Comedians you don’t find funny…

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Jelly Bean said:
I agree. There is something about him isn't there? But not sure what. A very barely repressed wrongness. But tbh I get the same from Stuart Lee. An undefinable nastiness.
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I cannot abide Stuart Lee.

I used to really like Lee Mack in WILTY, I found him very quick witted. But the whole show doesn't seem as funny as it was. It needs to be retired for a while, I think.
 
This thread reminded me of a horrible experience we had seeing a live stand up show many years ago called On the band wagon.

It featured four then relatively unknown cast members of Channel 4's Phoenix nights and honestly the worst of the lot was Paddy McGuiness he was so unfunny but completely full of himself to be fair they were all a rude strangely cold bunch, afterwards there was the chance to get autographs and honestly you couldn't get near McGuiness he was absolutely surrounded by women of all ages boobs hanging out, fawning over him I won't say to much more because I guess the noughties were a different time and he was a single man but lets say it all felt VERY seedy at the time.
 
Rosie glow said:
Romesh Ranganathan
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My partner calls him 'rubbish Ranganathan'. :sneaky:

He's everywhere, too. He's really living the 'make hay whilst the sun shines' saying. His mum is actually wittier (I think the same about 'pencil dick' Jack Whitehall and his dad).

I suppose that attracts the kneejerk 'you're an R-word' response, which is so lame. Artists are supposed to be memorable, quotable, sing their songs, repeat their sketches, their jokes, wax lyrical about a painting, a sculpture - whatever. Romesh is just a big blank for me.

Rosie Jones too but it's not ableism, she just isn't well-suited to the fast-paced, timing-critical quick-fire world of panel shows, particularly. Even when the punchline hits it's not worth waiting for. She would be better in her original career path which was script-writing (as far as I'm aware), or even acting where edits can be made. I still applaud her for doing what she does and saying duck 'em.

Maybe Rosie's appeal to producers is the oh-so-shocking 'Ohmigod a disabled person can't say that' or 'can't talk about being a lesbian' / 'she has a sex life!!!!111!!!' (?) which is reductive and sets her cause (if she has one) back, not forward. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree with that theory.

How do comedians get booked nowadays? I suppose Avalon is a behemoth nowadays and probably has a Mafia-like grip on the comedy world and the programmes commissioned and it's all a big cynical churn 'em out, make our money industry.

You'd think these programme makers would watch gigs, hold auditions, book comedians for their charisma and personality, not - I suspect - to make some sort of point or fulfill a quota? Is that what's happening? This doesn't apply to all comedians but the particularly piss-poor ones (which is subjective, of course).
 
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I like stand up Romesh and Rosie, but aren’t a massive fan of tv Romesh and Rosie. Rosie in particular only seems to have the 1 set she always does on tv, and sometimes hams up the slow speaking in the whole triple threat /northern bit .

This looks like it could be quite good , so long as they don’t just focus on the established names
www.comedy.co.uk

ITVX to live stream Edinburgh Fringe shows - British Comedy Guide

ITVX Presents: Edinburgh Fringe Live will involve four hour-long comedy showcase shows being streamed live from the Edinburgh Festival.
www.comedy.co.uk www.comedy.co.uk
 
BubbleDuck said:
I like stand up Romesh and Rosie, but aren’t a massive fan of tv Romesh and Rosie. Rosie in particular only seems to have the 1 set she always does on tv, and sometimes hams up the slow speaking in the whole triple threat /northern bit .

This looks like it could be quite good , so long as they don’t just focus on the established names
www.comedy.co.uk

ITVX to live stream Edinburgh Fringe shows - British Comedy Guide

ITVX Presents: Edinburgh Fringe Live will involve four hour-long comedy showcase shows being streamed live from the Edinburgh Festival.
www.comedy.co.uk www.comedy.co.uk
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It's amazing how Edinburgh Festival has changed over the years. It's less open to everyone and anyone and becoming more of a platform for privileged (or at least, well-off) performers.

It's just sheer greed: locals overcharging for accomodation (renting out their flats). Getting a spot costs a small fortune - many would-be performers complain about how much it puts them in debt, simply to try and get noticed. Shouldn't ECC have some sort of grant system for the most promising newcomers?

Had a quick Google and suggesting crowdfunding or social media appeals isn't really the way to go, is it. How to get Funding for Edinburgh Fringe | Spotlight

Even well-established comedians complain about the eye-wateringly huge rent charges, even for a few days or weeks during the Festival. (Edinburgh Council should be capping accomodation charges and fining those who take the piss).

Edit: There is this, too: Keep it Fringe fund 2024 now open for applications | Edinburgh Festival Fringe (edfringe.com) The fund will award grants of up to £2,500 to 180 artists bringing work to Fringe 2024. ...even so, I bet that money gets gobbled up quickly.
 
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