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Other / Miscellaneous PressThe 50 funniest comedians of the 21st century

On the eve of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, our critics pick the defining stand-ups of the century so far, from Fern Brady to Billy Connolly

By Mark Monahan in The Telegraph Posted on Saturday, July 29th, 2023

This list is a bit of a joke. This sort of list always is. Rank the 50 best anything – novels, crisps – and people start ­fuming. “Why isn’t Middlemarch #1?” “How dare you snub Wotsits?”

Comedy is, as any fule kno, ­subjective. Stand-up is a broad church, taking in character ­comedy (the Pub Landlord) and musical ­parody (Bill Bailey). But we had to set limits somewhere, so ruled out troupes and groups (sorry, Pappy’s; farewell, Flight of the Conchords).

This is not a list of the funniest sitcom actors, scriptwriters or podcast hosts. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s play Fleabag was a hilarious piece of theatre, and a ­terrific 12 episodes of television, but it wasn’t a stand-up comedy gig.

We bent our own rules slightly to acknowledge recorded shows made in lockdown – that awful moment when a laptop became the closest thing to a comedy club. But ­otherwise, this list is based purely on shows four comedy ­junkies have seen (and loved) since the turn of the millennium on stages across the UK, in pubs and clubs, attics and basements, ­community centres and West End theatres. The UK has the world’s best live comedy circuit, and we wanted to celebrate it.

2. Stewart Lee

Lee is the internecine, meta-minded sourpuss of stand-up, never ­happier (if that’s the word) than when mercilessly ripping other ­comedians, audiences and, for that matter, The Telegraph to shreds. I fondly (if that’s also the word) remember an hour at the Edinburgh Fringe spent squirming quietly in my seat as, well aware that I was “in”, he tore into this august ­publication – along with people who’d come because they’d seen him on the telly (hates them) and his loyal fans (“cackling sycophants”).

As those jibes suggest, the 55-year-old Shropshire native is also brilliant: there’s a magnificence to his point-blank refusal to ingratiate himself, great subtlety in the comic stances he takes, spectacular imagination and variety in his material. He’ll probably despise us even more for not putting him in first place. MM

Written by Mark Monahan in The Telegraph on 29th July 2023. Filed Under: Reviews
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