On Your Marx!

Because I write comedy for a living, I'm often asked who my favourite comedians are. There are certain comedians who I find funny now such as Lee Mack, and Sean Locke. You can't mention comedy without naming Billy Connolly, who is a comedy genius.

You see that is another problem, the title 'genius' is banded about and given to lots of people who don't deserve it. Spike Milligan is often given this label, and to some extent he was, but he was just mad and said whatever came into his head, even though some of it was excruciatingly embarrassing, yet some of it was funny. People don't realise that Eric Sykes wrote quite a lot of the Goons material but never received the credit for it. Tommy Cooper wasn't funny, neither was Bruce Forsythe and all the other music hall comedians that only had ten minutes' worth of material that they used for all their careers. Honest, they did the same act, that's why most of them wouldn't go on TV, because everyone would see their act and they would be ruined.

I know that this is neither political or correct but Benny Hill was funny! He was sexist and racist, but everyone was back then. I'm not justifying either racism or sexism, but Benny thought out his gags and they weren't as blatant as people think they were, most were quite clever. The problem is that the PC brigade show his most dodgy stuff over and over. Read Spike Milligan's war memoirs if you really want to see racism used in comedy, but he is part of the institution. Another comedian of that time who was a comedy genius was Dave Allen; his stuff still stands the test of time and is still funny. He was an Irish comedian who didn't tell Irish jokes but laid into the Catholic church, this at a time when it was unheard of, to mock religion.

It's hard now for people to appreciate the pioneers of comedy such as Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, who I have to say I didn't ever find funny. Keaton was a deadpan comic and very funny whereas Chaplin seemed to repeat the same gag in each movie. Laurel and Hardy were geniuses, well at least Stan Laurel was. Stan was also British, coming from Ulverston in Cumbria. He wrote nearly all their material, but it wouldn't have worked without Oliver Hardy. Hardy, by the way, was related to Lord Nelson's Hardy - you know, the one to whom Nelson uttered the famous line, “Kiss Me Hardy”? There was also a double act that most people have forgotten from the forties called Abbott and Costello. When I was a kid I used to watch reruns of their movies and I have to say that if they were cartoons they would have been the Warner Brothers to Laurel and Hardy's Disney. They were quite cutting edge at the time and very funny. You may have heard the sketch, 'Who's on first base?' That was their most famous sketch.

But for me, the true comedy genius was Groucho Marx. I know he was famous for chasing very young women, and his older brother Chico was an ardent gambler and frequently lost all his money, forcing his brothers to make films they didn't want to make just to pay off his debts. Harpo, the manic one on screen, was a quiet, studious family man off screen. I have the complete collection of all their films, and as with all works of art, you see something different every time you watch them. Groucho is so fast with the quips that you miss most of them first time round. I have to say, though, that most of the films don't stand the test of time. But Groucho went on to make a living on TV in America with a show called 'You Bet Your Life'. Look it up on Youtube  - it is still as funny today as it was back then. Look out for the 'Gonzalez, Gonzalez' episode. Most of the out-takes were as funny as the late night comedy shows that are aired today.

Groucho was a genius of comedy, who knew how to work an audience. Most of his comedy came from his deep insecurity about life. He was famously prudent with money and had a deep fear of being left penniless. While away on holiday this year one of the books that I read was his autobiography, which he wrote in 1959. Someone bought me this book years ago and I just never got round to reading it. I have to say it was an eye-opener to how tough it was for the brothers, who all could look after themselves. They came from a rough neighbourhood and often carried weapons, if you owed them money they didn't send in the bailiffs they turned up, tooled-up, and always left with what they were owed. Having said all this the book was very funny, and a very enjoyable read about a true comedy genius!