catskillz
Friday 13th April 2012 5:37pm [Edited]
Merseyside
3,395 posts
I remember Davies putting Liverpool into Room 101. He said his reason for doing it was the fact that Scousers were always going on about how great their sense of humour was. I'll admit, I did hear a lot of Scousers going on about that back in the '80s, but I think that was partly because there were so many TV shows, and even films, set in the city back then. Loads of writers from the city seemed to find success at around the same time. Also, a lot of comedians hate coming here to do shows, because the audiences have a reputation of shouting things out, and trying to be funnier than they are. This must be particularly annoying for mediocre comedians like Davies.
Another thing I remember about his Room 101 appearance, was that he said no funny people had ever come from the city. I actually jotted down a huge list of people at the time, proving him totally wrong. I might try and find it later, because I think I've still got it somewhere.
Off the top of my head, I can think of:
Arthur Askey
Ken Dodd
Alexei Sayle
Peter Serefinowicz
Leonard Rossiter
Eddie Braben (Morcambe and Wise's writer, who wrote the Andre Previn sketch, amongst other things)
Kenny Everett (went to school with my mum)
Craig Charles
Tom Baker (he was funny on Little Britain, and in Dr. Who)
Mitch Benn (probably the country's funniest musical comedian, most famous for The Now Show)
John Culshaw and Jan Ravens (from Dead Ringers)
Kate Robins (provided many voices on Spitting Image and Eurotrash for years)
Paul O'Grady (Lily Savage was funny back in the '90s)
Frank Cotterell-Boyce (my neighbour who wrote films A Cock and Bull Story and 24-Hour Party People)
Neil Fitzmaurice (co-wrote Phoenix Nights, and played the character Ray Von. He also plays Geoff in Peep Show)
Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances)
Bloke who played Richard in Keeping Up Appearances, and was most recently in The Old Guys
Roger McGough (funny poet who used to be in The Scaffold)