The progressive degeneration of Irish Comedy

Denerick · 13-11-2009 03:41AM #1

Its well known that the best Irish comics tend to get shipped off to England (Although only O'Brian springs to mind) but what the hell has happened over the last couple of years? Only in Ireland could the likes of Jason Byrne, Neil Delamere and Andrew Maxwell* get on TV.

Their sense of humour can be summed up thus:

1) Throw some muck on a wall.
2) Watch if it sticks.
3) If some dud finds it funny, then elaborate.
4) The elaboration isn't grounded in wit, or articulate and biting satire, but in sheer irrelevancy (Usually lauded as 'randomness' by their fellow practitioners.)
5) Wait for laughter from panel.
6) Repeat ad infinitum.

Frankie Boyle, David Mitchell, Harry Enfield, Chris Morris, John Cleese, Stephen Fry... Intelligent, biting, controversial men with a clear and multi faceted wit.** And all impeccably British.

Is Jason Byrne's loud shouting and Tommy Tiernan's idiotic controversialism the best this island can come up with?

*Emphasis intentional.
**Could name plenty more, and of course you could list a similar cast of not so funny people. But the point is clear I think.

john-joe · 13-11-2009 03:43AM

Yawn

:rolleyes:

we all know irish comedy is *****

(apart from father TED) *

* and Twink, Dustin the Turkey

tommyboy2222 · 13-11-2009 03:46AM

The only reason people think Dara O'Briain is funny is that he is fat, bald and has an English accent.

And if you think that the Panel was ever funny, you don't have a clue about comedy.

Kitty-kitty · 13-11-2009 03:47AM

Irish comedians get away with absolute murder. Racism, ableism, sexism, a torrent of roared bad language that's funny because hahaha he's swearing on stage. We used to have some fairly sparkling wit ourselves, never mind the English talent you've named, actually, not that long ago.

waitinforatrain · 13-11-2009 03:47AM

1. Every comedian tests their jokes. Who would tell jokes that nobody found funny?

2. Stephen Fry - not funny
David Mitchell - good in peep show but only because he's playing his cringey self
Harry Enfield - same **** sketches over again
Frankie Boyle - world's biggest **** (see his dvds before you disagree)

Never heard of the rest of them.

We still have Dylan Moran and Dara O'Briain

Kitty-kitty · 13-11-2009 03:49AM

Did we not export Dara O'Briain? I thought he lived in England now.

Denerick · 13-11-2009 03:51AM

tommyboy2222 wrote: »

And if you think that the Panel was ever funny, you don't have a clue about comedy.

Where did I say I thought that the Panel was funny??

major bill · 13-11-2009 03:52AM

frankie boyle is known for robbing his jokes of sickipedia:D

dara o'brien is overated!!!!!

rte comedy is shocking anything ireland tends to do is usually not funny and sh1t

tommyboy2222 · 13-11-2009 03:53AM

Dylan Moran "tested" his jokes on the first night of his run in Vicar St.

He also forgot most of them and promised us all a refund.

Still like him though!

Senna · 13-11-2009 03:54AM

Dave Allen, better than any comedian mentioned in this thread so far.

Stercus Accidit · 13-11-2009 03:59AM

I agree with the OP.

The lads style humor we get here is the sort of shite tracky nackys laugh at.

Ah jeasus anto did ye see tommy's new dvd, he curses loads and talks about donkey cocks, it mad!

Any comedian that does well fecks off to the BBC then and adopts a new English accent and identity, and plays up the paddy role for laughs, because they have left the shitter comedians on that kip of an island behind them.

At least we have hard hitting current events shows like the late late, and expose, I suppose...

Denerick · 13-11-2009 04:07AM

waitinforatrain wrote: »

2. Stephen Fry - not funny

Even if you don't personally find him funny, can you not see why he is superior to the gob****es on Irish TV? It is possible to analyse any thing Fry comes up with and its usually a witty retort of some kind to a previous comment - a kind of old English upper class back and forth with brandy and cigars - With the likes of Maxwell all you get is a long winded story that wasn't even funny when it started, and you just know you'll be praying for the apocolypse by the time its finished.

evercloserunion · 13-11-2009 04:12AM

tommyboy2222 wrote: »

The only reason people think Dara O'Briain is funny is that he is fat, bald and has an English accent.

And if you think that the Panel was ever funny, you don't have a clue about comedy.

That's a bit of a stupid and snobby thing to say (the last line), I don't think you or anyone else has the last say on what is or is not funny. Different people find different things funny, it is subjective by nature. You are trying to turn it into something objective, like a science or something, at which you are an expert. That is extremely pretentious and irritating.

Oh and if you think Dara O'Brien has an English accent you don't have a clue about English accents.

On the thread topic, I do think we have had some good comedy throughout the years. Dylan Moran comes to mind as one of the best, Father Ted was another obvious example. I also don't mind Dara O'Brian, though he's funnier sometimes than others (I never thought he was great on Mock the Week) and we do have a few failures. Surprisingly Tommy Tiernan's much older stuff wasn't bad. I actually think he just went a little crazy over the years.

evercloserunion · 13-11-2009 04:24AM

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

I agree with the OP.

The lads style humor we get here is the sort of shite tracky nackys laugh at.

Ah jeasus anto did ye see tommy's new dvd, he curses loads and talks about donkey cocks, it mad!

Any comedian that does well fecks off to the BBC then and adopts a new English accent and identity, and plays up the paddy role for laughs, because they have left the shitter comedians on that kip of an island behind them.

At least we have hard hitting current events shows like the late late, and expose, I suppose...

