Jake Donaldson picks his comedy favourites

Edinburgh Fringe comedian Jake Donaldson picks his Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites.

Mike Birbiglia: Thank God For Jokes

There are a bunch of comics I really love, but I think my favourite is the US comedian Mike Birbiglia. For years I was sort of aware of his name, I'd seen it on Netflix while I'd been scrolling through comedy specials, but I think, naively, I’d written him off like many UK comedy fans  might, as one of those brash overconfident American stand-ups who haven’t got much to say. I was dead wrong. One day, for whatever reason, I decided to put on his show Thank God For Jokes and I was immediately obsessed.

TGFJ is Mike’s 2017 Netflix special and it’s a love letter to jokes in all their forms. As a comic, that spoke to me very sincerely, but also it's chock-full of top-tier anecdotal and observational stand-up. It’s got a routine in it about The Muppets that makes me laugh like a stupid teenager every time I hear it.

He's not just a stand-up, he's a proper, old-fashioned storyteller - the shows he creates are almost like one-man plays, exploring big important subjects through intricately written personal stories, but they're also hilarious and he knows his way around a joke better than so many other comics with his profile.

I've managed to see him live three times on the few occasions he's been over to the UK, and each time the audience was speckled with big-name British comedians who are all huge fans of his; he's a proper comics' comic.

Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown

I never actually saw Pappy’s live when they were performing as a sketch group, having started stand-up myself in 2012, the same year as their fabled Last Show Ever. However, I think Flatshare Slamdown might have been the first podcast I ever listened to, and has remained appointment listening for me 12 years later.

It's a panel show that has stayed consistently hilarious; mixing improv, music, genuinely clever writing, and really silly, knowingly stupid premises. There’s no way I won’t laugh, no matter how many times I hear Tom Parry announce that he’s going to answer a question, not as himself, but as ‘A deep south defence lawyer from a John Grisham novel called Fanshaw Standon’ (Spoiler: it’s every episode).

I got into the show when I was 19 and trying to work out what my real personality was, and madly, I feel like Flatshare Slamdown has had a big impact on what my sense of humour developed into.

Pappy’s were winning the big awards over a decade ago, but they’re still at the top of their game, ‘riding the wave machine of a rich vein of form into firm memories of classic goodness’ and I still love the podcast.

Ross Noble: Randomist

I grew up, and still live, in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city with a properly rich history of alternative comedy. From The Viz to Vic and Bob, the North East has surreal, idiosyncratic comedy in its blood. When I was about 11 and first discovered Ross Noble, it was the first time I’d heard someone with an accent similar to mine doing comedy, and the first time I heard a grown-up purposely being daft and everyone loving it.

Randomist is my favourite of Ross’s DVDs because it was filmed at Newcastle City Hall and I think you can really feel the mutual love between the audience, Ross and the city. It’s also got some of my favourite flights of fancy on it, including a routine about bath bombs that I think about every time I walk past a branch of Lush.

There’s so much I love about this specific recording, everything from the surreal heckles Ross receives, shouted out in gruff Geordie accents (‘Fetch it oot!’) to Ross overrunning in the encore and people starting to leave while he’s still on stage because the car park is shutting. It’s one of those things I put on when I feel sad, because it’ll always undoubtedly cheer me up.

The Producers

I honestly think the original Mel Brooks version of The Producers is the best comedy film ever made. It pushed boundaries when it was made in the 60s and still does the same today. Of course there are a few bits that haven’t aged brilliantly, but not as much as you might think for a film made in 1967, and there are segments I’d argue are genuinely progressive, even now.

Zero Mostel is a genius when it comes to comic acting, but Gene Wilder is on another level. He’s sad, gentle, insane and hilarious, somehow all at the same time. I love how self-deprecating the film is, how much Brooks takes the piss out of his own background and the people around him in the world of showbiz. 

The characters are all weird caricatures that could never exist in the real world, yet somehow you believe them. It’s sort of like what I imagine The Mighty Boosh or The League of Gentlemen might have made if they’d been hanging out in New York in the 60s.

30 Rock

I first watched 30 Rock about 10 years after it started and was worried I might have missed the boat on it, but I loved it straightaway. It’s a show that unapologetically favours jokes over trying to make sense, which is what makes it so unique. 

The characters are brilliant, the plots are mad, the acting is spot-on, but the thing that I love about it is the sheer number of jokes they pack into an episode. I love American sitcoms like Community, the US Office and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, all of which are brilliantly written, but 30 Rock feels like the show that would take them all on in a cage match and just batter them about with the sheer number of excellent lines in its script. 

I think Tina Fey is a genius.

I’m Alan Partridge

There’s something about the character of Alan that just makes me laugh in a way that I can’t explain. I enjoy all of Coogan’s work as the character, but I’m Alan Partridge is my favourite, partially because it was the first thing I saw him in, but also because there’s something so funny about seeing Alan out of the context of his broadcasting life, having to deal with real people like builders and hotel staff, not just the larger-than-life chat-show guests he interacted with on Knowing Me Knowing You.

It’s also probably the thing I quote in my day-to-day (no pun intended) life more than anything else. 

My favourite episode is The Colour of Alan, which sees him trying to secure a contract to host a corporate awards ceremony for a fireplace company, but descends into complete farce with him having to hold meetings in a house that’s still under construction, using a toilet door as a conference table, and a bicycle wheel with torches tied to it for a chandelier. The ending of that episode will never not be funny, and I will continue to say the phrase ‘Oooh it’s a good paper…’ every time anyone mentions The Daily Express.

The attention to detail that the cast and the writers pay is what makes the series so strong. They understand that the comedy in it doesn’t just come from the words they’re saying, but from the tiniest little inflections or the smallest mannerisms.

 I love the way I still find new things to laugh at every time I watch it, and it's one of the only British sitcoms from the 90s that I think still stands up today.

• Jake Donaldson: Spectacle is on at Just the Tonic at The Mash House at 6.40pm.

Published: 10 Aug 2024