British Comedy Guide

Why is Michael McIntyre so popular? Page 11

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 26 2012, 12:46 PM BST

Yep, I have a definitive view of the typical McIntyre fan. A lower middle class office worker stuck in a boring and repetitive middle management career who commutes by train from his suburban home.

The kind of person who rushes home on a Friday night instead of going out for a drink with colleagues on the off chance that the wife will be in the mood tonight, but she never is, so he ends up having a secretive toilet wank over the work experience girl on the second floor.

Someone who likes routine, familiarity and being part of the crowd. Someone who's opinion is given to them and any dissention is frowned upon. Someone who truly believes that conformity equals happiness and just bumps along in life waiting for retirement and eventual death.

I think you read far too much into what people like.

Quote: Nogget @ June 26 2012, 12:58 PM BST

That's ridiculous stereotyping. There are people from all walks of life dumb enough to like McIntyre.

Laughing out loud

Quote: Matthew Stott @ June 26 2012, 1:01 PM BST

Seems to me that if more and more people did those things, that would be a positive, don't you think?

Not really. Most of the stuff you put out for recycling ends up in a landfill and riding a bike to work doesn't measurably reduce the amount of air pollution. Even if Britain became the greenest country ever, the rate of industrialisation in China, Brazil, India, etc., means all of our efforts are useless and pointless.

Quote: chipolata @ June 26 2012, 1:11 PM BST

I think you read far too much into what people like.

I'm sure if you went to see Michael McIntyre at the O2 Arena and questioned all of the audience members about their current lifestyles, I think my description of a 'typical' fan would be more than validated.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 26 2012, 1:32 PM BST

*all of our efforts are useless and pointless.

So basically everyone should just give up and wait for the end times? I'd rather people at least had a go, myself; it's nicer!

Quote: Matthew Stott @ June 26 2012, 1:34 PM BST

So basically everyone should just give up and wait for the end times? I'd rather people at least had a go, myself; it's nicer!

Yes do something pointless today! As long as you think you are doing something about it, then that's a reward in itself. Luckily, there are several like minds out there also doing pointlessly useless things as well, you could meet up with them and form a pressure group to force the Government to build more cycle lanes.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 26 2012, 1:38 PM BST

Yes do something pointless today! As long as you think you are doing something about it, then that's a reward in itself. Luckily, there are several like minds out there also doing pointlessly useless things as well, you could meet up with them and form a pressure group to force the Government to build more cycle lanes.

Well, I'm sure you're right.

He's popular because people find him funny... that's it.

Not everyone fantasises about being spit roasted by Stewart Lee and Frankie Boyle while being told " You're a bad boy but so clever and we want you to be in our gang"

Quote: rwayne @ June 26 2012, 1:44 PM BST

Not everyone fantasises about being spit roasted by Stewart Lee and Frankie Boyle while being told " You're a bad boy but so clever and we want you to be in our gang"

I have a weird boner right now.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 26 2012, 1:51 PM BST

I have a weird boner right now.

That's not weird. It's not necessarily a sexuality thing. It may be just subverting the notions of sexuality in an edgy and contraversial way... and if people don't get that they are thick and not as good as you.

(Good as you... see what I did there?)

I would join in but RC is doing a splendid job on his own !

Suffice to say that on Saturday the masses will be out in Wolverhampton because the Olympic flame is due and it's Armed Forces Day which means I can happily ignore two of my most disliked things on the same day.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 26 2012, 12:18 PM BST

Nice use of the misdirected rage and profanities in your post JD2.

Soz, that was 2am end of a long tedious bar shift dealing with opinionated barflys who excel in slurred bro-science on all subjects.

I gave you shit and you were pretty cool with it which is a good attitude.