Well, we live in a country full of tracky nackies so what do you expect I suppose.

ElaElaElano · 13-11-2009 04:30AM

I agree to an extent. And the worst offenders for me are Podge and fcuking Rodge. They're just not funny at all. It might have been a laugh first time around but they're just regurgitating the same stuff every week.

We do have a few decent comedians though. I've always quite liked Ed Byrne. Oh and not a comedian as such but Aoibheann Ní Súilleabhan who used to be/still is (?) on the panel could do an hour of reading an instruction manual on stage and she'd still be amazing

starbelgrade · 13-11-2009 04:52AM

It's nice to have a nun around. Gives the place a bit of glamour.

Theta · 13-11-2009 09:01AM

tommyboy2222 wrote: »

The only reason people think Dara O'Briain is funny is that he is fat, bald and has an English accent.

Since when has he got an English accent?? Or have you never met anyone from bray?

Comedy is subjective, worst Irish comedian and comedian in general going is Tommy Tiernan but there is a whole other thread on that subject.

I think Dara O'Briain is alright, he is generally smarter then alot of irish comics and interacts with the crowd which makes you feel like he isnt just spouting off the same show everynight for weeks on end (although alot of it is).

Eddie izzard is a comedian I really enjoy mainly because alot of his stuff is smart and funny.

But still it is subjective and some people find things funny that you don't.

Wossack · 13-11-2009 09:52AM

I prefer a good moan to laughing anyway

thee glitz · 13-11-2009 09:57AM

waitinforatrain wrote: »

Never heard of the rest of them.

Chris Morris

John Cleese

K-Ren · 13-11-2009 10:12AM

I think Dylan Moran's class and Dara O'Brian's pretty funny too. But I never watched the Panel or Mock The Week even though a lot of people I knew were saying they were great shows. Irish comedy programming is weak in general, I mean, Killnaskully?

Hopefully Hardy Bucks lands on RTE and keeps the laughs coming, but until then I'm sticking with the Ted on Monday nights.

genericguy · 13-11-2009 10:17AM

ah, andrew maxwell "ooh they sniggered a bit, let's see if i can drag this out for 7 minutes. no, 8 minutes, and a sequel next week."

ed byrne "i've long hair!"

neil delamere just looks like he's on methadone.

tommy tiernan "maybe they didn't hear me, i'll shout louder"

jason byrne. *shudder*

des fcuking bishop "some people wear tracksuits all the time." /catalog

pat short "the only crisps are tayto and i'm a culchie"

i think we should all just be thankful as fcuk that mcsavage hasn't made it to tv. yet.

genericguy · 13-11-2009 10:18AM

K-Ren wrote: »

I think Dylan Moran's class and Dara O'Brian's pretty funny too. But I never watched the Panel or Mock The Week even though a lot of people I knew were saying they were great shows. Irish comedy programming is weak in general, I mean, Killnaskully?

Hopefully Hardy Bucks lands on RTE and keeps the laughs coming, but until then I'm sticking with the Ted on Monday nights.

hardy bucks is awful.

phasers · 13-11-2009 10:28AM

Graham Linehan. /thread

Also our population is 15 times smaller than the UK so I think we're doing quite well relatively speaking.

Professey Chin · 13-11-2009 10:30AM

genericguy wrote: »

ed byrne "i've long hair!"

Nope.Cut it a while ago.
He usually has a bad name from the (as admitted by himself) crap that he says on different tv shows. His actual stand-up routine is fcuking funny though

phasers · 13-11-2009 10:35AM

Lol no it isn't

AnonoBoy · 13-11-2009 10:37AM

Are people talking about sit-coms or stand ups here?

Because a good stand up won't neccessarily make a good TV show and (having seen the Hardy Bucks live) I can tell you people from a funny TV show won't neccessarily be good on stage.

meditraitor · 13-11-2009 10:38AM

Dylan Moran, Tommy tiernan, ardal O hanlon, Dara Obrian, that guy who does the whistles on that show about the thing.

I find them all funny, :pac:

Its not the comedians it you.......

Fratton Fred · 13-11-2009 10:40AM

tommyboy2222 wrote: »

The only reason people think Dara O'Briain is funny is that he is fat, bald and has an English accent.

English accent?

oh, I see others have already picked you up on this one.

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

Any comedian that does well fecks off to the BBC then and adopts a new English accent and identity, and plays up the paddy role for laughs, because they have left the shitter comedians on that kip of an island behind them.

At least we have hard hitting current events shows like the late late, and expose, I suppose...

Dara certainly does not play up the Paddy Role, in fact I think he is very sensitive about it. Did you not see him on the Late Late show the other night?

Talking of the LAte Late show, who was on it two weeks ago, one of the comedians off the panel was on there and I thought he was hilarious!!

MikeC101 · 13-11-2009 10:46AM

genericguy wrote: »

i think we should all just be thankful as fcuk that mcsavage hasn't made it to tv. yet.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, he already has. And word on the street is....he's filming a new show for RTE.

Terry · 13-11-2009 10:53AM

Oh the shame of it all.

OP, if you don't like Ireland, then there is always the option of moving somewhere else.
I hear the American economy has picked up.

Comedy is subjective.

humanji · 13-11-2009 10:57AM

The title should be "The Progressive Degeneration of Irish Comedy on TV". If you go to stand up gigs with lesser known Irish comedians you'll find some of the funniest material you'll ever have.

I think the problem is that for some reason, RTE only pick ****e comedians to put on tv. But they've a history of putting ****e on, so why would they change that?

The progressive degeneration of Irish Comedy

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