100 Funny Moments To Chase Away Blue Monday
100 funny moments to chase away Blue Monday, from Amy Schumer and Saturday Night Live to Eddie Izzard and Dear Joan and Jericha
We’re heading for the most depressing day of the year: our favourite clips should raise a laugh, most of them just a mouse click away
TV SKETCH SHOWS
Not the Nine O’Clock News
A show packed with treasurable sketches from rising stars: Rowan Atkinson as Gerald the sarcastic talking gorilla; fat-suited Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones downing pints in a darts-style drinkers’ contest; Pamela Stephenson in a perfect Kate Bush pastiche, England, My Leotard.
A show packed with treasurable sketches from rising stars: Rowan Atkinson as Gerald the sarcastic talking gorilla; fat-suited Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones downing pints in a darts-style drinkers’ contest; Pamela Stephenson in a perfect Kate Bush pastiche, England, My Leotard.
Victoria Wood
Fattitude
If just this one sketch had survived from her compendious back catalogue, Wood would still rank among the greats: word-perfect physical comedy as her fitness-class leader goes through all the (daft) motions.
Fattitude
If just this one sketch had survived from her compendious back catalogue, Wood would still rank among the greats: word-perfect physical comedy as her fitness-class leader goes through all the (daft) motions.
Morecambe and Wise
The Stripper
Little in their repertoire is as ornately choreographed and skilfully delivered as this silent routine, to The Stripper tune, of the pair making breakfast.
The Stripper
Little in their repertoire is as ornately choreographed and skilfully delivered as this silent routine, to The Stripper tune, of the pair making breakfast.
Saturday Night Live
Too many toothsome sketches to choose from: John Belushi’s Samurai series (Samurai Dry Cleaner is a favourite), Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer, Alec Baldwin doing anything, ditto Jon Hamm. Check out A Kanye Place, Donald Glover’s excellent skit splicing the madder quotes of Kanye West with the premise of A Quiet Place: everybody dies.
Too many toothsome sketches to choose from: John Belushi’s Samurai series (Samurai Dry Cleaner is a favourite), Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer, Alec Baldwin doing anything, ditto Jon Hamm. Check out A Kanye Place, Donald Glover’s excellent skit splicing the madder quotes of Kanye West with the premise of A Quiet Place: everybody dies.
Smack the Pony
There is hardly a dud moment in these series (1999-2003), so binge on them all. Women writing and starring in their own show while laughing at themselves was a pretty novel idea at the time. Relish these perfectly judged sketches and music-video parodies from Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan, Sally Phillips and guests.
There is hardly a dud moment in these series (1999-2003), so binge on them all. Women writing and starring in their own show while laughing at themselves was a pretty novel idea at the time. Relish these perfectly judged sketches and music-video parodies from Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan, Sally Phillips and guests.
French and Saunders
Ballet dancers
Any sketch where Dawn dances is worth a look (Interpretive Dance is all too short): F&S excel in a profile of two “bunheads” (ballet students) who “went up” to full stapled-on buns as kids and have wooden toes.
Ballet dancers
Any sketch where Dawn dances is worth a look (Interpretive Dance is all too short): F&S excel in a profile of two “bunheads” (ballet students) who “went up” to full stapled-on buns as kids and have wooden toes.
Tommy Cooper
Ventriloquism on a boat
Cooper’s failure schtick has never been beaten. Here he tries to perform a ventriloquism routine on a violently rocking, storm-tossed stage. As chairs fly back and forth, the dummy falls apart and he tries manfully to avoid getting hurt. This is industrial-strength slapstick.
Ventriloquism on a boat
Cooper’s failure schtick has never been beaten. Here he tries to perform a ventriloquism routine on a violently rocking, storm-tossed stage. As chairs fly back and forth, the dummy falls apart and he tries manfully to avoid getting hurt. This is industrial-strength slapstick.
The Catherine Tate Show
Tate’s exceptional clowning and voice skills peaked with Nan and Lauren. Nan Meets an Ugly Baby is still outrageous, while Lauren’s French exam is terrifyingly funny as she riffs between both languages.
Tate’s exceptional clowning and voice skills peaked with Nan and Lauren. Nan Meets an Ugly Baby is still outrageous, while Lauren’s French exam is terrifyingly funny as she riffs between both languages.
Vic & Bob’s Big Night Out
Judge Nutmeg’s Wheel of Justice
The best hapless contestants pulled from the crowd to face insanely arbitrary trumped-up charges were in series one, when no one knew what to expect. Paddy from the pilot show is gobsmacked as Vic and Bob tape him to a bear for using Ryvita as stationery.
Judge Nutmeg’s Wheel of Justice
The best hapless contestants pulled from the crowd to face insanely arbitrary trumped-up charges were in series one, when no one knew what to expect. Paddy from the pilot show is gobsmacked as Vic and Bob tape him to a bear for using Ryvita as stationery.
John Oliver
The zebras
With the news that Oliver covers increasingly hard to satirise, the Last Week Tonight host needs ever odder tangents to make his audience not long for death’s release. An item on people in Bolivia dressing up as zebras to control traffic fitted the bill.
