The brief what you need to know to learn about British comedy / comedians (part 1)

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Billy Connolly = Stonefish routine + the incontinence pants routine, among others

Roy “Chubby” Brown = comedian from Middlesbrough, proudly boasts of being Britain’s bluest, Keeps retiring then coming back.

Jasper Carrott (Robert Davis) = comedian from Birmingham, best know for “The Mole” story + also the one about the psychopathic family cat. Also co-starred in a 90’s BBC sitcom called “The Detectives” with Robert Powell. He also used to be a folk singer in the 1970’s, and I think was responsible for helping get Billy Connolly known outside Scotland.

The 2 Ronnies = Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, with sketches including “Four Candles / Fork Handles”, “The Phantom Raspberry Blower” + “When the Worm Turned”. Ronnie Barker was also responsible for a bunch of popular Sitcoms, including “Porridge”, which was set inside a prison.
Then after that Ronnie Barker also did one called “Open All Hours” set in a corner shop in Doncaster, Co-Starring a young actor named David Jason who later went on star in “Only Fools and Horses”, and also did voice acting work on the “Count Duckula” cartoons – and now also stars in a modern continuation called “Still Open All Hours”.

Tommy Cooper = one of the all time greats, best known for wearing a red hat called a “fez” and doing magic tricks that went wrong. Died of a heart attack performing on stage.

Spike Milligan = Irish comedian part of a comedy troop called “The Goon Show” (sort of like a British version of The 3 Stooges), and also later did he his own run sketch shows. Only sketch I currently remember of top of my head is the “Pakistani Dalek” one.
He also did a character considered somewhat controversial in these politically correct times: “Kevin O’Leary, Irish-Pakistan”.

Frankie Howerd = camp (as in queer) comedian popular in the 1970’s, also appeared in a couple of the “Carry on” franchise of movies and also did a popular sitcom called “Up Pompeii”, set in the ancient roman city before the mishap with the volcano.

Harry Enfield = best known for 2x popular sketch shows “Harry Enfield’s Television Programme” and “Harry Enfield & Chums”

Paul Whitehouse = first rose to fame co-starring alongside Harry Enfield before going on to do his own sketch series “The Fast Show”.

Paul Merton = surreal comedian who rose to fame on satirical news panel quiz show “Have I got News for You”, but also did 2 series of his own show on channel 4, simply called “Paul Merton: The Series”.

Jack Dee = also did his own series on Channel 4 called “The Jack Dee Show”, having previously worked as a chef, had chronic depression, had a go at a comedy club once, and went upwards from there.

Alas Smith & Jones = cult classic sketch show starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones.
You might recognise Mel Smith from his appearance as the London hotel guy in “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”.

Naked Video = brief comedy sketch show from BBC Scotland in the 1980’s that spawned the character “Rab C Nesbitt”, the title character of a cult-classic Sitcom set in Glasgow that lasted for 10 seasons.


This is a test post copied from a comment posted below an “Americans Reacting to British Things” video on YouTube, wanting to know what other British comedians there are apart from Dave Allen.

Author: UK Life

This profile has been created on AlltheInterweb so there the UK Life section has something more dedicated to the topic for the purpose of creating blog posts, RSS feeds, and sharing content from around the web related to life in the United Kingdom.

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