The Funniest Actors

[Steve Crook]

(Fellwanderer @ Mar 27 2006, 08:22 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Of the younger British comedians/comic actors I'd say my favourite is Peter Kay - probably completely unknown in the States.



I'd be interested to know how he goes down in the south over here.



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[/b]

I like him - when he stays away from Northern stereotypes and deals with things that we can relate to.

There never were many Northern club comics in the South.



Steve

[bloodworm]

(Fellwanderer @ Mar 26 2006, 12:13 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

I think you're right. In my opinion, the way we react to comedy on either side of the pond is just about the most marked cultural difference.



I have to admit to finding very little funny originating from Stateside [except Dubya]. Although a lot of the writing is heavily praised over here I invariably find it far too stage managed. Naturally, an example doesn't come to mind because I tend to avoid such programmes where possible.



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[/b]

Have to agree with you Fell on American comedy,I generally cant watch it. One that does come to mind though is the Golden Girls, with some great one liners and inuendo's. I must admit though that alot of british comedy is above me and is no where near as funny the 80s and early 90s material. The 2 Ronnies, only fools, and open all hours to name but a few. We also seem to be starved a good comedy dramas these days, the first 2 series of Auf Wiedersein were brilliant but went down hill as they tried to keep it afloat but where is todays A W ????. Shameless is funny but brutal in its upfront delivery and i am afraid to say that Little Britain is to me an off button programme.I suppose the nearest we have at the moment is The Hustle which has a few choice moments. One has to ask the question though, where has the sublety of real comedy gone ?????



C/U The Worm [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

[Fellwanderer]

(Steve Crook @ Mar 27 2006, 08:43 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>



I like him - when he stays away from Northern stereotypes and deals with things that we can relate to.

There never were many Northern club comics in the South.



Steve

[/b]

So Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy not your cup of tea?



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[Marky B]

(bloodworm @ Mar 27 2006, 10:49 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Have to agree with you Fell on American comedy,I generally cant watch it. One that does come to mind though is the Golden Girls, with some great one liners and inuendo's. I must admit though that alot of british comedy is above me and is no where near as funny the 80s and early 90s material. The 2 Ronnies, only fools, and open all hours to name but a few. We also seem to be starved a good comedy dramas these days, the first 2 series of Auf Wiedersein were brilliant but went down hill as they tried to keep it afloat but where is todays A W ????. Shameless is funny but brutal in its upfront delivery and i am afraid to say that Little Britain is to me an off button programme.I suppose the nearest we have at the moment is The Hustle which has a few choice moments. One has to ask the question though, where has the sublety of real comedy gone ?????



C/U The Worm [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

[/b]

I agree with you,Worm. I don't think there are British sitcoms of today that I watch. When it comes to US comedy.it's only The Simpsons [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img] that I ever get a chance to see,but what I have seen of US sitcoms,I think they are superior to ours.

Ta Ta

Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Steve Crook]

(Fellwanderer @ Mar 27 2006, 11:04 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

So Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy not your cup of tea?



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[/b]

Not really. There's very little I can relate to in Phoenix Nights, never having been in a club like that. And I've never seen (or heard of) Max and Paddy.



Steve

[Steve Crook]

(bloodworm @ Mar 27 2006, 10:49 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

One has to ask the question though, where has the sublety of real comedy gone ?????



C/U The Worm [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

[/b]

Coupling? Green Wing?



Steve

[Fellwanderer]

(Steve Crook @ Mar 27 2006, 12:52 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>



Not really. There's very little I can relate to in Phoenix Nights, never having been in a club like that. And I've never seen (or heard of) Max and Paddy.



Steve

[/b]

Actually, I've never been in a club like it - or, at least, not when any "turns" have been on - either but I know plenty of the sort of people who make up the audience. Max and Paddy were the 2 hapless doormen who branched out in a couple of series of their own.



It probably goes to show that not only is it extremely difficult for comedy to cross the Atlantic but also for it to travel up and down this country!



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[samkydd]

(Fellwanderer @ Mar 27 2006, 02:03 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

It probably goes to show that not only is it extremely difficult for comedy to cross the Atlantic but also for it to travel up and down this country!



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[/b]

You'll be interested to know Fell that Mr Kay is going to be in the next series of Dr Who as a baddie.

[Steve Crook]

(Fellwanderer @ Mar 27 2006, 02:03 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Actually, I've never been in a club like it - or, at least, not when any "turns" have been on - either but I know plenty of the sort of people who make up the audience. Max and Paddy were the 2 hapless doormen who branched out in a couple of series of their own.



It probably goes to show that not only is it extremely difficult for comedy to cross the Atlantic but also for it to travel up and down this country!



FELL

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/angel_not.gif[/img]

[/b]

Don't get me wrong, I like him quite a lot and think he's very funny & very clever. But only when I can understand what he's on about - and I don't mean that I have any trouble with his accent. When he's doing his general stand-up routine which is about things that affect everyone, that's fine. I can relate to that. But when he does his character pieces like in Phoenix Nights about characters that I've never met & don't understand, that leaves me cold.