The zebras
With the news that Oliver covers increasingly hard to satirise, the Last Week Tonight host needs ever odder tangents to make his audience not long for death’s release. An item on people in Bolivia dressing up as zebras to control traffic fitted the bill.
Big Train
Hard to pick a favourite from this riotous late-1990s sketch show starring early-career Simon Pegg, Julia Davis, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon, but the one about the endangered Sumatran tigers (“We’re trying to get rid of them — we’re going to drown them”) stands out, as does the one about the office w*****.
Hard to pick a favourite from this riotous late-1990s sketch show starring early-career Simon Pegg, Julia Davis, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon, but the one about the endangered Sumatran tigers (“We’re trying to get rid of them — we’re going to drown them”) stands out, as does the one about the office w*****.
Brass Eye
Cake
Chris Morris’s spoof exposé of a made-up drug, cake, prompts the greatest displays of celebrity fame-hunting stupidity on record. Bernard Manning, Noel Edmonds, Rolf Harris and Bernard Ingham are humiliatingly duped: look out for Manning explaining that cake is a “made-up drug” without twigging.
Cake
Chris Morris’s spoof exposé of a made-up drug, cake, prompts the greatest displays of celebrity fame-hunting stupidity on record. Bernard Manning, Noel Edmonds, Rolf Harris and Bernard Ingham are humiliatingly duped: look out for Manning explaining that cake is a “made-up drug” without twigging.
Inside Amy Schumer
Last F***able Day
In a hilarious torching of sexism, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Amy Schumer, Patricia Arquette and Tina Fey celebrate Louis-Dreyfus’s last f***able day in Hollywood at a table laden with macarons, wine, cheese, pastries and loaves of bread.
Last F***able Day
In a hilarious torching of sexism, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Amy Schumer, Patricia Arquette and Tina Fey celebrate Louis-Dreyfus’s last f***able day in Hollywood at a table laden with macarons, wine, cheese, pastries and loaves of bread.
Little Britain
Des Kaye
Some characters in Matt Lucas and David Walliams’s breakthrough megahit are far from woke, but Des Kaye, the failed TV presenter working in a hardware store, the Scottish hotelier Ray McCooney and the memory game-obsessed Mr Mann still deliver guilt-free laughs.
Des Kaye
Some characters in Matt Lucas and David Walliams’s breakthrough megahit are far from woke, but Des Kaye, the failed TV presenter working in a hardware store, the Scottish hotelier Ray McCooney and the memory game-obsessed Mr Mann still deliver guilt-free laughs.
SITCOMS
Flight of the Conchords
If You’re Into It
Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement crowbarred every one of their excellent faux-folk songs into sweetly ludicrous lo-fi storylines. Look out for the Hiphopopotamus v the Rhymenocerous and episode four’s insane love song from Bret to Coco in the park — with Jemaine’s filthy chorus.
If You’re Into It
Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement crowbarred every one of their excellent faux-folk songs into sweetly ludicrous lo-fi storylines. Look out for the Hiphopopotamus v the Rhymenocerous and episode four’s insane love song from Bret to Coco in the park — with Jemaine’s filthy chorus.
Veep
Helsinki
This episode is like a self-contained “best of”. Vice-president Selina’s trade mission to Helsinki swirls into the usual chaos, with Sally Phillips’s bone-dry Finnish prime minister providing the perfect foil to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s floundering.
Helsinki
This episode is like a self-contained “best of”. Vice-president Selina’s trade mission to Helsinki swirls into the usual chaos, with Sally Phillips’s bone-dry Finnish prime minister providing the perfect foil to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s floundering.
The Lucy Show
Hollywood’s first great female clown: a golden oldie is the episode where she and Vivian Vance work on a chocolate-wrapping line that of course goes haywire. Fuzzy visuals don’t obscure the genius.
Hollywood’s first great female clown: a golden oldie is the episode where she and Vivian Vance work on a chocolate-wrapping line that of course goes haywire. Fuzzy visuals don’t obscure the genius.
Seinfeld
Marine Biologist
Take a pretty young woman called Diane, George Costanza’s ego and Kramer’s bargain buy of 600 golf balls, then add a beached whale, and you get one of the best episodes of a great sitcom full of them.
Marine Biologist
Take a pretty young woman called Diane, George Costanza’s ego and Kramer’s bargain buy of 600 golf balls, then add a beached whale, and you get one of the best episodes of a great sitcom full of them.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Grand Opening
Larry David’s transgressive side gets a full workout in a plot where all the strands (a carwash, a man with Tourette’s, Larry’s new restaurant, to name just three) culminate in an expletive- screaming session, arguably won by regular Susie Essman.
The Grand Opening
Larry David’s transgressive side gets a full workout in a plot where all the strands (a carwash, a man with Tourette’s, Larry’s new restaurant, to name just three) culminate in an expletive- screaming session, arguably won by regular Susie Essman.
Frasier
Niles Causes a Fire
Five and a half minutes of wordless slapstick as David Hyde Pierce’s Niles makes ironing a deadly chore.
Niles Causes a Fire
Five and a half minutes of wordless slapstick as David Hyde Pierce’s Niles makes ironing a deadly chore.
Silicon Valley
Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency
This was shot at an actual event, TechCrunch — spot which is the real, which the fake start-up — where the Pied Piper team have 10 minutes to find an equation that can please every man in the room.
Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency
This was shot at an actual event, TechCrunch — spot which is the real, which the fake start-up — where the Pied Piper team have 10 minutes to find an equation that can please every man in the room.
The Simpsons
Last Exit to Springfield
The hit animated show was at its zenith in series three to eight. This episode, where Homer finds himself fighting to keep his union’s dental plan, shows the genius of the writers at full throttle.
Last Exit to Springfield
The hit animated show was at its zenith in series three to eight. This episode, where Homer finds himself fighting to keep his union’s dental plan, shows the genius of the writers at full throttle.
Parks and Recreation
The Fight
Always funny, this sweet show is at its sharpest in series three. Here, conscientious civil servant Amy Poehler’s team get wasted on a new drink.
The Fight
Always funny, this sweet show is at its sharpest in series three. Here, conscientious civil servant Amy Poehler’s team get wasted on a new drink.
The Office
Training
The US version has its backers, but Ricky Gervais’s Slough-set original is the one to beat: the one that changed TV comedy. The episode in which David Brent can’t stop getting the guitar out is the best for instant laughs.
Training
The US version has its backers, but Ricky Gervais’s Slough-set original is the one to beat: the one that changed TV comedy. The episode in which David Brent can’t stop getting the guitar out is the best for instant laughs.
Count Arthur Strong
The Day the Clocks Went Back
A classic timing mix-up has the “Count” taking a lesson in a two-seater plane from a young man who thinks the old vaudevillian is his instructor. Joyous silliness.
The Day the Clocks Went Back
A classic timing mix-up has the “Count” taking a lesson in a two-seater plane from a young man who thinks the old vaudevillian is his instructor. Joyous silliness.
Friends
The One with All the Thanksgivings
All Friends scripts were perky and well crafted; some even had sidesplitting moments, such as the one where first Joey, then Monica, has to be liberated from the raw turkey they have stuck their heads in.
The One with All the Thanksgivings
All Friends scripts were perky and well crafted; some even had sidesplitting moments, such as the one where first Joey, then Monica, has to be liberated from the raw turkey they have stuck their heads in.
30 Rock
Best of Jon Hamm
A taster reel of Hamm playing Tina Fey’s boyfriend: a man so beautiful, Calvin Klein stops him on the street and offers him a modelling job. The real beauty of these episodes is the chance they gave Hamm to play the fool, hopeless at everything from riding a motorbike to relationships.
Best of Jon Hamm
A taster reel of Hamm playing Tina Fey’s boyfriend: a man so beautiful, Calvin Klein stops him on the street and offers him a modelling job. The real beauty of these episodes is the chance they gave Hamm to play the fool, hopeless at everything from riding a motorbike to relationships.
The IT Crowd
Work Outing
The core team of Chris O’Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss) and Katherine Parkinson (Jen) in a gem about a visit to a gay musical, and what happens after Roy and Moss try to dodge the gents’ attendant.
Work Outing
The core team of Chris O’Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss) and Katherine Parkinson (Jen) in a gem about a visit to a gay musical, and what happens after Roy and Moss try to dodge the gents’ attendant.
Blackadder II
Bells
In which the impoverished Elizabethan courtier falls in love with Bob, a woman dressed as a man. Has Rowan Atkinson’s astonishing pronunciation of “Bob” and Rik Mayall’s Flashheart destroying a wedding.
Bells
In which the impoverished Elizabethan courtier falls in love with Bob, a woman dressed as a man. Has Rowan Atkinson’s astonishing pronunciation of “Bob” and Rik Mayall’s Flashheart destroying a wedding.
Freaks and Geeks
Tricks and Treats
Linda Cardellini and her freaks — James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel — try to survive their first proper Halloween party while John Francis Daley gives trick or treating one last try, desperately explaining his costume to everyone.
Tricks and Treats
Linda Cardellini and her freaks — James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel — try to survive their first proper Halloween party while John Francis Daley gives trick or treating one last try, desperately explaining his costume to everyone.
Spaced
Epiphanies
The nightclub in episode six remains 1990s comedy’s finest feelgood moment, with Michael Smiley’s raved-out courier acing it.
Epiphanies
The nightclub in episode six remains 1990s comedy’s finest feelgood moment, with Michael Smiley’s raved-out courier acing it.
Modern Family
Steve Levitan learnt his trade on The Larry Sanders Show and applied the same principles to patriarch Jay Pritchett’s beautifully dysfunctional family. Series five and eight shine.
Steve Levitan learnt his trade on The Larry Sanders Show and applied the same principles to patriarch Jay Pritchett’s beautifully dysfunctional family. Series five and eight shine.
Fawlty Towers
Basil the Rat
For sustained farce (and a cute mechanical rat), this takes some beating, as Basil and the team try pointlessly to score high marks with a health inspector while contending with Manuel’s escaped “Siberian hamster”.
Basil the Rat
For sustained farce (and a cute mechanical rat), this takes some beating, as Basil and the team try pointlessly to score high marks with a health inspector while contending with Manuel’s escaped “Siberian hamster”.
