Big Laughs: The Skinny's Comedy Picks of 2024
The Skinny's Comedy Team give us the lowdown on their favourite funny moments of the year
The final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm saw Larry David on trial after committing an uncharacteristically heroic – albeit illegal – act. Yet, it was the ensemble’s standout moments, especially those with J.B. Smoove, Susie Essman and the late Richard Lewis, that made Season 11 truly memorable.
On the stand-up front, I caught Larry Dean’s Dodger at Monkey Barrel in October – a charming, time-hopping show that explored his relationship with his Nan. Even with a story this moving, it’s Dean’s playfulness and sheer number of jokes that would have made his Nan proud. [Ben Venables]
If you’re a regular user of TikTok, you’ll no doubt have come across Brian Jordan Alvarez on your For You page. As he gyrates sensually to a sound bite from Gilmore Girls mixed with Olly Alexander’s cover of Breathe, it’s hard to look away. It makes no sense and yet it may just be the most effective indirect marketing campaign of the year. Ratings for his new show English Teacher have skyrocketed since the dancing began and for good reason – it's a lighthearted, feel-good sitcom about a gay teacher in Texas, trying desperately to make a difference to his kids. The writing is witty and endearing in its tackling of contentious political and social debates, as Alvarez’s Evan Marquez faces gun-toting conservatives, book banning parents and chronically online teenagers.
When Ramy Youssef released his latest special More Feelings, Trump being back in the White House seemed highly unlikely. But months later, here we are and the sentiment expressed in More Feelings is all the more pertinent. Youssef interrogates his position as a Muslim in Hollywood, talking openly about his support for Palestine and frustration at the overwhelming apathy from Americans who refuse to engage with the reality in Gaza. More Feelings is bold in its jokes on Muslim representation and stereotypes, but Youssef’s tender delivery ensures it never veers towards the unnecessarily inflammatory. Instead, it’s a show that asks us to consider empathy even when we’re divided, and to maybe even feel hopeful for the future of humanity. [Arusa Qureshi]
I loved Camille Bordas's new novel, The Material – insightful on the nature of comedy and the newly elevated role of comedians – 'the artists that the public turn to for enlightenment, for comfort and understanding' – and a really enjoyable read.
Jordan Brookes' Fontanelle was the standout show for me at the Fringe – a beautifully complex creation (the image of a chandelier kept coming to mind in thinking about it afterwards, but that might also have been the Titanic vibes). Sh!t Theatre's Or What’s Left Of Us was also a knockout – funny, yes, and also sad and angry, and very beautiful.
And on TV, season two of deadpan romcom Colin From Accounts, was a joy – the leads, played by real life couple, Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, are sensational, but it's a real ensemble piece and the rest of the cast are excellent too. [Emma Sullivan]
If you missed the show that won Lara Ricote the Best Newcomer Award at 2022's Fringe, GRL/LATNX/DEF is now available for free on YouTube. Lara's a bold new voice in comedy, and not just because she sounds like Bart Simpson on 1.5x speed (her words, not mine). Watch until the end for the most committed and out-there bit of musical comedy in a long while. [Louis Cammell]
It's hard to pick highlights from live comedy this year – but Sam Lake's impression of Penelope Cruz in a plane was peak Fringe for me. A bit further afield, I saw Caitriona Dowden doing some new material at the Women In Comedy Festival which was brilliant – equal parts stupid and completely idiosyncratic.
When David Sedaris came to the Usher Hall in July he told a story about meeting the Pope and was predictably weird and funny in equal measure. The highlight, however, was his outfit – a full-length priest's cassock and a hideous pair of shoes that I'm completely obsessed with (Google ‘comme des garcons shoe double toe’).
And last but not least, I know this is a fairly well-trodden meme format, but the best iteration of it, and the thing that's made me laugh the hardest recently, was setting the intro to Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl by Chappell Roan to the McLovin scene from Superbad. [Laurie Presswood]
Although Phil Ellis’ Come On And Take The Rest Of Me was my overall favourite gig this Fringe (fingers crossed it tours), one of the funniest gigs of the year was Nish Kumar’s Work-In-Progress at Pleasance Cabaret Bar. At a late-night Saturday show in the middle of the festival, you’d expect some characters in the crowd. For Nish, it was the two women who, after arriving late, left ten minutes into his show to catch their train. Once they’d drunkenly shuffled out of the building (which was excruciatingly funny in itself), Kumar turned detective quick-as-a-flash to find out more about these gig derailers. With the help of a railway YouTuber (step aside Francis Bourgeois) hidden in the crowd, Nish Kumar PI tracked them and their train down to unbelievable wheezes and whoops. Some real Fringe magic.
On screen, Such Brave Girls, which I caught at the beginning of the year but was *technically* released at the tail-end of 2023, was a wildly refreshing sitcom from Kat Sadler. Razor-sharp and with some of the realest, cattiest dialogue on telly, it drilled into the psyche of dysfunction and the manifestation of trauma in a deeply funny way. Also watch for a career-best performance from Sherlock star Louise Brealey.
And, as the year comes to a close, I’d like to raise a glass to Janey Godley. Her stand-up was brazen, unabashed and loved by many, yet it was her dedication to supporting new and up-and-coming talent, and her generosity towards them, which will be missed on the Scottish comedy scene the most. [Polly Glynn]