Steve

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

(Steve Crook @ Mar 26 2006, 07:28 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

One of the few people who could have the audience laughing just by coming on stage and standing there, doing nothing.



Steve

[/b]

My father used to fall about laughing the moment Tommy Cooper appeared on the TV screen [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img] I often wondered why, even when the turn was over [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

It's all a matter of taste, of course. George Sanders, Dennis Price and Peter Cook always make me smile, even when they play serious roles.

As for comedians/comediennes:

Joan Davis, Hilda Baker, Irene Handl, Arthur Lucan, Eddie Cantor, Julian Clary and Frank Randle - all a little bit on the "vulgar" side I'm ashamed to say. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blushing.gif[/img]

[nellybly]

(penfold @ Mar 26 2006, 09:25 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

From the States...well, the obvious ones; Keaton, Chaplin (Anglo/US I know) and the underrated Harry Langdon.....Harold Lloyd occasionally, early Laurel and Hardy....but to be brutal, not much since....apart from Phil Silvers as Ernie Bilko, and The Simpsons....and I do laugh out loud every time I see a Mel Gibson film, but that's a different thing..scorn.

From the rest of the world...Jacques Tati....

[/b]

It's interesting that two of the Americans you pick are British. Laurel was the brains behind the team and was also an understudy for Chaplin when they were with the Karno troupe touring in the teens of the last century.



I used to enjoy Fernandel movies when they were shown back when. Even though the movies were dubbed he was such a visual comic that you didn't need dialogue all that much. I like Cantinflas but my Spanish has gotten pretty rusty so sometimes I have a bit of trouble. His movies have never been dubbed in the States. LOL



I don't really have a problem with British humor. I think it's one of the things you all do much better than than we do. Could it be that it's because Britain is the cradle of the English language? Just one of those "I wonder" kind of thoughts that flitter through my brain now and again.



With Americans, besides Dick Van Dyke (using his own midwest American accent, not that "cockney" of Mary Poppins) I like Jeff Foxworthy and Sinbad.



The surreal stuff I don't get no matter what the country of origin.



I still remember (or think I remember) an exchange between John Alderton and Pauline Collins. He (when she made an odd remark): "Is that a Freudian slip?" She (flicking the edge of her skirt): "Oh, do you like it? My mother got it for me."

[ShirlGirl]

Of the younger funny ones, Kris Marshall as the goofy Nick Harper in 'My Family' makes me laugh as soon as he appears. He is perfect for that role. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Marky B]

For a start I would nominate Alistair Sim,Margaret Rutherford,George Cole,Joyce Grenfell,Laurel and Hardy,The Marx Bros,Ben Turpin,Will Hay,Buster Keaton...I'll be back.

Ta Ta

Marky B [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Miss Fritton]

(Steve Crook @ Mar 26 2006, 07:27 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Yes, Alastair Sim.

One of his best that I ever saw was in an extract from Pinero's The Magistrate, opposite Patricia Routledge at the 1969 Chichester festival. After a night on the town, the morning after, washing in front of the mirror. He wags his finger at the image in the mirror, asking "Who was naughty?" The finger hesitates, slowly turns to point to himself and then he puts it to his lower lip with a lovely, hang-dog look. A beautiful piece of work.



He consistently makes me smile almost every time I see him in anything. Some of the classics like when he played Miss Fritton and her brother in The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) or playing Mr Squales in London Belongs to Me (1948). He might not be on screen for long, but whenever he is, you can't take your eyes off him.



Steve

[/b]

As you might expect, I agree wholeheartedly - School for Scoundrels, The Belles of St. Trinian's (the only funny film in the series), Laughter In Paradise (not a great film but Sim is excellent) and The Green Man - excellent stuff.

In the Ladykillers, Alec Guinness does a wonderful impersonation of Sim as he ppears in London Belongs To Me, most notably when first arriving at Katie Johnson's door.

[fred kite]

My favotie comedy actors are the marx brothers because they also put a smile on your face as soon as you see them because of theire appearance and theyre jokes are so hilarious and they will never get old.Even though they are American and though I do love british films they are irrisistable not to like.

[lordtednfs]

Eric Morecambe, surely. I would always smile when he came on. You never knew what would happen when he appeared, a genius. The brilliant Tommy Cooper, Spike Milligan, David Jason, Ronnie Barker, Sid James, Kenny Everett, Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Alistair Sim, Freddie Starr, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Phil Silvers as Bilko, Will Hay, Moore Marriot, Graham Moffat, Leonard Pearce (Granddad from Only Fools), Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney), Roger Lloyd-Pack (Trigger), Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert), Dino Shafeek (Ali Nadim in Mind Your Language), Ricardo Montez (Juan Cervantes in Mind Your Language), John Cleese as Basil Fawlty and the two funniest commedienes ever Peggy Mount who could kill a man at fifty paces with her tongue and Hilda Baker with her pissed pronounced words and now my brain is begining to hurt. Thank you for the laughs folks.



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Hooked off the line