The Larry Sanders Show
Next Stop Bottom
The spoof talk show’s hype man, Hank, lurches through various midlife catastrophes before marrying a woman he meets on air and collapsing when she leaves. Producer Artie: “He’s hit bottom and broken through to another bottom I know nothing about.”
Next Stop Bottom
The spoof talk show’s hype man, Hank, lurches through various midlife catastrophes before marrying a woman he meets on air and collapsing when she leaves. Producer Artie: “He’s hit bottom and broken through to another bottom I know nothing about.”
Scrubs
My Life in Four Cameras
Early Scrubs used a dark mix of wisecracks and surreal riffs in a cartoonish US hospital. Its finest hour was when junior doctor JD had to treat a former Cheers writer and imagined his life as a four-camera sitcom, tearing into the saccharine gags and gormless applause of typical network shows.
My Life in Four Cameras
Early Scrubs used a dark mix of wisecracks and surreal riffs in a cartoonish US hospital. Its finest hour was when junior doctor JD had to treat a former Cheers writer and imagined his life as a four-camera sitcom, tearing into the saccharine gags and gormless applause of typical network shows.
Big Mouth
Girls Are Horny Too
The awkward milestones of puberty play out through encounters with hormone monsters in Nick Kroll’s filthy animated sex-education comedy. This episode from series one tackles the anxieties of its female characters just as hilariously as it does its boys’ hangups.
Girls Are Horny Too
The awkward milestones of puberty play out through encounters with hormone monsters in Nick Kroll’s filthy animated sex-education comedy. This episode from series one tackles the anxieties of its female characters just as hilariously as it does its boys’ hangups.
The Good Place
Dance Dance Resolution
Michael Schur’s high-concept, absurdist afterlife comedy, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, outdoes itself in this episode from series two: you wonder how the writers can get out of the narrative pickle they’ve edged into, but they keep doing so in increasingly ingenious ways.
Dance Dance Resolution
Michael Schur’s high-concept, absurdist afterlife comedy, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, outdoes itself in this episode from series two: you wonder how the writers can get out of the narrative pickle they’ve edged into, but they keep doing so in increasingly ingenious ways.
The Trip
Remarkably, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s series about two rich comics eating nice meals isn’t smug. Somehow it’s relatable, never more so than when the two men, after some wine, show off with their best impressions.
Remarkably, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s series about two rich comics eating nice meals isn’t smug. Somehow it’s relatable, never more so than when the two men, after some wine, show off with their best impressions.
Malcolm in the Middle
Emancipation
With Bryan Cranston as its hyperactive motor, this family sitcom was never typical. In this episode from series three, oldest son Francis has a devastating encounter with his crazed military-school commandant, Spangler.
Emancipation
With Bryan Cranston as its hyperactive motor, this family sitcom was never typical. In this episode from series three, oldest son Francis has a devastating encounter with his crazed military-school commandant, Spangler.
Black Books
Grapes of Wrath
Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey house-sit for a wine collector and, having necked the most expensive bottles by mistake, set about recreating a £7,000 bottle of Vin du Rosier — or, as Moran has it, “create a new superwine with a fraction of nature’s resources and a fool for an assistant”.
Grapes of Wrath
Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey house-sit for a wine collector and, having necked the most expensive bottles by mistake, set about recreating a £7,000 bottle of Vin du Rosier — or, as Moran has it, “create a new superwine with a fraction of nature’s resources and a fool for an assistant”.
Father Ted
Speed 3
The Craggy Island priests do a hilarious take on the Keanu Reeves film when Father Dougal has to drive a milk float with a bomb on board.
Speed 3
The Craggy Island priests do a hilarious take on the Keanu Reeves film when Father Dougal has to drive a milk float with a bomb on board.
South Park
The earliest series are far smarter than the controversy for controversy’s sake headlines they attracted. Try the 1999 show about a prehistoric ice man the boys find, frozen since 1996.
The earliest series are far smarter than the controversy for controversy’s sake headlines they attracted. Try the 1999 show about a prehistoric ice man the boys find, frozen since 1996.
RADIO
Down the Line
When Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse launched their spoof phone-in show, Radio 4 didn’t give the game away. Listen to the hilarious opener and imagine you think it’s real.
When Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse launched their spoof phone-in show, Radio 4 didn’t give the game away. Listen to the hilarious opener and imagine you think it’s real.
The Navy Lark
Set on HMS Troutbridge, which Leslie Phillips and Jon Pertwee regularly managed to crash while “parking”, this amiable series was a breeding ground for catchphrases and rising stars (notably Ronnie Barker).
Set on HMS Troutbridge, which Leslie Phillips and Jon Pertwee regularly managed to crash while “parking”, this amiable series was a breeding ground for catchphrases and rising stars (notably Ronnie Barker).
Round the Horne
The wince-worthy puns and double entendres of Kenneth Horne and team’s sketches were a national favourite. Regulars Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick raised ad-libbing to the level of art.
The wince-worthy puns and double entendres of Kenneth Horne and team’s sketches were a national favourite. Regulars Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick raised ad-libbing to the level of art.
Cabin Pressure
John Finnemore’s sitcom about a charter plane owned by Stephanie Cole and staffed, eccentrically, by pilot Benedict Cumberbatch, first officer Roger Allam and Finnemore as the steward is radio comedy as it used to be: smart, witty, pleasantly crazy.
