Comedians - where have they gone?
Discussion
I feel there's a distinct lack of funny comedians around right now.
Being in my late 40's means I grew up with big name comedians and entertainers on the TV, the likes of Bob Monkhouse, Bruce Forsyth, The Two Ronnies etc. They were around at the right time when TV was becoming very big, but they are mostly all dead now.
The 80's saw a new wave of comedy with people like Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, Steve Coogan etc, changing the direction of comedy, and very good they were too. We also saw The League of Gentlemen, Peter Kay, Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans, Micky Flanagan, Jimmy Carr etc etc. But they are now largely too successful to bother doing live stand up tours anymore. They might appear in other types of programmes, but not stand up.
Which leads me to the current wave of comedians, people like Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, and errr, errr, I honestly can't name many of the current breed and I just don't find them funny. They just seem to appear on our screens moving from one quiz show to another. Can't recall ever seeing them working the stages as stand up acts. Live at the Apollo I think was created by Jack Dee who recognised the lack of opportunities comedians have in becoming known, gone are the clubs and theatres of old. There doesn't appear to be anywhere for young comedians to perform these days.
Maybe the problem is that the old time comedians worked there way up through the clubs, and theatres around the country, getting spotted by TV scouts and becoming successful, whereas nowadays I think the TV scouts just go to Oxbridge universities who establish their own comedy clubs, pick their favourites and shove them straight onto quiz shows?
I miss the old school comedians and entertainers, real funny guys. They were the true entertainers in my opinion. Maybe I'm getting old??
Being in my late 40's means I grew up with big name comedians and entertainers on the TV, the likes of Bob Monkhouse, Bruce Forsyth, The Two Ronnies etc. They were around at the right time when TV was becoming very big, but they are mostly all dead now.
The 80's saw a new wave of comedy with people like Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, Steve Coogan etc, changing the direction of comedy, and very good they were too. We also saw The League of Gentlemen, Peter Kay, Ricky Gervais, Lee Evans, Micky Flanagan, Jimmy Carr etc etc. But they are now largely too successful to bother doing live stand up tours anymore. They might appear in other types of programmes, but not stand up.
Which leads me to the current wave of comedians, people like Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, and errr, errr, I honestly can't name many of the current breed and I just don't find them funny. They just seem to appear on our screens moving from one quiz show to another. Can't recall ever seeing them working the stages as stand up acts. Live at the Apollo I think was created by Jack Dee who recognised the lack of opportunities comedians have in becoming known, gone are the clubs and theatres of old. There doesn't appear to be anywhere for young comedians to perform these days.
Maybe the problem is that the old time comedians worked there way up through the clubs, and theatres around the country, getting spotted by TV scouts and becoming successful, whereas nowadays I think the TV scouts just go to Oxbridge universities who establish their own comedy clubs, pick their favourites and shove them straight onto quiz shows?
I miss the old school comedians and entertainers, real funny guys. They were the true entertainers in my opinion. Maybe I'm getting old??
The well known acts you mention, are regulars on the panel shows, but also do 100 date tours, and massive arena shows. As for comedians starting out (pre Covid of course) pretty much every town as a comedy club of some sorts. Honestly I think there is as much opportunity as ever (of course Covid permitting reopening of venues).
Cold said:
Pre-covid stuff, when did you last go to a comedy club?
For me 2016 - but I lived in Edinburgh so it wasn't hard to see good acts.I now live on the South coast and would need to travel into town to see someone and tbh can't be motivated even before Covid. When you can walk up a hill, watch a few hours and then roll down the hill with a few mates there is a charm about it.
Mojooo said:
Rob and Romesh both do live stand ups
Personal taste I know, but these two are everywhere and I just don't find them funny, or many of the other current lot. I guess I do like Katherine Ryan, but maybe that's because she's a but gorgeous 
You just don't see stand up on the TV much, there's Live at the Apollo but im not even sure if they still make this show? Sae with Mock the Week, Can't think of any other stand up comedian shows?
It does depend a little on where you are in country and who you find funny I guess.
Completely different for obvious reasons currently but some just don’t tour in our neck of the woods. Having said that we’ve seen some really good shows at our local theatres over the last few years - get on their mailing lists as some pre-tour events are well worth going to but get booked up quickly.
Have seen, in no particular order
Greg Davies
Rhod Gilbert
Russell Howard
John Richardson
Russell Brand
Dara O’Briain
Lee Mack
Stewart Francis
Sean Walsh
Rob Beckett
Lastly, special mention to Andy Parsons - the one show I considered not coming back after the interval. Painfully unfunny set.
Completely different for obvious reasons currently but some just don’t tour in our neck of the woods. Having said that we’ve seen some really good shows at our local theatres over the last few years - get on their mailing lists as some pre-tour events are well worth going to but get booked up quickly.
Have seen, in no particular order
Greg Davies
Rhod Gilbert
Russell Howard
John Richardson
Russell Brand
Dara O’Briain
Lee Mack
Stewart Francis
Sean Walsh
Rob Beckett
Lastly, special mention to Andy Parsons - the one show I considered not coming back after the interval. Painfully unfunny set.
