Comedy that leaves you unable to breathe ...

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summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
thegrumpybiker said:
Red Dwarf V, Back To Reality episode and the debut appearance of Cat's alter ego Dwayne Dibbley "What the hell happened to my teeth?"

How could I forget that... brilliant.
 

thegrumpybiker

New Member
Location
North London
The other bit is when Sideshow Bob is trying to get onto their houseboat. There are rakes scattered everywhere and for a good minute he keeps standing on them. Doesn't sound funny to explain, but it's one of those repetitive comedy things.

That was genius, it went from being merely funny, went through, "ok this has gone on a bit now" to twice as funny as it started off. In a similar vein is Peter Griffin's epic punch-up with a chicken on Family Guy

Another great Simpsons moment: Grandpa telling the story of his days as a union buster; "I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time."
 

PBancroft

Senior Member
Location
Winchester
The other bit is when Sideshow Bob is trying to get onto their houseboat. There are rakes scattered everywhere and for a good minute he keeps standing on them. Doesn't sound funny to explain, but it's one of those repetitive comedy things.

What's great about that gag is that they only put it in to fill time. It's a truly great episode as a whole and I love that the writing was so good that even a space filler like that is enduringly funny.
 

thegrumpybiker

New Member
Location
North London
I went to bed last night and took hours to get to sleep because I got thinking about great comedy moments, obviously there's different types of comedy that can give you a wry smirk, a snort, a snigger, a guffaw etc. But actual rolling about "Call an ambulance" type laughter, what causes that? I realised for me personally (and I know this tends to go against my misanthropic moniker) it's the contagiousness of someone else's uncontrollable laughter. Hence:
It's A Knockout; As if watching someone in an outsized foam rubber ogre costume desparately attempting to competitively run round an obstacle course wasn't funny enough, Stuart Hall gamely attempting to commentate whilst battling his hysterical laughter surely is.

The other moments are all devoted to Ricky Gervais; great as I personally think he and his comic abilities are, it's the bloopers and f**k-ups that kill me. His complete inability to film a scene without collapsing into squawking fits of laughter reduces me to the same state.
If you've got The Office or Extras DVDs, go to the bonus bits and watch the out-takes to see what I mean.
Also on Extras there's a bonus feature called Taping Nigel, two grown men behaving like naughty schoolkids out of complete boredom. Nigel the Breakfast Bunny, need I say more?
 

thegrumpybiker

New Member
Location
North London
Cubist said:
I've just wasted a huge proportion of my day looking for Fast Show stuff on Youtube
Buy the boxset DVDs, worth its weight in gold. Carl Hooper, Arthur Atkinson, Colin Hunt the office joker, The Suits You tailors meeting their match with a city gent, "I'll get me coat"; priceless. I remember when they were about to show the first repeats of the first series, I told my mates that I watched the first couple of shows when it first aired but gave up because I just didn't get what was so funny about it. "Stick with it, it gets better and better" they said, I followed their advice and consequently became evangelical about it. So much so that I recognised myself in the Colin Hunt sketch "I am a alien...Oh, did you see it last night? Wasn't it great?"
 

thegrumpybiker

New Member
Location
North London
Those with an unashamedly puerile streak should check out a good mate of mine http://www.kuntandthegang.co.uk He's all over YouTube and MySpace too. Underneath the layers of smut is plenty of genuine wit and talent.
Not only is he incredibly funny, he's always got plenty of time for his fans.
Watching the reactions of first timers at his shows is priceless, as are those who just happen to be in the pub on the night he plays. Watch their faces change from "I'm too grown up to find this funny" to out and out belly laughs within the first ten seconds.
You get the occasional right-on p.c bore walk out in disgust but I laugh at them too.
 

thegrumpybiker

New Member
Location
North London
Those with an unashamedly puerile streak should check out a good mate of mine http://www.kuntandthegang.co.uk He's all over YouTube and MySpace too. Underneath the layers of smut is plenty of genuine wit and talent.
Not only is he incredibly funny, he's always got plenty of time for his fans.
Watching the reactions of first timers at his shows is priceless, as are those who just happen to be in the pub on the night he plays. Watch their faces change from "I'm too grown up to find this funny" to out and out belly laughs within the first ten seconds.
You get the occasional right-on p.c bore walk out in disgust but I laugh at them too.
 
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