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Child Item

Tommy Cooper was NOT funny

byronbay2

I've put up with this myth for a loooong time but now I have to speak out. It started (for me) in my early teens when there was a Tommy Cooper show on prime-time TV and, with only a couple of channels, I watched a few episodes. It was absolutely AWFUL! A bumbling buffoon, wearing a funny hat, getting card tricks (hilariously!) wrong and cracking a few terrible jokes. I knew he was popular at the time but it didn't bother me because most TV was terrible and I thought he appealed to an adult audience rather than me.

Fast forward 40 years and I am an adult now myself! I have seen Cooper every so often over the years and my opinion has never wavered: totally unfunny rubbish. Yet now, every few weeks it seems, there are TC retrospectives (and a movie!) with contemporaries and modern comedians falling over themselves to say what a genius he was and how hilarious his bumbling character was.

My question is: Am I wrong? Was he a genius? Or is there a giant conspiracy to fool the modern audience into thinking his act was hilarious? Surely, anyone watching him for 5 minutes could see that he was a total charlatan??

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Rodney Bathgate

Bullsh1t. Even his Fez was funny.

Larbre34

It takes a lot of brains to appear that stupid.

That aside, you're wrong, his timing was absolutely excellent. I daresay its just because he came from another era entirely that you may not appreciate him.

uch

Why would he want to fool a modern audience when he died 25 or so years ago? he was funny as fúck back then though

Strumms

Guy was pretty original and his humor and wit was quite clever, he was quite a character and me laugh, bit different from the regular joke teller the way he incorporated magic, being fûcked up in that bumbling bafoonery style, yeah , liked him, he wasn’t ‘edgy’ but he was good, great in fact, rock on Tommy.

fran38

[QUOTE=byronbay2;113860728]I've put up with this myth for a loooong time but now I have to speak out. It started (for me) in my early teens when there was a Tommy Cooper show on prime-time TV and, with only a couple of channels, I watched a few episodes. It was absolutely AWFUL! A bumbling buffoon, wearing a funny hat, getting card tricks (hilariously!) wrong and cracking a few terrible jokes. I knew he was popular at the time but it didn't bother me because most TV was terrible and I thought he appealed to an adult audience rather than me.

Fast forward 40 years and I am an adult now myself! I have seen Cooper every so often over the years and my opinion has never wavered: totally unfunny rubbish. Yet now, every few weeks it seems, there are TC retrospectives (and a movie!) with contemporaries and modern comedians falling over themselves to say what a genius he was and how hilarious his bumbling character was.

My question is: Am I wrong? Was he a genius? Or is there a giant conspiracy to fool the modern audience into thinking his act was hilarious? Surely, anyone watching him for 5 minutes could see that he was a total charlatan??[/QUOTE]

So sorry for your troubles

Riddle101

I've never watched Tommy Cooper but it seems to me that a lot of comedy acts could be attributed to a certain generation of fans. I think my grandfather liked Tommy Cooper, and he would also have been into the likes of Laurel and Hardy and The Two Ronnies yet you'd probably wouldn't see a lot of fans of those comedy acts nowadays. On the other hand, he probably wouldn't have been into a lot of the modern comedians today, he was very old fashioned.

whisky_galore

Funny that, how 40 year old comedy routines don't stand up to 21st century scrutiny. Also what people find funny is subjective.

Ipso

Gerronupoutofthat

JupiterKid

whisky_galore wrote: »

Funny that, how 40 year old comedy routines don't stand up to 21st century scrutiny. Also what people find funny is subjective.

This is it in a nutshell.

Comedy is highly subjective - what one person finds side-splittingly hilarious another will see it as just...meh. Tommy Cooper was a bit before my time - he keeled over and died on the spot on stage when I was about 8 or 9. I remember at the time that he died and how he died but not the man as a regular fixture on the telly.

JohnFalstaff

"I sleep like a baby. Every morning I wake up screaming around 2 o’clock."

One of my favourite Tommy Cooper jokes. The man never tried to be one of those comedians who provided social commentary, which makes much of his material timeless. The only time he died onstage was the time he actually died onstage. Which is also hilarious - the final punchline.

StupidLikeAFox

Jus'li'da

Itssoeasy

byronbay2 wrote: »

I've put up with this myth for a loooong time but now I have to speak out. It started (for me) in my early teens when there was a Tommy Cooper show on prime-time TV and, with only a couple of channels, I watched a few episodes. It was absolutely AWFUL! A bumbling buffoon, wearing a funny hat, getting card tricks (hilariously!) wrong and cracking a few terrible jokes. I knew he was popular at the time but it didn't bother me because most TV was terrible and I thought he appealed to an adult audience rather than me.