Hopefully COVID will give them some new material to talk about, as most of those I’ve seen locally have been a regurgitation of the act seen on telly…
Andy Parsons ^^^^ – giving up at half time…
I can relate to that, a few years ago a dozen of us went to see a major well known comedian try out his new show with his showbiz mates in Hemel. A contact of ours worked at the theatre, and she promised us it was going to be a BIG name. We didn’t know who it was until 20 minutes before the curtain went up.
It was Paul Merton. It was dire.
The same jokes about finding submarines in a wardrobe in Wolverhampton that I’d heard 20 years ago from him. The same inflatable dolphin… People were looking round at each other thinking “this is it? This is what I gave my Friday night up for?” He went off to almost complete silence.
She said it was the first time ever that people had turned up at the box office afterwards asking for their money back.
Andy Parsons ^^^^ – giving up at half time…
I can relate to that, a few years ago a dozen of us went to see a major well known comedian try out his new show with his showbiz mates in Hemel. A contact of ours worked at the theatre, and she promised us it was going to be a BIG name. We didn’t know who it was until 20 minutes before the curtain went up.
It was Paul Merton. It was dire.
The same jokes about finding submarines in a wardrobe in Wolverhampton that I’d heard 20 years ago from him. The same inflatable dolphin… People were looking round at each other thinking “this is it? This is what I gave my Friday night up for?” He went off to almost complete silence.
She said it was the first time ever that people had turned up at the box office afterwards asking for their money back.
I go to Edinburgh festival most years but stick to my comfort zone, stuff like Tim Key and Dylan Moran.
I just looked at the list of recent edinburgh comedy award winners, expecting to see names akin to past winners like Steve Coogan and Lee Evans etc. and must confess, I havn't heard of any of the winners in the last 5 years. But I recognise some of the faces I guess from panel shows... but wikipedia bios make sad reading as it looks like they are struggling to get original content commissioned and certainly not packing out the 02.
A bit odd - not sure I've satisfied my curiosity yet on OP's question.
I just looked at the list of recent edinburgh comedy award winners, expecting to see names akin to past winners like Steve Coogan and Lee Evans etc. and must confess, I havn't heard of any of the winners in the last 5 years. But I recognise some of the faces I guess from panel shows... but wikipedia bios make sad reading as it looks like they are struggling to get original content commissioned and certainly not packing out the 02.
A bit odd - not sure I've satisfied my curiosity yet on OP's question.
There are plenty around but they are scattered across more channels and programmes so you maybe won't notice as many "big names" which is a good thing in my opinion.bucksmanuk said:
Hopefully COVID will give them some new material to talk about, as most of those I’ve seen locally have been a regurgitation of the act seen on telly…
It's the other way around isn't it? The TV panel shows give them an intro into which the squeeze a bit of their set-it's simply an advertising platform dressed up into whatever the show is proportion to be about. 8/10 Cats Does Countdown for instance, the questions amount to around 4 mins of screen time with the rest of it "ad-lib" comedy.Taking of dying on stage, we were given tickets to Ricky Tomlinson by my parents one xmas, a nice idea for a night out for all of us although I'm not sure my mum knew much more about him other than Brookside and The Royle Family. She was to find out more...
His idea was to bring back "the good old days" of theatrical comedy with his touring "Laughter Show". It was plainly his idea of good fun, the sort of shows you see at Blackpool where the routines haven't changed since the mid 80's at the latest.
The problem was, Ricky plainly wasn't a comedian and his guests were so out of date, some were bordering on offensive.
I've never seen so many people die on stage on one night, it was excruciating to watch. People were walking out in their droves, quite often while shouting "f
k off you unfunny " or "you racist bd".Every time someone died, Tomlinson was reduced to coming back on stage to try and gee the crowd (or what was left of it) up for the next act. He was so out of his depth, sweating, pleading with those of us left that the next act would be even funnier, whilst trying to interject a few of his own "jokes" to keep the crowd on side.
In between all this he went off on one about Cilla Black, who admittedly doesn't have much of a reputation herself. Seeing a fat, ugly, desperately unlikeable old man attempt to ruin the reputation of someone vastly more successful than himself was more than most could take.
Unfortunately, as my parents had bought the tickets, we felt we couldn't walk out out of politeness to them. Even as my extremely reserved old man was sitting seething as Tomlinson did a bit on his efforts during the Builder's Strike in the 1970s (Dad used to hide in lofts as these scum bags used to tour the sites to get workers onto the pickets) mustered all his will power not to get on the stage and punch him.
I've seen comics bomb before, but never for this length of time. I think it went on for over two hours. By the end, he was literally reduced to pleading with those who were left to stick it out and apologising to those who were leaving.
We were lucky in that the manager of our local sports hall/theatre used to work in TV for years so his black book was impeccable, we got all the best comics and even some people like Lee Evans used to use it as a test ground for his big stadium shows. If I was to give Tomlinson a tiny bit of sympathy, it would be that his audience that night were really used to the modern comedy acts and probably thought that was what they were going to get.
This isn't where I saw it but is the same act. A truly, truly bizarre night.
https://www.paviliontheatre.co.uk/shows/ricky-toml...
https://comedy-festival.co.uk/
You missed it this year as it was held online but the Leicester comedy festival always drags in a few "big" names
You missed it this year as it was held online but the Leicester comedy festival always drags in a few "big" names
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