Toby Young's Stand-Up Debut [split topic]

[Norton Canes]

Look what it just shat out


[edit: Split from the Comedy Unleashed thread]

[idunnosomename]

"is this thing on?"

[ajsmith2]

Ducking hell, those last two years flew by.

[lipsink]

"In 2018,Theresa May appointed me to the board of a new Higher Education Regulator..."

Relatable stuff for the common man.

[Ferris]

"Toby Young Observational Comedy" sounds like a thread I'd start in HS Art while pissed up.

[lipsink]

He's going to do more of this, isn't he? He probably thinks that set was a great success.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

One of the weirder things I encountered in the Titania McGrath book is that it seems to be a thing in the 'free speech' community that they all like Toby Young and think he's a top lad and think that only screeching insane people dislike him. I mean imagine the mindset that is required to think that some utter mediocrity like Young is anything other than eminently ignorable

[Petey Pate]

Quite reminiscent of that critic's set from the Jon Ronson documentary about the Edinburgh Perrier Award, I thought.

"The thing is, I'm a cretin..."

[RicoMNKN]

Does he actually look like any of the main cast in EastEnders?

Opening with a look-a-like is a cliché, but not actually specifying who you look like ("I know what you're thinking, why have Comedy Unleashed book that bloke from EastEnders") feels so generic a look-a-like that anyone could say it. 

I lasted 2 minutes. 

[lipsink]

Quite reminiscent of that critic's set from the Jon Ronson documentary about the Edinburgh Perrier Award, I thought.

"The thing is, I'm a cretin..."

God, don't remind me. I loved how Ronson showed that 'joke' three times in the documentary in case we forgot.

[idunnosomename]

Does he actually look like any of the main cast in EastEnders?

Opening with a look-a-like is a cliché, but not actually specifying who you look like ("I know what you're thinking, why have Comedy Unleashed book that bloke from EastEnders") feels so generic a look-a-like that anyone could say it. 

I lasted 2 minutes.

everything is a cliche. i get immediately he means phil mitchell/steve mcfadden but he doesnt look enough like him to be funny. just because hes a stocky bald cunt. steve isnt really a glasses kinda guy for a start (he may wear them to read now haha old)

[checkoutgirl]

Could be good, could be shit.

A video popped up in my Youtube suggestions, Will Franken on Comedy Unleashed. I didn't know who he was or what Comedy Unleashed was so I gave it a go. It was brilliant. 30 minutes of excellent character stuff. He did brutalise Greta Thumberg for 15 minutes which was a bit much as she's only 8 years old and has Asbergers. Still, it was funny.

Then I listened to a couple more suggestions which were quite good. One guy said he has a degree in art that he got in Italy, which is like a degree in misogyny from Pakistan, it's the highest level. That was very funny. I don't consciously seek out comedy that only agrees with my political view as I don't think that's particularly healthy or helpful.

I'm a bit in two minds about how it brands itself though. Is comedy so politically correct and abjectly brow-beaten that a comedy place that lets the comedians express themselves is a rarity that can be advertised as such? Genuine question as I don't watch that much comedy so have no real knowledge of the scene.

[jobotic]

Do the crowd lap it up?

[Armin Meiwes]

"Offense archeologists poring over my every remark to try to find something they can get me with".. lucky for all the left wing politicians that right wingers aren't in to offense archeology the other way round at all.. TWAT.

[Armin Meiwes]

Anyway thanks for adding that to YouTube's secret list of "things I like watching" for future recommendations!

[lipsink]

He could've said "I know what you're thinking. Harry Hill's gone dark."

[idunnosomename]

"and not funny"

[Benjaminos]

His mannerisms really remind me of Harry Hill (aside from the physical resemblance) - licking his lips, squinting, fiddling with his specs, etc. Shame he didn't copy the bit where Harry Hill is funny, eh readers?

[bgmnts]

Fuuuucking hell, shite.

This is a comedy club for right wing divs who think they're the last bastion of 'free speech' is it?

[lipsink]

Yes. And they booed a comedian for criticising Brexit.

[idunnosomename]

His mannerisms really remind me of Harry Hill (aside from the physical resemblance) - licking his lips, squinting, fiddling with his specs, etc. Shame he didn't copy the bit where Harry Hill is funny, eh readers?

i think that's just him being nervous, where Harry Hill intentionally exaggerates them for comic effect.

Imagine that!

[ajsmith2]

A video popped up in my Youtube suggestions, Will Franken on Comedy Unleashed. I didn't know who he was or what Comedy Unleashed was so I gave it a go. It was brilliant. 30 minutes of excellent character stuff. He did brutalise Greta Thumberg for 15 minutes which was a bit much as she's only 8 years old and has Asbergers. Still, it was funny.

Then I listened to a couple more suggestions which were quite good. One guy said he has a degree in art that he got in Italy, which is like a degree in misogyny from Pakistan, it's the highest level. That was very funny. I don't consciously seek out comedy that only agrees with my political view as I don't think that's particularly healthy or helpful.

