Which comedians have you seen live who weren't as good as you expected?

[BaaLocks]

Susan Calman - apparently she's small, Scottish, lesbian, has a cat and likes cake. Perm any two of the previous and that's a joke in her show.

Frankie Howard - saw him in the '80s when he was a bit back in vogue. Saying 'titter ye not' five times a minute is not humour.

Dara O'Brien - saw him on the last leg of a mega tour and it showed, he just called it in by numbers.

Peter Kay - biscuits do fall in your tea if you dunk them too long, that point is not amazing. How he filled an arena on this fact is

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by BaaLocks

[SSD]

James Acaster. Think he had just started out in comedy 10 years because he's somehow managed to find a good career on all the panel shows in recent years. Thankfully he was only supporting Milton Jones. The crowd went from having great time to falling silent. It was awkward. Once he knew the crowd weren't laughing at his horrible material he resorted to picking on someone in the crowd. Dragged that out for another 10 minutes and finally cleared off. He's clearly got some comedic skills as he's done well at the fringe festival. Dreadful live though. 

 

[Brammie Steve]

I was never a fan of Peter Goodwright  (‘Who do you do? Etc.) as I didn’t find him funny.

However I met him at a Garden Party and he was a warm and friendly man and great company.

He was one of those people that you feel you’ve known all your life.

I find it best to separate ‘celebrities’ from their stage persona!

“You should never meet your heroes!” Allan Carr.

 

[Rev]

Last time I saw Frank Skinner he was a little disappointing. 

Age and contentment seemed to have caught up with him, he was still good value but the edge had gone. 

 

[i-Ram]

Bernard Manning. I am sure he must have been a bit racist.

[May Contain Nuts]

On 19/09/2021 at 14:24, Ewe Ram said:

Kathryn Ryan. Thinks saying things in a posh English accent makes them funny 

Also the endless references to more famous celebrities forming the very basis of her act, lazily appealing only to the same sort of vacuous celebrity worship mindset as herself.

Either that or some weird narcissistic ********.

Most of the time I haven't got a clue who she's talking about and even when I do it's some talentless twit famous for being famous.

She's one of the few people who's very existence on a show makes me say Oh duck Off and change the channel until she's disappeared, can't fathom why anyone would want to pay to go to see her.

She can duck off back to wherever it is she came from.

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Coconut's Beard

[Tyler Durden]

Freddie Starr. Though I was about ten at the time so didn't understand the adult gags. 

[WhiteHorseRam]

16 hours ago, Rev said:

Last time I saw Frank Skinner he was a little disappointing. 

Age and contentment seemed to have caught up with him, he was still good value but the edge had gone. 

 

I saw him in about 1992, wearing his WBA away shirt - probably the best I have seen

Ones that were disappointing -  Jack Dee, the League of Gentlemen ( just regurgitated their TV show), Peter Kay

Surprisingly good - Lily Savage

Seen him rescue it twice - Al Murray

[MuespachRam]

I saw Aziz Ansari in St Petersburg a couple of years ago, he was truly awful..gutted because I was really looking forward to seeing him. All he did was shout mainly about “being brown”…It got old very quickly…

also, there was a strictly no phones allowed thing, where you had to put your phone into a magnetic bag thing that could only be opened outside the venue….. just weird 

also saw Peter Kay once at the height of his fame, and he basically regurgitated all the jokes you have heard a million times by him all night, it was like watching his dvd, so disappointing as I think he is an absolute genius  

 

[Anag Ram]

3 hours ago, MuespachRam said:

I saw Aziz Ansari in St Petersburg a couple of years ago, he was truly awful..gutted because I was really looking forward to seeing him. All he did was shout mainly about “being brown”…It got old very quickly…

also, there was a strictly no phones allowed thing, where you had to put your phone into a magnetic bag thing that could only be opened outside the venue….. just weird 

also saw Peter Kay once at the height of his fame, and he basically regurgitated all the jokes you have heard a million times by him all night, it was like watching his dvd, so disappointing as I think he is an absolute genius  

 

Had a golden period of a few years when he was very funny but hasn't really hit the heights again. 

I've seen him live and he makes very little go a short way. 

[GboroRam]

On 20/09/2021 at 11:25, Anon said:

It was Brigstocke I was thinking of when I said I'd made a similar mistake. I mostly avoid overtly political comedians because it's a difficult routine to pull off. A couple of routines I've seen that were pretty heavily political, but also funny were done by Mark Thomas and Rob Newman.

Edit - I really like some of Will Franken's political bits too.

Like for the Mark Thomas reference. Loved his comedy product in the (89s? 90s?). Would love to see him live. 

[Wolfie20]

7 hours ago, WhiteHorseRam said:

I saw him in about 1992, wearing his WBA away shirt - probably the best I have seen

 

Never paid much attention to other clubs' shirts to be honest  ?