I don't love to watch McIntyre's act, but I feel uneasy passing judgement because he's a TV personality/entertainer.. it's like when Led Zeppelin fans start ripping into Justin Bieber, or me wondering why coronation street comes on 3 or 4 times a week instead of every season of Sopranos played on endless loop - it's not about, making sense, or atistic endeaver, it's TV, and broadcast guidlines, and in-house agenda, public image, 18 volumes of ofcom regulations etc etc.. If you were booking a swing band for an ruby wedding on a cruise liner you wouldn't instantly think 'Guns N'Roses!', people have their own demograph, projection or intended audience.

so that said.. it feels like taking snobbery potshots because people who like clean comedy don't rip into people who know the score, they're not making a statement of intent, they just enjoy McIntyre's worldview enough to buy his merch and pack his shows, because hes the guy off the TV and the ubiquity of the fella means it's more of a "show", a mainstream comedy event, than some spit and sawdust condemned comedy hut on a free-entry open-mic night.

Its cold to hate someone just for being nice and doing what his father before him did. I personally couldn't name a comedian except Dylan Moran the uk has ever produced that's worthy of hall of fame status, or icon all that stuff. To be honest this message board is very restrained and polite to the point in the grand scheme of internet debate it's the Michael McItyre of worldwide message boards that discuss comedy and comedians. Which is not at all bad, it just is what it is.

Insulting an artist because their hair is conditioned, is as lame and tame as any mainstream comedian observation/pun, that's why it seems an odd thing to waste words on.

What about Benny Hill?

Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Bob Monkhouse, Jasper Carrott, Dylan Moran, Frankie Boyle (Scottish granted) etc are all amazingly funny and will be remembered through out the ages.

There is a tendency to be overly praising of the "controversial" sweary loud mouth.

Not all comedy has to be loud, crude or even political. Some times nice well constructed stories and gags are the bollocks.

I mean Jasper Carrott always makes me laugh. He's an incredibly skilled story teller with equisite timing and fantastic jokes.

Where as every time I've watched Bill Hicks, I've thought meh. About the same as I think about Michael McIntyre.

Except Michael McIntyre does his stuff whilst being nice and family friendly.

So for my money Michael McIntyre is superior to Bill Hicks.

Quote: JackDaniels2 @ June 26 2012, 3:42 PM BST

Soz, that was 2am end of a long tedious bar shift dealing with opinionated barflys who excel in slurred bro-science on all subjects.

No worries JD2, nothing personal taken.

I 'hate' on McIntyre here because it is one of the few places that people 'get it'. If I were to go on Facebook and have a rant, then I'd get a thousand replies - mostly from women - along the lines of 'why are you being so mean to the nice comedian?', 'my Nan likes him' or 'he's really funny and makes me laugh'.

The problem is, he's not really that funny and people don't actually laugh, they sit there in bemused silence most of the time smiling at the floppy haired man. Call me a snob, but I expect more from a comedian who appears on television almost constantly.

Everyone keeps bringing up Stewart Lee as the anti-thesis of McIntyre, but I don't think he is. Both comedians do basically the same job, stand in front of people and tell jokes.

Where Stewart Lee shines for me, is that I can actually remember his jokes and routines, they are memorable and even if some of them don't make me laugh, I 'get it'. It isn't so much that the material is edgier, but it's original and thought provoking.

And yes, I'd rather hear Frankie Boyle going on about Princess Diana's death than Michael McIntyre telling me that his wife gets annoyed when he is forgetful or whatever his routine is these days.

Much like music, it's usual to have a wide range of tastes and to dip in and out of preferences, go through phases, and chop and change depending on mood, company whatever, the same goes for comedy. Along the lines of what JD2 mentioned, with the internet it's possible to look up acts from years ago, from abroad, new acts etc and keep adding more comedians to your list.....to dislike a comedian is one thing if he/she's not your cup of tea, but to blithely dump a psychological profile on a whole MM audience is ludicrous.
As a side note I have sent my broken MM DVD back and await a replacement..next on order after that is hopefully Jackie Mason and then Dave Allen and then maybe Frankie Boyle...I also recycle, like Coldplay but can't afford M&S ready meals ;)

Also, time spent moaning about comedians you don't like is time wasted you could of spent searching for new comedians you might enjoy.

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