As well as our reputation as the land of song, Wales also has a pretty good reputation for producing some of the funniest people on the planet.
From the inimitable Tommy Cooper, whose legendarily odd appearance earned him the reputation as being able to command a laugh by simply walking out on stage, to Rhod Gilbert, who has not only enjoyed success on the tour circuit, but also as a TV comic, Welsh comics are always producing comedy gold.
Who knows when Wales evolved the funny bone, some put it down to the natural variations of pitch and rhythm in regional Welsh accents, but there are many Welsh comedians who lost their accents by relocating. Cooper had a Devonshire accent (though the West Country accent is also often considered as famously funny), and Lee Evans, who considers himself to be Welsh thanks to his father, has no semblance of the accent.
The sense of humour here is broadly different to what you will find over the border. The southern English way is dry self-deprecation, always looking for the grey cloud inside the silver lining, and in the north, comedians have found ongoing success with a modern take on traditional family humour.
Go to any grassroots stand-up comedy night in Wales and you are unlikely to see these formats. Rhod Gilbert’s brand of comedy is sometimes so bizarre that you find yourself simply laughing at the situation he has put himself in, he knows how to be funny, as well as knowing how to say funny things.
His colleague Lloyd Langford is much the same. Lloyd looks funny, sometimes the magic is broken when he repeats the same facial expression too often on Rhod’s TV show, but you want to laugh before the words have even come out of his mouth.
Rhondda-born comic and actor, Paul Whitehouse, has taken this notion to a whole new level. Believable as almost any character, and even more impressive as his characters are often so unremarkable. Rather than choosing to mimic famous people, Whitehouse has a talent for inventing every day characters, and embodying them easily. He has been described by Johnny Depp as "the greatest actor in the world", not a shabby accolade by any mark.
Perhaps our famous comics have developed their abilities through always looking for the funny side of any situation. All of the aforementioned comics have/had the ability to be dark but chirpy. When Rob Brydon teamed up with Steve Coogan for The Trip, he showed this ability in droves. Then there is the slapstick flip side, the ‘small man trapped in a box’ voice. It managed to capture the imagination of the country, and even spawned an app.
The reality of the voice as used in The Trip goes further than it might do on the Youtube clips. Coogan and Brydon team up magnificently to create a tragically funny mini-narrative. Brydon appears to be a man who cannot stand talking in his own voice (but what a wonderful voice it is), and challenges Coogan to talk in impersonations and strange voices. This not only annoys Coogan, but also his camera crew.
As the layers are peeled back in the story, Steve appears to be a tragic individual, and fails to do the ‘small man trapped in a box’ voice in the privacy of his bathroom. The tragedy of Brydon’s character is that he is chirpy all the while, not noticing the stark depression around him.
Of course this is all sketched out, and the pair are acting, but it reinforces the roles of Welsh and English comics, with Coogan finding laughs by being publicly arrogant but privately self-deprecating, and Brydon as chirpy, enthusiastic, and unintentionally cutting.
This isn’t a male-dominated forum by any means, the pairing of Ruth Jones and Joanna Page in Gavin and Stacey made for one of the most unlikely success stories in BBC history. The show originally started on BBC Three, aimed at younger audience, but eventually rose to a primetime BBC One slot.
Joanna Page has later claimed that she wasn’t trying to be funny in the show, this is hard to believe, as her comic timing was impeccable. Going back to the discussion of accent, it was Page’s voice that most people fell in love with, so if she wasn’t trying to be funny, then perhaps we are pre-programmed to find humour in her sing-song voice.
Scott Fitzgerald seized upon the overflow of comic talent in Wales when he organised the Welsh Unsigned Stand-Up Awards (WUSA). This year 63 comedians have entered the competition, and last year’s winner, Matt Rees, has since fended off a number of comics from around the UK and gone on to win numerous awards.
With guys like Rhod Gilbert leading the way, the future certainly looks bright for homegrown comedy. Scott Fitzgerald has commented on the great support of comedy in Wales, but thinks we can produce even more stars if we support it on a grass roots level:
“Comedy in Wales will only progress if it gets the support of the general public,” he states. “It all depends on audience members. If they turn up and support local comedy, then that’s how people will progress and that’s how we will get ourselves an even stronger comedy circuit.”
In the meantime, we can be happy with what we’ve got.
Next page: Top 10 Welsh Comic Personalities
10. Lloyd Langford
Lloyd Langford is originally from Neath, but developed his talents for comedy whilst at university in Warwick. In 2004 he was awarded the prize of Chortle Student Comedian of the Year.
His television breakthrough came when he appeared as a regular panelist on Ask Rhod Gilbert , but he also provides voice acting work on the new rendition of Fireman Sam . Langford has been involved with a number of BBC productions, he has written material for Never Mind the Buzzcocks , and has warmed up the audience on QI .