[Bob The Badger]

18 hours ago, WhiteHorseRam said:

I saw him in about 1992, wearing his WBA away shirt - probably the best I have seen

Ones that were disappointing -  Jack Dee, the League of Gentlemen ( just regurgitated their TV show), Peter Kay

Surprisingly good - Lily Savage

Seen him rescue it twice - Al Murray

@Rev of all the comedians I've seen, Skinner was the best. At least half his show was material from what had happened that weekend involving the trial of British nanny, Louise Woodward in the US.

Sooo, I'm bummed to hear what you say, especially as I have tickets to go and see him next month!

I saw Jack Dee in Derby around 1996. His first half was poor, but his second was very good.

I've just never *got* Peter Kay in the same way as I've never got Michael Mcintyre. That's comedy I guess.

[Rev]

2 minutes ago, Bob The Badger said:

@Rev of all the comedians I've seen, Skinner was the best. At least half his show was material from what had happened that weekend involving the trial of British nanny, Louise Woodward in the US.

Sooo, I'm bummed to hear what you say, especially as I have tickets to go and see him next month!

I saw Jack Dee in Derby around 1996. His first half was poor, but his second was very good.

I've just never *got* Peter Kay in the same way as I've never got Michael Mcintyre. That's comedy I guess.

I've seen Frank maybe half a dozen times, I would also say he's the best stand up I've seen live. 

Probably just a below average night I caught him on, I still listen most Saturday mornings to his show, and that's always entertaining.

[Bob The Badger]

1 hour ago, Rev said:

I've seen Frank maybe half a dozen times, I would also say he's the best stand up I've seen live. 

Probably just a below average night I caught him on, I still listen most Saturday mornings to his show, and that's always entertaining.

I shall definitely report back! The only time I saw him I came out with my cheeks hurting I was laughing that much. And the texting routing with Kylie that I've only seen on YouTube is one of the greatest bits of stand up I have ever seen. Who else do you rate? I'm looking for mre UK comedians to see as I'm really out of touch and not many of the US comedians I like come to the UK, certainly not Cornwall.

[WhiteHorseRam]

13 hours ago, Wolfie20 said:

Never paid much attention to other clubs' shirts to be honest  ?

He was stood there in his WBA shirt, getting heckled by various cockney club plastic fans ... crushed them all in turn. was excellent 

[Bob The Badger]

On 20/09/2021 at 11:55, JoetheRam said:

Jimmy Carr.

Wouldn't class myself as a fan but even I'd heard half his jokes 10 years beforehand. I think it was meant to be edgy but was extremely tame. Everything was over rehearsed and was as if reading from a script.

Worryingly he's come up twice and I have tickets to see him next month as well as Frank Skinner.

[tinman]

On 19/09/2021 at 12:39, G STAR RAM said:

I saw Ed Byrne many years ago before he was famous and dont think I laughed once during his entire set.

Was astounded when he started appearing on the tv.

 

I’ve seen him at Edinburgh and he was truly brilliant

[Bob The Badger]

Reporting back on the 3 I have seen since September.

Jonathan Pie in Sheffield. Very good.

I saw Bill Maher a couple of years ago who you would expect to be better political satirist with his level of experience and fame, but he wasn't.

Whereas Marr was funny his rant felt like an out and out rant.

Pie's rant was a carefully crafted parody with a brilliant and hysterical anti-woke story weaved in of how his fictitious character got sacked from the BBC.

Yes, he's massively anti-Tory, but he's also massively anti-woke and fed up with cancel culture.

I guess you always laugh more at what you agree with.

Frank Skinner in Plymouth. Very good.

As his from the 90s my favourite stand up show of all time he had a lot to live up to and he never quite got there.

He's a lot more gentle now and as he's only a year or two older than me I loved a lot of the stuff on health and getting older.

He told some jokes that kinda went nowhere, but were still funny even if they never had me rolling around in the aisles.

Jimmy Carr in Plymouth. Utterly brilliant.

Best live show I've seen since I last saw Doug Stanhope.

Possibly even better than Stanhope was the last time, but obviously totally different styles.

Did almost 2 hours and I missed half the jokes because I was laughing so much.

Like Skinner, just brilliant at working the crowd and actively encourages heckling.

Next up Stanhope in Sheffield in March. It will be the 8th time I've seen him and my best mate in the US just saw the start of his tour in Orlando and said he was his usual brilliant suff.

 

[Bob The Badger]

On 21/09/2021 at 13:38, MuespachRam said:

I saw Aziz Ansari in St Petersburg a couple of years ago, he was truly awful..gutted because I was really looking forward to seeing him. All he did was shout mainly about “being brown”…It got old very quickly…

also, there was a strictly no phones allowed thing, where you had to put your phone into a magnetic bag thing that could only be opened outside the venue….. just weird 

also saw Peter Kay once at the height of his fame, and he basically regurgitated all the jokes you have heard a million times by him all night, it was like watching his dvd, so disappointing as I think he is an absolute genius  

 

I missed this, but yeh, we had to do that when we went to see Chris Rock.

But that's the only time in scores and scores of gigs.