POLL: Peter Kay - Best Comedian or Over-Rated Comedian?

Basq

Last year, a poll was taken at the Chortle Comedy Awards naming Peter Kay as the most over-rated comedian ever!

See here: http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/feb04/rate.html

However, earlier this week, a poll organised at Jongleur's Comedy Club named him the nation's best comedian!!

See here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19890.html

Somewhat confusing, i know!

So, what do you think? Is the man funny or over-rated?

Personally, i think the man is definantly one of the funniest comedian's out there! His two live DVD's are amazing, along with 'Phoenix Nights' being one of the best comedies to come out of the UK in years (along with 'The Office'). 'Max & Paddy..' wasn't near as good as 'Phoenix Nights' but was still great viewing!

eirebhoy

The top ten comedians in the poll:
1. Peter Kay
2. Billy Connolly
3. Lee Evans
4. Ricky Gervais
5. Eddie Izzard
6. Jack Dee
7. Roy Chubby Brown
8. Graham Norton
9. Jo Brand
10. Jimmy Carr

I'd have Billy Connolly ahead of Peter Kay and Jimmy Carr a lot further up. Don't know a few of time to be honest.
1. Connolly
2. Kay
3. Carr
4. Gervais

super_furry

Billy Connolly is the funniest man alive to my mind. Peter Kay's alright, but I'd have the likes of Johnny Vegas ahead of him.

Basq

super_furry wrote:

Billy Connolly is the funniest man alive to my mind. Peter Kay's alright, but I'd have the likes of Johnny Vegas ahead of him.

Can't believe Johnny Vegas wasn't in that top 10.

Hilarious!!

D!ve^Bomb!

i saw Kay on tv a month or two back and i have to say he is fúckin HILARIOUS!!!! absolutely brilliant

skywalker

super_furry wrote:

Billy Connolly is the funniest man alive to my mind.

Definitely agree with ya there. tbh Peter Kay and the punters who do little britain are both most massively overrated. They are not funny.

Cactus Col

Jimmy Carr is the most irritating gimp there is. I can only assume there was only ten options in the survey.

Goodshape

I don't think there's a person on that Top10 who isn't highly over-rated. Except maybe Connolly, but his best days are behind him.

Jonny Arson

Peter Kay is good but he's not in the same league as Billy Connolly.

Any other fans of Roy Chubby Brown out here? He is so obscene!

Sleepy

Strange list:

1. Peter Kay - completely over-rated
2. Billy Connolly - Funniest man alive
3. Lee Evans - pretty tame
4. Ricky Gervais - The Office was brilliant but his stand up is crap
5. Eddie Izzard - Has stood the test of time, still great
6. Jack Dee - One of the best dead-pan comedians around
7. Roy Chubby Brown - Are "knickers" jokes still funny? :rolleyes:
8. Graham Norton - His TV stuff is awful but his stand up show probably merits this position
9. Jo Brand - Not a chance, there is nothing funny about periods, tampons or other "women's problems"
10. Jimmy Carr - Way under-rated here, definitely one of the best on the circuit at the moment.

My own top 10 (Bill Hicks doesn't feature as I'm assuming it's only currently performing comedians)

1. Billy Connolly - His stuff has dipped a little in recent years but he's still great.
2. Robin Williams - he doesn't do it enough any more but his stand up is legendary.
3. Dylan Moran - The best Irish comedian ever.
4. Jimmy Carr - One of the few truly original comedians around
5. Tommy Tiernan - sure 'cracked' wasn't all that great but his new show is fantastic
6. Eddie Izzard - how could you not love him?
7. Jack Dee - deadpan, dead miserable, side splittingly funny
8. Graham Norton - Surprisingly good, edgy comedy, much better than the TV Shows.
9. JOhnny Vegas - you gotta love the idiot.
10. Des Bishop - he may only be funny in Ireland but he's got the absurdity of this country down pat.

Goodshape

Bill Bailey anyone? Very good stand up IMO.

_blank_

What about Brendan O'Carroll. :eek:

*ducks and runs*

Stop chasing me with flaming torches....

][cEMAN**

Yeah Connolly is on a downwards hill in his career but he's still miles better than all comedians listed there.

Johnny Vegas would be in there imo over most of those guys. Jack Dee however I think is brilliant - though he was better when he kept a straight face. The first time he laughed at his own joke, the mood shattered a bit.

