Unfunny Irish comedians <<MOD note in OP>>

PJ Gallagher can be funny at times, but I can't stand his mannerisms, I find them all annoying for some reason.

But comedians I don't find funny would be: Andrew Maxwell, Jason Bryne, Neil Delamere, Ed Bryne, Ardal O'Hanlon.

Andrew Maxwell is top of the list for me. Was at a show of his a few years back and I've never seen such a half hearted and uninterested performance. He could not have cared less. I've seen people bomb who were better. And from what I've heard and read that wasn't necessarily that unusual a night for him. He's just no good.

I can't say that I've ever once chuckled at Jason Byrne and his antics. He's loud and silly but he isn't particularly funny.

People on here saying The Rubberbandits are crazy. Their stuff is inspired and on a different level to most other Irish comedy!

I would have held the opinion that Karl Spain was just okay, I went to see him one night and he was grand. Exactly one week after that I went to see another comedy show in the same spot. The headliner cancelled at the last moment, and Karl was called in at the last minute as a replacement. I thought, jesus christ - all over again? Well, as it turns out he was legendary second time around. He said he couldn't do the same show twice in the same place, so he just winged it, throwing out improvised jokes, feeding off heckles and the atmosphere. It was one the funniest shows I've ever attended. I'll always like him for that - he turned up in front of an audience that didn't want to see him, with nothing prepared and he killed it. Contrast that with Andrew Maxwell...

The recession cleaned some of them out as people and the halfwit fookwit entertainment buyers in companies they worked for were unwilling to blow money on unproven unfunny out and out **** entertainment.

Can't stand slapstick comedy and impressionists.
Therefore was never going to fall in love with Rubberbandits or Rosenstock.
Not a fan of Republic of Telly either, didn't like Podge and Rodge back in the day.

Am a massive Dara fan, particularly when he's with Ed Byrne, although I'm not a huge fan of Ed on his own, they really do get the best out of each other.
Tommy Tiernan's best days are sadly behind him, can tell even by his stand up shows.

Am a big fan of comedians, like the clever, witty and sarcastic stuff.. never going to get people who like everyone, you can't force yourself to like someone.
I tried so much to like Lee Evans but I really couldn't.

My GF always looks at me funny when I say Brendan Grace is fantastic. I'm delighted he isn't getting shat on here. For what he does its brilliant. Niall Tobin had a great show too. I'm remember both of these fondly from childhood so I'm a bit biased. I seen Brendan Grace on the TV last X mass and thought it was still pretty good. A lot of Tommy bashing. His early stuff was excellent but he then went through a shouty phase. Anyone remember the show where he made the girl cry for taking a video of him on stage. That was not a funny show.

Oliver Callan isn't the unfunniest comedian out there, that's a very competitive category, but I'd say he's one of the most deluded. He seems to be under the impression that his caustic brand of satire is the reason he hasn't got a tv show and why the establishment is supposedly hostile towards him (assuming it even cares). This, of course, is rubbish. Public figures love being satirised by comedians, it keeps them relevant and somehow makes them seem more human. Thatcher loved her portrayal on Spitting Image, for example. The more biting the satire, the more public figures lap it up. Callan seems to be the only one who fails to recognise that he lost whatever tiny relevance he had years ago.

My heart sags whenever I hear the words "Oliver Callan" on radio one and I know a very unfunny Enda Kenny skit is about to unfold. The term one trick pony immediately springs to mind though, in fairness, he's far from on his own in that.

razorblunt wrote: »

I saw him at the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in years last August and I thought he was very good. Sold out show too into the 3rd week, something seemed different about him too, a lot more relaxed.

Ed Byrne would be my pick, he has a lot to be thankful for, then again Dara O'Briain is a big guy!

I couldn't agree more, him and Andrew Maxwell. Not only are they not funny, they are utterly charmless. Sneering and smug would be the two adjectives I'd use.
Oh, add Colm O'Regan to that list.
PS:
Why do all comedians have exactly the same political outlook? There's a niche there for someone.

I'm very sympathetic to comedians, it's a hard gig and depression is nearly a job requirement.

Out of everyone else listed so far I think most of them could probably be funny in the right setting. You can't blame them for trying anything to make money any way they can.



If anyone has a real interest in comedians listen to "An Irishman Abroad" podcast hosted by Jarleth Regan. A really good insight into their lives. A particularly good one (which I wasn't expecting it to be) was Bernard O'Shea. Him talking about being hated and moving from gig to gig where the response was just so bad was a really good listen.



If anyone thinks all female irish comedians are bad have a listen to Aisling Bea, she's great.

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Out of everyone else listed so far I think most of them could probably be funny in the right setting. You can't blame them for trying anything to make money any way they can.

If anyone thinks all female irish comedians are bad have a listen to Aisling Bea, she's great.

I agree on Aisling Bea, I like her.

With regard to the "right setting", comedians as a job seems to have evolved from doing a run of comedy gigs, to doing some for a while and getting a spot on tv and trying to hold on to tv as long as possible.

In the UK now there seems to be a band of comedians that do nothing but jump from one panel show to another, by the time you go to see them live, they don't have any new material.

That's probably the one thing Bea needs to avoid, but from what I've seen so far, tv wise she seems to be a genuine funny person rather than a "read from the script of the panel show and wait for the gap for your material" funny.

razorblunt wrote: »

I agree on Aisling Bea, I like her.

With regard to the "right setting", comedians as a job seems to have evolved from doing a run of comedy gigs, to doing some for a while and getting a spot on tv and trying to hold on to tv as long as possible.

In the UK now there seems to be a band of comedians that do nothing but jump from one panel show to another, by the time you go to see them live, they don't have any new material.

That's probably the one thing Bea needs to avoid, but from what I've seen so far, tv wise she seems to be a genuine funny person rather than a "read from the script of the panel show and wait for the gap for your material" funny.

I agree. It is such a strange world for comedians now. Before they could write material and then go perform it and get paid for the gig, then do a comedy album and burn the material after using it for the previous 12 months.

But now they need to constantly be tweeting funny things, writing material for upcoming panel shows where they will need 3 or 4 funny jokes per topic. They need to be up to date on political issues and be ready to spout from their soap box any time they get a few hundred retweets on a joke. They are asked to go on the radio and comment on serious issues, and go on TV to do documentary/serious programs when the producers think the boring idea is just missing a funny host to liven it up. Then they go to the few remaining comedy clubs and they have people who have only seen their tweets, have only heard them on the radio, have only seen them on panel shows from 2009 because they're on Dave. And they have to deliver a set to accommodate all these different people. Combine that with the fact that some people in the room will be uploading clips to youtube, comedians are expected to be producing jokes and burning them after one single use.

For as bad as some Irish comedians are, there are a lot of them giving a really good effort at the above, and a few of them even managing to pull it all off convincingly.

I say fair play to any comedian, even the **** ones.

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

That Dermot Whelan guy from the radio.

D1ckhead

This is about unfunny comedians.
Whelan is just some t1t off tv who said one day "I'm going to be a comedian now", and somehow people think he is one.
Bit like a guy who buys a fancy calculator and sets himself up as an accountant.