Look at that "Love me" smile... you make me sick!12 solid hours of watching his film career unfold on a bus from Zurich has taught me that possibly his only merit is his unbelievably annoying voice and equally irritating "Oooh look how awesome I am" demenor that comes naturally to underservingly famous comedians like him. I sat through all of Anchorman, Zoolander and Blades of Glory and I didn't laugh once. In fact, I found his so-called "humor" a complete failure, mostly being attacks on women and homosexuals. I thought as a race we'd got past such humor, but apparently once again America is trailing behind. Add to this the face-pulling lunacy that Jim Carrey and Robin Williams have practiced to a fine art, and you have possibly the most childish and irritating comedian I have ever had the misfortune of watching.
I've found it rather interesting that in any movie that stars Will Farrell, Owen Wilson (an equally irritating actor/comedian) and Ben Stiller feature with him. Ben Stiller is actually not bad as far as his acting is concerned (see Meet The Fockers and Meet The Parents), so I find it a shame that he is associated with such dire comedians.
It is totally beyond me how anyone with a brain cell can find someone like Mr Farrell remotely funny. Another offender of the same calibur is Jeff Dunham, the (in)famous ventriloquist responsible for Achmed The Dead Terrorist, who has no doubt been plaguing you in the form of ringtone adverts for a while.
Die...Believe me, if you've never seen any of Jeff Dunham's work, avoid it like the black death. You'd have more fun flossing with razor wire. Allow me to elaborate; I watched a skit with one of his characters, a puppet fashioned to look like a middle-class, middle-aged American man called Walter. Again, sexism and homophobia a-plenty, but two things stood out for me; his "catchphrase" is a sound resembling a donkey giving birth to a elephant through its ear, which always results in an eruption of hysterics from the audience (most of which looked like trailer-trash in the show I was watching). Making stupid noises is really not funny or clever unless you're drunk or stoned. Secondly, there was a moment that I watched open-mouthed when a member of the audience left the hall to go to the toilet. Dunham clocked this, and decided it would be pants-pissingly hilarious to wait for, no joke, around 7 minutes for the guy to return from the toilet, the audience again laughing hysterically. How is that clever, witty or funny? I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.
It's certainly true to say that it appears to be American humor that frustrates and annoys me, and one could say that this is because I am English and therefore tuned into a different type of comedy. However, that doesn't mean that all British comedians are therefore hilarious to me; Ricky Gervais, the man responsible for The Office and Extras, is very much a one-trick pony in my eyes.
Resembling David Brent in more ways than one...Now don't get me wrong, I loved The Office. It was smart, tragic and hilarious. David Brent was a cringeworthy character that I truely hated, but I never expected him to revisit me in Gervais' other work. The protagonist in Extras is very much the same deal; awkward, embarrassing and un-funny. One could say that perhaps that character was designed to be the same as David Brent, but then check out Gervais' stand-up; it's the same again. It does seem as if awkward and un-funny is the only act he can pull-off, which is why I can't understand why people find him funny.
Comedy, in the end, is subject to the audience. Someone out there must cry with laughter at everything Jeff Dunham says (I actually know someone like that personally), and apparently enough people find Will Farrell funny to keep him working on films. Someone found Ricky Gervais so funny that he was named Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance in Extras.
I'll stick to Dylan Moran and Eddie Izzard. Cake, please.
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