Billy Connolly regularly tops the polls of the Comedians’ Comedian.
I’m sure if you did a random survey on the streets of any Scottish town, he would feature prominently, along with Frankie Boyle, and perhaps even young pretender, Kevin Bridges. The older generation might also lay claim to Chic Murray or Rickie Fulton and Jack Milroy, who’ve now sadly gone to the great variety stage in the sky.
Bridges got his big break with a coveted slot on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow on BBC1. Following that, he became the fastest-selling act at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009. He’s a talented performer who’d been touring the circuit for five years, but that prime time TV slot, with an audience of over 5 million viewers, was quite a leg up, just as the Big Yin’s appearances on Parkinson in the 1970s, were his springboard to success.
But decades before audiences got their giggles from the goggle box, Scottish funny men and women were national and international stars. Many of them are forgotten now, but they’re back in the spotlight in the Tickling Jock exhibition of Comedy Greats at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
Sir Harry Lauder is featured, of course - he was, for a time, the highest-paid entertainer in the world, while Will Fyffe, not only penned a hit with “I Belong To Glasgow”, but also appeared in numerous British and Hollywood films. Remarkable global success achieved by sheer hard graft.
George Elrick, Ivor Cutler, Una McLean, Johnnie Beattie are there too, but also pictured is forgotten Glaswegian comedian, Nellie Wallace, who topped the bill at the London Palladium in 1910, and worked until her death in 1948, the same year that she appeared in the Royal Command Performance.
So who is the funniest Scot? One of my earliest memories is of seeing Lex McLean at the Winter Gardens in Rothesay. I was too wee to understand his ”blue” humour, but will never forget the audience reaction. The good news is that we can use modern technology to rediscover yesterday’s stars. I’ve just been watching Sexy Lex’s 1960s TV series on YouTube. There he is with Walter Carr, and he’s brilliant. Oh, and I’ve just found Nellie Wallace crooning “Let’s Have A Tiddley At The Milk Bar”. Even more worryingly, I’m singing along.
Talking of jokes, Scottish football is the subject of a new exhibition at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum. I’m not one to kick a team when it’s down, nor am I qualified, because, despite coming from a fitba’-daft family, I am pathetically ignorant about the beautiful game.
So I’ll be heading to the More Than A Game: How Scotland Shaped World Football exhibition to find out about 600 years of Scottish football history. Recommended if you have we’ans to entertain during the Easter school holidays. Unlike the Tickling Jock show, you have to pay for tickets, but under 16s get in for nothing. It runs until August.
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