Comedy: Under the influence…

Playing follow the leader – whether the leader wants to play or not

Over the years many comedians have become the ready go-to names when citing who your comedy influences are. There are trends that emerge.
For instance, at one point you couldn’t throw a mic stand in a comedy club without someone saying they wanted to be the next Bill Hicks.
And there are tribes that settle too, such as those that set out to emulate the sharp whimsy of Daniel Kitson and Josie Long. Others strive for greater conflict as they describe their favourite razor-sharp wits as Frankie Boyle and Jerry Sadowitz (Scottishness having no known influence on how prepared you are to skirt close to the bone in the pursuit of a punchline notwithstanding).

Who it is you are prepared to affiliate yourself with, humour-wise, says a lot about you from the off. It’s no surprise that a number of newer comedians, still trying to leave an impression on bookers, will include quotes about themselves describing ‘the next generation’s Eddie Izzard’ or ‘the twenty-first century’s Richard Pryor’ in a hopeful bid for a slot on the bill. It’s stating your team for the record and who your chosen leader is. Whether your leader chooses to lead is irrelevant. Which is how we find Stewart Lee, the current crop’s laissez-faire idol, so louch he even writes saying he doesn’t want to go to awards ceremonies anymore, whilst never contemplating any possibility that he might never be invited again.

It is, in fact, the men and women that walk their own paths, that have their own voices that are completely unlike anybody else’s that have the most followers. Case in point is this week’s visitor to the Brighton Dome’s Concert Hall, Reginald D Hunter. Hunter is both outsider and insider as he pokes fun at British and American society, he is prepared to say not just the ‘cheeky’ thing but also what might be considered the ‘wrong’ thing in his pursuit to make us laugh and think. Which is what we want our influential comedians to do. What they want us to do is find our own paths. Stop being a follower, and maybe make them laugh at something that had never occurred to their much revered noggins.

Reginald D Hunter – The Man Who Attempted To Do As Much As Such, Concert Hall, Brighton Dome, Sunday 28 June, £25/23, 01273 709709, brightondome.org