Fast forward 40 years and I am an adult now myself! I have seen Cooper every so often over the years and my opinion has never wavered: totally unfunny rubbish. Yet now, every few weeks it seems, there are TC retrospectives (and a movie!) with contemporaries and modern comedians falling over themselves to say what a genius he was and how hilarious his bumbling character was.

My question is: Am I wrong? Was he a genius? Or is there a giant conspiracy to fool the modern audience into thinking his act was hilarious? Surely, anyone watching him for 5 minutes could see that he was a total charlatan??

Answers to your questions
1.yes you are
2. Yes he was a genuis.
3. No talent isn't generational.
4. Charlatan ? Not even remotely. How many comedians today have the audience laughing before even say one word ?

byronbay2

whisky_galore wrote: »

Funny that, how 40 year old comedy routines don't stand up to 21st century scrutiny. Also what people find funny is subjective.

They weren't funny 40 years ago!

ShatterAlan

byronbay2 wrote: »

I've put up with this myth for a loooong time but now I have to speak out. It started (for me) in my early teens when there was a Tommy Cooper show on prime-time TV and, with only a couple of channels, I watched a few episodes. It was absolutely AWFUL! A bumbling buffoon, wearing a funny hat, getting card tricks (hilariously!) wrong and cracking a few terrible jokes. I knew he was popular at the time but it didn't bother me because most TV was terrible and I thought he appealed to an adult audience rather than me.

Fast forward 40 years and I am an adult now myself! I have seen Cooper every so often over the years and my opinion has never wavered: totally unfunny rubbish. Yet now, every few weeks it seems, there are TC retrospectives (and a movie!) with contemporaries and modern comedians falling over themselves to say what a genius he was and how hilarious his bumbling character was.

My question is: Am I wrong? Was he a genius? Or is there a giant conspiracy to fool the modern audience into thinking his act was hilarious? Surely, anyone watching him for 5 minutes could see that he was a total charlatan??

It's fine that you don't get his situation comedy

Facial expressions, foolishness. A lot do and enjoy his clumsiness. And cheesiness.

I can't stand anything "Monty Python"...I just dont get it. To me, it is not funny AT ALL.

So I suppose it's about taste.

Arghus

His physical appearance used to scare me when I was a child.

MrStuffins

Comedy, just like any art form, is subjective.

You not finding him funny doesn't make him unfunny, just like me not liking Led Zep doesn't make them **** at music.

I know Led Zep are class. They're just not for me.

Badly Drunk Boy

Scroobius Pip liked him enough to make this tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8zi7vcnjVc

Badly Drunk Boy

Just last week, they were showing old Tommy Cooper shows on Gold or ITV7 or something, and I watched a bit tried to move on, but even though it was a bit stupid, something kept me watching. He'd make a mess of a trick, continue on, and as you're thinking "This is ridiculous!" he'd suddenly do something to make you think "How did he just do that?!?". Maybe the bungling around lowers your expectation, but even if that was the case, it's a great angle! It does the job.

Tin Foil Hat

This time next week he'll get deleted for the cultural appropriation of a hat.

sydthebeat

He cracked me up then as a young boy, and he still does.

Comedy gold.

Unique, and his schtick was for everyone, which can't be said about a lot of other comedians at that time.

Kylta

Where like the OP in my teens I couldn't understand what he was all about, in later years I understood his comedy act. The man was a comic legend in his own lifetime and still is. He still makes me laugh to this day

Kylta

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

This time next week he'll get deleted for the cultural appropriation of hat.

Lets hope they leave his statue alone.

Earthhorse

He was good but he was no Aisling Bea.

Trigger Happy

Its horses for courses with comedians but I thought Cooper was hilarious.

A guy walked up to me the other night and said “Quick, did you see a policeman around here?”
I said no.
He said: “Good -Stick em up.”

8-10

whisky_galore wrote: »

Funny that, how 40 year old comedy routines don't stand up to 21st century scrutiny. Also what people find funny is subjective.

21st century UK audiences have made Mrs Browns Boys the biggest comedy show in the country.

I think the more popular and appealing to the general public something gets, the less edgy interesting or unique it is. Diluted, generic and formulaic. I don't think it's anything to do with the era.

whisky_galore

byronbay2 wrote: »

They weren't funny 40 years ago!

Again, subjective.

Its still better than your stand up act.

[Deleted User]

I think the fact that he literally 'died on stage' would have amused him enormously, in retrospect.

Wonderful comedian. He came from nothing, unlike those somewhat spoilt Monty Python guys. He did it all by himself, I respect that a lot.

Odyssey 2005

His last performance was his best.

stateofflux

Heresy

Spoon jar jar Spoon mutha f*ckaaa!!

Bobblehats

I remember him the twat in the hat. Or was that jamiroquai