London's funniest man
Gervais tops magazine's top 50
Ricky Gervais has been name the funniest man in London.
The Office creator was given the title by the capital’s Time Out magazine, with his collaborator Stephen Merchant coming in at number 2.
But he was modest about the honour. ‘It’s very flattering, but I think you have to take these things with a pinch of salt,’ he said.
‘I mean, I was recently voted 17th most stylish man in the world – and Johnny fucking Vegas beat me.
‘It’s like those polls to find Britain’s favourite sketch. It’s always whatever’s currently on the telly followed by Fawlty Towers.’
Meanwhile, Merchant praised the state of comedy in London, saying. ‘There’s a good audience for comedy here. There are a lot of people who are willing to try something new, or to indulge acts who want to do something a bit more leftfield.’
The magazine listed the top 50 funniest Londoners, mixing comics with oddities such as Blazin Squad, Noel Gallagher and footballer Jose Mourinho.
The list only contains four women, too: Linda Smith at number 2, Kathy Burke at No 11, Natalie Haynes at 40, and Julia Davis at 46.
The top 20 was
- Ricky Gervais
- Stephen Merchant
- Armando Iannucci
- Craig Brown
- Simon Pegg
- Linda Smith
- Ken Livingstone
- Jack Dee
- Cockney Wanker (Viz character)
- Sean Lock
- Kathy Burke
- David Mitchell & Robert Webb
- Stewart Lee
- Chris Morris
- Ian Holloway (QPR manager)
- Ridiculusmus
- Blazin Squad
- Paul Merton
- John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman (though the magazine spelt his name wrong)
- Richard Madeley
Published: 22 Jun 2005
