i watch a lot of stand-up comedy, and i have narrowed the best comics between 2004-2007 down into this list(in my view);
Lee Evans
Ross Noble
Jimmy Carr
Bill Bailey
Dave Spikey
Peter Kay
Lee Mack
Al Murray
Frankie Boyle
Russel Howard
Dara o'Brien
Gina Yashere
HAVE I FORGOT ANY ONE?
Bill Bailey is my number one, not just of the last few years, but basically of all time. He is absolutely brilliant and always completely hysterical. I've never seen him live, but I own Cosmic Jam, Bewilderness and Part Troll. Stand-Up doesn't get any better than that.
Peter Kay isn't too far behind. His Live at the Bolton Albert Halls DVD is even better than the amazing Live at the Top of the Tower. Again, I've never seen him live, just on DVD.
I haven't seen any of Jimmy Carr's or Dave Spikey's Stand-Up, but of the ones you listed, those are the two I'd like to see the most. I bought Ross Noble's Unrealtime DVD, but I didn't think it was too good. He gets a lot of credit for improving and making stuff up as he goes along, which I think results in comedy that is not as polished or funny as my favorite stand-ups.
The ones you are missing...
Dylan Moran: His Monster DVD is one of the finest Stand-Up performances ever.
Ricky Gervais: Animals and Politics are both absoultely perfect shows. Totally hilarious.
David Cross: Probably the best American stand-up to emerge in the last 15 years. His two albums, Shut-Up You F**king Baby and It's Not Funny really show just how funny David Cross is.
Sarah Silverman: Easily one of the funniest women alive, definietly the funniest American woman right now. There aren't a lot of funny American girls, epecially compared to all of the hilarious British woman (Julia Davis, Rebecca Front, Jessica Stevenson). Her DVD, Jesus is Magic has some brilliant stand-up, intercut with some mediocre interstitials. Still, on the stage, Sarah is Queen.
I really don't want to start Peter Kay bashing, but I think I'm going to. I think he gets far too much credit for his stand up. I saw him on TV years ago, when he won "So You Think your Funny?" and he was really good. Thats when I first saw him do his Roller Cola routine. Isn't he still doing that now? Then came the Blackpool Tower DVD, everyone was saying how funny it was. I found it fairly amusing at best. I went along to see him at The Apollo on one of his tours a couple of years ago with a few of my friends, and I don't think I laughed out load once. We walked out before the encor. He appeals to peoples mums, he regurgitates material constantly, be it old working mens clubs gags, to his own material - "Garlic Bread!"
Don't get me wrong, That Peter Kay Thing and Phoenix Nights were great (Max and Paddy was utter tripe) so the guys got talent. But when it comes to stand up, I think he's dull and uninteresting.
Sorry PK fans. I've got to agree though, as much as everyones sucking Ricky Gervais off at the moment, those live DVDs are hilarious.
One Stand up I'll add to the list. He probably scrapes in (1997 or something) is Frank Skinner. If you can check out Live in Birmingham it's a classic (at least I remember it as one).
Just realised that 1997 doesn't relate to anything on this thread.
But that vid is f**king funny.
Richard Herring and Stewart Lee.
Jack Dee! How has he not been mentioned?!
Anyway, Peter Kay. >_< Bad. Very bad. To say that I find him mildly entertaining would be extremely generous. Just not funny at all, IMO.
Ricky Gervais I'm really not a huge fan of either, but as much as I hate to admit it, the bits and pieces I've seen on TV (probably Paramount) of Animals and Politics are pretty good. But those extra bits with the other guy (Robin Ince or someone, was it?) are just painfully bad.
Al Murray is actually some form of God.
Bill Bailey is very good also. For me though, his stuff really needs to be heard live. You can't recreate the atmosphere on DVD.
Reginald D. Hunter is also absolutely hilarious. I'm not sure that he's quite as well known as some, but is very very funny IMO.
And after being to Mock The Week a few times, and watching the show on TV otherwise, I have to say that Hugh Dennis also has to be on my list.
Probably lots more, but I can't think of anyone else at the moment.
Dave Chappelle, a brilliant stand up comedian and the rightful heir to Richard Pryor.
To give Jimmy Carr his due, his first tour made me laugh... the extras he tagged on (like the t-shirts and classified ads) were nice. "Jimmy Carr Standup" was a disappointment though - he ended up just resorting to trying to offend the audience.
Tim Vine's 1997 Comedy Store routine was great.
Oh, and Jack Dee & Jasper Carrott are on my list.
in my veiw tim vine isn't a consistant performer, i thought about billy connolly but i watched through a few old tapes and a few new dvd's of his, (i watched 15 hours of billy connoly shows in one day, it may sound sad but, i had nothing else to do) and i realised his stuff before 2004 was brilliant, his stuff after wasn't as good, if i was to name some yanks that are class acts, i would have to go with the obvious, Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy, in my view these are both amazing acts, especially, Chris Rock who i saw live
It's odd that someone who isn't a fan of Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay is running a site about British Sitcoms. The site is brilliant, but I disagree with a lot of the site reviews(Extras comes to mind) and surely that particular view. If anyone is some type of God, it's Gervais. The Office is the best TV show of all time, and Extras is one of the best. On top of that, his two stand up shows are about as good as it gets. Plus, the extras on his DVDs with Karl Pilkington and Robin Ince are great and hilarious. IMO.
