[Talib Scottie]

Originally Posted by Trainsaw

The reenactment of the Randy Travis arrest on todays Sklarbro County is the funniest thing I've heard on a podcast in a long time

I loved when they read the courtroom transcript where that prostitute was suing Fred Davis and they both represented themselves, haha

[darkstar03]

Ive skimmed through this thread....but its a pretty long one so no doubt i will have missed a lot of posts

from what ive seen it's been Americans commenting and on the whole giving British comedians a bit of a hard time in favour of the Americans so I thought i would bring some sanity back to it :P

Being English I am gonna do the same as you guys and stick up for the true comedians....those from my neck of the woods (British and Irish) my favourites have to be

Ricky Gervais
Noel Fielding
Russell Howard
Ed Byrne
Lee Mack
Rhod Gilbert
Lee Evans
Jimmy Carr
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Frankie Boyle
Omid Djalili
Rowan Atkinson
Al Murray
Jethro

to name a few

I just can't get into American stand ups, i think the only one i watched all the way through was Robin Williams live on broadway which filled a bit of time, I do however think some of your sitcoms are funny (providing they aren't remakes of British ones like the office or Fawlty Towers (Payne) etc)

I guess the difference is partly the culture, and also because I have seen numerous interviews with American comedians bitching about heckling, a British comedian deals with a heckle, its been around since the beginning and is as much a part of stand up as the planned routine. Obviously this doesn't happen in a sitcom.

[FondestMemory]

i dont give a fuck where somebodys from, funny is funny.

[Star Slight]

Myspleen is the best. Gripped the whole series of "Reality Bites Back" and the old Chevy Chase roast

[Cody Nelson]

Thanks for the update on heckling. I was unaware that didn't happen in sitcoms.

[element4433]

I didn't know that American comedians didn't deal with heckling.

[Star Slight]

Dont you watch Jamie Kennedy?!

[ImTheSheriff]

I don't remember anyone giving British Comedians a hard time?

[Star Slight]

Lol what bert kreischer was the basis for Van Wilder?

[deanster321]

More discussion of comedians from other parts of the world would be cool, but at the end of the day this is a predominantly American board and I'm fine with discussing American comedy anyway when I'm posting in here.

[FondestMemory]

one of my favorite comedians is australian, and ive listened to a good bit of australian conedians because of him.

i like the overseas model where hours are put together more like cohesive one man shows than just bits put together. and i like that they have less area to travel, so they all pretty much have to do a new hour each year.

but the british mindset that heckling is part of it is so outdated. luckily, thats pretty much the only place that still feels like its ok.

its not part of the artform. im paying to go see the performer, not some jackass trying to impress his friends. thatd be the same as thinking people talking at the movies is just part of making movies. just let them do their job.

i can understand why brits may not have the highest opinion of american standups, because they miss out on being exposed to a lot of it because doing shows over there are miserable and our most successful comics can just skip going over there and be fine.

[The_Blackout94]

I wasn't aware that it was only the Birtish that thought heckling is part of stand up. I remember coming in this thread after one of the many controversies in recent months, maybe te Tosh one, and almost every person in this thread agreed that heckling is part of doing live stand up. It happens.

But apart from that, I live in England and have been to a fair few shows, and only heard a handful of heckles. it's not nearly as widespread as people make out. I'd you're at a club, yes there's probably one drunk jackass who thinks everyone wants to hear him, but if you're paying £15, £25 even £35 to see a comedian, people rarely heckle.

[FondestMemory]

i may have worded that poorly. it happens everywhere, but the british seem to be the most accepting of it and are the most forgiveable by feeling its a part of it when most other places frown upon it. the loudest cheers hecklers get here are when theyre being escorted out. rarely (if ever) is anybody on the hecklers side.

granted, ive never been to shows over there. im just going off what ive heard from friends of mine that have done shows there, and from what ive heard from a lot of successful comedians that talk about how miserable shows there can be.

[SeanGather]

Originally Posted by darkstar03

Ive skimmed through this thread....but its a pretty long one so no doubt i will have missed a lot of posts

from what ive seen it's been Americans commenting and on the whole giving British comedians a bit of a hard time in favour of the Americans so I thought i would bring some sanity back to it :P

Being English I am gonna do the same as you guys and stick up for the true comedians....those from my neck of the woods (British and Irish) my favourites have to be

Ricky Gervais
Noel Fielding
Russell Howard
Ed Byrne
Lee Mack
Rhod Gilbert
Lee Evans
Jimmy Carr
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Frankie Boyle
Omid Djalili
Rowan Atkinson
Al Murray
Jethro

to name a few

I just can't get into American stand ups, i think the only one i watched all the way through was Robin Williams live on broadway which filled a bit of time, I do however think some of your sitcoms are funny (providing they aren't remakes of British ones like the office or Fawlty Towers (Payne) etc)

I guess the difference is partly the culture, and also because I have seen numerous interviews with American comedians bitching about heckling, a British comedian deals with a heckle, its been around since the beginning and is as much a part of stand up as the planned routine. Obviously this doesn't happen in a sitcom.

Dude, some of those guys are fucking TERRIBLE. Lee Mack, Noel Fielding, Al Murray, Jethro, Lee Evans - awful shit. And with the exception of Izzard (who is, for my money, one of the greats), the rest range from "okay" to "pretty good". And if you "can't get into American stand ups", you're watching the wrong stand ups. Or you have bad taste.

I'm British (specifically Scottish) and fuck heckling. As some other guys have said here, if I pay money I want to see the comedian who took my money be funny. If some moron heckles, then yeah, it can be cathartic to see the comedian take them down, but the attitude that it's part of the act suggests to me that you're the kind of guy that would go see a comedy show and heckle.

[deanster321]

Rowan Atkinson is indisputably one of the most talented comedians this country has ever produced. He can do anything you could possibly ask for from one, and do it well.

For my money, Mack and Evans are mid-tier at least, Bill Bailey is another who is better, and as an individual I'd have Fielding as the worst there.