Hi,

I'm a new member from across the pond and I was wondering if someone might suggest some comedians I might enjoy given some of my preferences.

I very much enjoy Robert Newman and Stewart Lee (a good deal more than the others I have seen) as well as bits and pieces from comedians with a left-leaning political bent more generally like Mark Thomas and Mark Steel (as well as some things I have seen from Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan here and there).

I have tried looking around somewhat randomly but I thought I might try asking this here.

Thanks in advance

Hello;
Chris Morris?

Try Richard Herring and Paul Sinha.

Dan

Frankie Boyle, Jo Brand, Jerry Sadowitz.

Hi all

Thanks for the suggestions some of which I had seen before and some I hadn't...please keep them coming.

How about Simon Amstell? He's cerebral and philosophical, like Lee, though not political, other than being openly gay, if that counts.

He began as a quick-witted host of a panel show here; wrote and performed in his own sitcom, Grandma's House (a bit like Mike Leigh's stuff), and does stand-up (available on DVD). Not everyone's cup of tea here, but I like him.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/grandmas_house/

Quote: George Kaplan @ 5th February 2014, 8:13 PM GMT

How about Simon Amstell? He's cerebral and philosophical, like Lee, though not political, other than being openly gay, if that counts.

He began as a quick-witted host of a panel show here; wrote and performed in his own sitcom, Grandma's House (a bit like Mike Leigh's stuff), and does stand-up (available on DVD). Not everyone's cup of tea here, but I like him.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/grandmas_house/

View original

Thanks I quite like Mike Leigh as well so I will check that out if I can find it here though the stand-up I have seen from him seems a bit more conventional.

I appreciate all the suggestions in general but had a few questions about how you might categorize some of these ideologically more or less...Chris Norris from what I have seen and read doesn't strike me as particularly left-leaning so much as contrarian. Is that fair to say? I haven't been able to find much on Jerry Sadowitz but he also seems to fit in that general line. Of others mentioned here, Jo Brand and Richard Herring seem to be more straight-forward comedians but perhaps I am just not seeing the right things.

Thanks again for all the suggestions

Quote: Tribale @ 5th February 2014, 8:48 PM GMT

Thanks I quite like Mike Leigh as well so I will check that out if I can find it here though the stand-up I have seen from him seems a bit more conventional.

View original

Grandma's House is a kind of suburban Jewish Mike Leigh. I thought it got better and better as it went along. There are some great characters; Amstell isn't the best character in it, and he's finding his feet as an actor episode by episode, but by the end he's holding his own among a really strong cast.

There were two series, and then Amstell decided it had run its course. Both are on DVD.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/grandmas_house/buy/

Quote: Tribale @ 5th February 2014, 8:48 PM GMT

Chris Norris from what I have seen and read doesn't strike me as particularly left-leaning so much as contrarian. Is that fair to say?

View original

He's not just randomly contrarian. He pokes at societal conventions and institutions... so if it's conservative to blindly support these things then it must be liberal to mock them.

Quote: MTpromises @ 5th February 2014, 9:28 PM GMT

He's not just randomly contrarian. He pokes at societal conventions and institutions... so if it's conservative to blindly support these things then it must be liberal to mock them.

View original

I didn't say he was randomly contrarian but I think that someone like Norris who takes special pleasure in mocking Michael Moore or Mark Thomas for example (rather low down the priority list of "establishment" problems needing mocking by any standard) and has not taken many (or any?) clear public positions on the left through the years is probably best described as a contrarian rather than left-leaning per se.

Mocking societal conventions in and of itself doesn't strike me as particularly left-leaning (most comedians do this in one shape or form) and in this he reminds me more of someone like Iannucci than he does someone like Robert Newman or even Stewart Lee.

I hope you understand what my preferences are in this thread a little bit more clearly and my apologies if I haven't been clear. Thank you for your comment and if you can think of other comics I might check out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Quote: George Kaplan @ 5th February 2014, 9:11 PM GMT

Grandma's House is a kind of suburban Jewish Mike Leigh. I thought it got better and better as it went along. There are some great characters; Amstell isn't the best character in it, and he's finding his feet as an actor episode by episode, but by the end he's holding his own among a really strong cast.

There were two series, and then Amstell decided it had run its course. Both are on DVD.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/grandmas_house/buy/

View original

Thanks again. I will take a look for that for certain. I thought it was interesting that you said "suburban Jewish Mike Leigh" as Leigh himself is Jewish (I don't know how well known that fact is in Britain and Leigh himself isn't widely known here in the US obviously).

Are there any other unconventional series you might recommend as well?

Have you tried David Baddiel?

Quote: zooo @ 5th February 2014, 10:39 PM GMT

Have you tried David Baddiel?

View original

I have only seen some older clips from when he was with Rob Newman; what is he like today?

Thanks

I think he's fairly similar to Newman now - in that his stand up's very intelligent and fairly political. But he's not as intense as Newman, he has more of a bloke next door persona.

Richard Herring's Hitler Moustache show, was pretty left-leaning.

Clip

Dan

I think Josie Long often does quite left leaning political stuff in her stand up these days.