Funniest Britons Comedian Tommy Cooper has topped a poll of the funniest Britons of all time, according to Reader's Digest magazine. He beat the likes of Billy Connelly, Rowan Atkinson and Benny Hill to take the top spot in the 20-strong list. The fez-wearing comic, with his "just like that" catchphrase and bumbling manner, suffered a fatal heart attack during a live TV broadcast in 1984. Phoenix Nights star Peter Kay came second and Billy Connolly third in the poll of nearly 2,000 people. "Comedy fashions come and go but as far as the British public is concerned you obviously can't beat Tommy Cooper's classic one-liners," said a magazine spokesman. "For Cooper to still be so popular, even among younger voters, is incredible." TV duo Morecambe and Wise were fourth, followed by the late Bob Monkhouse, who died in December, 2003. The rest of the top 10 was made up almost entirely of old-timers - Ken Dodd, Roy "Chubby" Brown, Norman Wisdom and Les Dawson - though Lee Evans made it to number 10. Dawn French was the only woman to make the top 20, finishing at number 11, equal with David Jason. Eddie Izzard and Freddie Starr came in at the bottom of the list. 1. Tommy Cooper 2. Peter Kay 3. Billy Connolly 4. Morecambe and Wise 5. Bob Monkhouse 6. Ken Dodd 7. Roy 'Chubby' Brown 8. (equal) Norman Wisdom 8. (equal) Les Dawson 10. Lee Evans 11. (equal) David Jason 11. (equal) Dawn French 13. (equal) Jim Davidson 13. (equal) Rowan Atkinson 15. Benny Hill 16. Jasper Carrott 17. Lenny Henry 18. Spike Milligan 19. John Cleese 20. (equal) Eddie Izzard 20. (equal) Freddie Starr ---------- Load of bollox if you ask me. Just goes to show the sort of people that read the Readers Digest. To be fair, 2,000 people isnt that many anyway. How anyone can find Chubby Brown/Freddy Starr etc funny is beyond me! Eddie Izzard is way funnier.
Chubby Brown is 7th, it must just be me but i dont see how he is that funny to be honest, he has made a career out of saying beef curtains and being fat
Re: Funniest Britons This list is a joke, how on gods earth can Lenny Henry be voted funnier than Spike Milligan ??? and quiet frankly i have had funnier turds than Dawn French and Jim Davidson
As soon as i saw Spike Milligan at 18th the credability of the poll went up in smoke, he was a comedy genius R.I.P
The list is shit. There was a poll done like this about a month ago but voted on only by professional comediens and peter kay was voted most overated. He's shit. Have watched all his stand up and the pheonix nights and didn't laugh once. But have to agree Tommy Cooper is funny as fuck.
i laff at anythin! :laugh: but i do hav 2 say, i like peter kay, i dnt really like lee evans anymore. his voice dus my head in, n he sweats 2 much 4 me 2 laff much at him! :sick:
'that peter kay thing' and 'top of the tower' are the only funny things hes done to date... cleese + python, connolly, robinson + atkinson in blackadder are the only ones id bother with.. oh and stephen fry...
I dispise Roy 'Chubby' Brown. e was made famous by people in council houses laffing at him because he said swear words and rude things. He is The THICK C U N T S choice.
Peter Kay was utter gash on the Sunday show till he decided by cashing in on the 'working class upbringing cliche's' - he would become super famous. His top of the tower, and bolton albert halls dvd's are good stuff - but you gotta ask yourself how many jokes you can crack about Rola Cola and other working class 'gems'..... Needs a bit more variety in his stuff other than just observational humour with a very narrow focus. Is Chris Morris on there? He's a comedy Genius in my opinion - but im biased of course
