FunnyBones
To kick off our coverage of the Glasgow Comedy Festival, Brian Donaldson takes a peek into the wonky world of HARRY HILL. Is he trotting out the same old stuff or is he comedy’s most surrealistic thoroughbred?
uring his former life as a medic in a
sotrth London hospital. Harry Hill often
performed electric shocks with a defibrillator on patients who were nearing their end. He got to shotrt ‘clear‘ and everything. Seems though. that this method of resuscitation more often than not didn't work. leaving rrrany patients dead on his table. Hill's arrival on the British comedy scene in I992 was also something of a bolt from the blue. He looked unlike anyone who ever walked on a stage: though if you wanted to get Doc Frankenstein on
the case. you could create a scary merging of
liric Morecambe's specs. Les liacts' pocket pens and Max Wall's footwear. With his ludicrously large collars. a domed head just about emerged. blinking. grimacing and repeating phrases over and over again like some obsessive compulsive with a dash ofAl)Hl) thrown in.
Then again (back to the fatal surgery analogy). his material could also leave you stiff and cold as you wonder why a grown man is playing with a small puppet cat (called Stotrffer) for the sole purpose of doing bad ventriloquism or rhyming Malawi with Zeinab Badawi. While David Letterman may have dubbed him ‘Britain‘s funniest comedian‘ (not sure how often Dave gets down to the Vault to check out the opposition. mind) having deemed him worthy enough to appear on his show six times — a clear record for a UK stand-up — and David Bowie asked him to perform at Meltdown in 2002. the general public can be somewhat less kind. ‘The least funny man since King Herod.‘ screamed one punter on the Chortle website message board. ‘Go back to being a doctor. at least that way someone might feel better for seeing you.‘ the anonymous poster continued. I‘ve yet to hear what Morrissey had to say about Harry Hill‘s stirring version of ‘This Charming Man’ on Stars in Their lives.
The diagnosis on Harry Hill (nee Matthew Hall) is that audience opinion is dissected straight down the middle. But how can you not
love a man who puts so rntrclr effort into his craft‘.’ ‘lirom a factory in (iermany. l‘ve tracked down a set of 25 bulb-horns that go over two octaves.‘ he confesses of his preparations for current show Hooves. ‘So in the second half. I'm planning to do a horn disco. The only problem is. the horns are extremely lotrd. and as we had a baby in the summer it‘s been very difficult to practice at home.‘
And the dedication to his review of the w eck' show Y'l' Burp is also utterly commendable. “It‘s quite a painful process because there is no limit to the amount you can watch. livery week. I get in over a hundred tapes. and there just aren't
enough hours in the day to watch them all. If
you’ve got workaholic tendencies. you can always say. "Yeah. I've got an hour to spare. I'll
watch another ll’i/e Siva/r." It‘s very boring for
my wife. She sits in the kitchen a lot of the time.‘ That Mrs Hall has it tough. doesn’t .she'.’
‘I'M ORGANISING A GAME OF INTER- SPECIES SWINGBALL'
But a ftrnny thing has happened along this raucous road. From being (‘hannel 4‘s Mr (‘ult in l‘)‘)(). dragging Burt Kwouk back into the public consciousness and giving the first telly
exposure to Al Murray (as his goofy big brother
Alan). he is now lTV‘s [Inashamed Mr Light Entertainment. Alongside 'I'l' Burp. he has cemented this status with the glib confetti of chat
he provides over images of children falling off
their bikes and into park benches where old ladies are sitting with large hot drinks. for You 'i'e Been Framed.
And yet. the odd thing is that his material. delivery. image and public profile have remained virtually constant. Whereas Johnny Vegas' poignant and pungent stage act is. in actuality. a million rnatrdlin miles away from anything you've
him do on TV. Hill's small screen performances have always been microcosms of the stuff he cranks out in his live set. When you hear that he's planning on knocking tip a medley of songs. including White Stripes. Herb .v\lpert and the theme from xlllfllltll Hwy/trial. it sounds odd at first btit when yotr try to ptit yourself into the mindset of Harry Hill. it all makes perfect sense.
One thing appears certain: he has absolutely no intention of dc—surrealising his act. 'l'nr organising a game of inter-species swingball.‘ he states as ftrrther evidence when chatting about HHHl‘l’.\. 'l invite a member of the audience on stage to take on .-\bu the Hamster. He‘s only got one paw. l flag it up as a test of self—esteem: “(‘an you beat a one-handed hamster at tennis?” If they shy away from playing against the hamster. there's a bee they can challenge. The irony is. the bee is actually bigger than the hamster. It‘s a hot-water-bottle cover I got in the chemist‘s last week for WWI
What with all these rodents. equities. insects and general obsessions with cats and dogs. rather than rnisspending his youth treating the human species. he really should have been a vet. Among his previous show s have been /-'/i'ev (for w Iriclr he won the l’errier Newcomer in l‘)t)2). [tin/strike tllttl llt/r/ IIUI'.\('.\. l'iootl is another lttotili ['2ng had trs cracking tip in lidinburgh I‘M} while his debut on TV a year later was his set of sl\ black and white shorts. Hurry" IIt/l'y l’ruit I'ttm'rey. We're not quite sure where Sta/rm 2000 (in fact. from NUS) fits into the titular templates.
But the secret to his success probably lies in a total inability to sit still (creatively and. probably. literally). 'Stand-up can get monotonous. I get fed tip with the sound of my own voice droning on. I like to give my shows more of a variety feel.’ He may be the largely inoffensive face of Saturday teatime ITV. btit Harry Hill is still a shock to the system. (lllft'l'l‘lt’lt' Irv .lunrey err/rton)
\L‘L‘H
King’s Theatre, Sun 20 Mar. Hooves returns to the same venue, Sun 9 Oct.
For ex-medic Harry Hill. laughter has proved to be a fine medicine. Which of these comics might wander into the surgery for advice?
Daniel for a course of anger Bob Doolally He gets Kitson The management. The Stand. through a bottle of voddy With sensitive Mon 74—Wed 76 Mar. each show as he muses on Yorkshireman Joan Rivers Scottish football. May, be that's famously With a nip the only way to get through the arrived as the here and a memories of finest comic in the circuit with tuck there. Wemblev
a severe stammer. There's no cure for raw genius. but considering the way he treats an audience he doesn‘t take to. he could be a candidate
Joan raises more Spirits with than her surgeon has lifted inches on her face. Theatre Royal. Wed 76 Mar.
Argentina 78 and Graeme Souness' mouser 77—92. UNIVQTSQL Fr; 78 8 884' 79 lA/ic’il’.
recalling the time when Fred had to conduct WISE/£9318 for the McCo/st 8 MacAu/ag. entertainment show .‘Jl‘lle on Crutches. A tennis injury. apparently. T'cr‘. Fri .78 Mar.
Fred MacAulay NO rubbish Jokes atmut hair loss here.
are slrripl.
Bill Hicks You (torft get rriorr; lll‘lllfijll/ challenged Tllrtl‘ being dead. but it's arguable that ,Ull'll set: HO l1‘:i'.‘;t
{,Olll‘flllal; at
the TQ‘AII xal ' than old ( vat A: 80/ Hill) a double bill screening of lll‘; Relentless and Re/e./atzorit. barnstorrners. OFT. he 22 f/l'ar.
’z—‘ " l/‘a' THE LIST 15