Brighton Comedy Festival

[Crazyfists]

Sorry for the random, first post, just a quick question. The brighton comedy festival as I'm sure most of you know returns this year.

http://www.brightondome.org/events/events.asp?et=2

I've been the last two years to see people like omid djalili, bill bailey and ross noble, but this year not quite sure who is worth seeing. Richard Herring, Will Smith and Robin Ince I've seen before and quite like, though most of the others, apart from the obvious shite like Russell Brand I'm unaware of. Knowing a few of you might pay more attention to the live scene than myself, any recommendations?[

[Roger Byrne]

I've never been disappointed when I've seen Jason Byrne in the past. I daresay you know if you like him or not, but Jeremy Hardy's pretty good. Same for Mitchell and Webb really.

Assuming they aren't going to sell out quickly, a lot of those will be the same shows that the acts are doing in Edinburgh, so it might be worth waiting for reviews from there.

[cleverjake]

Personally I'd be booking for:
The Goodies
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Mark Watson
Alun Cochrane
John Hegley
Reginald D Hunter
Mark Thomas
Will Smith
Boothby Graffoe
Ross Noble
Andrew Maxwell
Jeremy Hardy
Robin Ince
Mitchell & Webb
Comedy Store Players
Jason Byrne


maybe some more...

[jennifer]

Sorry for the random, first post, just a quick question. The brighton comedy festival as I'm sure most of you know returns this year.

http://www.brightondome.org/events/events.asp?et=2

I've been the last two years to see people like omid djalili, bill bailey and ross noble, but this year not quite sure who is worth seeing. Richard Herring, Will Smith and Robin Ince I've seen before and quite like, though most of the others, apart from the obvious shite like Russell Brand I'm unaware of. Knowing a few of you might pay more attention to the live scene than myself, any recommendations?[

Just... apropos of nowt other than i needed to get it off my chest SOMEWHERE and I wasn't going to start a new thread or phone my mum or anything else that would make it a bit too important, but, yeah. Russell Brand.

Anyway, I've always  rather liked the stand up comedy of Russell Brand, despite all the hoo-ha and bullshit that surrounds him, there's obviously something quite lyrical and considered going on under the surface, but I saw him the other night and he was RUBBISH. He's just doing stuff about being a man on the telly, in an overlong, whiny way. I'm normally a fan of self-indulgent comedy, ie if a comedian's had an argument with powergen or taken an interesting walk in the park and it's a funny anedote, I'd as happy to hear about it than about it than anything that directly relates to my life,  but in this case it was POOR.

Not a revaltion to most of the people here who hate him for wrong reasons, but as one of the liking him for the right reasons 'gang', I felt a bit sad.  So there.

[HKmA]

What would the right reasons for hating him be? Every time i've seen him on television he's been unfunny and tiresome, and I also believe he's in some way involved with feeding the shitmill that is big brother. Is that good enough?

[Marvin]

The right reason for hating him would be his seeming inability to turn down any bit of work in a David Mitchell-style and thus almost everything he's ever done on television has been utter, utter shit.

The reason for liking him would be that away from this he can be extremely funny, quickwitted and is an excellent storyteller.

I'm disappointed to hear his new stand-up is crap cuz I've recently heard bootlegs of the last two year's shows and they weren't bad at all, and his radio show is consistently entertaining.

Overall he leaves me very confused, but I think the answer lies in the fact he has the typical persona of a junkie and/or ex-junkie, in that he is very talented but is determined to piss it all up the wall and has pretty much no shame. I'm pretty sure he knows that he does a lot of shit and doesn't really care because ultimately it gets him money and sex and attention, which seems to be his replacement for the drugs, it's depressing though when behind that there's a decent comedian somewhere.

[jennifer]

The right reason for hating him would be his seeming inability to turn down any bit of work in a David Mitchell-style and thus almost everything he's ever done on television has been utter, utter shit.

The reason for liking him would be that away from this he can be extremely funny, quickwitted and is an excellent storyteller.

I'm disappointed to hear his new stand-up is crap cuz I've recently heard bootlegs of the last two year's shows and they weren't bad at all, and his radio show is consistently entertaining.

Overall he leaves me very confused, but I think the answer lies in the fact he has the typical persona of a junkie and/or ex-junkie, in that he is very talented but is determined to piss it all up the wall and has pretty much no shame. I'm pretty sure he knows that he does a lot of shit and doesn't really care because ultimately it gets him money and sex and attention, which seems to be his replacement for the drugs, it's depressing though when behind that there's a decent comedian somewhere.

Well exactly. Almost every former junkie (as opposed to functioning drug addict) I know replaces drugs with something else, sex or attention or whatever, rather than changes the mental processes that goes with an addictive personality.

Anyway not going into it here because it's far too depressing.


Incidentally, I'd be interested to hear those RB bootlegs if you can point me in the right direction.

[smoker]

i've seen rhod gilbert a couple of times and will be again, he's fucking excellent.

[jennifer]

i've seen rhod gilbert a couple of times and will be again, he's fucking excellent.

i agree with this. In a strange, masculinely deadpan and welsh way.

EDIT: I mean he is excellent in that way. Not that I am agreeing... in that way. Um.