Comedy Isn't Very Good Anymore

[Zinger549]

Conversions from a Long Marriage (R4) is very good. It's Joanna Lumley and Rodger Allam.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m000dpqn

[fools]

On 13/02/2022 at 12:46, PRESLEY said:

I'm opposed to people like Lemon who is constantly crass and distgusting, it shows a low level of talent and oh my! Is he talentless or what!

Lemon is a character, Bo Selecta was quite inventive, but probably over your head if you are still stuck in the 50s.

 

Micky Flanagan is one of the better comedians out there atm, "the world fell out", is a great punchline.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by fools

[hackey lad]

48 minutes ago, fools said:

Lemon is a character, Bo Selecta was quite inventive, but probably over your head if you are still stuck in the 50s.

 

Micky Flanagan is one of the better comedians out there atm, "the world fell out", is a great punchline.

 

 

Flanagan is my favourite at the moment along with a few other younger ones on Mock the week  but their names escape me

[fools]

Largely scripted panel shows like MTW used to have a bit of bite before woke became mandatory. If you go and see some of the acts live, they often end up trying to stretch 10 minutes of material into a 90 minute act, with an obligatory first half of "what do you do for a living" audience interaction for filler. Stretching a (not at all funny) observation about some tweets or how best to use a kitchen appliance to 25 minutes or more is a bit much.

 

Flanagan appears to only go out on tour when he has enough quality material to fill a show. The quality suffers when people try to tour every year.

 

Much of George Carlin's material is incredibly relevant to the goings on of today, worth a watch if you're of a cynical bent.

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by fools

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, fools said:

Largely scripted panel shows like MTW used to have a bit of bite before woke became mandatory. If you go and see some of the acts live, they often end up trying to stretch 10 minutes of material into a 90 minute act, with an obligatory first half of "what do you do for a living" audience interaction for filler. Stretching a (not at all funny) observation about some tweets or how best to use a kitchen appliance to 25 minutes or more is a bit much.

 

 

Personally, I wouldn't lay that necessarily on the modern generation of overly woke comics. That seems to be the nature of stand-up.

 

I can think of comedians who have been on the circuit for 30+ years who still have their dusty stock of core gags, a token sprinkling of topical based on whatever they have glanced at in the days paper and a bit of bantering with half a dozen people from the front row.

 

Copy, paste and repeat in every single town throughout the tour. Find out half a dozen facts about the town before going on stage, find out what the worst area in the town is, mock the local football team whichever league they are in etc...

 

Observational comedy may well be basic 101 but it's what people are familiar with and actually enjoy. If they didn't, these Comics would not be selling out arenas in cities up and down the land. Something which their previous generation could have only dreamed off. Let's face it, a sold-out club in the 70s was impressive but compared to selling out a 20,000 + seat Arena it's a different planet.

 

I think it was Rob Newman who said that the 90s became the point when comedy shifted from bow tie frilly shirt dinner jacket  into mirroring the hip, cool, groupie appeal of rock and roll groups.

[Anna B]

Comedy is supposed to be subversive, going right back to the court jester, who could say the unsayable and get away with it, because he was a 'fool.'

 

We have a grand tradition in this country for satire and comedy that makes you think, it's all part of freedom of speech. 

Sadly we seem to have gone in for self-suppresion. If the government tried to stop us saying things there would be uproar, but it seems a small minority can dictate to us what we can and cannot talk about and that's allowed...

 

There are certain comedians I can't stand, so I don't watch them. But if some people like their style of humour who am I to stop them? Roy Chubby Brown for example. He's probably harmless enough, but Jimmy Carr can be viscious and smarmy,  but there are far worse than them. 

 

And George Carling is contraversial but brilliant.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Anna B

[fools]

The wokeness comment related to the bland tv output we are forced to consume nowadays.

 

They fill arena's because they're on the telly, not necessarily because they are brilliant. If you're not sat at the front, I don't see the point. Wait until it's on Youtube.

 

Like some others on this thread, I often wonder what the crowd are laughing at - (it helps if they are all drunk). It's largely unsophisticated humour, lacking in any craft (of delivery or writing).

 

There's a lot of copying going on. If several people went out and did a variation on the man drawer routine all at the same time, you'd rightly say, McIntyre did this 15 years ago, write something original and cut the filler. Powerpoints of twitter spats seems to be all the rage at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by fools

[leviathan13]

5 hours ago, fools said:

Lemon is a character, Bo Selecta was quite inventive, but probably over your head if you are still stuck in the 50s.

 

Micky Flanagan is one of the better comedians out there atm, "the world fell out", is a great punchline.

 

 

I'm only just 40 anf never 'got' Bo Selecta. I don't think it's an age thing, i think it's a taste thing.

 

Micky is good, and i'd go to see him, but he's hardly cutting edge.

 

As you say... 'better'! That's probably because most are generic and dull. Most can't be edgy anymore as they're likely to be cancelled for upsetting someone. Bill Hicks would probably struggle today!

[hackey lad]

3 minutes ago, leviathan13 said:

I'm only just 40 anf never 'got' Bo Selecta. I don't think it's an age thing, i think it's a taste thing.

 

Micky is good, and i'd go to see him, but he's hardly cutting edge.

 

As you say... 'better'! That's probably because most are generic and dull. Most can't be edgy anymore as they're likely to be cancelled for upsetting someone. Bill Hicks would probably struggle today!

Bill Hicks was brilliant but not an out and out comedian , in my opinion 

[fools]

37 minutes ago, leviathan13 said:

I'm only just 40 anf never 'got' Bo Selecta. I don't think it's an age thing, i think it's a taste thing.

 

Micky is good, and i'd go to see him, but he's hardly cutting edge.

 

As you say... 'better'! That's probably because most are generic and dull. Most can't be edgy anymore as they're likely to be cancelled for upsetting someone. Bill Hicks would probably struggle today!

Taste always comes into it, but if someone admits Ken Dodd is one of their favourites, and are upset at scatological references, then they may not get the digs at popular youth and tv culture of the noughties, even if it's mixed in with a flying Kes. It's still very funny imo, the Lemon character that spun off from it is the least funny character unfortunately. It was something fresh at the time.

 

Didn't say cutting edge, just good at his craft, and performance, a character, and not churning out well worn material about white goods and wheelie bins.

 

Stewart Lee's act mocks the grift of standup and contempt for the audience somewhat.

 

Dave Allen was good at his craft too.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by fools