Classic bingo calls: A showcase of British tongue-in-cheek comedy

Bingo has long been a game of community fun, with an emphasis on fun not needing to be costly. Halls would be teeming with daubers on Friday and Saturday nights, and while the chin-wagging between games could be deafening, once the game began, it was all silence until a winner was found.

Amidst this strange silence, there would be a bingo caller, whose job was to roll a cage, grab a ball, and call out the number for the ball. Somewhere along the way, callers took it upon themselves to become entertainers on stage, mixing in funny rhymes and names for each of the 90 numbered balls. Comedy has entered the fray more explicitly in recent years with venues like Dabbers Social adding a variety of modern entertainments to the mix.

Even now, a bit past the prime of bingo's post-war heyday, everyone knows at least a few of these calls because they're so inherently funny and intuitive. However, in recent years, reports have swirled of people trying to adjust the calls to avoid some potentially offensive lines. Luckily, there's fun to be had with those as well.

You need a lot of charisma and a fun-loving attitude to truly transform a session of bingo into an engaging, rip-roaring experience. The game is perfectly fine without such a stage presence, but it's even better when the caller is a performer, in on the joke and making the classic bingo calls.

This is why so many forms of bingo these days search far and wide for charismatic callers to amp-up the experience for players - not least Dabbers with their Comedy Caller contest. But where this is most easily seen is in the new world of live bingo gaming online. Platforms search far and wide to bring in hosts who people want to tune in to daub with.

Throughout the day there are live shows in several slots, and there's an evening main event that goes all-in on bombastic bingo. While the big prizes and progressive jackpots add to the appeal, it's all about these big personalities taking to the stage to make their cheeky calls and engage with an audience that isn't even in the same room.

Paraphrasing, rhyming, and outright descriptions populate the classic calls of bingo, and all of them offer a little dose of comedy to proceedings. You've got the more quaint calls like One Little Duck (2), Unlucky for Some (13), Cup of Tea (3), and Heinz Varieties (57), as well as ones that'd now be considered more risqué.

The one that tends to be brought up in reports of new calls being made is the famous Two Fat Ladies for the 88 ball. Then you've also got Favourite of Mine (69), and some that are more historically rooted, like Doctor's Orders (9) in reference to a pill given to soldiers without a particular condition, and the reference to the old funny song Dirty Gertie (30).

Of course, as times change, new players and new callers try to put their own spin on things. In place of some of these comedy classics of bingo, we're getting Avocado on a Plate (38), Not Another Brexit Debate (48), Netflix and Chill (69), Selfie Queen (17), Hipster Heaven (27), and Two Body-Positive Ladies (88).

Old bingo calls are a part of classic gaming comedy for the Brits, and while there's an attempt to change the calls, even that being a thing is rather funny in and of itself. Essentially, bingo calls will continue to provide some laughs, regardless of if they're the modern or classic calls.

This is a collaborative article.