John Finnemore’s sitcom about a charter plane owned by Stephanie Cole and staffed, eccentrically, by pilot Benedict Cumberbatch, first officer Roger Allam and Finnemore as the steward is radio comedy as it used to be: smart, witty, pleasantly crazy.
The News Quiz/Miles Jupp
Jupp’s eloquently scathing chairmanship, quick-thinking retorts and merry self-loathing make him possibly the finest News Quiz host yet. The best of 2018 is on iPlayer.
Jupp’s eloquently scathing chairmanship, quick-thinking retorts and merry self-loathing make him possibly the finest News Quiz host yet. The best of 2018 is on iPlayer.
Ed Reardon’s Week
Try series 11, in which the lachrymose jobbing writer, reduced to penury by his divorce and constant failure, becomes a mature student to get a loan while writing scornful guidebooks on life for children.
Try series 11, in which the lachrymose jobbing writer, reduced to penury by his divorce and constant failure, becomes a mature student to get a loan while writing scornful guidebooks on life for children.
Hancock’s Half Hour
Sunday Afternoon at Home
Hancock’s radio years gave full rein to his perfectly timed pauses and harrumphing. Here he sits in his flat, bored, with Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams: simple but hilarious.
Sunday Afternoon at Home
Hancock’s radio years gave full rein to his perfectly timed pauses and harrumphing. Here he sits in his flat, bored, with Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams: simple but hilarious.
The Day Today
The Big Report
Hapless reporter Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan is down the line from Brussels, explaining the German finance minister’s frustration with new trade quotas. Chris Morris slowly destroys him: “So what’s the German for 30 per cent?” Long pause. “Trenter per center...”
The Big Report
Hapless reporter Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan is down the line from Brussels, explaining the German finance minister’s frustration with new trade quotas. Chris Morris slowly destroys him: “So what’s the German for 30 per cent?” Long pause. “Trenter per center...”
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Before it became a book, a TV series and a film, Hitchhiker’s was a very funny radio sitcom, starring Simon Jones as the mild-mannered Arthur Dent, the only man to survive after Earth is destroyed to make way fora hyperspace bypass.
Before it became a book, a TV series and a film, Hitchhiker’s was a very funny radio sitcom, starring Simon Jones as the mild-mannered Arthur Dent, the only man to survive after Earth is destroyed to make way fora hyperspace bypass.
Dear Joan and Jericha
Vicki Pepperdine and Julia Davis’s sex counsellors reach a level of filth not heard since Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s Derek and Clive. Honkingly funny, with a “graphic content” caveat.
Vicki Pepperdine and Julia Davis’s sex counsellors reach a level of filth not heard since Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s Derek and Clive. Honkingly funny, with a “graphic content” caveat.
LIVE COMEDY
Big Yin
Any live set
Billy Connolly gigs were a torrent of little narratives, but his physical comedy was also superb: drunks walking home, wildebeest being attacked by lionesses.
Any live set
Billy Connolly gigs were a torrent of little narratives, but his physical comedy was also superb: drunks walking home, wildebeest being attacked by lionesses.
Micky Flanagan
Back in the Game
After his Out Out routine, fears that Flanagan’s best material was behind him crumbled here. His ribald storytelling peaks with his tale of 9/11 proving a bit of a result for him personally.
Back in the Game
After his Out Out routine, fears that Flanagan’s best material was behind him crumbled here. His ribald storytelling peaks with his tale of 9/11 proving a bit of a result for him personally.
Dylan Moran
Aim Low
Moran’s best-of DVD offers gems from his previous three live shows, showing his curmudgeonly despair at the things his generation faces.
Aim Low
Moran’s best-of DVD offers gems from his previous three live shows, showing his curmudgeonly despair at the things his generation faces.
Richard Pryor
Live in Concert
Pryor’s 1978 set, the first full-length stand-up set filmed, is still one of the best. The section on shooting his car, then running inside when the police arrive, is funny, poignant and political, all in less than two minutes.
Live in Concert
Pryor’s 1978 set, the first full-length stand-up set filmed, is still one of the best. The section on shooting his car, then running inside when the police arrive, is funny, poignant and political, all in less than two minutes.
Eddie Murphy
Raw
Murphy is at the peak of his powers in this blistering 1987 show that’s filthy, offensive in so many different ways, yet so damn charming.
Raw
Murphy is at the peak of his powers in this blistering 1987 show that’s filthy, offensive in so many different ways, yet so damn charming.
FILMS
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
The R-rated musical with enough expletives to wear out a censor’s bleeper. Watch if you want to see Satan in bed with Saddam and love the idea of Canada having tanks.
The R-rated musical with enough expletives to wear out a censor’s bleeper. Watch if you want to see Satan in bed with Saddam and love the idea of Canada having tanks.
Way Out West
Laurel and Hardy’s western is filled with gags and wonderful musical sequences. The scene where a scheming vamp tries to recover gold-mine deeds from inside ticklish Laurel’s long johns makes you cry with laughter every time.
Laurel and Hardy’s western is filled with gags and wonderful musical sequences. The scene where a scheming vamp tries to recover gold-mine deeds from inside ticklish Laurel’s long johns makes you cry with laughter every time.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Still unbeatable as a farce/romance — and as a vehicle for Hugh Grant’s charm, complete with cheesy pop-based metaphors.