1. Peter Kay - Good but not the best, not by far
2. Billy Connolly - Imo the best, but then that IS just my opinion
3. Lee Evans - Don't much like him. He's trying to emulate norman wisdom too much. If you can't do your own thing, do nothing.
4. Ricky Gervais - He's not bad but in no way great. The office was overrated imo. It was nervous humour at best. It was funny for the first 5-10 mins, but after that it was the same thing over and over. Got old FAST!
5. Eddie Izzard - He's OK. Doesn't float my boat
6. Jack Dee - Brilliant, but better wry
7. Roy Chubby Brown - Some laughs but mostly outdated tripe
8. Graham Norton - If you love sexually explicit jokes and camp humour brilliant. Otherwise a sad little man.
9. Jo Brand - She's supposed to be funny? To look at yeah...
10. Jimmy Carr - s'ok at best

Depends what you want - TV show or standup. Standup i'd go for someone more like Chris Rock or Ben Elton. TV shows, i'd pick Bill Bailey - though his standup lacks.

Ed Byrne is funny on stage, as are Cedric The Entertainer, and Bernie Mac.

For TV appearance only, Ryan Styles was AMAZING in "Who's line is it anyway?", and that leads on to Drew Carey and him in the Drew Carey show.

For TV shows, the Mary Whitehouse Experience, and then Newman and Baddiel were excellent back in the day.

Guess that's just my own opinion though...

Stephen

Iceman, have you seen Bill Bailey's "part troll" stand up show? Its bloody excellent. (I particularly like his Kraftwerk interpretation of 'the hokey cokey').

Jim

Bill Bailey tbh.

As for Ed Byrne, he used to be good, saw a bit of him on JFL. His new stuff was quite dreadful.

The Mother****in' D o'D.

][cEMAN**

Stephen wrote:

Iceman, have you seen Bill Bailey's "part troll" stand up show? Its bloody excellent. (I particularly like his Kraftwerk interpretation of 'the hokey cokey').

Not yet, but now that you've told me about it i'll have to keep an eye out for it. Most of it seems a bit forced but I LOVE "Human slaves, in an insect nation - aaaAAAaaaahhhh" lol

Kingsize

wheres harry hill????

Chinafoot

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

The Mother****in' D o'D.

"do ya use cling film? you do? and what would you give it out of ten? you'd give it a six. and why would you dock it four marks? because its hard to tear...."

excellent


anyway, i don't think Peter Kay is overrated by any means. He's hilarious. But i would put Billy Connolly ahead of him.

the rest of the list (despite its order) is pretty good though......except Jimmy Carr. I dont mind him on the Friday Night Project or Distraction but in stand-up, i dunno.

rubadub

Roy chubby brown ahead of Steve Coogan and John Cleese.... :rolleyes:

Just shows whats around at the moment that snide prick jimmy carr is all over the tv these days. 2-3 years back ali g would have topped it

tq

Richard Pryor is the funniest stand up comedian i've seen

wilkins

Spike Milligan - genius

Peter Kay is funny but what about John Cleese, Paul Whitehouse & Paul Merton?

Or Peter Cook ????

Jimmy Carr is a truckin asphole.

leuler

Connolly is so far past his sell by date that he reeks. He has completly lost the plot and just babbles his usual 'I used to be a docker me, now I'm Prince Charles mate me'.

1. Peter Kay - hilarious, see new comic relief video
2. Billy Connolly - Nobhead and unfunny
3. Lee Evans - Can be funny
4. Ricky Gervais - Office, good idea and funny. Stand-up and chat-show sh1te
5. Eddie Izzard - funny standup
6. Jack Dee - not very funny.
7. Roy Chubby Brown - I saw him in Blackpool 20 years ago and he was hilarious(at the time and place)
8. Graham Norton - very funny
9. Jo Brand - sometimes funny
10. Jimmy Carr - Is he supposed to be funny?

steppen

have seen a lot of different comedians live......have to say Tommy Tiernan was the best..surprised not to have heard him mentioned at all so far.

Blisterman

Is it only british comedians in the poll. If so, why's Graham Norton there. If not, where are all the funny American comedians?

skywalker

Kingsize wrote:

wheres harry hill????

working in mddonalds i think.

A-Trak

Sleepy wrote:

9. Jo Brand - Not a chance, there is nothing funny about periods, tampons or other "women's problems".

Hear - Hear

repulsively unfunny woman,
And smugly sneering, god knows why.

Dave Allen (RIP) would definitely deserve a mention.

PullMyFinger!

tq wrote:

Richard Pryor is the funniest stand up comedian i've seen

Im going to try and DL some later this week, the clips Ive seen were genius!

The first 3/4 of Eddie Murphy's "Delerious" is one of the funniest things Ive seen, he should be in the ten without doubt. The olny Connelly DVD Ive bought was "An Audience With" and it was woeful, I must buy another to see what all the fuss is about.

Kay is at the top of his game but the best?? :rolleyes:

I'll have to think about that one

rubadub

Blisterman wrote:

Is it only british comedians in the poll. If so, why's Graham Norton there.

