Audio Comedy Commendations

September 20, 2006 3:37 AM

Audio Comedy; looking for new comics I may not have heard of and some downloadable comedy on the web (along the lines of Hicks, Sadowitz, Lee and Herring et al). As always,

I have only sporadic ability to hook my lap top to the web and am living in a country with little English media. Therefore ideally I am looking for suggestions of downloadable MP3s to while away the evenings and/also suggestions of intelligent, thought provoking comics that I might not know of. To give a steer as to my taste; Hicks still the best American I've heard; British comedy currently listening to Richard Lee, Billy Connolly (early stuff). Peter Cook and Chris Morris are the comedy gods currently.

Stuff I don't like, to give a steer (apologies to raving fans of the following, hope it doesn't put you off offering suggestions); Izzard, Ross Noble, Roy Chubby Brown, Ben Elton.

Appreciate any websites and or comics that you would recommend given above. Cheers

posted by Gratishades to media & arts (17 comments total)

I love Hicks et al, and my favourite Australian comedian is Tony Martin. He's not quite comparable to the legend that is Bill Hicks, but I do believe his comedy is of a lesser cerebral quality. You should be able to find some of his work on all good P2P servers under the team of 'Martin Molloy', a radio show he co-hosted with fellow (but lesser) Australian comedian Mick Molloy. If you need some points of reference, they did three compilation albums; 'The Brown Album', 'Poop Chute' and 'Eat Your Peas'.

Another one you might like to look for is Shaun Micallef, who has a very surreal sense of humour. I'm not sure you'd find any MP3s of any of his work, however, because as far as I'm aware he has never done stand up. He is best known for his TV work on his own Micallef Programme (sic). I know you're after MP3s specifically, but you may be able to find some torrents of his DVDs somewhere, and have them play in the background as you while away the evenings you mention.

And if you like Connolly (and who dosen't), may I suggest the work of Jimeoin and possibly Bob Franklin. I enjoy both of these comedians on the same level I enjoy Billy.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:16 AM on September 20, 2006

Have you thought of trying the comedy ramblings of PF? They are always sure to raise a titter.



Derail: If you can get access to Youtube for any period then That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC2 version of the Radio 4 series) and Armando Ianucci's Time Trumpet are worth a look.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:04 AM on September 20, 2006

I'm fond of Henry Rollins standup - nowhere near Bill Hicks but still very good.
posted by hardcode at 5:58 AM on September 20, 2006

I always loved Bob and Ray. They were way ahead of their time and very funny. It's not standup--it's radio making fun of the radio genre.
posted by plinth at 6:22 AM on September 20, 2006

Here's a source of some free B&R mp3s
posted by plinth at 6:27 AM on September 20, 2006

You can download the entire series of The 99p Challenge here. It's a great Radio 4 comedy panel show from a couple of years ago. Features comedians such as Richard Herring, Simon Pegg, Armando Ianucci, and many others (the comedians featured in each show are listed on the page so you can avoid any you really hate).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:40 AM on September 20, 2006

Some of the radio shows Chris Morris did were excellent. Blue Jam is a strange late night music / sketch comedy show with some very odd and borderline disturbing comedy.

Most of his radio work is archived here.
posted by tomble at 6:46 AM on September 20, 2006

Pablo Francisco is very funny; the late Mitch Hedburg did a series of great sets just before he died; If you have a fast connection I suggest checking out BBC Radio 7's late night comedy series, which has a lot of emerging comics from the UK on it - they have this really hilarious Nigerian guy whose name escapes me who made me laugh so hard my boss turned around.
posted by parmanparman at 8:16 AM on September 20, 2006

As an American who absolutely loves + misses Bill Hicks, I feel two American comics carrying his torch are David Cross and Lewis Black. They can often be alternately thoughtful. political, and ridiculous (in a good way) as Hicks was. Cross is a bit closer to Hicks in tone. Black is great, too, but his political stuff may be a little harder to get if you don't follow American politics. Their stuff is available to download at the various legal download avenues ... click on the links on their names above for Google's music download suggestions.

I'm also a fan of Henry Rollins' 'spoken word' work (as was recommended above) but I think it may be a bit different than you're looking for. I don't really consider him a stand-up comedian. Rollins is basically an insightful funny storyteller, but does throw in plenty of moving observations. Worth checking out if you want to explore some different flavors.
posted by General Zubon at 8:28 AM on September 20, 2006

I host a public radio show / podcast that's largely devoted to comedy, you might find stuff you'd like there. Lots of interviews with great comedians, I never book stuff I don't think is great. This episode has a lot of different stuff.

I can't claim expertise on UK comedy, but I can offer some insight on US comedy.