Anyway....
"Bill Bailey is very good also. For me though, his stuff really needs to be heard live. You can't recreate the atmosphere on DVD."
Definitely not true. His DVDs are easily the best Stand-Up DVDs I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a lot. I've never seen Bill live, but it's clear that nothing is lost on the DVDs.
Okay, I'm done arguing.
Have any of you brits seen any of David Cross's stand-up? He gets my vote as the best recent American comic. Certainly better than Dave Chappelle, who is as overrated as Richard Pryor. (okay, now I'm done arguing.)
Have you missed anyone?
Try
Chris Addison
Miles Jupp
Noel Fielding
Jason Manford
Marcus Brigstocke
Rhod Gilbert
Daniel Kitson
Andrew Lawrence
Robin Ince
John Oliver & Andy Zaltzman
Will Smith
Alex Horne
All of them are very impressive!
Quote: Mike @ November 16, 2006, 12:30 PMIt's odd that someone who isn't a fan of Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay is running a site about British Sitcoms.
Have any of you brits seen any of David Cross's stand-up? He gets my vote as the best recent American comic. Certainly better than Dave Chappelle, who is as overrated as Richard Pryor. (okay, now I'm done arguing.)
Not really - who decided that RG and PK are comedy Gods? Not in my book. Peter Kay is one of those comedians who I just don't get. The Office is good but overrated and Extras was hit and miss, mostly miss during the second series.
Dave Chappelle overrated...Now you are talking rubbish.
Quote: Mike @ November 16, 2006, 12:30 PMIt's odd that someone who isn't a fan of Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay is running a site about British Sitcoms.
As I happens I am a fan of Gervais and Kay's TV shows (not so much their standup routines) but we have to remember that not everyone is.
I don't really want to send this thread off-topic however just to say our reviews are constructed taking the general consensus of a show into consideration. I try and ensure that personal opinion doesn't play too large a role (I've written a couple of positive reviews about shows I hate and visa-versa) although if you feel strongly that we've not represented a sitcom fairly do send us an email as we're always willing to re-look at what is written.
Early next year we'll have a system in place that'll let you rate all sitcoms out of five stars and put in your own review (yes, the idea was knicked from IMDb) so it'll be interesting to see what comes out top from that.
It may not seem it but we must remember "The Office" is a cult sitcom that is definitely not universally loved. "My Hero" regularly out-performed it in terms of ratings - now I don't know what that says about the British public's intelligence however I don't think it is my place to say that "The Office" is indeed a better comedy than "My Hero" (which is my view) when, overall, the audience would beg to differ.
Happy to chat about this more in a new thread if you want to discuss further.
Anyway, back to standup comedians...
Quote: Splodge @ November 16, 2006, 1:03 PMHave you missed anyone?
Try
Chris Addison
Miles Jupp
Noel Fielding
Jason Manford
Marcus Brigstocke
Rhod Gilbert
Daniel Kitson
Andrew Lawrence
Robin Ince
John Oliver & Andy Zaltzman
Will Smith
Alex HorneAll of them are very impressive!
i do agree with you on Robin ince, he was imense when he was a warm up guy for Ricky Gervais, Marcus Brigstoke is a person who i'm still trying to make my mind up on, he seems to drift in and out of form, Miles Jupp is another, but i don't dis-agree with you on any of them,
Quote: Thomps @ November 16, 2006, 1:38 PMPeter Kay is one of those comedians who I just don't get.
I think some of his observations are spot on but, like you, I just don't get some of it... perhaps someone can explain the Garlic Bread thing to me... I feel very thick as I still don't understand what the joke is there!
Interestingly I read that Kay is a control freak, not very friendly off stage and generally ruthless when it comes to money and becoming a success (I think that was from the un-official biography?). I'm not sure if it is true or not but he certainly does know how to make money out of DVDs.
yeah rumour has it he is a crafty old soal, Adam Bloom said in a interveiw that Kay used to adjust the microphone stand really tightly, so the next act had to come on and fiddle about with it, and as any stand-up will tell you, thats the worst thing to do, (apart from murder the audience), plus he used to warm up the audience and say things like "if your lucky, he won't be on long, and i can come back on", i don't know if there is any truth involved in these claims, the thing i don't like about him is, the fact he is so merchandised, you can buy; shirts, mousemat,mugs,socks,pants,pens,pictures,kettles that say "Garlic Bread" or "booked it, packed it, F*cked off" how gimmick-y is this man?