Says Brits – who promptly vote foul-mouthed Connolly their favourite

More than half of British people think modern comedians swear too much, according to a new survey.

Fifty-five per cent of those polled said bad language was too prevalent, rising to 84 per cent among those over 60.

And four our of five people said they thought older comedians were funnier than their younger counterparts. Among the over-45s, just one in ten preferred the current generation to older comics.

But despite the fear of bad language, the sweary Billy Connolly was voted Britain’s favourite comedian – although at 67 he’s firmly in the ‘older’ category.

He was followed by Victoria Wood, 56, and the late Tommy Cooper in the poll by Ask Jeeves, with Michael McIntyre the top-rated new comedian at No 4.

The survey of 1,000 people also discovered that Jim Davidson was considered funnier than Bill Bailey.

A spokesman for the search engine said: ‘The old ones still make us laugh.’

The top ten comedians were:

1. Billy Connolly
2. Victoria Wood
3. Tommy Cooper
4. Michael McIntyre
5. Lee Evans
6. Jimmy Carr
7. Les Dawson
8. Frank Skinner
9. Jim Davidson
10=. Ricky Gervais and Bill Bailey

Published: 31 Mar 2010