Lee Evans

[dead-ced-dead]

I've never been a huge Lee Evans fan, but I re-watched Mousehunt recently with young relatives and it did remind me that at his best, his physical comedy has a Chuck Jones/Tex Avery cartoon physical comedy to it. I just wish that before he retired he didn't do mammoth 2 hour gigs that seemed to have less and less physical comedy (perhaps due to his advancing age) in them.

Perhaps that's why I prefered him in plays and movies where his manic flailing can be filtered through whatever character he played. He also does an excellent American accent in Mousehunt.

I was never the biggest fan of his "my wife" observations, but not untalented.

[Pink Gregory]

Lee Evans' comedy dvds were probably the first standup I ever saw.

To be honest, every other comedian that does that kind of material has paled in comparison.  He's just got this innate likeability to him that comes somewhat from his manic performance.  It's like he's not owning the room by authority, he's just sweating it out and forcing you to look.

[dead-ced-dead]

Lee Evans' comedy dvds were probably the first standup I ever saw.

To be honest, every other comedian that does that kind of material has paled in comparison.  He's just got this innate likeability to him that comes somewhat from his manic performance.  It's like he's not owning the room by authority, he's just sweating it out and forcing you to look.

He's certainly incredibly likeable, even if I only like half of what he does. As you say, his physical comedy is so far above anyone else who has done it since.

[Proactive]

Have always loved this bit from There's Something About Mary

https://youtu.be/Tlm_1LIbKOs

[Noodle Lizard]

Lee Evans' comedy dvds were probably the first standup I ever saw.

Same. I'm not sure if I'd think much of them now, but I remember them being relentlessly funny. I don't really have a bad word to say about him, though I always found those song bits he'd do at the end of his sets a bit rubbish.

[up_the_hampipe]

Same. I'm not sure if I'd think much of them now, but I remember them being relentlessly funny. I don't really have a bad word to say about him, though I always found those song bits he'd do at the end of his sets a bit rubbish.

I remember loving that song he did about being a goldfish when I was like 12. What a stupid little prick.

Anyway, his material was quite basic stuff but his physicality always elevated the jokes, and there wasn't a Seinfeld or McIntyre smugness with it. I'll always have a soft spot for the monkey boy.

[idunnosomename]

i've said this before but i was on a bus back from London over a decade ago and someone put a tape (probably literally) on the tv at the front. I was also suffering a terrible arthritis attack but somehow his routine about using the internet for porn was so much more painful

[Old Nehamkin]

Yeah I liked him. Pretty trad observational material but he was a funny/charismatic enough performer that it didn't really matter. May be damning with faint praise a bit but I'd easily take him over any arena-filling UK stand-up who's come along since. And fair play to him for getting out while he was still on top and just quietly entering retirement.

And yes, he's good in Mouse Hunt but that film is also just generally great.

[Avril Lavigne]

I liked him when I was about 8 before he started swearing all the time for no discernible reason and saying every common observation about human existence is "fuckin' MAD innit?" then ending all his shows on cringeworthy earnest piano ballads.

[dead-ced-dead]

I liked him when I was about 8 before he started swearing all the time for no discernible reason and saying every common observation about human existence is "fuckin' MAD innit?" then ending all his shows on cringeworthy earnest piano ballads.

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. I also think that as he got older he was less able to do his trademarked rubber-limbed antics. Not that it was gone completely, but it was certainly less big. So his physical stuff became noticeably stilted and his observations became more, "my wife does this. Blokes do this", etc.

I'm not blaming him, age is the death of the physical comedian, and he retired at the right time.

[Avril Lavigne]

I'm not blaming him, age is the death of the physical comedian, and he retired at the right time.

Sure, though maybe he could have done a Phil Cool and put all that energy into his face.

[Artie Fufkin]

I liked him in that 'The Martins' film.
Saw him live back in the day and he was really good.
Always came across as a nice fellow.
He did that series of comedy shorts, yes?
I remember one where he thought he may have picked up a serial killer hitch hiker?

[Crenners]

Great in There's Something About Mary. Great when I was a kid. Never let himself down to my knowledge.

