Stand Up Comedy

To you Americans, who seem to find ‘English Humor’, as it is rather enigmatically named, so hilarious; I intend to show that it’s not all chocolate and roses. Please be aware, the following opinions are merely my own and do not run parallel to those of the British public, which is the same public that voted in Tony Blair by the way, twice, and don’t you guys ever forget that.

Stand up comedy in my country is just dire. I’m talking about people like Michael McIntyre and Russell Howard, the flag bearers of British comedy. Maybe this is just me, but I don’t understand why this banal style of observational humour is quite so hilarious, take Mr. McIntyre for instance, Britain’s most popular comedian. I understand his jokes, I understand the appeal of his character, but somehow, everything he says just sickens me. It gives me that feeling of embarrassment. Perhaps this is what Osama bin Laden saw in the Western world? Maybe I’m being too harsh, he’s harmless, right? I could say the same for the eternally baby-faced Russell Howard where his shows seem to involve around the same Christmas cracker calibre jokes. What about Mock the Week, where hollow eyed stand ups get a nice slot on the BBC where they can feel smug for a bit, wallowing in their own regurgitated gags. We see you, sitting there, grinning at your own joke like you’re God’s gift to mankind.

Perhaps on the opposite end of the spectrum to the contrived world of the McIntyres and his disciples of inherently insufferable followers is Frankie Boyle. Yes, that obnoxious Scot who seems to think edgy comedy is purely being cruel to defenceless human beings who can’t answer back. Did you know I’m slightly Scottish too, I know, I don’t have the accent; I lost it out of shame! The problem I have with Frankie Boyle is his feeling of superiority in that he seems to be able to be a complete callous bastard without ever being told to apologise. It’s not remotely edgy; it’s a caricature of a personality, a pathetic husk, lacking what the principles of empathy and compassion stand for. I mean, how is society going to benefit from insulting Jordan’s disabled son? It isn’t. Sure, make a joke out of how Jordan may use her son’s disability for sympathy from the press, or the way the media seem to mercilessly report on it whenever she and he are seen out in public but don’t pick on the poor kid, what’s he done wrong? It just seems wrong in my books. And I don’t see what there is to laugh about when it comes to cancer either. Hell, I know I wouldn’t want to be his friend.

‘Hey, Frankie, I don’t know if you knew but I have terminal cancer so I thought it would be nice for me to do a sponsored run to raise money for cancer charities. Will you sponsor me too?’

‘Aye, I’ll do that for sure, cancer, eh? That means there’s a good chance I won’t have to pay then.’

‘Gee, thanks bro.’

See what I mean? I suppose it’s meant to be funny because it breaks so many taboos that us Brits would never dream of straying near. But once a taboo is broken, it’s broken forever and the world is a colder, darker place.

Like I said though, not all British comedy is rubbish; you can’t go wrong with some IT Crowd or Peep Show, or even game shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks or Shooting Stars. All these current shows on TV can be entertaining, silly, cringe inducing, bizarre and edgy but without straying away from what comedy is. Not all stand up comedy in Britain is bad either, I just wish that popular comedians had something decent to say for themselves, rather insulting our intelligence with their tedious routines.