Harry Hill got alternative underground comedy on primetime ITV

Alex Kitson picks his Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites

Picking six comedy favourites was super tricky. I believe 'honourable mentions' are for the weak/cowardly - but then how could I not include You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes? Or Simon Rich's New Teeth? Ninia Benjamin on Edinburgh and Beyond? Come to think of it, what about Brian Regan's bit about reading? Or Chubby White's Variety Night? Plus everything Bo Burnham, Sean McLoughlin, Tina Fey and Daniel Kitson have ever produced? Dave Attell's Skanks for the Memories album and Sarah Keyworth's Dark Horse surely deserve a mention too? Right?

Alas, I'm constrained by very strict editorial guidelines - and sadly must stick to six. There's no room for any more. Not even Mulaney's Delta Airlines bit – or Steve Harvey's bit about Afghanistan (where he says he'd shoot a baby).

Michael McIntyre: Live at the Comedy Store

Well done if your introduction to stand-up came from stroking your chin to Bill Hicks vinyls. I was in school aged 12 I heard about a DVD that kids who’d been at a sleepover I hadn’t been invited to (classic) had watched which, apparently, was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.

It was called ‘Michael McIntyre’ and I remember thinking it must be a film where the main character was called Michael McIntyre. Like Austin Powers or something.

My mate (who also hadn’t been invited to said sleepover) told me his older sister had that DVD - and we could watch it after rugby on Sunday. It was the Hello Wembley DVD and I’d never seen or heard of stand-up before then. Roughly two minutes in, I decided it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen and that I wanted to do that too.

So all McIntyre's routines from the late Noughties are basically foundational texts for me. I know he's so mainstream he makes Coldplay look like Slipknot, but you don’t become the highest-grossing stand-up in the world without being pretty good.

This perfect club 20 at the Comedy Store, just as he began to blow up, shows you why.

Hot Fuzz

This couldn’t be more up my street if it tried. Granted - it might be an obvious choice for a young male comic from the West Country. But I can’t not put the film I’ve watched maybe 50 times more than any other in my Perfect Playlist.

It’s my favourite film of all time, my mates and I at school in Devon quote this like it’s Shakespeare and it’s imprinted on my brain as THE way to blend comedy and action. My novel The Ripple Effect (out soon) proudly has Hot Fuzz’s influence stamped all over it. Edgar Wright is a genius and this was first name on the teamsheet. Yarp.

The middle section at How Lazy Is He? Comedy at the Lazy Dog Bristol, May 2, 2019

There are a lot of people who are responsible for the booming Bristol comedy scene that I was lucky to benefit from between 2018 and 2022.

But I think the most unsung is Tony Chiotti. He ran most of the gigs in town before the pandemic, including a pro show at the Lazy Dog in Bishopston on a Thursday night. After it, he’d run an open mic that you could just turn up and go on at, performing to whoever in the crowd had decided to stick around.

Punters could see newer local comics like Morgan Rees, Jessie Nixon, Lousie Leigh, Riordan DJ, Firuz Ozari, Burt Williamson and Abi Clarke work out their stuff. I, typically, would go on and accidentally remind those remaining they had work in the morning.

The main reason to go, though, was that Tony would let me into the main show for free if there was space. Sat on the bar, or perched on half a chair with another open spot, it was a weekly comedy masterclass. In particular, May 2, 2019. There was a stacked lineup as acts from London were on their way to the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. And the middle section of that, I think about all the time.

The first of two acts in the middle was Adam Hess. I was a massive fan of his already — but that night he had one of the most electrifying gigs I’d ever seen. He crushed to such an extent that I actually, in the back of my mind, started feeling bad for the next act on. I’d been introduced to her outside the gig by Jessie Nixon - she seemed lovely. So I, patronisingly, began to pity her a bit because, surely, no one could follow Hess?!

Obviously though, at that point in my life, I was an idiot who’d never heard of Helen Bauer. Helen smashed it - arguably even harder. I could barely walk home because my stomach was so sore from laughing so hard and that evening made me realise just how good live stand-up can get - and that no one is unfollowable if you’re good enough.

Harry Hill’s TV Burp

I love Harry Hill. He’s one of my Dad’s favourites, I had his joke book as a kid and I love the clips of him on Saturday Live in the Nineties (him setting up jokes for them to pay off weeks later is incredible).

TV Burp is just so brilliant, I’ll focus on that. I’ve done two very sincere Twitter threads about how much I love it. It’s amazing and, even though everyone knows that, I think it’s still somehow underrated. It’s one of the funniest TV shows of all time and way ahead of its time. It premiered way before memes, or ‘internet humour’ was really a thing - and I even wonder the extent to which it shaped that genre of humour.

I think someone could/should write a book about it.

It’s a remarkable show because you’d think something that alternative might be quite underground, squirreled away late at night. But no, it was watched by millions on Saturday Night ITV before the X-Factor. Incredible.

Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better

(and, more generally, The Comedy Club on BBC Radio 4 Extra)

I think I’m probably part of a micro-generation who, as a teen, didn’t have access to podcasts - but did have a digital radio alarm clock in their room. At some point, aged about 13, I was trying to find Test Match Special late at night but discovered that BBC Radio 4 Extra existed. From 10 until midnight, they played two hours of radio comedy, which they called The Comedy Club.

As a teenager I tuned in pretty much every night and I’d gradually doze a decent chunk of the BBC comedy archive plus staples like the News Quiz, Just A Minute, The Now Show, Newsjack, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Dead Ringers and various shows from Mark Steel and Milton Jones.

I’ve still not really seen all the TV versions of The Boosh, Little Britain, The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Flight Of The Conchords, Goodness Gracious Me, Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop, On the Hour, Alan Partridge, Red Dwarf, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - or read the Discworld novels. But I’ve listened!

But my absolute favourites were the ones that felt more off the beaten track. I loved things like The Problem with Adam Bloom or The Nick Revell Show and could have chosen about two dozen different other shows to write about but in the end I’ve gone with Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better because I think it’s the first show I listened to when I tuned in.

It’s a (terrifyingly young) Mark Watson, Tim Key and Tim Minchin (replaced by Tom Basden in series 2) taking on a big issue every week. It was the first time I heard comedy about more abstract topics (like ‘Courage’ or ‘Envy’) and that made me feel smart for liking it. I actually got compared to Mark in a review last summer (I assume because we’re both huge alphas) and I think it’s a coincidence, but if it’s not – it’s because of this show. Sorry Mark.

Joan Rivers’ answer to the question ‘Is there anything you won’t joke about’ on An Audience With… (2006)

Again, it seems so bizarre to assert that someone so well known, revered and beloved is underrated - but I think Joan Rivers is probably the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. To have a 50-year career in stand-up and (controversies noted) be that consistently hilarious is something I don’t really think anyone else has ever really managed.

It’s very rare I see stand-up from before the 1970s and genuinely find it funny. Joan Rivers is the exception. She’s got some of my all time favourite jokes - but in my opinion her answer to the final question of this imperious An Audience With… is her best. It sums up everything I hold dear about comedy. I won’t say anything more lest I spoil it - but it’s perfect.