controversial comedians

Ralf and Florian

threetrees wrote: »

And my contribution, Dave Allen, on the telley tonight.

Thought that show was disappointing, didn't do him or his act justice.

Rjd2

Ralf and Florian wrote: »

Thought that show was disappointing, didn't do him or his act justice.

A complete mess and I was so looking forward to it.

Beechwoodspark

Rjd2 wrote: »

A complete mess and I was so looking forward to it.

Ah no. Was gonna watch it after my night shift. Any redeeming features?

Rjd2

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Ah no. Was gonna watch it after my night shift. Any redeeming features?

Its an easy watch I suppose. The problem is the man was so interesting and complex, it basically felt crammed as if they were trying to do a greatest hits programme. Just rushed and Gillen just does not have the comic wit whatsoever to get away with it.

The documentary that followed it was much more interesting though and worth a look.

RabbleRouser2k

Aiden Gillen's a good actor, for sure. But when he's cast as a real person-Charles Haughey, or Dave Allen...
I dunno, it comes across as akin to Bull Island, or Splitting Image. A caricature, not a fully developed character.

Parts of that Haughey series had interesting moments, yes, but other times-didn't feel whole.
I decided to not watch the Dave Allen short-I knew it wouldn't capture him-especially a 'one off'.

mariaalice

The problem is that there are not many who can carry off edgy and offensive without falling flat.

It can come across like a teenager singing an Eminem song in the hopes of annoying a teacher and saying its only a song, but by and large, they are middle-aged men and cant carry it off.

quintana76

Dave Allen always said that most of the motivation for his comedy was his reaction to and rejection of being told what to think. I would say the PC/liberals would be his primary target if he were in his pomp today. That is if he wasn't censored. Sadly, much more likely now than then.

murpho999

threetrees wrote: »

Dave Allen. You don't find re-runs very often but when they are on I'm reminded how funny he was.

Apparantly he has never allowed repeats but there's loads of stuff on You Tube.

I think he's probably my all time favourite comedian.

Only reason he was controversial at the time was that he slagged the church in TV sketches but it's mild stuff now and I don't think it's his best material.

This is one of my favourite routines he had.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVPUIRGthI

RabbleRouser2k

mariaalice wrote: »

The problem is that there are not many who can carry off edgy and offensive without falling flat.

It can come across like a teenager singing an Eminem song in the hopes of annoying a teacher and saying its only a song, but by and large, they are middle-aged men and cant carry it off.

I'd agree for sure-but then again, there are many who do pull it off really well. George Carlin was talking truth well into his senior years-even stopped wearing anything other than Black because he didn't want to be seen advertising clothing labels.

A lot of people try and watch Bill Hicks now-and I dunno, maybe he's a product of his time, but I've not really found him funny. Same with Sam Kinison-he's got the same 'shout in your face' (literally) routine that is tired within minutes. His career was almost DOA before he was-it was on life support, tbh.

Ricky Gervais seems to have forgotten to be funny-it's like you said, middle aged man who is acting like that annoying kid in class. Like, other comedians can do it-and you don't care about age. Because they have comedy skills. He on the other hand-nope.
He's trying to be edgy, comes across as 'edgelord'-as in that annoying teen who has a band and thinks they have a 'message'...when all they have is 27 songs about a girl named Brenda.

super_furry

Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Frankie Boyle et al would probably be considered controversial now or in their heyday, and they were, but they were also really fecking funny.

People like Jimmy Carr push the envelope too but having seen him live, he's not great, just stood up there and told a series of one-liners.

Chubby Brown, I dunno, I don't get the appeal there. It's all pretty racist and seems to be designed to play to a very, very specific audience.

RabbleRouser2k

super_furry wrote: »

Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Frankie Boyle et al would probably be considered controversial now or in their heyday, and they were, but they were also really fecking funny.

People like Jimmy Carr push the envelope too but having seen him live, he's not great, just stood up there and told a series of one-liners.

Chubby Brown, I dunno, I don't get the appeal there. It's all pretty racist and seems to be designed to play to a very, very specific audience.

Carlin's '7 words you can't say on tv' is still genius. Pryor was the one who lead the pack, in my eyes-if you watch his stuff, it's amazing. So up to date and timeless. I remember the week he died, Colin Murphy played a bit from one of his performances...and then RTE cut it off, cos the news...:mad::mad::mad: (Pryor's bit was how he was conceived, that his dad died in the middle of conceiving Richard-with the immortal 'he came and went at the same time' line.) Murphy is a major fan of his work.

There's an up and comer, Daniel Sloss, who's material is dark-but he tows the line between good and potentially great.

Gregk961

Gilbert Gottfried is one that always spring to mind. Went on stage(at a roast of some sort in new york)a couple of weeks after 9/11 and told a joke about his plane being rerouted to the Empire state building, which completely turned the crowd against him.

He abandoned the rest of his routine and told the definitive version of The Aristocrats joke. Fairly crude stuff but he performs it to perfection.

RabbleRouser2k

Gregk961 wrote: »

Gilbert Gottfried is one that always spring to mind. Went on stage(at a roast of some sort in new york)a couple of weeks after 9/11 and told a joke about his plane being rerouted to the Empire state building, which completely turned the crowd against him.

