Comedy: an opiate for the masses
Two big things in my life are music and comedy. During the long Covid-19 lockdown, I cited a different song each day that has meant something to me over my lifetime. In 2022/203 I did something similar with comedy sketches; again searching Youtube for videos I have particularly enjoyed over the many years I have watched the output of talented comedians who often critique the dark realities such as government corruption through the medium of laughter.
However, please note that comedy is a tricky thing and what can be funny for one person can be insulting to another. I personally do not find strong language offensive when it is used for comedic effect so I may from time to time cite sketches that contain strong language. When I do this I shall warn the reader so they can skip over these sketches if they are offended by strong language.
At the bottom of this page, you will find a Youtube video which contains the comedy sketches in the order I have cited them on this website that you can play for your enjoyment.
List Sketches by: Comedians
Sketches categorised by Weeks
A random set of seven sketches from the Comedy collection (Month 1: 1st April 2022 — Week 53: 31st March 2023)
Week 8: 40 – 45 Years, Harry Enfield (Month 2)
Another funny sketch from Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. In this series part of the charm of this humour was simply capturing the odd characteristics of certain iconic characters that exist in every generation in this strange world we all find ourselves in. The ultra posh private Harley Street specialist routine is just so funny as in high powered medicine you do end up getting some characters, especially at the top echelons of the profession.
Week 17: Who does one think one is, Harry Enfield (Month 4)
This is quite a funny sketch with Harry Enfield playing the Queen. Not much to say on this one. Best just to watch and enjoy it. I wonder if the real queen would find this little sketch funny?
Week 29: The Room Next Door – Liz Truss and the Big Pie, Michael Spicer (Month 7)
Last week I cited a Mash report sketch which contained an appearance from Michael Spicer who has his own Youtube series called the Room Next Door. The premise of this comedy is he is pretending to be a hidden media advisor speaking into the earpiece of hapless politicians to help them get through their interviews. Probably one of the most hapless politician of all time is the former Prime Minister of the UK whose tenure lasted all of 45 days after she managed to crash UK Sterling and the economy. In this sketch, Spicer is trying to navigate Truss through an interview with Laura Kuenssberg which of course, as with all Truss interviews, did not go at all well even though she did try to throw her Chancellor under the bus ("it was all Qwasi's fault!").
Week 40: The Private Eye The Year In Review 2022 (Month 9)
Private Eye Annual is a compilation of funny satirical pieces that were release in Private Eye magazine during the previous year. |
So one of my Christmas treats is reading the Private Eye annual which my lovely wife Helen purchases for me every Christmas. As the tag line to my comedy page states, I fully believe now that the comedians role is partly to provide a painkiller for the frustrating banal evil that infects the leadership of many nations. Sadly Britain has been subject to worse forms of this sickness in 2022 so it is soothing to see individuals like Johnson, Farage, Truss, Mogg and Patel subject to the only earthly justice that is available to us for all the problems their poor leadership has caused and that is some humour at their expense.
In a strange way the politicians whose subjugation to wealthy special interest groups and billionaire media moguls, should be thankful for the English tradition of taking the mick because I often wonder if their excellent work has protected these individual from societal anger which in other nations results in sometimes violent insurrection. Perhaps this is the answer to the mystery of why the Brits continue to tolerate a class system that was more at home in the dark ages than in the 21st century.
Week 42: Information, Armstrong and Millar (Month 10)
This compilation of sketches parodies certain modern work environments where everyone competes for patronage from the alpha male that occupies some senior position in their company. As with so many workplaces, there is always the poor Declan who never can find a path into the in crowd no matter what juicy information titbit he brings his boss.
Armstrong and Miller in their comedy series often ran the same sketches for several weeks in a row developing the theme each time as this compilation demonstrates. However, this series of sketches has quite an amusing punchline to it which is the subject of next week's comedy post
Week 47: Northerner terrifies Londoners by saying “Hello”, The Mash Report (Month 11)
Time for another Mash Report sketch. This one is having a dig at Londoners in terms of their unfriendliness. The final line in the sketch however equalises the diss by having a laugh at Northerners who are subject to "Headbutting when cornered".
Week 53 – The final Sketch: Head to head discussion of the Beatles, Alas Smith and Jones (Month 12)
When I started this comedy list I decided I would work on the project for exactly one year. As such this is the final posting for my comedy section. I thought this sketch was worth leaving to the end as it is a very funny take on one of the greatest bands of all time: The Beatles. Obviously the Beatles feature heavily in my Covid Island Discs collection so this sketch seems an appropriate one to bridge the my two collections of comedy and music. Hope these collections bring as much joy to you as they do to me.
Year 2023: Occasional Post
RIP Matthew Perry (1969 - 2023)
RIP Barry Humphreys (1934 - 2023)
Month 12: March 2023
Week 53 - The final Sketch: Head to head discussion of the Beatles, Alas Smith and Jones
Week 52: Aeroplanes, Dave Allen
Week 51: Tunnel Contractor, Alas Smith and Jones
Week 50: Moments of Wonder: Computers, Philomena Cunk
Week 49: Happy Couples, Armstrong and Miller
Month 10: January 2023
Week 44: The work outing Part 2, The IT Crowd
Week 43: Striding Man - Fired, Armstrong & Miller
Week 42: Information, Armstrong and Millar
Week 41: Morecambe and Wise Christmas show 1978
Month 8: November 2022
Week 35: Boys are always more popular when they are murdered, Diane Morgan
Week 34: Dating a Republican, Garfunkel & Oates
Week 33: Cabinet Ministers Charity Appeal, Larry & Paul
Week 32: Braverman Shanty, The Marsh Family
Month 6: September 2022
Week 27: Mr Bean goes to the Dentist
Week 26 Butler of the Year, Morecambe & Wise
Week 25: Dr Death, The Two Ronnies
Week 24: Small Talk, The Two Ronnies
Week 23: Work outing part I, The IT Crowd
Month 11: February 2023
Week 48: Flight Announcement, Saturday Night Live
Week 47: Northerner terrifies Londoners by saying "Hello", The Mash Report
Week 46: Enlightenment - The little flowers, Armstrong and Miller
Week 45: Silly Money - Investment Bankers, Bird & Fortune
Month 9: December 2022
Week 40: The Private Eye The Year In Review 2022
Week 39: Blackadder The Third's Cunning Compilation, Blackadder
Week 38: Going around for a birthday tea, Peter Kay
Week 37: The Guys Who Wrote Frosty The Snowman, Ryan George
Week 36: Karaoke, Peter Kay
Month 7: October 2022
Week 31: Liv Truss Final Speech as Prime Minister, Nerine Skinner
Week 30: The Market are Spooked!, Matt Green
Week 29: The Room Next Door - Liz Truss and the Big Pie, Michael Spicer
Week 28: Why everyone on Strictly sleeps together, The Mash Report
Month 5: August 2022
Week 22: Honest Government ad PG Version
Week 21: Liv Struss Campaign Video, Nerine Skinner Comedy
Week 20: The Scammer Broke his phone after losing $2,000, Kitboger
Week 19: Hacker Lies In PMQs, Yes Prime Minister
The videos below will play all the Youtube videos in the order they were added. If you click on the button in the top right corner of the video below, it will bring up the full play list of videos and you can scroll down to select whichever one you want to play. Enjoy!