Cause they all think he is english as he was on the tv every night for ages. Its just like the way they "adopt" Irish atheletes or any Irish person who does anything praiseworthy suddenly becomes "first man in the british isles to..."
Sir Bob Geldof the right honourable english gent, well done old chap.

They can keep Norton!

Basq

rubadub wrote:

Cause they all think he is english as he was on the tv every night for ages.

Very true.. ye ever hear of the Kate Thorton / Samuel L Jackson interview?

Went like this:

KATE THORNTON: Now lets talk about Colin because in the UK he's become the man of the moment.

SAMUEL L.JACKSON: Really? Only in the UK?

KT: Well everywhere but we kind of claim him as our own because he's from Ireland.

SLJ: You can't claim him because he's from Ireland.

KT: Well we do because it's close by. (laughter)

SLJ: Ok. That's the source of all the conflict over there. You people always claiming the Irish as yours. We got a little problem just like that here called slavery but that's ok we don't need to talk about that so lets go. (more laughter)

KT: Well Colin is a very well paid slave.

SLJ: Ok good.

KT: As are you.

Oriel

Bill Bailey should definately be in the top ten, ahead of Jimmy Carr anyways.

Lump

Peter Kay is funny as ****, you need to be english or even better, from northern england. Irish people get it too....but it's better if you're english. I want to have he's babies to be honest.

John

fade2black

I judge comedians on how loudly I laugh and how much I cry with laughter. Connolly and Kay are geniuses at hitting the comedy nerve of what we all know best. I say are, but that really only applies to Kay, poor billy has slipped into oblivion. Watching that comedians's top 100 comedians over Christmas would have been tough viewing for Billy because his peers simply lamented his past glories and bitched about his present misgivings. I used to be a huge connolly fan, I have every DVD and video he's made and I've been to see him live (dissappointing) his charm has left him and been replaced by smugness and this was his downfall. There was a time when "Oh I have loads of money" was charming and he got away with it because he was a loveable rogue, working class hero etc..He didnt stop though and soon every bit of material he had contained references to being loaded. The biography, by his wife, part one and two are just sickening..."Oh it was so hard setting up his 60th birthday party....was good to see Sean Connorry and all again though, they are such good friends"....The thought of asking people to pay for this boastfull ****e was ludicrous (I got them as presents). He then goes and makes an ad for the national lottery. I'll happily look at all his old material and laugh just as much as ever, but then, i'm laughing at a different person.

I don't see this happening to Peter Kay because he's so rooted in family that he'll never lose that local boy done good tag. My only worry about him is that he works off a foundation of material that although hilarious is being recycled into two different shows and also appears in phoenix nights. He is naturally funny though with the most infectious laugh I have ever heard.

My top ten would be as follows:

1. Billy Connolly (Of old)
2. Peter Kay
3. Andy Kauffman
4. Richord Pryor
5. Eddie Izzard (his dressed to kill vid was genius in my opinion)
6. Colin Murphy
7. Ryan Stiles
8. Tommy Tiernan
9. Deirdre O Kane.. (ooohhh..contentious eh...I think she's funny and surviving a helluva lot better than some others in a man's world)
10. Take away that dreadful Ballinascully or whatever it was called and Pat Shortt is quite funny..

PullMyFinger!

sinecurea wrote:

Bill Bailey should definately be in the top ten, ahead of Jimmy Carr anyways.

Agreed. His humour is definitely to my liking

John Cleese has never done standup AFAIK.

theCzar

i have no idea what lee evans and jimmy carr are doing in the list.

personally, i think Peter Kay's standup is a bit crap, phoenix nights is class though.

1) Dave O'Doherty aka Mother****in' D O D
2) Eddie Izzard
3) Billy Connolly
4) Bill Bailey
5) Richard Pryor
6) Tommy Tiernan
etc.

LFCFan

Tommy Tiernan for me is the best at the mo. I'd have Kay at second. Overall though, Billy Connolly at his peak was the best comedian ever.

Megatron

Bill Baily is on of my favs alright ...

however i read the whole thread and i'm sad very very sad

only 1 mention of Ben Elton , and not 1 mention of Lenny henry, who for me is one of the best comics going.

but sayign that i'd still have auld mister connely up at number 1 , but your right in saying that his more recent stuff is drivel

rubadub

PullMyFinger! wrote:

John Cleese has never done standup AFAIK.

The poll didnt mention stand-up at all. Unless you consider a comedian to be stand-up and what cleese does as "comic acting". I'd call him a comedian though.

Basq

Megatron wrote:

..and not 1 mention of Lenny henry, who for me is one of the best comics going...