First... Mitch Hedberg is brilliant, Pablo Francisco less so, unless you're really into guys making noises (which, given your love of Bill Hicks, I'd presume you're not). Bob & Ray are indeed Great Geniuses. Henry Rollins' standup is... well... let's just say it's an acquired taste, and even he doesn't exactly describe it as comedy.

As far as current comics with audio material out, I'd reccomend the Invite Them Up compilation, which is a live recording of an amazing NYC weekly show. Three CDs and a DVD for about $15. That'll give you an overview of the NY underground scene.

Also... Patton Oswalt and Eugene Mirman have great CDs out. Mirman is a bit of an absurdist, brilliant guy. Patton's specialty is cavalcades of hilarious imagery -- his CD is one of the funniest I've ever heard. Marc Maron is sort of a jewier version of Hicks and is brilliant, he's got two CDs. Probably the funniest comedy CD I've ever heard is Todd Barry's Medium Energy. His most recent, the name of which escapes me, is also brilliant. He's a very dry deadpan comic, and brilliant.

Jim Gaffigan is a great comic in the no-swearing/innofensive world, not exactly Hicks, but loved by all. Louie CK is my pick for the best comic today, but I can't remember if he has a CD. There's lots of media on his site, anyway.

Demetri Martin has a CD coming out very soon, you'll definately want to check that out, he's from here but huge in the rest of the english-speaking world -- iirc he's won the Perrier Award twice or something.

Something that just came out that's totally amazing is Coyle & Sharpe's box set "These Men Are Impostors." They spent the early 60s roaming SF with a microphone, doing elaborate and bizarre put-ons in the guise of man-on-the-street interviews. Mal Sharpe was on my show recently, you can hear a lot of their stuff there for free.

When it comes to radio comedy, my favorite is The Best Show on WFMU, a call-in talk show which features regular (and hilarious) fictional calls. Conan O'Brien says they're the only comedy in his iPod, that's a pretty good endorsement. They've got some amazing CDs... my favorite is the one with The Gorch, an aging greaser who's monumentally funny, which I think is Volume One of their best-ofs, might be volume two.

As far as funny music, two nerd-approved sources are Hard N Phirm and Jonathan Coulton. I am predisposed to hate music comedy, but both are great.

I could say so much more, but it's already getting absurd.

Oh! One more reccomendation -- a lot of people think he's corny since Everybody Loves Raymond was on the air for 79 years, but Ray Romano is truly a master of standup comedy, and his CD is wonderful. And I bet you can get it used for a dollar.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:35 AM on September 20, 2006 [4 favorites has favorites]

I, too am a fan of Cross and Black, btw... though I'm not crazy about either of Cross' CDs. That said, if you like Hicks, you'd almost certainly like them.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:37 AM on September 20, 2006

Thanks for the recommendations folks (especially the encyclopedic YoungAmerican) and keep them coming. Will take me some time to plow through all of these, will mark as favourites where appropriate when checked out. As said my access to tinternet limited (hence the request for downloadable stuff) so might be some time before I recognise those that I am especially indebted to.

Plinth and EndOfInvention thanks for direct links will be checking out when back in house

YoungAmerican listening to your podcast at present, just started so fingers crossed.

Cheers!
posted by Gratishades at 8:56 AM on September 20, 2006

Doug Stanhope has the same mix of politics and sex in his humor that Hicks had. Some people can't stand him, but I think he's hysterical.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:30 AM on September 20, 2006

I'll co-sign Stanhope. He is very raw, which is why some folks can't stand him. That said, he's a great comedian. Definately a follower of Hicks -- perhaps even more over the top, but absolutely sincere.

This is a great forum for UK comedy with lots of downloads *typically). Eugene Mirman blogs his strange conversations with telemarketers.

Also, as far as podcasts... I'm a big fan of Jimmy Pardo's Never Not Funny, which is just a general interest chat show hosted by Pardo, who I really like. Also, check out AST Radio for a lot of great comedy and interviews from the LA comedy scene.
posted by YoungAmerican at 9:47 AM on September 20, 2006

If you're looking for new comedians in a vaguely similar vein, someone I've enjoyed hugely is Mark Watson. Some live standup here, Myspace site with ongoing "audience helps me write a novel project" here, previous novel available here. Comes strongly recommended - I've seen him in Edinburgh a number of times now and his shows are something else. Give him a year or so and he'll be all over the telly.
posted by greycap at 1:47 PM on September 20, 2006

Also, first two links are bust in post above mine...
posted by greycap at 1:49 PM on September 20, 2006

Oop... UK Comedy Forum and Eugene Mirman.
posted by YoungAmerican at 8:42 AM on September 21, 2006