O/T Favourite English Comedian

[TundraWolf]

Thought this might be fun to take a survey of favourite English comedians from the members of this board.

For me it is "the lad himself," Tony Hanc0ck! With a supporting cast of Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Bill Kerr he was a huge success on both television and radio. Sadly, like so many in his field his life ended in suicide.

Very creative, his humour mocked his character, not others.

http://i59.tinypic.com/ekeuyg.jpg

The opening scene from the 1961, episode, "The Blood Donor," is still a classic: - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1-Mrlm3TU)

[Evewolf65]

Thought this might be fun to take a survey of favourite English comedians from the members of this board.

For me it is "the lad himself," Tony Hanc0ck! With a supporting cast of Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Bill Kerr he was a huge success on both television and radio. Sadly, like so many in his field his life ended in suicide.

Very creative, his humour mocked his character, not others.

http://i59.tinypic.com/ekeuyg.jpg

The opening scene from the 1961, episode, "The Blood Donor," is still a classic:


Ahh Hancock East Cheam's most famous resident yet in 'real life he was born and bred Brummie!
Too difficult for me to pick this one, just too many sub genres best British Comedian, in what? Stand Up, TV, Film, Theatre, Radio?? Its a bit like saying what's your favourite Band, or Album! I can't do it! XD

[Woking88]

Very difficult as I rank many of them equally. For versatility of acting and variety of voices, few can better Peter Sellers:-

http://i57.tinypic.com/2guk5ty.jpg

[Robus]

John Cleese maybe.

[JeremyBender]

Bob Monkhouse - sheer genius.

"They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They're not laughing now."

[1877wolf]

Tommy Cooper.

The audiences would fall about laughing without him uttering a word.

One of the jokes went (something) like this:

I backed a horse at 20/1.

It came in at half past four. XD XD XD

[Woking88]

There are some good ones that we tend to forget. Her's Harry Worth:-

http://i59.tinypic.com/25h075y.jpg - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f189hOfyYSY)

[TundraWolf]

Thanks for introducing me to him, Wokes; don't believe he ever made over to this side of the pond.

[Acido]

are we allowed to mention comedians who are in colour (from the 2000's onwards) ?

[PremierWolf]

are we allowed to mention comedians who are in colour (from the 2000's onwards) ?

Go for it mate. :D

[Acido]

are we allowed to mention comedians who are in colour (from the 2000's onwards) ?

Go for it mate. :D[/quote]


Ok that's a challenge I like...

Lee Evans, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Russell Howard.

(anymore ?)

[PremierWolf]

are we allowed to mention comedians who are in colour (from the 2000's onwards) ?

Go for it mate. :D[/quote]


Ok that's a challenge I like...

Lee Evans, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Russell Howard.

(anymore ?)[/quote]

Lee Evans and Michael McIntyre are my two favourites. :D

[greystone16]

Peter Sellars, genius from Goon Show onwards.

[TundraWolf]

Anybody a fan of Spike Milligan from his Goon Show days? I have seen clips of him from years ago but he was never a regular over here. - view external link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4)

[Woking88]

Anybody a fan of Spike Milligan from his Goon Show days? I have seen clips of him from years ago but he was never a regular over here.
Spike Milligan was usually just totally hilarious, Goon Show or anything else!

Not sure why some of these links don't transfer properly, Tundra.

Try this:- - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4)

[wolves71]

Anybody a fan of Spike Milligan from his Goon Show days? I have seen clips of him from years ago but he was never a regular over here.
Spike Milligan was usually just totally hilarious, Goon Show or anything else!

Not sure why some of these links don't transfer properly, Tundra.

Try this:-[/quote]

Some youtube videos have secure links, similiar to if you bank online, when you copy and paste it you end up with both http://https, all that is needed is remove https and leave yourself with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4. If you seen in the Link box below Link (http://):

[TundraWolf]

Thanks, "71, very helpful, I'll give it a try below...

Thanks as well, Wokes!


(Edit: It WORKS!):D - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4)

[Woking88]

Anybody a fan of Spike Milligan from his Goon Show days? I have seen clips of him from years ago but he was never a regular over here.
Spike Milligan was usually just totally hilarious, Goon Show or anything else!