I'm a bit in two minds about how it brands itself though. Is comedy so politically correct and abjectly brow-beaten that a comedy place that lets the comedians express themselves is a rarity that can be advertised as such? Genuine question as I don't watch that much comedy so have no real knowledge of the scene.

Al Franken is a talented performer, I'll admit. I'm fine with him doing Greta Thunberg bits but my real problem with him (and anyone tread the CU boards who is genuinely good on some level) is I can't get on board with someone whose comedic world view relies on him being pretty sharp but also Donald Trump being an intelligent and admirable man. That's not a considered moral response on my part, it's a gut thing. The cognitive dissonance is too great. It's like if you were watching George Carlin speaking truth to power but also espousing how it's an equally self evidently good idea to bathe in your own shit. But you know, Orange Man Bad of course, checkmate.

The CU stated modus operandi is that they offer a space where anything goes if it's funny and free speech is upheld no matter what, principals that they claim (with a degree of justification I'll admit) have been threatened by woke culture blah de blah. However this same seemingly benign set of principals (ie freeze peach) has of course for time immemorial been used by right wingers to smuggle past their most poisonous ideas into the mainstream while suppressing and marginalising left wing views. The real test of whether CU are all they claim to be would of course be if they put on an unashamedly left wing comedian. I would genuinely LOVE to see a Stewart Lee set there, I think it would be a bold move by both sides. He could really do his 'testing the audience' shtick, no holds barred, if he was up to it. And they could prove their FS rhetoric wasn't just a load of bollocks to cover for them putting on a production llne of hacks doing 'I identify as' routines in a safe space of guffawing right wingers.

[poodlefaker]

Reminds me of an old Spitting Image sketch of Prince Edward doing stand-up "Have you ever noticed, right, when you're at the state opening of parliament, there's always an ambassador in a big hat right in front of you..."

[Crabwalk]

I'd like to see Todd Barry do a crowdwork show there.

[Cursus]

Careful folks, Toby will set his new Free Speech Union on you if you're not careful:

If you find yourself being targeted by a digital outrage mob on social media for having exercised your legal right to free speech, we will mobilise an army of supporters.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Free speech, yours for just £49.95.

These fucking grifters, man.

[Dewt]

I lasted 2 minutes.

I couldn't cum to it at all.

[Danger Man]

The other day I was wanking at the thought of starving Kenyan children.....and then I got of the bus. Ah.


Fact check

One tweet by Young was in response to a BBC Comic Relief appeal in 2009 for starving Kenyan children.[88] During the broadcast, a Twitter user commented that she had "gone through about 5 boxes of kleenex" whilst watching. Toby Young replied: "Me too, I havn't [sic] wanked so much in ages".[58] He has expressed remorse for his "politically incorrect" tweets.[89]

[QDRPHNC]

To be fair, that sounds exactly like something you'd read on CaB.

[checkoutgirl]

Al Franken is a talented performer, I'll admit. I'm fine with him doing Greta Thunberg bits but my real problem with him (and anyone tread the CU boards who is genuinely good on some level) is I can't get on board with someone whose comedic world view relies on him being pretty sharp but also Donald Trump being an intelligent and admirable man. That's not a considered moral response on my part, it's a gut thing. The cognitive dissonance is too great. It's like if you were watching George Carlin speaking truth to power but also espousing how it's an equally self evidently good idea to bathe in your own shit. But you know, Orange Man Bad of course, checkmate.

The CU stated modus operandi is that they offer a space where anything goes if it's funny and free speech is upheld no matter what, principals that they claim (with a degree of justification I'll admit) have been threatened by woke culture blah de blah. However this same seemingly benign set of principals (ie freeze peach) has of course for time immemorial been used by right wingers to smuggle past their most poisonous ideas into the mainstream while suppressing and marginalising left wing views. The real test of whether CU are all they claim to be would of course be if they put on an unashamedly left wing comedian. I would genuinely LOVE to see a Stewart Lee set there, I think it would be a bold move by both sides. He could really do his 'testing the audience' shtick, no holds barred, if he was up to it. And they could prove their FS rhetoric wasn't just a load of bollocks to cover for them putting on a production llne of hacks doing 'I identify as' routines in a safe space of guffawing right wingers.

But I've watched hundreds of hours of Stewart Lee and seen him live twice. I think comedy is generally a lot more left wing (again I don't know the scene so guessing) and if it is this is an oasis from that.

Don't remember Franken saying Trump is great but his latest piece is a prince Andrew takedown so I'm not sure what the problem is.

I'm not right wing, I've always been left wing. But I don't want to get to the stage where I'm offended by anything or any comedy that doesn't fit my world view It's just not for me. If it's clever enough, left or right, I want to be open to it. I might learn something.

Oh and I'm sick of Stew's testing the audience schtick. He's done that to death. I think I've used up Stew as a comedian. Although I still have a lot of time for him in interviews. John Robb and Alexei Sayle spring to mund.