'He's the best sketch writer alive and it's crazy more people don’t know him'
Sid Singh picks his comedy favourites
Edinburgh Fringe comedian Sid Singh – who’s performing two shows at this year’s festival – shares his Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites…
Hi(nes) Im(prov) to Meet You
A lot of people watch their college improv team one time and then decide to never watch improv ever again. This is not that.
Long-time improviser Will Hines assembles one of the best improv teams together to take a fake improv class in character. What ensues is chaos in the absolute best way.
I think the chosen clip from this show is from the best live improv show I’ve ever seen in my 15 years of doing/watching improv. Everyone is at the top of their game.
Comedy Bang Bang
Speaking of improv, Comedy Bang Bang is maybe the longest running improvised podcast going today and it's one of the best examples of just putting funny people in a room and seeing what can happen.
Every week Scott Aukerman hosts and gently guides the conversations while comedy powerhouses like Jason Mantzoukas, Paul F Tompkins, Lauren Lapkis, Cart Tart, Shaun Diston, Drew Tarver, and so many more come in as interesting, consistently hilarious characters whose interactions are guaranteed to make you laugh.
In this clip, Drew Tarver and Cart Tart come on as country music powerhouse duo Memphis Kansas Breeze and sing one of the stupidest songs in all existence. I can’t wait for their next appearance.
Astronomy Club
I feel like it's crazy that no one talks about this show and it’s on Netflix! Go watch one of the funniest sketch shows with one of the best assembled casts.No one has been able to so comically articulate race in the medium of a comedy sketch this well since The Chappelle Show.
It blows my mind that this entire cast isn’t famous, but then again, the show is still relatively recent so there is still definitely time…
Andrew Jaico
Andrew Jaico is the best sketch writer alive and it's crazy that more people don’t know about him. No one has ever been able to make me laugh harder with some of the dumbest premises known to man.
Equally impressive is Jaico’s fortune to work with a group of UCB actors who commit 100 per cent to performing all of his zany sketches.
A sketch about workers getting fired while they all sit on bouncy exercise balls? Check.
A sketch about a man who got over his breakup by selling steaks? Check.
A sketch about the community theatre version of the special effects movie Gravity? Double check and Jaico even brilliantly played ‘Space’ as a character!
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
No one is capable of delivering a funny political monologue every week while making it clear that he cares better than Jon Stewart.
Stewart fights the good fight while making people laugh and more likely to listen. His fight to ensure the medical bills of 9/11 first responders were paid is stuff of legend. If political comics did a better job emulating him, the world would be a better place.
Conan O’Brien in anything he does
Without a doubt, Conan O’Brien is more responsible for the hilarious evolution of absurd and silly comedy than anyone living. From his work on The Simpsons and SNL as a staff writer to his hosting of his own late-night show to his modern-day travel show interspersed with his own podcast, Conan has found ways to influence comedians old and new in consistently clever ways.
He can basically mine comedy out of anything and its an immediate red flag whenever I meet someone who doesn’t care for his comedy.
• Sid Singh performs American Coloniser at Just the Tonic at Cabaret Voltaire at 5pm and Table for One at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House at 1.15pm
Published: 6 Aug 2024
