Old school comedians still rule!


Recently, a poll was conducted in the UK to identify Britain’s all-time favorite comedians. Surprising to some, not surprising to many, was the fact that images.jpgthe old-style comedians topped the poll with 67 year old Billy Connolly heading a list that included Victoria Wood and the late, Tommy Cooper. Perhaps just as surprising was the fact that only 20% of people polled thought today’s comedians were funnier that those of yesteryear, citing that today’s comedians think the more you swear, the funnier you are. Although, watching Billy Connolly, I see where the new generation of stand-up comedians all learned to swear.

Story ImageWhile most of the traditional old school stars made their name in the world of stand-up comedy, some did transfer over to the small screen such as Victoria Wood in Dinnerladies and “youngster” Ricky Gervais in The Office, who came in at #10 on the list.

Many on the list are not household names in the United States, but a number of today’s stars grew up watching these folks and will attribute much of their desire to enter the comedy world and success to the old-style comedians. In fact, you can see a lot of Hyacinth in Patricia Routledge’s character, Kitty, from the Victoria Wood As Seen On TV series from the mid-80’s.

Who would top your favorite British comedy list?


In: Actors/Actresses,Comedy

  • Scott

    Well, I’ll show some love for the current crop of comics.

    Ten of my favorite UK comedians, in no particular order:

    Dara O’Briain (Technically Irish, but lives in the UK now)
    Ed Byrne (ditto)
    Frankie Boyle
    Russell Howard (can you tell I watch a lot of Mock The Week?)
    Marcus Brigstocke
    Sean Lock
    Jimmy Carr
    Craig Ferguson (he still counts, right?)
    Rhod Gilbert
    Russell Brand (I don’t WANT to laugh at him, but I can’t help it!)