Saw Doddy A few weeks ago at Blackpool. He came on stage @ 7 and the staff kept showing him a big clock from 11pm onwards to get him to finish, which he did at just gone midnight. He had a couple of support acts with him but he still did over 3 hours himself, in his slippers



He forgot his punchlines once or twice but it made the act even funnier and he still has great singing voice. His routine with Dicky Mint still cracks me up even though its over 20 years since I saw it the first time. Bloke is a comedy legend.

Best joke of the night:

How do you get a fat girl into bed?

A: Piece of cake

Joke from Bill Bailey's latest tour..

Mnemonics.... I can never remember how to spell that

He could afford to be, he didn't pay tax, unless of course the communists came and nicked it from him as he feared.

I wasn't actually meaning financially generous.

Good one.



What? You were being serious? Er, well let me just gently point out that he IS bloody funny, as another 15 years of continuing sellout audiences testify.

It's just you.

He is the self-proclaimed "International Playboy and failed Accountant"

One of the funniest men I've ever seen was Les Dawson.

I couldn't tell you what I think is his funniest joke, but here's a couple:

"I’ve got a friend who's a lion tamer. He used to be a school teacher, until he lost his nerve."

"The people next door are awful. At three o’clock this morning they were banging on the walls and screaming. Good job I wasn’t trying to sleep — I was playing my drums at the time."

"My wife sent her photograph to the lonely hearts club. They sent it back, said they weren’t that lonely."

"The mother-in-law is so ugly, when she goes on holiday, the mosquitoes draw lots to see who is going to bite her"

That one is a classic, and terribly sexist too




And now I thought I'd be clever and Google some old Les Dawson jokes, but I found this instead...

There was an old farmer from Greece
Who did terrible things to his geese
But he went too far with a budgerigar
And the parrot phoned the police

Another one was, "I always knew when the mother in law was coming round, the mice threw themselves on the traps."

Oh, thank you. I've nearly snorted Aussie Red over my keyboard (quality).

Doddy for me, every time.
No one particular joke stood out for me (I've seen him twice), just the RELENTLESS stream of fantastic gags.

The world will be a sadder place when Doddy goes "upstairs". The word genius is overused, these days. On Doddy, it doesn't do him duty.

Not stand up but...

Basil Fawlty: Manuel put it on those trays.
Manuel: No no Mr Fawlty. Unos, dos, tres.


or

Father Ted: Right, one more time. These are small, but the ones out there are far away.... Small.... Far away.


As for Spike Milligan, his imagination and creativity in comedy was ahead of his time. Listen to old Goons recordings. Not everyone's cup of tea. A lot of funny people have credited him as being their inspiration. Then again if you watch the programme Curry & Chips you can see how he fell out of the mainstream