Still unbeatable as a farce/romance — and as a vehicle for Hugh Grant’s charm, complete with cheesy pop-based metaphors.
Bringing up Baby
Classy screwball from two great exponents, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. The scene where they try to coax Baby, a pet leopard, down from the roof of the house by singing I Can’t Bring You Anything but Love to it is treasurable.
Classy screwball from two great exponents, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. The scene where they try to coax Baby, a pet leopard, down from the roof of the house by singing I Can’t Bring You Anything but Love to it is treasurable.
Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds beautifully sends up superhero movies while still delivering a superhero movie. His opening fight, narrated to camera with flashback and bullet time, is a work of art in itself.
Ryan Reynolds beautifully sends up superhero movies while still delivering a superhero movie. His opening fight, narrated to camera with flashback and bullet time, is a work of art in itself.
In the Loop
The late James Gandolfini was endearingly funny in this blend of The Thick of It and Washington politics: check out the scene where his four-star pacifist general works out troop casualties on a toy calculator.
The late James Gandolfini was endearingly funny in this blend of The Thick of It and Washington politics: check out the scene where his four-star pacifist general works out troop casualties on a toy calculator.
This Is Spinal Tap
There are so many great moments in this film — the band getting lost on the way to the stage, the exploding drummers, the preposterous sets. Best just to devour the whole thing again.
There are so many great moments in this film — the band getting lost on the way to the stage, the exploding drummers, the preposterous sets. Best just to devour the whole thing again.
Bridesmaids
Paul Feig’s movie is a smart and funny ensemble comedy — Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy — that sank the rules of the romcom.
Paul Feig’s movie is a smart and funny ensemble comedy — Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy — that sank the rules of the romcom.
Some Like It Hot
In this all-time favourite, look for Jack Lemmon’s disguised fury as his attempts to seduce Marilyn Monroe become a mass bunk-bed party.
In this all-time favourite, look for Jack Lemmon’s disguised fury as his attempts to seduce Marilyn Monroe become a mass bunk-bed party.
Mrs Doubtfire
The vacuum-cleaner dance is Robin Williams at his clowning finest, but check out the deleted scenes (YouTube), in which his wicked improv skills veer into R-rated territory as he instructs his nosy neighbour on how to stiffen her flabby stems.
The vacuum-cleaner dance is Robin Williams at his clowning finest, but check out the deleted scenes (YouTube), in which his wicked improv skills veer into R-rated territory as he instructs his nosy neighbour on how to stiffen her flabby stems.
There’s Something About Mary
Ben Stiller’s desperate quest for true love begins with a perfectly judged slow-build humiliation as he traps his penis in his cheap suit, and her parents, the police, firemen and paramedics cram into the bathroom.
Ben Stiller’s desperate quest for true love begins with a perfectly judged slow-build humiliation as he traps his penis in his cheap suit, and her parents, the police, firemen and paramedics cram into the bathroom.
Incredibles 2
The bravura sequence in which the Parrs’ youngest, baby Jack-Jack, puts on a display of his emerging superpowers, gurgling and gurning as he destroys whole rooms, is one of the great animated comedy scenes.
The bravura sequence in which the Parrs’ youngest, baby Jack-Jack, puts on a display of his emerging superpowers, gurgling and gurning as he destroys whole rooms, is one of the great animated comedy scenes.
Clueless
Hardly a duff word is spoken here, as Alicia Silverstone rages through Beverly Hills in heartbroken desolation, only to break off distracted by a dress. Best quote? “Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel, I doubt anybody would miss you.”
Hardly a duff word is spoken here, as Alicia Silverstone rages through Beverly Hills in heartbroken desolation, only to break off distracted by a dress. Best quote? “Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel, I doubt anybody would miss you.”
Trading Places
In this near-faultless comedy, the standout scene is Dan Aykroyd’s drunken, gun-toting Santa Claus wrecking his office party.
In this near-faultless comedy, the standout scene is Dan Aykroyd’s drunken, gun-toting Santa Claus wrecking his office party.
Airplane!
You wouldn’t get away with this now. The “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” moment is film comedy at its most risqué.
You wouldn’t get away with this now. The “Have you ever seen a grown man naked?” moment is film comedy at its most risqué.
Team America: World Police
“I went to Iraq, you know!” squeals “Sean Penn” during the best scene in the South Park boys’ ridiculously cheeky film, as liberal actors known as FAG (Film Actors Guild) have their North Korea-supporting butts blown up by America’s patriotic enforcers.
“I went to Iraq, you know!” squeals “Sean Penn” during the best scene in the South Park boys’ ridiculously cheeky film, as liberal actors known as FAG (Film Actors Guild) have their North Korea-supporting butts blown up by America’s patriotic enforcers.
CORPSING
Pete and Dud
At the art gallery
Still the one to beat for sustained improv while a camera focuses on your face as you stuff it with sandwiches. That Cook and Moore didn’t actually choke as they choked up is a constant source of wonder.
At the art gallery
Still the one to beat for sustained improv while a camera focuses on your face as you stuff it with sandwiches. That Cook and Moore didn’t actually choke as they choked up is a constant source of wonder.