The comic is quick witted and draws elements of slapstick into his act, and calls himself an ‘actor of incredibly limited range’. Lloyd actually lives in a London flat owned by Rhod Gilbert, although Rhod does not live permanently at the address. Unlike many modern comics, Langford does not use Facebook or Twitter as a channel for collecting fans and posting jokes, but he still uses his Myspace page, commenting:
“I am on MySpace. There’s seven of us left now. Me, a spambot, and five excruciatingly awful hip-hop collectives.”
Funniest quote - (offering advice to unsigned comedians) “You need to practice performing (or “gigging”) and writing jokes. The more you do it, the easier it becomes to do it. Keep on keeping on. You’ll get better. Unless that is, you’re really s***.”
9. Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe is quite simply a legendary entertainer. The singing funny-man joined the army after leaving school and fought in World War II. He was from the St. Thomas area of Swansea, and was a deeply religious man. His first breakthrough in comedy was an observational sketch about shaving, inspired by his time in Italy during the War, he performed the act at the Windmill Theatre.
Later he was chosen as a comedian on the Welsh Rarebit radio show, where he learned his hand in the art of making people laugh via the airwaves. This served as in an important apprenticeship for his later production of The Goon Show. Secombe teamed up with Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine, and Spike Milligan for the show, which ran from 1951-1960.
Secombe had developed his singing talents through attending church and participating in hymns, he was said to have used this part of his repertoire whenever audiences were not responding well to his usual routine. Later in life he presented shows such as Songs of Praise .
Harry Secombe passed away in 2001, from prostate cancer.
Funniest quote - “Anyone who, for 25 years, has built a career on such tenuous foundations as a high-pitched giggle, a raspberry and a sprinkling of top 'Cs' needs all the friends he can get.”
8. Rhod Gilbert
The 43-year-old Rhod Gilbert has taken the comedy circuit by storm in recent years. His five comedy tours have increasingly grown in success, and he is known for his special brand of sometimes bizarre comedy.
The latest such stunt involved Gilbert having a flaming battenburg cake tattooed onto his back. He has subsequently named his latest tour after the tattoo.
TV appearances include Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience , Ask Rhod Gilbert , and World’s Most Dangerous Roads . In the latter, he teamed up with longtime friend and fellow comic, Greg Davies, the show saw them driving through mountain tracks in Nepal.
The comic was born in Carmarthenshire, but told audiences he was from an area called Llanbobl. Gilbert made up the name of the town in order to avoid giving hecklers any ammunition about the town he was really from. He has noted that English fans often speak to him after gigs about the town, saying they have visited Llanbobl on their holidays.
One such fan told him he had beaten the Llanbobl rugby team, Gilbert invited the fan to visit him on the fan’s next trip to Llanbobl, an invitation which was apparently followed by the fan, obviously to no avail.
Funniest quote - “In the Bible, God made it rain for 40 days and 40 nights. That’s a pretty good summer for Wales. That’s a hosepipe ban waiting to happen.”
More Rhod Gilbert news and information on WalesOnline
7. Terry Jones
Terry Jones was one of the masterminds behind Monty Python. He often gained most laughs from dressing as women, almost always with the same voice. His comedy mind is abstract, and he was often responsible for some of the stranger Monty Python moments.
He was born in Colwyn Bay, but moved to Surrey at a young age. He is credited as pushing the format of the comedy sketch show forward, and lead a step away from traditional sketch show entertainment with the Flying Circus . The sketches in the show were usually interlinked to one another.
As well as being a talented comic actor and contributing a number of well-known sketches, Jones has also directed a number of films. He directed Life of Brian , The Meaning of Life , and Monty Python and the Holy Grail . He later directed the 1996 version of The Wind in the Willows .
Terry Jones has always been vocal about politics, and has had much to say about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Funniest quote - “Ludicrous concepts…like the whole idea of a "war on terrorism". You can wage war against another country, or on a national group within your own country, but you can't wage war on an abstract noun. How do you know when you've won? When you've got it removed from the Oxford English Dictionary?”
6. Ryan Davies
Ryan Davies made his name on a Welsh television show called Ryan a Ronnie, in which he appeared with Ronnie Williams. The show eventually gained such popularity that it was moved to BBC One and broadcast in English.
The comedy actor was born in Carmarthenshire in 1937, and died in America in 1977. The story goes that Ryan died of an asthma attack after being offered a part in Last of the Summer Wine .
Not unlike Terry Jones, Davies was well known for dressing as a woman. He donned a costume and acted the part of a Welsh housewife in a sketch on the show.
Davies was a multitalented man, and as well as having a successful career in comedy, he was also a songwriter, musician, singer, writer, and mimic.
Memorable quote - “The countless people who said to me that they enjoyed watching his Welsh language output, yet could not understand a single word, was quite remarkable.”
5. Rob Brydon
Rob Brydon is a true heavyweight of Welsh comedy, achieving the rare status of being known as a comedian before stepping out on a comedy tour. He has narrated an incredible number of radio shows, adverts, and even animated films, as well as appearing on a number of films and tv shows.
