in one film and despite being a big fan was under-awed.
Completely agree with BL here. Baby Mama and Date Night are the best of her films IMO. I have This is Where I Leave You to watch, maybe that’ll be the one…
Totally agree on Date Night, not seen Baby Mama.
I have seen TIWILY. It passes a couple of hours pleasantly enough but it’s far less than the sum of its parts.
Fey gets one of the movie’s better moments, but (like everyone else) not much in the way of script and character to get her teeth into.
Still worth a watch though.
Incidentally, here’s the best bit of Date Night – Fey and Carrel as a middle aged couple trying to act “cool” at a restaurant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blo-xNiuwys
Mark Heap in Friday Night Dinner is magnificent.
Mark Heap in Green Wing is magnificent……
Nice idea.
1. Spike Milligan. When I was 12 or so in the ’70’s a set of Goon Show Scripts was published in hardback. I’d never heard of them but found myself reading a copy. it quite blew my spotty little head off. Along with the dialogue, puns and daft jokes there were sound effect notes (F.X.) and doodles drawn on the original scripts by Milligan, Sellers and Secombe. I ached with laughter.
I can also remember, soon after, lying in bed laughing till I was breathless at ‘Puckoon’
2. Ronnie Barker. Principally because of ‘Porridge’ but I loved The Two Ronnies. Especially his Government Spokesman. ‘Good evening…’
3. Clive James. Again, because of his writing. ‘Unreliable Memoirs’ and ‘Falling Towards England’ nailed me to the floor.
4. Madeleine Kahn. A bit of a late entry this, but we’ve mentioned her on the comedy film thread. She’s made me laugh in everything I’ve seen her in. Her Eunice Burns in ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ is basically an exaggeration of a friend of mine and it makes me chortle every time.
5. Bill Bailey. ‘A wizard in a call centre’
I find David Mitchell to be as funny as anyone around at the moment. I’d also give a vote for Larry David, as well as some already mentioned above (Ronnie Barker, Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe).
But my absolute faves are all old school – Woody Allen, the Carry On team (you just wouldn’t be able to put a cast like that together these days), Will Hay and his sidekicks and, the best of the best, Laurel and Hardy.
Steve Coogan – His Alan Partridge character never fails to make me laugh. Saxondale was also very good.
David Hyde Pierce – Niles Crane (Frasier) is one of sitcom’s best and funniest characters, and he plays it to perfection.
Louis CK – his stand-up is hilarious and brutally honest.
Loads already mentioned.
This lot below have probably made me laugh harder more than anything. Also honorary mentions for founders, Chris and Simon Donald to make it up to five and to all the other contributors over the years.
Three from me:
SJ Perelman, whose writing is not just hilarious, but suggests that he also knew everything. “The Most of SJ Perelman” has been close to hand for around 30 years.
Alexei Sayle. I’ve only seen him doing standup once, many years ago, but I really did think I would die laughing. It’s a very odd sensation!
Chris Rock. For me, the outstanding standup of the last 20 years.
Jack Milroy. (Only if you are a certain age and from Scotland)
Don’t get me started……
Peter Cook
Some highlights:
Beyond The Fringe
Founder of The Establishment (and by association the “popularisation” (if that is the right word) of Satire
Financial supporter and writer for Private Eye
E L Wisty
Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling
Bedazzled
Not Only But Also
Derek & Clive
Presenter of Revolver
Secret Policemans Ball
Sven from Swiss Cottage
Richard III in The Blackadder
Mr Jolly
The voice of Roger Melly
OK, since Derek & Clive he’s not exactly had a prolific career, but everything he has done has been properly memorable.
And as long as he was sober enough, good value on a Talk Show
From late 1993 – Cook plays 4 charcters on Clive Anderson Tals Back.
Here are some of mine…
1) Bill Hicks – He changed my view of what comedy was and what it could do. Rant In E Minor is sheer art. The phrase “Her foot long labia flops to her knees…” almost ended me.
2) Douglas Adams – Vogon poetry alone makes him immortal. Reading Hitch Hikers had me actually wheezing with laughter
3) Flann O’Brien – “Your talk,” I said, “is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand.” Unlike Wodehouse it’s not about the jokes with him, as much as it is the accumulation of nonsense. Had an effect on me in my twenties as Douglas Adams did in my teens.
4) Rikki Fulton- me, my sister, my mum, my dad, my granny and my granda all loved him. No comedian nowadays has the skills to play to many generations. Rikki Fulton did.
5) Chris Morris – The last comedian who had me asking “How did he get away with that?” I still frequently wonder… Blue Jam is my favorite radio comedy ever.
Great call on Flann O’Brien. A unique genius.
Mine are Daniel Kitson. Seen him Kilkenny and he was brilliant.
Bill Hicks was a genius and was sadly taken far too soon.
My favourite video tapes back in the back were Eddie Murphy Raw and Robin Williams.
SJ Perelman was a writer who I got into when I was on the dole many years ago. I used to get 6 books from the library every fortnight. I think I picked it up by mistake but when I read it I laughed for a long time. Can’t remember the name of the book. It was’t a novel but I think a collection of short stories .Would anybody out there know what this book was called?