[shoulders]

I remember some nasty punching down right leaning material in his later stand up gigs which I thought was pretty disappointing and surprising given it isn't even the point of his act and by then he had made it in showbiz comprehensively.

Whether he wrote it or not, I don't know but fuck him for letting it out of his mouth.

[Gulftastic]

Great in There's Something About Mary. 

I'm not sure why but 'Twice last year.' is one of my favourite lines in any film ever.

[TheMonk]

Didn't Jeff Green write a load of his material?

[Greg Torso]

a small, shivering gerbil man spraying sweat like a lawn sprinkler while he pretends his shoes are stuck to the floor

[shoulders]

a small, shivering gerbil man spraying sweat like a lawn sprinkler while he pretends his shoes are stuck to the floor

Yes - it's quite good isn't it?

[thenoise]

I liked him when I was about 8 before he started swearing all the time for no discernible reason and saying every common observation about human existence is "fuckin' MAD innit?" then ending all his shows on cringeworthy earnest piano ballads.

Its rather at odds with his loveable chappie persona and the cartoonish childish stuff, this swearing and talking about porn that seems to have accidentally wandered in from someone else's act.

[Alberon]

Never really watched his standup, but it was odd seeing him pop up in The Fifth Element.

According to Wiki he apparently retired at the age of fifty to spend more time with the wife and daughter. Though, also according to Wiki, said daughter was already off at uni in Florida at that point.

Maybe he decided he had enough money and was fed up with the day job. Can't blame him for that.

[neardark]

Was unintentionally funny when he was on Jonathan Ross or something and got asked why he retired and he said "my manager died" and there was a bit of laughter even though he wasn't joking.

[petril]

[tag]a hushed Stewart Lee voiceover[/tag]

[Avril Lavigne]

Its rather at odds with his loveable chappie persona and the cartoonish childish stuff, this swearing and talking about porn that seems to have accidentally wandered in from someone else's act.

Yeah, what made that weirder initially was I'm pretty sure he was still doing all the same material from his family-friendly sets for a while, just with 'fuckin' thrown into every other sentence. Maybe that's just how he really talks offstage but at the time it seemed totally affected, like he was desperate not to be pigeonholed as a kids' entertainer.

[DrGreggles]

I don't recall him not swearing on stage - even when he first won the Perrier, but it was generally during pretty bland routines which didn't need it.

Always though he was a great performer, but his material was never up to much.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

This is a fantastic piece of physical comedy. He was quite something in his prime.

I know he was always compared to Norman Wisdom (on acid), but that routine is more redolent of the young, manic Jerry Lewis. Who, not so coincidentally, played his father in the film from which that clip is taken (Funny Bones).

His observational stand-up material was pure hackwork, and often quite unpleasant. He just wasn't very good at that sort of thing, it didn't come naturally to him. He was a brilliant slapstick comedian who would've thrived in an earlier age, when padding out shows with faux-angry material about supermarket queues wasn't required of supremely gifted clowns.

None of these opinions are original, but they're probably true.

[H-O-W-L]

Mousehunt is a shithot movie that is sorely underrated IMO. A visual, aural, and comedic treat. It's got a kind otherworldly storybook look with a sheen of grime that is inimitable.

[dead-ced-dead]

This is a fantastic piece of physical comedy. He was quite something in his prime.

I agree with all this. His observational material is hacky and can be quite unpleasant. In the end, he just seemed to dislike doing movies and especially Hollywood movies, which is fair enough - if he didn't like it, he didn't like it - but it's a shame, because cinema seemed to deliver the most concentrated version of what makes his comedy works.

He also did a good American accent, which is usually not the case for British comedians in Hollywood.

Funny Bones, Mouse Hunt and There's Something About Mary is such a great showcase of his peak work.

[Tony Tony Tony]

Saw him early on at the Comedy Store (the one underneath the Spoons pub in Leicester Square) man he worked hard and sweated so much. He probably lost pounds during his act and sitting in the front row must have been like sitting in the splash zone at Seaworld.