Britain's Greatest Comedian

[Utter Shit]

Anyone watch this on Gold on Sunday night? What an odd show it was. Three hours (well, two once you remove the ads) discussing various legendary comedians in some detail, by people who were clearly very passionate about what they were talking about, with a view to coming up with a top 30...utterly hamstrung by a really bizarre formatting decision, where they were only allowed to choose from the 40 or so comedians already voted for in a pre-existing poll. To make things even more unnecessarily complex, they were only allowed to vote in blocks of ten, again based on the previous poll. So the ones that came 21-30 in the poll could be moved around, but only within that 21-30 frame.

I actually quite liked it, in a brainless-Sunday-night-fodder-when-there's-fuck-all-else-on sort of way, and it was good seeing David Quantick as he was the only one willing to slag off other comedians. But it still felt somewhat unsubstantial, with a ton of clips but all so short that you really had no chance of getting anything from them unless you already knew them. And while I won't bother complaining about the order (Gervais was sixth), I will complain about the criteria. It was all over the place really. Weighted towards stand-up, but with a handful of non-stand-ups thrown in...except the ones that were thrown in seemed to have been added almost at random. Caroline Aherne ahead of Ronnie Barker. Lee Mack, Micky Flanagan and Bill Bailey made the cut, but Tony Hancock, Peter Cook and Vic Reeves didn't (though Bob Mortimer did). Stan Laurel won it, ahead of Victoria Wood and Billy Connolly.

Just really baffling all round really.

1. Stan Laurel
2. Victoria Wood
3. Billy Connolly
4. Peter Sellers
5. Eric Morecambe
6=. Steve Coogan
6=. Ricky Gervais
8. Spike Milligan
9. Peter Kay
10. Ken Dodd
11. Caroline Aherne
12. John Cleese
13. Tommy Cooper
14=. Jennifer Saunders
14=. Dawn French
16. Ronnie Barker
17. Lee Mack
18. Sacha Baron Cohen
19. Lenny Henry
20. Rowan Atkinson
21. Dave Allen
22. Jo Brand
23. Lee Evans
24. Eddie Izzard
25. Stewart Lee
26. Bill Bailey
27. Micky Flanagan
28. Michael McIntyre
29. Rik Mayall
30. Kathy Burke

[the science eel]

I thought that Fast Show fella was a bit thick.

It was a daft idea anyway. You don't compare Stan Laurel to Billy Connolly like you don't compare Frank Zappa to Rudolf Nurejev.

[Dr Rock]

Stan Laurel is great, but it's a technicality that he was born in the UK, compared to the rest of the list who primarily did British humour for a British audience. Under that criteria, where's Charlie Chaplin?

[rasta-spouse]

No Skinner? And when did Flanagan establish himself in the comedy firmament? What is this?

[Dr Rock]

If it was on Gold maybe they based it around who they had access to clips of, or who is often on Gold. Vic Reeves and Peter Cook aren't, Lee Mack probably is.

[thecuriousorange]

I'm just going to say it. Victoria Wood isn't funny.

[Darles Chickens]

Where's CaB favourite James Corden?

[lankyguy95]

These lists are always terrible but that one's absolutely horrendous.

[hummingofevil]

I'm just going to say it. Victoria Wood isn't funny.

And, unless I am missing a technicality, Dave Allen isn't British.

[neveragain]

I love a brainless clip show... and a brainless clip show with actually interesting contributors (plus Nina Wadia) should have been a hoot! The format however was just frustrating. I gave up at Stewart Lee.


PS. I've nothing against Nina Wadia. Just find it a funny name.

[Glebe]

Saw it advertised, hoping to catch a repeat.