Not sure why some of these links don't transfer properly, Tundra.

Try this:-[/quote]

Some youtube videos have secure links, similiar to if you bank online, when you copy and paste it you end up with both http://https, all that is needed is remove https and leave yourself with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4. If you seen in the Link box below Link (http://):[/quote]

Thanks Gav. You have very kindly pointed this out before but I have found cases where the http and the https just dont seem to want to be separated. You think you have done the job by eliminating one of them, put the corrected item in the link and after

[wolves71]

Anybody a fan of Spike Milligan from his Goon Show days? I have seen clips of him from years ago but he was never a regular over here.
Spike Milligan was usually just totally hilarious, Goon Show or anything else!

Not sure why some of these links don't transfer properly, Tundra.

Try this:-[/quote]

Some youtube videos have secure links, similiar to if you bank online, when you copy and paste it you end up with both http://https, all that is needed is remove https and leave yourself with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4. If you seen in the Link box below Link (http://):[/quote]

Thanks Gav. You have very kindly pointed this out before but I have found cases where the http and the https just dont seem to want to be separated. You think you have done the job by eliminating one of them

[wolves71]

Where you the link Tundra posted...

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4

Copy and paste the part in bold back into your browser address bar, then see what comes up, i've just done it and get what's below. - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4)

[Woking88]

Where you the link Tundra posted...

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4

Copy and paste the part in bold back into your browser address bar, then see what comes up, i've just done it and get what's below.

So, eliminate both the http and the https. I will try that, thanks.

[wolves71]

Where you the link Tundra posted...

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rs8Mx7RlC4

Copy and paste the part in bold back into your browser address bar, then see what comes up, i've just done it and get what's below.

So, eliminate both the http and the https. I will try that, thanks.[/quote]

By rights that should work, but may differ whichever browser you use. It works for me in my Opera browser, i will try the same in Firefox after the football has finished.

[Woking88]

dave Allen was very popular in his time. Here he is in glorious technicolour:-

http://i58.tinypic.com/28rpfdc.jpg - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVPUIRGthI)

[Woking88]

Morecambe and Wise never failed to entertain.

Seen here with Kate O'Mara:-

http://i61.tinypic.com/2afyibl.jpg - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgdhZGLJrY)

[TundraWolf]

I had heard of M&W through this board in the past but not seen them until now. Funny link, Wokes.

I changed my link on the USA& Canada Freeze thread, "71 and Wokes...and it works, thanks again, fellows!!

[Acido]

are we allowed to mention comedians who are in colour (from the 2000's onwards) ?

Go for it mate. :D[/quote]

Ok that's a challenge I like...

Lee Evans, Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Russell Howard.

(anymore ?)[/quote]

Lee Evans and Michael McIntyre are my two favourites. :D[/quote]


I'd like to add John Bishop to my list, and I wouldn't mind squeezing Sarah Millican a bit :P

[silversurferwolf]

Tommy Cooper for me too. A real conection with the audience every time.

[tony]

dave Allen was very popular in his time.

True...but he was never English ;D :P

Tough one this.. offensive to some but as a straightforward stand up/gag machine Bernard Manning took some beating.

But he wouldn't have been any good as a dreamer up of surreal, hilarious fantasy scenarios in the way that Spike Milligan could... Milligan would probably get my vote as best befitting the over-used "comedy genius" tag.

On the other hand, some of our best comedy actors (Ronnie Barker, Leonard Rossiter, Arthur Lowe) would be unable to stand at a mike and reel off killer jokes in the way Manning could, so it's horses for comedy courses...

Nothing to do with political correctness but a lot of comedy has dated badly (I used to roar with laughter at The Goodies and Morecambe & Wise - which too often today make me cringe a bit. Even Benny Hill can fall into that category on occasion, and I used to worship him). But some is time-proof (witn

[TundraWolf]

We used to get some older English shows over here, black & white, of course.

I remember enjoying Tony Hancock in "Hancock's Half-Hour," Jimmy Edwards in "Wacko" as a Headmaster at a boys' boarding school and Eric Sykes in "Sykes". Other stalwarts were Frankie Howerd ((never funny to me) and Sid James!!

