'The funniest thing I have ever listened to'

Chris Ramsey on his comedy favourites

Billy Connolly: Incontinence Pants routine

This is one of my most vivid memories of laughing when I was growing up, not just laughing, laughing uncontrollably, laughing until it hurt… ironically, although I wasn’t aware at the time… laughing until I pissed myself.

My Dad would always go on about how brilliant Billy Connolly was and I distinctly remember it taking him a while to actually sit me down to watch him, but when I did, that was it! I remember seeing this An Audience With… show and the crowd being littered with TV stars of the time and thinking: 'Wow, the people I watch on TV watch this bloke!'

Billy Connolly remains one of my all-time favourite comedians and I really miss watching him with my Dad… Me Dad isn’t dead or anything, I just live in Manchester now.

Steve Hughes: Gays are real men

When I first got into stand up I used to watch clips on YouTube constantly, all of the Live At The Comedy Store clips, World Stands Up – you name it. This was the one that stood out the most, I remember making all my mates watch it, watching it with them, and laughing every time.

Steve’s logic in this routine just blew me away, it’s the classic thing of watching stand-up and saying to yourself ‘that’s so true’ – except this time it wasn’t about having a bath, or trying to find a sock, it was about something that actually didn’t make sense… but it did, and to top it all, it was pant-shittingly funny. I go as far to say, if I’d caught this routine earlier in my life, it would have lead to some serious questions about my own sexuality, but instead, I just play with girlie tits now. Shame.

Have I Got News For You: The Angus Deayton cocaine fall-out episode

Host of one of your favourite shows caught in big drug and sex scandal! I was young enough at the time to think: 'Well, he’s been a naughty boy, he’ll not be allowed back on TV.' No, no, no his punishment was being allowed back on to be absolutely obliterated by Paul Merton – it was incredible. The terms you hear thrown around pubs regarding to ‘banter’ by ‘lad lads’ such as: ‘rinsed’, ‘tortured’, ‘hammered’ and ‘crucified’ should all be copyrighted and Merton should get £1 every time they are used.

Click here to watch

I Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan

Without a doubt the funniest thing I have ever listened to. I tried the actual book and then realised I was just doing the voice in my head… and a shit version of it at that. So the audiobook is now in my car and I’m on my sixth or seventh listen. It’s like Partridge never left. It's just so dense with jokes and it covers moments from his previous work and gives them a new spin… when people say they don’t like this audiobook, it 'literally makes me pass out with nausea'.

Lee Evans: The Ultimate Experience Live

Another massive milestone in my comedy upbringing. A mate of mine had this on VHS - remember that kids? Actually I’ve just realised the anger some people will be feeling reading this, as my ‘old comedy favourites’ are probably younger that some circuit comis' gigging shoes – sorry about this.

But yeah, a mate of mine at secondary school had this on VHS and I remember he brought it round to my house on the Monday, we watched it, laughed so hard my Mam had to come and see what was going on, she ended up sitting and watching some of it with us. Then on the Tuesday we took it to another lad’s house – same again (my Mam didn’t come with us this time).

By the Friday night we had toured round all of my mates houses watching this video of this guy, the number of friends increasing each night as the bedroom got smaller and smaller… a few years later you would find us doing the very same thing with porn.

The Office: Season 1, Episode 4. Training

'I think there’s been a rape up there!' That says it all.

Published: 3 Aug 2012

Live comedy picks

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