Elvis Presley
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
In 1969 in Vegas, Elvis tweaked the lyrics — “gaze at your doorstep” became “gaze at your bald head” — losing it instantly. As the band soldier on, he battles to regain control, giggling and guffawing right to the end. It’s so contagious, you have to join in.
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
In 1969 in Vegas, Elvis tweaked the lyrics — “gaze at your doorstep” became “gaze at your bald head” — losing it instantly. As the band soldier on, he battles to regain control, giggling and guffawing right to the end. It’s so contagious, you have to join in.
Jonathan Agnew and Brian Johnston
The leg-over
The 1991 Test commentary that cracked up. Somehow they managed to wheeze their way through 90 seconds of radio airtime, until Johnston managed to say: “I’ve stopped laughing now.”
The leg-over
The 1991 Test commentary that cracked up. Somehow they managed to wheeze their way through 90 seconds of radio airtime, until Johnston managed to say: “I’ve stopped laughing now.”
Michael Richards
Getting cross with the Seinfeld cast
While shooting his Kramer scenes, Richards frequently causes his co-stars to corpse — much to the comic’s clear professional disgust.
Getting cross with the Seinfeld cast
While shooting his Kramer scenes, Richards frequently causes his co-stars to corpse — much to the comic’s clear professional disgust.
Joyce Grenfell and Norman Wisdom
Narcissus (The Laughing Record)
A curio that was one of the most popular radio tracks in the 1950s, as the leading comics Grenfell (a creditable soprano) and Wisdom destroyed Ethelbert Nevin’s pretty tune in gales of giggles.
Narcissus (The Laughing Record)
A curio that was one of the most popular radio tracks in the 1950s, as the leading comics Grenfell (a creditable soprano) and Wisdom destroyed Ethelbert Nevin’s pretty tune in gales of giggles.
INSTAGRAM
@celestebarber
No model or actor is safe from a skewering by Barber, who recreates celebrities’ outlandish social media snaps. If Gwyneth Paltrow appears topless slathered in clay, Barber will pop up in a similar state of undress, covered in garden mud.
No model or actor is safe from a skewering by Barber, who recreates celebrities’ outlandish social media snaps. If Gwyneth Paltrow appears topless slathered in clay, Barber will pop up in a similar state of undress, covered in garden mud.
@chalametinart
Timothée Chalamet looks the Renaissance man, and this account seizes on this, cutely Photoshopping the actor into Vermeers, Botticellis, Rembrandts and Caravaggios.
Timothée Chalamet looks the Renaissance man, and this account seizes on this, cutely Photoshopping the actor into Vermeers, Botticellis, Rembrandts and Caravaggios.
MUSIC
Victor Borge
The deadpan Danish classical-pianist clown was a big hit in the 1950s and 1960s. See him turn Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 into a four-handed (and footed) assault course.
The deadpan Danish classical-pianist clown was a big hit in the 1950s and 1960s. See him turn Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 into a four-handed (and footed) assault course.
Dudley Moore Beethoven Sonata Parody
Moore’s virtuosity as a pianist was never better displayed than in this Beyond the Fringe item, a four-minute massacre of Beethoven’s style with a seemingly never-ending finale. Spot the tune he uses as a main theme.
Moore’s virtuosity as a pianist was never better displayed than in this Beyond the Fringe item, a four-minute massacre of Beethoven’s style with a seemingly never-ending finale. Spot the tune he uses as a main theme.
Jonathan and Darlene Edwards: I Love Paris
The singer Jo Stafford makes pitching her voice a semitone off seem easy, which it isn’t. Her husband, Paul Weston, provides ham-fisted piano accompaniment to this travesty, which also isn’t easy.
The singer Jo Stafford makes pitching her voice a semitone off seem easy, which it isn’t. Her husband, Paul Weston, provides ham-fisted piano accompaniment to this travesty, which also isn’t easy.
Bill Bailey’s Masterpiece
Try this 2017 clip featuring the Pope’s doorbell, music for funeral homes, a jazz Pink Panther, the Belarus national anthem. Or the News Theme, Metallica on klaxons, the Kraftwerk Hokey Cokey...
Try this 2017 clip featuring the Pope’s doorbell, music for funeral homes, a jazz Pink Panther, the Belarus national anthem. Or the News Theme, Metallica on klaxons, the Kraftwerk Hokey Cokey...
ONE-OFF SKETCHES
Elaine May and Mike Nichols
Funeral skit
The classy double act broadcast many of their duologues: the visuals aren’t sharp, but the deadpan humour is. Here, as “grief person” at a rip-off funeral service, May bit by bit reveals the depths of its greed to Nichols’s distraught customer.
Funeral skit
The classy double act broadcast many of their duologues: the visuals aren’t sharp, but the deadpan humour is. Here, as “grief person” at a rip-off funeral service, May bit by bit reveals the depths of its greed to Nichols’s distraught customer.
Patton Oswalt
I Will Kill George Lucas with a Shovel
Oswalt imagines his younger self meeting a nerdy George Lucas as he’s pitching the dire prequels and explaining that all his favourite characters appear, but as little kids.
