'You don’t need to be normal, you need to be sincere'

Joe Tracini picks his comedy favourites

Joe Tracini is at the Fringe with his show, Ten Things I Hate About Me, about living with borderline personality disorder. Here he picks his Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites.

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous/The Comeback Kid/Baby J

He’s top of the pile for me. His rhythm, his presence, the way he plants callbacks.

The Comeback Kid has the best opening routine I’ve ever seen. I genuinely watched it on repeat for a day, it’s perfect.

Kid Gorgeous is flawless. Every syllable is measured but feels like he’s just thought of it. It’s what doing stand-up feels like in my head before I go on and panic about where to put my hands.

And then Baby J happened. His execution of being honest about what he’s been through is one of the most sincere and technically brilliant pivots I’ve ever seen. He’s the comic I’d most like to impress and least like to follow.

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

It’s a masterclass in tone. Genuinely funny and genuinely furious. Every moment of the show is socially relevant. Whether he’s trying to help the world be a better place to be or fighting a bloke in a squirrel suit, I love the man, I love his team, and I love their show.

Only Fools and Horses

I grew up watching Only Fools because it was on all the time. I used to think it was just about one-liners and falling through bars. But as I got older (and more miserable), I realised it’s actually about love, loss, and surviving disappointment.

Greg Davies: You Magnificent Beast

Watching him feels like being shouted at by someone you love. He commits to the stupid with the same weight other people give to TED Talks. He’s also brilliant at controlled chaos.

You think he’s going off the rails by going on a massive tangent about throwing a shoe at a friend, and then the ending hits, and you realise it was perfectly structured.

There’s a warmth underneath his ridiculousness because he never punches down. He just loves telling you how weird he is. That’s what I admire. He’s loud and absurd, but it’s all rooted in honesty.

And the story about the cuddly toy his mum made him was the most I laughed in 2018.

Paul Reubens: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Paul Reubens was the first person I saw that decided to make being weird a career. I was obsessed with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure as a child. The man loses his bike and acts like the world has ended. And I cared. Watching Pee-Wee taught me that you don’t need to be normal, you need to be sincere.

Penn & Teller

I don’t care where they are, on stage, telly, Vegas, they’re clever and funny and brilliant. Penn & Teller make tricks that don’t insult you for wanting to believe in magic. They tell you it’s a trick, then make it feel more magical because you already know what’s going on.

That’s what I try to do in Ten Things I Hate About Me. I tell the audience how my show works. I shouldn’t, but it’s better if they know what’s really happening. That doesn’t make sense unless you’ve seen it, so please come, because I really like that sentence and I’m not deleting it.