'Wayne's World had a lasting impact on me'

Edinburgh Fringe comedy duo Crizards share their comedy favourites

Crizards – aka Eddy Hare and Will Rowland – are back at the Edinburgh Fringe with This Means War, a sketch, narrative and song comedy directed by Jordan Brooks taking place at Pleasance Dome at 5.50pm. Here they share their comedy favourites, starting with Will…

Wayne’s World

I discovered my love for comedy as a child in the 1990s during visits to my Dad's house. My parents were newly divorced and I found the separation distressing, so I would soothe myself by making my way through his huge collection of VHS tapes.

After one visit, I excitedly told my mom that I had watched 32 films in 8 days. I watched and loved every movie by Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Eddie Murphy, but Mike Myers' work, especially Wayne's World, had a lasting impact on me.

What makes Wayne's World special is its genuine portrayal of close friendship underneath all the funny moments. It’s able to do something rare by breaking the fourth wall while still having a heartfelt story.

I particularly remember a scene where Wayne makes Cassandra laugh by goofing around. It taught me an important lesson: you don't have to be cool or conventionally attractive to connect with others. Being kind and funny gives you a chance, even if you feel different or nerdy.

As a young dork who was watching seven movies a day in my Dad's attic, this message meant a great deal to me.

This is Spinal Tap

This comedy film is the best of all time, and I make sure to watch it at least once every year. The last time I watched it, I could really sense the fun the actors are having while playing their characters. The entire film is filled with the pure joy of them getting to wear wigs and tight leather trousers to portray rockstars.

The fact that the film is improvised adds to the feeling of joy, as it seems like they're always on the verge of bursting into laughter. Similar to Wayne's World, it also explores male friendship and has a genuine emotional core.

This film is truly inspiring because it demonstrates how a simple concept, an exceptional cast, and countless small comedic choices can result in a work that has a significant cultural impact.

Well, actually, now that I think about it, achieving such a feat seems very difficult. Never mind. Great film though.

Mitch Hedberg

My favourite stand-up comedian is Mitch Hedberg. In stand-up comedy, I think there are two kinds of jokes that comedians use in their acts. The first kind requires a lot of hard work. You carefully create a joke using techniques you've learned, expanding on a topic, making adjustments to the order and words, until it becomes a solid and funny bit. It can be a tough process, but it's worth it when you end up with a good joke.

The second kind of joke is what me and my girlfriend call ‘magic jokes’. These jokes seem to come out of nowhere, popping into your head suddenly. When you say them, they just work effortlessly. You don't have to do much to them, and somehow they end up being better than all the other jokes you've been working hard on.

Most stand-up comedy routines have a mix of magic jokes and the ones that require more work. But Mitch Hedberg is unique because it seems like all of his jokes fall into this magical category. His jokes come out of nowhere to shed new light on ordinary things.

For example, his joke that ‘Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something’ or ‘An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs.’ You can feel the audience's sense of wonder growing as he delivers one remarkable joke after another.

And here are Eddy's picks...

Waiting for Guffman

I love this film. Christopher Guest plays the director of a community theatre troupe in Missouri who are preparing for a Big Show in front of a Broadway producer in which they’re covering the entire history of their town (Blaine, ‘the stool capital of the United States’).

Fred Willard is one of my favourite comedy actors, and he and Catherine O’Hara are so funny as a travel agent couple, especially in the audition scene where they do a Midnight At The Oasis dance number.

But the real scene stealer is Jerry Turman as Raging Bull Auditioner in one of cinema’s best one-line roles. The Remains Of The Day lunchboxes that Christopher Guest’s character sells are also such a funny idea for a prop.

Joe Pera Talks with You

This show is a really fun mix of calming and surreal. The sincere optimism of Joe Pera’s choir teacher character makes it such a relaxing and funny watch. Especially where he’s interacting with his aggressively masculine neighbour Mike, played by Conner O’Malley - his commitment in everything he’s in incredible. Jo Firestone is also so funny as a quiet doomsday prepper.

It approaches observations in such a funny and thorough way too - like the episode where Joe discovers Baba O’Riley by The Who and he’s so excited to share it with everyone that he can’t make it through the church announcements and invites a pizza delivery man in to listen to it with him.

There are loads of lines that are stuck in my head too, like where he’s explaining why he doesn’t like watching dominoes fall: ’It’s one of core beliefs that you shouldn’t waste kinetic energy.’

King of the Hill

I’ve been watching a lot of King Of The Hill recently, it’s a great way to start the day. I think Bobby Hill is my favourite cartoon character - he’s a sensitive little guy with a big heart and if I have a child I would love for them to be like him.

Satire’s really hard to do well and King Of The Hill is funny and interesting with it - it’s funny and warm which are two things I love.

It's got a lot of what I love about The Simpsons but I don’t think it suffers from the same Family Guy-style loss of grounding that makes the later Simpsons seasons less good. I obviously do love The Simpsons too though.