Comic's Choice 5: Sean Lock [1/3]

[30Ciaran]

Ahahaha, Hard work is now a few mouse clicks and waiting for an hour? where do I sign up?

[thelostpiranha]

@30Ciaran click here

[UncleEvey]

I agree with Sean´s sitcom choices. I also thought that "Black Books" with Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey was also genius.

[stevolution666]

sean is cool

[nevers4yforever]

I sort of have a love hate thing going with Sean Lock. To me, his cynical/angry/whatever-you-wan­t-to-call-it bullshit is really entertaining and I can sort of relate to it but he also has an ability to go a bit too far. He doesn't always know when to stop, and knowing when to stop is what sort of defines a great comedian. I also have a feeling he's really a pretty decent bloke in his private life, even if he often comes off as a right tosser as an entertainer.

[242jams]

@nevers4yforever to me a great comedian can carry on a joke as long as they want to. sean lock has a habit of involving the audience in his jokes, like your his mate. which is also why he can get away with slightly more 'risky' jokes

[DanRaccoon]

I've never heard of this show before! :o

[caeteez]

15 Storys High is the most underrated comedy I can think of. It's properly great.

[david2k6murphy]

@caeteez OI stay in ya own lane

i only have one arm

well only use one leg then

[david2k6murphy]

@caeteez i wrote me comment before seeing the clip am psychic

[EshnehGaming]

Lmao, I searched for that loose women clip, sean lock is a legend

[cpfairleyodd]

Asking Sean Lock what his favourite comics are is like asking Gandalf who his favourite wizard is.

[GoodW0lf]

@cpfairleyodd apart from the fact that Sean plays a pretty uncommon kind of comedian, pessimistic and cynical with a touch of surrealism. I was surprised in a way that he looked at this more intellectually than others, talking about comedians who brought something new to comedy.

[kisbie]

@GoodW0lf Sean Lock - like a lot of surreal humourists - has to be one of the LEAST cynical comedians out there. I describe his style as "wacky wiseguy".

[GoodW0lf]

@kisbie He's not a surrealist though, he's a touch surreal sometimes. And he's more than a touch cynical. You see him on QI a lot doing this.

Stephen: "Yes. Supposedly swimming with Dolphins is quite therapeutic-"

Sean: "Not if they reject you."

or

Stephen: "How would you stop your children looking at their presents early?"

Sean: "Just do what I do. Buy all your Christmas presents on Christmas eve... from a petrol station."

His sitcom was dripping with almost Nietzsche-esque apathy.

[kisbie]

@GoodW0lf He's more surreal than he is cynical. His act isn't about how everything's shit. If he does show a cynical side, it's normally diluted by how absurd his rant becomes. Like his infamous bit on children's acting ends up becoming a repressed memory of a nun smacking him with a broom. As for 15 Stories High, he didn't write all of it himself. I imagine Mark Lamarr had more than a hand in many of the darker bits.

[GoodW0lf]

@kisbie I didn't say his act was about how everything's shit. It's more about how empty everything is, or at least more pointless that people like to make life out to be, and human weakness. Maybe bleak is the word to use. He sets that up and then makes it ridiculous or surreal.

[kisbie]

@GoodW0lf I just wouldn't say that Sean has a deep underlying theme to his comedy. He says himself that part of the problem is his voice, which sounds like he's bored and frustrated even when he isn't. He may not believe in God, but his act isn't what I'd call bleak (unlike Moran or Boyle or Sadowitz). Like you say, he can take a bleak-sounding premise but it will end up being subverted into sheer absurdity, e.g. his best friend sleeping with his girlfriend becomes "I am the Riddler!".

[GoodW0lf]

@kisbie He did say "Have you seen my goggles?" first remember. The tie and socks combo idea of his jumps to mind. Sad ties. It's pessimism juxtaposed with a kind of Bill Bailey surrealism.

[kisbie]

@GoodW0lf I'm not denying he has a dark-ish side. But I wouldn't say he ever comes across as bleak or that it's even his defining trait. He said once that he just tries to write jokes that possibly no other comedian would ever think of, which I'd say results in primarily wacky stuff, alternating between light and dark. Remember when someone gave him 'Fritzl' during audience battleships. If he was truly cynical, he'd have made a completely different joke there.

[GoodW0lf]

@kisbie Now if there is one comedian who is cynical, it's Dylan Moran. Holy fuck!

[kisbie]

@GoodW0lf He's perhaps not like Eddie Izzard, who actively tries to make his comedy promote what he sees as positive and progressive politics. But Sean seems largely accepting of the world the way it is and mostly appreciative of how weird and wonderful it can be, which isn't a pessimistic standpoint (though neither is it optimistic of course - more in the middle).

[example8]

15 storeys high is black books lovely indeed



[RamshackleBenben]

Sam Kinnison is a fucking awful comedian.

[thechaos44]

Another combo of Sean Lock and Bill Bailey? Joygasm!!

[fowad27]

I've seen him wear that shirt before, I think

[dazpatreg]

This is liked a role reversal of tv heaven telly hell!

[GoodW0lf]

@dazpatreg bill bailey was good on that show but I think David Mitchell's TVheaven-tellehell was the funniest.

[mattDX4life]

@GoodW0lf did you ever see lee macks? thats the best hands down for me

[hannahtheplatt]

@dazpatreg i miss that show :(

[jeremyshambles]

thank you kindly for sharing these videos, cheers from san diego

[megan8madonna]

When are the comedy awards this year? 

[derdriui]

@megan8madonna Last saturday.

[megan8madonna]

@derdriui Oh. Dammit!

[bookworm3583]

Yay, thanks for all your hard work getting these up here!