[Woking88]

I agree with you about Dave Allen not being English, Tony, but he sure spent a fair bit of time on English TV, so I won't hold it against him! ;D :P XD

For Tundra, Jimmy Edwards:-

http://i58.tinypic.com/2rom1oi.jpg

Who, I believe, passed away in technicolour!

[DorsetGoldandBlack2]

Stan Laurel...he played the fool in the duo but he was the brains behind the scenes..

[TundraWolf]

I agree with you about Dave Allen not being English, Tony, but he sure spent a fair bit of time on English TV, so I won't hold it against him! ;D :P XD

For Tundra, Jimmy Edwards:-

http://i58.tinypic.com/2rom1oi.jpg

Who, I believe, passed away in technicolour!

Thanks for the pic, Wokes, seems less imposing than when I saw his show as a lad, perhaps because as a young'un the air of authority and omnipotence hung over school heads like a cloud from an avenging god!.

[PremierWolf]

This thread would not be complete without mentioning Warren Mitchell, aka Alf Garnet ... Up the ammers :D

[Woking88]

Yes, Alf Garnett was just brilliant, Prem!

So were this duo - a great source of laughs:-

Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones in 'At Last Smith and Jones' and 'Alas Smith and Jones'.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2a7ecnb.jpg - view external link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuOZ7K0pZlI)

[tony]

Other stalwarts were Frankie Howerd ((never funny to me)

Tunds, it always fascinates me how one man's meat is another man's poison: I always found (and still find) Frankie Howerd laugh-out-loud hilarious (see the "Up Pompeii!" film - quite brilliant!) whereas your favourite - Tony Hancock - leaves me completely cold - a depressing/boring misanthrope (which translated into real life when he topped himself). I never will grasp why he was so popular.

[TundraWolf]

Other stalwarts were Frankie Howerd ((never funny to me)

Tunds, it always fascinates me how one man's meat is another man's poison: I always found (and still find) Frankie Howerd laugh-out-loud hilarious (see the "Up Pompeii!" film - quite brilliant!) whereas your favourite - Tony Hancock - leaves me completely cold - a depressing/boring misanthrope (which translated into real life when he topped himself). I never will grasp why he was so popular.[/quote]

Tony, I always found Hancock's humour to be self-deprecating and Howerd's more slapstick, vaudevillian. Always found one's taste in humour to be a very personal matter and very difficult to dissect or explain, even to oneself. I always preferred the drier sense of humour, as such I grew up on the books of "Three Men in a Boat" and the Jeeves' stories. The Benny Hill's and Lenny Henry's of the world left me cold. Perhaps my sense of hum

[sweeneywolf]

Cerebral v Cretinous humour ... now there's a topic

Tony is a cretin :D
Tony is a cretin :D
Tony is a cretin :D
Tony is a cretin :D
Tony is a cretin :D
Tony is a cretin :D

:D :D :D :D :D

[tony]

Honest sween, I'm English...

I've never even been to Crete!

;D :D

Tunds, I'd hardly call Frankie Howerd slapstick, more one for the double entendre and suggestive innuendo. His facial expressions and double takes are a masterclass.

Hancock died when I was too young to appreciate him and the bits I've seen from the archives (Blood Donor/Lift/Radio Ham etc) just don't tickle me. Deflated pomposity is a comedy stock-in-trade, I never saw him do it all that well, not like, say Oliver Hardy, Arthur Lowe or Deryck Guyler for example, all of whom had this down to a fine art.

Intriguing what you said about shifting personal tastes in humour as we age, I've often wondered at that too. It's obviously true to some extent.

[TundraWolf]

Frankie Howerd shot a series here in Canada late in his career; much of his material was a bit racy and played upon double entendres...almost vaudevillian in his nature. Unfortunately that style/genre has never appealed to me...simply a matter of taste.

I always saw Tony Hancock's humour as a means of deflating the egos of those whose sense of self-importance did not accurately reflect their true nature. An example would be when a rather priggish fellow I once met in England tried to correct my "American pronunciation" of words at every turn. This pompous little twit was quickly muffled by his friends who were somewhat more broad minded and less insecure about such matters. They must have found his condescending manner as embarrassing to themselves when they were trying, successfully, to be gracious hosts!