Dear God NO!

If you saw him at Comic Relief as Condoleezza Rice... you'l quickly change your mind! TERRIBLE!!

theCzar

Megatron wrote:

only 1 mention of Ben Elton , and not 1 mention of Lenny henry, who for me is one of the best comics going.

Ben Elton, fair enough, decent comedian but *cough* lenny henry! It's like the opposite of humour, it drains the mirth from the room. The only reason i can see for his contined presence on the comic relief line up is that he, makes the audience feel bad, so they donate to make themselves feel better. watching Lenny Henry is probably slightly worse than living in the 3rd world.

smoocher

im a big peter kay fan his 2 live dvds had me in stitches ive watched them so many times i could nearly tell the jokes myself.
phoenix nights is legend aswell...watch the outtakes ther gas!

limerick_man

Chris Rock
Dara O Brain
Jimmy Carr
Billy Connelly
Ed Burn (not his tv promos)

I just wanna say how much i hate Lee Evans

theCzar

Ed burn had a funny 15 minutes of material that launched his career ages back, i haven't laughed since unfortunately.

Chris Rock is funny though, i love the sketch about the really expensive bullets (that was him wasn't it)

gandalf

Well my top comedians would be as follows

Billy Connolly
Richard Pryor
Emo Philips
Jack Dee
Lee Evans
Chris Rock
Robin Williams
Ben Elton
Gregor Fisher for Rab C. Nesbitt alone
The Two Ronnies

Peter Kay makes me switch channels rapidally !!

limerick_man

theCzar wrote:

Chris Rock is funny though, i love the sketch about the really expensive bullets (that was him wasn't it)

Ya its in his show 'Bigger and Blacker' filmed back in 1999. I have it on DVD.

A lot of the jokes etc. are also in the movie he wrote, directed, starred in and produced 'Head of State' which is so brilliant!

But i wonder why he doubled up his comedy, comedains dont usually do the same matieral do they???

But i guess 'head of state' was all his best in one movie!!

And what a kick ass movie!

joe316

cant believe no one has mentioned the late, great dermot morgan, he practically transformed the comedy scene in this country with fr trendy skits

eirebhoy

Tommy Tiernan is great at writing jokes but I don't even class him as a funny person anymore. Its very good to judge people by their appearances on talk shows.
The likes of Billy Connolly doesn't think he has to make people laugh. His trips around Ireland and England on that BBC show are a great example of this.
Johnny Vegas is just completely funny and I have never heard him speak a serious sentance in my life.
Tommy Tiernan goes onto the likes of the Late Late and has his show written before he goes on. I can honestly say that I have heard the same 10 minute cameo on the Late Late show, the Dunphy show, Des and Mel and bits and pieces of it in standup. He has really gone to the bottom of my list because of this.

LFCFan

eirebhoy wrote:

Tommy Tiernan is great at writing jokes but I don't even class him as a funny person anymore. Its very good to judge people by their appearances on talk shows.
The likes of Billy Connolly doesn't think he has to make people laugh. His trips around Ireland and England on that BBC show are a great example of this.
Johnny Vegas is just completely funny and I have never heard him speak a serious sentance in my life.
Tommy Tiernan goes onto the likes of the Late Late and has his show written before he goes on. I can honestly say that I have heard the same 10 minute cameo on the Late Late show, the Dunphy show, Des and Mel and bits and pieces of it in standup. He has really gone to the bottom of my list because of this.

have you been to his live shows? All of Billy Connolly's stand up is pre written. Doesn't mean it's not good. There's not a comedien on the planet who will go onto stage without a pretty good idea of what his material is going to be. I've seen Tommy being interviewed when it was off the cuff and he's very funny.

Capt'n Midnight

joe316 wrote:

cant believe no one has mentioned the late, great dermot morgan, he practically transformed the comedy scene in this country with fr trendy skits

not to mention scrap saturday

eirebhoy

LFCFan wrote:

have you been to his live shows? All of Billy Connolly's stand up is pre written. Doesn't mean it's not good. There's not a comedien on the planet who will go onto stage without a pretty good idea of what his material is going to be. I've seen Tommy being interviewed when it was off the cuff and he's very funny.

First of all everyone's stand up is pre-written.

Connolly doesn't go onto 3 or 4 talk shows (all viewable to the same country) and spend the whole 10 minutes saying the exact same words he has said on the other ones. In fact, Connolly doesn't have to write a 10 minute cameo when going onto a talk show. He would probably have a couple of jokes to say but he doesn't change every quesion asked around so that he can fit his joke in.

If he's, as you said, funny without pre-rehearsed lines, why can't he go onto a talk show and just act himself? Surely if he's naturally funny he'd make people laugh anyway.