Relatively Funny

Is joke-making genetic? And if so, where are all the comedy twins? BCG investigates...

You often hear it said about successful comedy people, that they have 'funny bones.' But what about funny genes? There are so many comedy offspring knocking around now that you can't help wondering if funny bones are in the blood.

Which comedy offspring? Well, following directly in their fathers' stand-up footsteps are Mark Steel's son Elliot and Kevin Day's son Ed, who even conjured a gag when choosing a stage name: Ed Day became Ed Night. Jimmy Cricket's daughter Katie Mulgrew is also a fine comic, as is Alfie Brown, the son of Jan Ravens and Steve 'Glenn Ponder' Brown, while Beattie Edmondson - daughter of Ade and Jennifer Saunders - is now a successful comic actress. And there's more, as Mulgrew's dad used to say. Roy Walker, Tarby: their kids went into comedy too.

'When psychologists ponder these 'nature vs nurture' questions, they often look at how twins turned out (as this report by the American Psychological Association attests - link) - similar genes, different experiences...'

So is hilarity hereditary, or just the inevitable result of life in a comedy house? When psychologists ponder these 'nature vs nurture' questions, they often look at how twins turned out (as this report by the American Psychological Association attests) - similar genes, different experiences. But where are the comedy twins, for the comedy psychologists? Annie McGrath - Rory's daughter - is in the sketch duo Twins, but with her non-sibling Jack Barry, so that's a red herring. Then again, twins are pretty rare anyway. As Betway Insider reveals, the chances of a mother having twins (1 out of 64) are a lot more remote than us experiencing World War 3 (1 out of 15). Yikes.

So twins being born, then both expressing an interest in comedy, and being good enough to get anywhere, would be pretty rare; if also pretty interesting, if it happened. You'd imagine that they'd be quite adept at improv, given the whole psychic connection thing. And the whole twin business would definitely be a unique selling point if, say, you were trying to publicise an Edinburgh Fringe show. It wouldn't surprise you if a couple of vaguely similar-looking new comics tried to pull that stunt, in fact - it's amazing what matching haircuts can do.

Away from the UK there are some comedy twins enjoying decent careers. The bearded Nelson Twins have been stalwarts of Australia's comedy scene for over a decade, and reached the final of Australia's Got Talent in 2012. In the States, the St Louis-born Sklar Brothers started in New York comedy clubs and have since appeared on everything from Comedy Bang! Bang! to Better Call Saul.

Newer talents, New Jersey's Lucas Brothers are also working that twin angle nicely, and wound up working opposite Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in Jump Street (directly opposite, in fact: their college room was across the hall). They've also created an animated series - The Lucas Bros Moving Co - and did their first Netflix special last year. Twins win.

Actually, taking another look at that Betway list, just above the twins stat it suggests that having a ginger-haired baby is 35 to one. Which begs the question: those identical ginger Phelps brothers who played Harry Potter's Weasley twins - did they even need to bother auditioning? And if so: was there a whole waiting room full of ginger twins? The mind boggles.