He abandoned the rest of his routine and told the definitive version of The Aristocrats joke. Fairly crude stuff but he performs it to perfection.

Also did a joke about the Japanese Tsunami and Floods-and was fired from a 'toilet duck' spokesperson gig.
He tweeted them out-and tbh, they were dark and funny...but also happened within days of the floods.

Since then, he's been on celeb Apprentice.

I kinda hope we're moving more towards darker comedy-since the likes of Amy Schumer and co are starting to die out.
Once the feminasty's turned on her, as did her last movie dying, and losing the Barbie gig (and the Beer gig-I think it was Bud Light).
She coasted on her so-called 'female empowerment'-but that was a crock. (And many rightly called her out on it).

One of the best versions of the Aristocats jokes is Bob Saget...It's deliciously filthy.

Dick phelan

Love dark comedy when it has a level of intelligence to the joke, stuff like Chubby Brown has no appeal to me because there is no level of real insight or wit involved. I like Carlin, Boyle and Pryor in terms of black comedy. Dave Allen probably Ireland's greatest ever comedian.

RabbleRouser2k

Dick phelan wrote: »

Love dark comedy when it has a level of intelligence to the joke, stuff like Chubby Brown has no appeal to me because there is no level of real insight or wit involved. I like Carlin, Boyle and Pryor in terms of black comedy. Dave Allen probably Ireland's greatest ever comedian.

And he doesn't get enough credit-even the short film did him no justice.

RabbleRouser2k

Has anyone mentioned Bill Maher yet?

Hector Bellend

Patrice O'Neal was hilarious

YFlyer

razorblunt wrote: »

A large Big Mac meal with McFlurry and chocolate milkshake?

https://www.facebook.com/fatchancers/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARCVJ6tfocCZBCDQCW3GxIWt0wYLt17GnkbVT6vfR7nqpsHQgNb37-DvDqXmqmQ2E-Wh9f6ziO2fkbNI

branie2

Danny Boyle, because of his jokes on people with Down Syndrome

gmisk

branie2 wrote: »

Danny Boyle, because of his jokes on people with Down Syndrome

The director?

branie2

gmisk wrote: »

The director?

Sorry, I meant Frankie Boyle

Autecher

The thing for me about Frankie Boyle, Anthony Jeselnik and the like is that when every joke is "edgy" then none of it is really edgy at all as it all just becomes boring. Stop trying to shock and write actual jokes, though to be fair Jeselnik does do jokes but they are not good. Also the thing Boyle did about Jordan's son was awful stuff, really awful. It got a big laugh because of the shock factor but it wasn't funny at all, when you have to rely on shocks to get laughs then you are not a good comedian.

Drumpot

Went to see Marc Maron at Vicar street recently , he was really good, possibly the best comedian I’ve seen live (and I’ve seen a few). Seemed to make a lot up as he went Along.

Always sorry I never got to see Billy Connolly in concert, some of his jokes are hilarious.

Penn

Autecher wrote: »

The thing for me about Frankie Boyle, Anthony Jeselnik and the like is that when every joke is "edgy" then none of it is really edgy at all as it all just becomes boring. Stop trying to shock and write actual jokes, though to be fair Jeselnik does do jokes but they are not good. Also the thing Boyle did about Jordan's son was awful stuff, really awful. It got a big laugh because of the shock factor but it wasn't funny at all, when you have to rely on shocks to get laughs then you are not a good comedian.

I agree in a way. Comedians who try to be offensive and get a reaction, for the most part their jokes aren't actually that good. I used to be a fan of Ricky Gervais, but over time his comedy has become more about "I have the right to say offensive things and I don't care if you're offended", even though his last standup special on Netflix was pretty much an hour of "I said something offensive, then someone said they were offended, so I said something even more offensive. Needless to say, I had the last laugh"

His comedy used to be quite good, and if there was something offensive in it, it didn't matter. But by trying to be so offensive all the time, he's just become so bland and boring.

Frankie Boyle's standup used to be the same, but I have to admit I love the show he does on BBC2, New World Order. He talks more about political and social issues with an actual point to make about them, even though it's still wrapped in offensive material/analogies.

Diceicle

Andrew Schulz - probably the best new comic out there.

gmisk

Diceicle wrote: »

Andrew Schulz - probably the best new comic out there.

Each to their own but I thought that was painfully unfunny

razorblunt

YFlyer wrote: »

https://www.facebook.com/fatchancers/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARCVJ6tfocCZBCDQCW3GxIWt0wYLt17GnkbVT6vfR7nqpsHQgNb37-DvDqXmqmQ2E-Wh9f6ziO2fkbNI

Jaysis.

ILoveYourVibes

Lenny Bruce / thread.

Sarah Silverman.

Peter Cook.

Joan Rivers

Andy Kaufman.
Andy Kaufman

ANDY KAUFMAN!

Itssoeasy

Johnathan winters and comedians of that era I like. Now some of the jokes would never pass today but there was no swearing in the jokes. I mean don rickles did a routine where he insults president ronald Regan and his wife and everyone laughed and at the end he gave a very nice bit when he got everyone clapping.

ILoveYourVibes

Richard Pryor!