I reckon The Most of SJ Perelman is the one you mean. Lots of his stuff for the New Yorker. It goes in and out of print.
As already mentioned, Steve Coogan , Dylan Moran and Louis CK; also honourable mentions for Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish who are responsible for many helpless moments over the years.
And Sarah Silverman, who’s autobiography has a section so utterly filthy and hilarious that I had to bite on my hand to stop myself from laughing out loud on the bus.
I miss the Adam and Joe Show on 6 Music like a much missed late relative. Many, many laugh out loud moments…Song Wars, their in depth look at R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet etc….
Me too…I often revisit the podcasts. Perhaps not very sophisticated but they have made me laugh more than anyone, I think, to the extent of crying helplessly. Their first DVD remains my best-loved comedy DVD.
Neil Innes & Vivian Stanshall. Separately and together.
Peter Cook. Particularly partnered with Dudley Moore.
Bill Bailey. Especially in Black Books with Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig.
Linda Smith. I love her sense of bewilderment about what a stupid world we live in.
Very much missed.
Niles is in The Good Wife at the moment. Interesting career move but he’s still excellent.
I generally go for the elegantly turned phrase, the wit that skewers rather than bludgeons..but the first time I saw this scene, I could neither speak nor breathe….Madame Stoke had to perform CPR….no rational explanation…
Brilliant that – I forgot about that scene. Steve Carrel is up there as one the people who makes me laugh most along with:
John Cleese in Fawlty Towers – never tire of that.
The Two Ronnies
Laurel and Hardy
Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett (probably long forgotten now but he made me laugh like a drain)
Brian Limond AKA Limmy
This fella gives me hope for contemporary comedy genius
Why isn’t he heralded more?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Q4dqYUNSY
What’s your hing, man?
His twitter feed is sporadically very entertaining.
I can only think of Sally Phillips, whose twinkling eye and cheeky grin enliven Alan Partridge, Green Wing, Smack the Pony etc – excellent ensemble casts all, of course
She’s fab.
I think I’ve seen her in Justin’s House and Death in Paradise recently; she was great in both.
This is based on that almost undefinable “funny bones” quality. I think any of these 5 could stand on a stage, read the shipping forecast and still bring the house down.
Eric Morecambe
Billy Connolly
Tommy Cooper
Bob Mortimer
Rik Mayall
People like Steve Coogan, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and the Pythons are totally brilliant too – but the difference is that they get into character and then become funny.
I listened to a Spike Milligan interview recently (Parkinson) and although he was a very funny man, it was his writing and his performances that made him a genius. In the interviews, his stories are often not that funny but he carries it due to his persona. I remember feeling sorry for him at the time.
Vic and Bob. When they’re on form, there’s no one to touch them.
Eddie Mair?
Quite serious here, I have laughed a lot at some of the things he’s done. Years ago he interviewed a straight male hairdresser and his question “And are your customers aware of your (pause) proclivities?” reduced the man (and this listener) to hysterical laughter. Plus he can be deadly when he interviews a politician. A genuine one off talent I think, and a bloke were he to stand in front of a room of people would absolutely be in control.
Mitch Hedberg is a favourite. Brilliantly funny, sweet and sharp. Such a shame he’s no longer with us.
I know he divides opinion, but Harry Hill can still make me have fits of the giggles, even when doing You’ve Been Framed (wasn’t keen on Stars in their Eyes though).
Tim Vine, Stuart Francis, Milton Jones – all the one liner gag chaps make me smile. And I’ll add another vote for Adam and Joe.
The funniest person I have ever seen was my Uncle Windsor.
He bought a horse once (only God knows why), and watching him trying to get on it could not have been bettered by WC Fields, Groucho Marx and Erik Sykes working as a tag team. I honestly thought I would have an aneurysm.
Love this one.
I once watched my Uncle, a gentleman of estimable girth, attempt to use a small, wobbly stool to clamber astride a fairly large horse, while located directly next to a huge trough full of water.
As I surveyed his struggle, the thought occurred to me that if he’d had a comic bone in his entire body, he’d have spotted the potential for yoks and done the decent thing.
The list is endless but most have been mentioned already. Spike Milligan deserves a special mention as he was a big hero of mine when I was growing up, especially his appearances on shows like Blankety Blank –
“Joe Bloggs had been stranded on a desert island for ten years when he decided to have a blank…Spike?”
“Russian spy.”
This is a current fave though (as you may be able to tell from my avatar)
All the three women in Smack the Pony (which featured Sally Philips mentioned above), were very amusing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IWo4kjU4L4
There’s a lot to be said for restraint in humour. Alan Rickman is very drily amusing in Galaxy Quest as a Shakespearian thesp down on his luck.
Amazed we’ve got this far with no Richard Pryor.
I’d also throw Dan Aykroyd into the ring. Once of my favourite comic actors, capable of playing the straight man, and also a brilliant writer: the man’s first four feature writing credits were The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Spies Like Us and Dragnet.