The 50 Unfunniest Living Britons
Oh dear, oh dear. Some website called London News Review has published a "definitive list" of The 50 Unfunniest Living Britons. We're covering this because, apparantly, " no British television programme in history...has plumbed the depths of unfunniness quite like Red Dwarf". Actually, no. We're covering this as an excuse to rip this assortment of wrongness and lies apart, regardless of the Dwarf bits. If it wasn't on G&T, it'd be on some forum or other. Might as well get them out of the way, then:
4 Craig Charles
- no comment.
Yes, that's helpful. That's just very poor, lazy journalism. You're writing an opinion piece; you've got to actually let people know what your opinions are. Are we expected to read that and say "yes, actually, Craig Charles is definitely the fourth least funny person in Britian"?
13 The man who plays �Cat� in Red Dwarf
Again, no actual reason. The writer pretending not to remember Danny's name suggests that the problem he has is with the character, as opposed to the actor. Remember, Danny has never claimed to be a comedian - he's a dancer, a singer and an actor. If this chap doesn't like the material Danny performs, his beef is with Rob and Doug. This is also why I don't like people automatically blaming Chloe Annett for Kochanski being rubbish in Series VII. (Incidentally, Chloe is the only regular cast member not to feature in this list.)
14 Norman Lovett
Someone who's never seen Norman's superb stand-up, there.
21 The man who plays �Rimmer� in Red Dwarf
- don't forget, he also played Gordon Brittas in the Brittas Empire. Quite a legacy.
I like the way they're being sarcastic about Chris Barrie's legacy, despite it actually being a damn good legacy. Two sit-coms that attracted eight million viewers and are getting good DVD sales outweigh a sub-par news review site, frankly. I don't mean that in a cunty "you can't criticise because you can't do any better" way - these people aren't criticising any of the people mentioned; they're just listing names.
22 Tony Hawks
- an incalculably annoying individual. Every time he opens his mouth you want to kill him.
No, every time he opens his mouth you want to kill him, you prick. I think he's very funny.
46 Hatty Haydridge
Of course, Hatty Haydridge! Moving on from the Dwarf alumni, let's start with the joint winners:
1= Billy Connolly
1= Lenny Henry
Now, Lenny Henry's latest stuff hasn't been very good. But both Connolly and Henry have an excellent pedigree, and have been doing brilliant stuff for decades. I'm putting this down to either ignorance or deliberate revisionism. More of that later.
3 Michael Crawford
- has never made a single person even smile, let alone laugh.
Oh. All those times I've laughed at Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em didn't happen, apparantly.
33 Rowan Atkinson
- a difficult choice. But Rowan has worked so hard at not making us laugh as Mr Bean, and has such a glittering history of unfunny film cameos (from Never Say Never Again to Rat Race), that we simply cannot ignore him.
Ooh, it's deliberate revisionism again! And this time they've actually admitted it. Yes, Not The Nine O'Clock News, Blackadder, Mr. Bean (which was brilliant, in my opinion) and The Thin Blue Line have no worth, because Rowan has been in a couple of duff films. See also:
10 Ben Elton
Writing a musical about Queen does not make The Young Ones, Blackadder, Happy Families, Filthy, Rich & Catflap and The Thin Blue Line any less great. There are some inclusion that I think are genuinely down to ignorance, though, such as:
15 Bill Oddie
28 David Baddiel
34 David Schneider
36 Hugh Dennis
47 Whoever does Rab C Nesbitt
These can only possibly have been written by someone who's never seen/heard The Goodies, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, early Fantasy Football League, The Day Today and indeed Rab C Nesbitt. Other inclusions are just baffling:
6 Tony Robinson
7 Dawn French
9 Dennis Norden
16 Harry Enfield
27 Kathy Burke
29 Mark and Lard
31 Richard Wilson
37 Jack Dee
43 Bill Bailey
Whuh? This is the problem with writing an opinion piece and not including the actual opinions. If the writer had actually said why he didn't like any of the above, I might consider his argument, even if I disagreed. As it is, I just think "oh, fuck off, you pointless twat". The whole concept is stupid. You can't provide "a definitive list" of something subjective. The article should be renamed "50 People I Don't Like Very Much", and even then it would still be absolutely worthless.
Trackback
TrackBack URL for this entry:
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'The 50 Unfunniest Living Britons' from Ganymede and Titan.
Syndication
Site Info
