Top 5 stand-ups/surreal comedy Page 2

Quote: Tynan @ May 26 2012, 9:41 PM BST

Ok it's very simple. I'm looking for a new surreal stand-up comedian. I feel as if I'm only scratching the surface.

My top five of all time would have to be as follows

1. Eddie Izzard
2. Ross Noble
3. Dylan Moran
4. Russell Howard
5. Ed Byrne/Tim Minchin (Sophie's choice between the two of them and would be wrong to pick between the two of them)

You may notice Billy Connolly being left out and that's because I'm more of a Frank Skinner guy but I respect Billy and see him as an excellent preformer.

Anyway would love to hear your thoughts on this and would like any recommendations you may have.

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Tony Law is one of the most respected stand ups on the circuit. Nominated for a fringe award in 2012. Fantastic act.

Personally, I wouldn't put Russell Howard, Dylan or Ed in a 'surreal' catagory.

No mentions of either Jim Gaffigan or Bill Bailey (I feel like the QI hooter should sound)

Not so keen on these new fandango stand ups other than Tim vine and Lee Evans,so I am going to say.

Bill Hicks.

Billy Connolly.

Bernard manning.

Today's Comedians are brought to you by the letter,B.

Quote: ChadSchofield @ February 19 2013, 11:08 PM GMT

No mentions of either Jim Gaffigan or Bill Bailey (I feel like the QI hooter should sound)

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I feel exactly the same when I mention the first name that came to mind when I saw this thread:

Harry Hill.

Or has all that TV Burping made people forget about his stand up?

His DVDs First Class Scamp and Hooves are out and out brilliant.

Oh yeah.

And Surreal.

No mention of Steven Wright or the one-liners of Sid Waddell? Okay, Steven Wright isn't English.

Steven Wright and Peter Cook (not strictly stand-up but he stood up and "did" surreal comedy)

Tony Law is great with surreal, daft stuff. Just brings out some proper giggles.

Some of these comedians don't even come close to the surreal. How is John Bishop surreal? Or is talking about your wife and kids considered zany these days?

i wonder if any of you guys would know who I'm talking about. I remember seeing a possibly british comedian on david letterman. this was probably around 2003ish. he had this really bizarre set where he would mime petting an animal at different heights and varying speeds. he kept repeating a phrase while he did it, something describing what he was doing. I don't think there was much more to it than that. would anyone have a clue of a comedian doing something like this around that time frame?

Quote: geordash @ August 21 2013, 8:15 AM BST

i wonder if any of you guys would know who I'm talking about. I remember seeing a possibly british comedian on david letterman. this was probably around 2003ish. he had this really bizarre set where he would mime petting an animal at different heights and varying speeds. he kept repeating a phrase while he did it, something describing what he was doing. I don't think there was much more to it than that. would anyone have a clue of a comedian doing something like this around that time frame?

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That sounds like Ross Noble to me.

Not many of these are surreal. I've never seen him live, but Milton Jones is nice and silly. Bill Bailey and Ross Noble are less worth it now that their audiences are huge (the atmosphere can be a bit bleh...and they're both a little less funny nowadays anyway...). But watch their earlier DVDs. Part Troll by Bailey and Unrealtime + sonic waffle by Noble.

No one has mentioned Simon Munnery. If you haven't seen him before or seen any of his stuff on DVD then go see. It's VERY silly, though. Unfortunatley, once you've seen him you've seen him, though. He tends to recycle jokes. Or has when I've seen him.

My top 5:
Peter Kay
Michael Mcintyre
Ricky Gervais
Alan Carr
Micky Flanagan

A lot of what you might consider mainstream stand ups have bits of surrealism in their acts. A lot of comedy is reducing fairly normal things to their most absurd or surreal conclusion.

Dara O'Briain's routine on video games and going inside the world of Snake from Metal Gear Solid for example.

Sometimes, being "wacky" and "surreal" overtakes the focus on being funny IMO, which is why I'm happy to watch someone like Ross Noble on HIGNFY or QI where he's fairly constrained rather than his own stand-up stuff where he can indulge his whimsy. See also Johnny Vegas.

Quote: geordash @ August 21 2013, 8:15 AM BST

i wonder if any of you guys would know who I'm talking about. I remember seeing a possibly british comedian on david letterman. this was probably around 2003ish. he had this really bizarre set where he would mime petting an animal at different heights and varying speeds. he kept repeating a phrase while he did it, something describing what he was doing. I don't think there was much more to it than that. would anyone have a clue of a comedian doing something like this around that time frame?

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Can you remember anything about how he looked?

uhh, seriously?

has nobody mentioned steve martin? the guy practically invented it, or at least popularized the f**king shit out of it...

"is it wrong to yell "movie," in a crowded firehouse?"

or norm macdonald, anthony jeselnik?

none of these guys are completely about the surrealism, but they really do non-sequitur the shit out of it

i would also consider tom waits, I know he doesn't market himself as a comedian, but a lot of his stories are quite surrealist and funny.

and even though lots of people hated him...

andy kaufman, he wasn't strictly about the impersonations

Quote: Tim Azure @ February 27 2013, 11:04 AM GMT

Steven Wright isn't English.

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and yet we continue to exist

Noel Fielding, Milton Jones, Jim Gaffigan (maybe).. And if you're into weird musical comedy, check out a guy called Beardyman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqh7eDQw9zg