Brydon has one of the most recognisable voices in the industry, and started his career at Radio Wales at the age of just 20. It took a while for the actor’s breakthrough to come, and he even had a brief stint as a presenter on the Home Shopping Network in the 1990s. The next decade marked the beginning of his rise to fame, and in 2000 he penned TV series Marion and Geoff for the BBC.
Rob Brydon was the narrator for the original radio series of Flight of the Conchords, which aired on BBC Radio before being made into a HBO television series. Perhaps his most famous role was as Uncle Bryn (Bryn West) in television series, Gavin and Stacey. The BAFTA-winning series saw Brydon return to south Wales.
Funniest quote - (about Jesus walking on custard) "Actually this was one of the Lord's favourite past times. Out with the bread, out with the fish, oh, look what I got for dessert, somebody hold my shoes!"
More news and information on Rob Brydon
4. Lee Evans
Lee Evans is an unmistakable stand up comic. With the energy of his performances he is almost mesmerising to watch, with more than an air of Frank Spencer in his act.
Lee brings together slapstick with observational comedy, and this combination has seen him rise to fame and sell out numerous nights at venues such as the O2 Arena.
Evans almost always wears a suit when he is appearing on stage or on television, and is well known for perspiring so profusely that he drenches his blazer in sweat. He often takes a shower during intermission and changes suit, ditching each suit after three nights.
A huge part of the comic’s act is physical comedy, he often also makes sound effects with a microphone and puts on voices as a character called ‘Malcom’.
In a great moment of live television in 2012, Evans received an award at his performance at the Channel 4 Comedy Gala. The aim of the night was to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the comedian auctioned off the award to a high bidder in the audience.
Funniest quote - “The thing that my wife is into now, and it’s f****** doing my head in, it really is…pebbles. Pebbles! She collects them. No I don’t mean ordinary pebbles I mean, varnished ones, in a dish! It’s ‘where did you go on a weekend love?’... ‘Skimming!’”
3. Paul Whitehouse
Paul Whitehouse was born in Stanleytown, Glamorgan, in 1958. He was inspired to go into comedy when working as a painter and decorator on a house owned by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.
Whitehouse was decorating the property with future writing partner, Charlie Higson. The pair then met Harry Enfield, who Whitehouse invented a number of characters for.
The Fast Show was where he got his big break, his characters on the show include:
Rowley Birkin QC
The 13th Duke of Wymbourne
Chris Jackson
Unlucky Alf
Arthur Atkinson
Ron Manager
Ken, one of the "Suit You" tailors
Whitehouse has stated his goal is to create ‘the best television comedy format ever devised’, and many of his fellow comedians are confident that he can do it.
The Fast Show made a brief return in 2011, as part of the Fosters Funny website. Paul Whitehouse is most prominent on our screens at the moment in a series of Aviva adverts, in which he plays a number of characters.
Funniest quote - “Do you want it, sir? Oh, oh, suit you, sir.”
2. Gladys Morgan
Gladys was born in Swansea, in 1898, and by the time of her death in 1983 became known as the Queen of Comedy. Morgan had one of the widest grins in the business, and had an infectious laugh. Not only did she have a big grin, but it was also a toothless grin, which added to her unique appearance.
She was famous on the airwaves for her position as resident comedienne in the Welsh Rarebit radio show. She shared top billing with Harry Secombe, and Morgan’s laugh would often fill up large portions of her set.
Before appearing on the show, Gladys had adopted a Lancashire accent for a stage show she was performing with Frank Laurie. She was initially turned down from a slot on Welsh Rarebit as the show was only for Welsh performers, but managed to persuade the producers of her real Welsh accent in a show at the Town Hall in Pontypridd.
In later life, Morgan headed to the southern hemisphere with her family, where she had a show on Springbok Radio called The Morgans.
Funniest quote - "I gave the lodger a boiled egg for his tea. Me and the kids had egg soup."
1. Tommy Cooper
Tommy’s act was so centred around something going wrong, that audiences members thought his heart attack at Her Majesty’s Theatre was part of his act. He died from the heart attack, which happened on 15 April 1984, after unsuccessful attempts to revive him backstage.
The legendary funnyman was born in Caerphilly in 1921, and served in Egypt in the second World War. It was here that he donned his legendary fez for the first time, something he was almost never seen without.
The story goes that he forgot to bring a prop helmet to a performance with the NAAFI entertainment group, he took a fez from a waiter and received an enormous laugh from the audience. It stuck for the rest of his career.
Cooper was a member of the Magic Circle, but was famous for failing magic tricks rather than completing them successfully. His talents for getting them wrong were actually considered more difficult than completing some of the tricks properly.
Funniest quote - “I went to see my doctor the other day, I had to - he was ill. He said to me “I keep having these terrible dreams... beautiful women keep coming towards me and I keep pushing them away. They come towards me, I push them away.” I said “what do you want me to do about it?” He said “I want you to break my arms.””
