Billy Connolly retains top spot in C4 poll

Sunday 11th April 2010, 2:00am

The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. Billy Connolly. Copyright: Visual Voodoo Films

Billy Connolly has, once again, come top of a Channel 4 poll that names the funniest stand-up comedians. The results of Channel 4's revised and updated 2010 stand-up poll were revealed in a four-hour countdown programme. The order of standings was decided via a combination of viewer votes and a judging panel.

American comedian Richard Pryor came second, with Ricky Gervais third, Bill Hicks fourth and Eddie Izzard fifth.

Billy Connolly topped the list the first time the channel run the poll back in 2007. Peter Kay came second that time, but has dropped to sixth in the new updated list.

Michael McIntyre didn't even feature in the original poll, but he has shot straight into 9th spot. Other new entries in the updated list include Frankie Boyle (29th) and Russell Howard (35th).

Meanwhile, Stewart Lee, who based the title of one of his stand-up shows on his 41st spot, may now have to update his posters and website because he has jumped to 12th in the list. Ross Noble's Twitter campaign to vote up classic stage comic Tommy Trinder could be considered a relative success - the wartime comic is now listed 44th.

Within minutes of the countdown finishing some criticism of the results popped up on social networking websites, such as Twitter and Facebook. Some comedy fans questioned how the likes of Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning and Joe Pasquale could be included in the top 100, when "more respected" comedians were missing. Rob Brydon, Richard Herring, Mark Steel, Marcus Brigstocke, Andy Parsons, Jason Byrne, Mark Watson, David O'Doherty, Tim Key and Rich Hall were some of the omissions mentioned.

There was also some surprise at the relatively low positioning of some of the biggest names in British stand-up, notably Lee Evans (only 17th), Jack Dee (26th) and Frank Skinner (45th). Meanwhile, members of British Comedy Guide's message board have expressed disbelief that Billy Connolly had been named Britain's best stand-up again, suggesting in their posts that the Glaswegian comedian is no longer popular enough to come top of a new public vote.

Here are the full results from The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups 2010...

1. Billy Connolly

2. Richard Pryor

3. Ricky Gervais

4. Bill Hicks

5. Eddie Izzard

6. Peter Kay

7. Bill Bailey

8. Chris Rock

9. Michael McIntyre

10. Victoria Wood

11. Ross Noble

12. Stewart Lee

13. Jimmy Carr

14. Dylan Moran

15. Woody Allen

16. Dara O'Briain

17. Lee Evans

18. Harry Hill

19. Sean Lock

20. Tommy Cooper

21. Lee Mack

22. Russell Brand

23. Daniel Kitson

24. Les Dawson

25. Al Murray

26. Jack Dee

27. Alan Carr

28. George Carlin

29. Frankie Boyle

30. Jo Brand

31. Robin Williams

32. Tommy Tiernan

33. Jerry Sadowitz

34. Omid Djalili

35. Russell Howard

36. Tim Vine

37. Jasper Carrott

38. Ben Elton

39. Reginald D Hunter

40. Eddie Murphy

41. Ed Byrne

42. Rhod Gilbert

43. Alan Davies

44. Tommy Trinder

45. Frank Skinner

46. Dave Gorman

47. Bob Hope

48. Johnny Vegas

49. Robert Newman

50. Steven Wright

51. Bernard Manning

52. Chris Addison

53. Lenny Bruce

54. Paul Merton

55. Dave Allen

56. Jerry Seinfeld

57. Joan Rivers

58. Graham Norton

59. Steve Coogan

60. Andy Kaufman

61. Steve Martin

62. Rob Chubby Brown

63. Phill Jupitus

64. Bob Monkhouse

65. Jason Manford

66. Mark Thomas

67. Demetri Martin

68. Paul O'Grady

69. Frankie Howerd

70. Jenny Eclair

71. Denis Leary

72. Alexei Sayle

73. Jim Davidson

74. Bill Cosby

75. Patrick Kielty

76. Chic Murray

77. Emo Phillips

78. Ardal O'Hanlon

79. Julian Clary

80. Ronnie Corbett

81. Tim Minchin

82. Bob Newhart

83. Lenny Henry

84. Dave Spikey

85. Barry Humphries

86. Harry Enfield

87. Jethro (Geoffrey Rowe)

88. Joe Pasquale

89. Sean Hughes

90. Dick Gregory

91. Rik Mayall

92. Ken Dodd

93. Roseanne Barr

94. Arthur Smith

95. Jackie Mason

96. Lee Hurst

97. Frank Carson

98. David Baddiel

99. Shappi Khorsandi

100. Freddie Starr

(For the results of the previous poll see here)

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