Quote: sootyj @ December 7 2010, 6:36 PM GMTManning and Brown represent a very specific niche
Which very specific niche would that be?
Right... Page 2
A rather dank and unpleasant one in a dark corner.
Certainly there's a lot more freedom in terms of language and taboo subject matter. I'll let you decide whether that's a good or bad thing...
Quote: zooo @ December 7 2010, 7:42 PM GMTA rather dank and unpleasant one in a dark corner.
Where does your knowledge of Manning and Brown come from Zooo?
From stories you've been told?
Or have you seen them perform?
I don't think Alien's dissertation should contain 'hearsay' criticisms, do you?
Okay.
My own view is that Manning's act and Brown's cannot reasonably be compared to one another in terms of offensiveness.
As far as I know (and I know pretty far on this subject), Bernard never told a joke publicly that the average man at the time wouldn't happily tell his work colleagues.
Chubby Brown, on the other hand, regularly tells jokes that would make a pig vomit - jokes that I wouldn't (even with a gun to my head) tell my best friends, never mind work colleagues.
You simply cannot put the two comedians in the same category, unless of course that category is 'comedians despised by hordes of people who never saw them perform'.
Jimmy Car churns out pretty offensive jokes. I have no knowledge of Chubby Brown (other than a documentary I saw which painted a rather sad picture of him). Manning was on Telly when I was younger and he was to my mind pretty awful even then. The problem of "good" as a term of quality is so subjective. There seems to be more comedy now with the proliferation of digital channels hungry for something to separate the commercials. There seems now to be a bigger circle of comedians who are endlessly used on panel shows. But "good"? What is good? Is it a term of virtue? Then that's Frankie Boyle out, Carr out, etc....
Quote: sidecar jon @ December 7 2010, 8:55 PM GMTJimmy Car churns out pretty offensive jokes.
Bernard's attitude was 'No reasonable person will be offended by this.'
Chubby's attitude is 'All reasonable people will be offended by this but reasonable people don't come to my shows or buy my DVDs.'
Jimmy's attitude is 'Many reasonable people will be offended by this and such people do come to my shows but they f**king LOVE it.'
Quote: sootyj @ December 7 2010, 6:36 PM GMTNo that is absolutely true. Manning and Brown represent a very specific niche and both are supremely accomplished comics, but desperately shallow. Gag after gag that goes no where isn't much of an acheivment.
As long as it makes the target audience laugh, or a reasonably proportion of them, then that's an achievement and the comic has done their job.
To the original poster:
Perhaps you need to narrow your question a little. This is a massive topic that I'm not entirely sure from your responses that you've fully pinned down yourself yet. The main question you need to ask yourself is about how you're quantifying that quality of 'best'. Perhaps the business of comedy - that is, the financial rewards - is the most dispassionate, objective measure, but then with the proliferation of mass media (e.g. TV) since the 1960s, and indeed of multiple outlets (e.g. many channels on Sky et al eating audience share), even that side of things gets incredibly tricky to pin down.
However you choose to approach the subject, this (inexhaustive, but fairly comprehensive and indicative at any rate) list may be of help to you: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/year/
I agree with Aaron, your brief is too wide.
You might not know that the streets used to clear when Hancock's Half Hour was on the wireless (radio) in the 1950s. Really.
How would that ever happen today? So many channels, so much third rate stuff being thrown at us.
I was born in 1946 and therefore I definitively know that the 60s were the best decade since the war. You may think the 90s/00s were.
Things like this are so subjective and depend on one's personal experiences.
I happen to think that Michael McIntyre is not in the same class as Max Miller, in fact, he wouldn't even get into the same school!
\../
Quote: British Alien @ December 7 2010, 12:25 PM GMTIn particular, the Extended Project where one has to write a dissertation looking in to whatever subject one likes. My question is this: Is British Comedy today the best it has ever been?'
Forgive me, British Alien, but my reading of your original post is that YOU have chosen your own question. As others have suggested, your question is almost certainly too difficult to answer. If you really can choose your subject, you would be better off with a question that is defined more rigidly.
PS I am not sure, but shouldn't the thread title be "Wright....."? I get confused.
Just a thought, prompted by what Badge said, why not really narrow it down to comparing, say, Till Death Us Do Part with The Royle Family and how each reflected their take on the society they existed in?
Or am I getting, like, heavy Man?
Right, (i should stop starting sentences like that) my answers. Indeed, I did choose the topic myself, classic comedy being one of my passions. However, my question was chosen for me by the project guide who said all my other questions were too broad. If I'm honest, the whole point of me choosing this topic and reluctantly going along with the question is because:
a) as I have mentioned before classic comedy is one of my main loves
and
b) because now we have until April 1st to do it.
Which seems like ages from now, and indeed it is. But the amount of things one has to do for this project is of university equivalent (this is an a-level student typing). And I just thought it would be easier to pin down a question. Now, after hearing all your opinions and comments on the fact that it is too broad a subject, and although I did point this out when given the question, I need to shorten its horizons. I still would like to give a relative history of comedy in Britain (no matter how dense and narrow-minded it may seem) but I cannot come up with a question which has a solid yes or no answer and that I can argue for both sides. (even though for the current question I believe that the answer is a no)
Now, this will sound like I'm imploring for your help, but are there any ways that this question could be trimmed and made possibly more copable than it already is?
Sorry for not being clear at the beginning and thank you. x
P.S: Oldrocker, when you said about Tony Hancock's shows clearing the streets,that's why I love this type of classic. That could never happen now and indeed that comment made me smile 
xxx
Could you perhaps compare the influence and reach of comedy between now and then?
Alien,
Don't spend too much time on this project.
You're doing an A-level in the 21st Century.
Spell your name right and you've got a 'B'.
Write at least one paragraph in what is recognisably English and you've got an 'A'.