I Will Kill George Lucas with a Shovel
Oswalt imagines his younger self meeting a nerdy George Lucas as he’s pitching the dire prequels and explaining that all his favourite characters appear, but as little kids.
Norm Macdonald
Fantastic Four
Macdonald eavesdrops on Reed Richards naming the group after their abilities, to initial approval, until they realise he’s called himself Mr Fantastic.
Fantastic Four
Macdonald eavesdrops on Reed Richards naming the group after their abilities, to initial approval, until they realise he’s called himself Mr Fantastic.
The Two Johns audition
You Say Potato
In a sketch from A Poke in the Eye, John Fortune sight-reads Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, not having heard the original. His increasing confusion — “potatoes... potatoes... tomatoes... tomatoes” — plays out relentlessly.
You Say Potato
In a sketch from A Poke in the Eye, John Fortune sight-reads Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, not having heard the original. His increasing confusion — “potatoes... potatoes... tomatoes... tomatoes” — plays out relentlessly.
VIRAL HITS
Bob Mortimer on Would I Lie to You?
Mortimer’s unleashed surrealism is wondrous to behold on this panel show, such as the tale of burning down his house with a sparkler at seven. Except most of the yarns are true.
Mortimer’s unleashed surrealism is wondrous to behold on this panel show, such as the tale of burning down his house with a sparkler at seven. Except most of the yarns are true.
Ab Fab
Just the one, dear?
The late June Whitfield graced her role as Edina’s mum with exquisite timing and acid expressions. The 20-second clip where “Just the one, dear?” appears is a classic, albeit brief.
Just the one, dear?
The late June Whitfield graced her role as Edina’s mum with exquisite timing and acid expressions. The 20-second clip where “Just the one, dear?” appears is a classic, albeit brief.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler host the Golden Globes
By their third and final year, the duo were smashing it with their takedowns, such as their response to Russell Crowe’s claim that there are hundreds of roles for women over 40: “As long as you get hired when you’re under 40.”
By their third and final year, the duo were smashing it with their takedowns, such as their response to Russell Crowe’s claim that there are hundreds of roles for women over 40: “As long as you get hired when you’re under 40.”
Star Wars a cappella theme
The cast of the first JJ Abrams revamp (including Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver) winningly perform the main themes.
The cast of the first JJ Abrams revamp (including Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver) winningly perform the main themes.
Sport Relief
Luther sketch
The joke pivots on the chicken Idris Elba brings home for his mum to cook being treated as a murder victim by the rest of his look/soundalike family, including Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright and Denise Lewis.
Luther sketch
The joke pivots on the chicken Idris Elba brings home for his mum to cook being treated as a murder victim by the rest of his look/soundalike family, including Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright and Denise Lewis.
Lenny Henry
This Is the BBC
Childish Gambino’s This Is America hit rap video gets a brilliant spin from Henry, who transforms it into a lament for the decline of the BBC as a programme-maker. Peerless.
This Is the BBC
Childish Gambino’s This Is America hit rap video gets a brilliant spin from Henry, who transforms it into a lament for the decline of the BBC as a programme-maker. Peerless.
Eddie Izzard
Darth Vader at the Death Star canteen
Izzard’s riff on the dark lord’s attempts to order penne arrabbiata from a dopey server couldn’t have been improved on, until somebody in America animated the routine in Lego.
Darth Vader at the Death Star canteen
Izzard’s riff on the dark lord’s attempts to order penne arrabbiata from a dopey server couldn’t have been improved on, until somebody in America animated the routine in Lego.
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Netflix)
Top comedians drive around NYC or LA with Jerry Seinfeld in a classic car, in search of a good cup of coffee. Great cars and great chat, such as the one where Jerry and Carl Reiner visit Mel Brooks at home.
Top comedians drive around NYC or LA with Jerry Seinfeld in a classic car, in search of a good cup of coffee. Great cars and great chat, such as the one where Jerry and Carl Reiner visit Mel Brooks at home.
Prof Robert Kelly and children
The one where a besuited American academic, talking via Skype to the BBC, doesn’t realise that, behind him, his small children have invaded the room, closely followed by his panicking wife.
The one where a besuited American academic, talking via Skype to the BBC, doesn’t realise that, behind him, his small children have invaded the room, closely followed by his panicking wife.
Preston walks out of Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Preston, from Celebrity Big Brother, can’t take any of the jokes the host, Simon Amstell, throws at him, so he’s off, replaced by a (better-looking) man from the audience.
Preston, from Celebrity Big Brother, can’t take any of the jokes the host, Simon Amstell, throws at him, so he’s off, replaced by a (better-looking) man from the audience.
U2’s Edge takes a tumble
Sometimes all you need to cheer yourself up is to watch the millionaire lead guitarist of a megaband fall off the stage during a bit of noodling.
Sometimes all you need to cheer yourself up is to watch the millionaire lead guitarist of a megaband fall off the stage during a bit of noodling.
The gate that sounds like the Jurassic Park theme
Last year, Twitter user @lukedmond discovered that his gate sounds like the theme to Jurassic Park, and that’s the entire joke. Google it.
Last year, Twitter user @lukedmond discovered that his gate sounds like the theme to Jurassic Park, and that’s the entire joke. Google it.
Comments