A
buzzword (or, more accurately, “buzzphrase”) from
1980s Britain which, along with “yuppies”,
“Thatcherism” and “le Bon”, has little relevance
in the informationsuperhighwayover-
loadedhighbandwebconnectedBlairBritaingirlpowered-
NewLaboured 21st Century. This can, in part,
be attributed to the fact that many of the alternative
comics from the 1980s are now the comic mainstream in
this new Britain.
Legend
tells us that alternative comedy was born in Soho’s
seedy Comedy Store, a club at which many of the
country’s worst comedians could perform - and get away
with it because they were doing “something new”.
Indeed, in many instances, traditional
build-up/punchline structure, and weary monologues about
golfing and mother-in-laws were done away with
altogether. In their place were sprawling rants about
pooing and wee wee – and in the case of the female
comics, endless routines about period pain – all
peppered with liberal amounts of swearing, seemingly
inserted into an act in order to make the performer
appear cutting edge and radical. The Tory stranglehold
on Britain provided material for many an alternative
comedian.
Many
became so incensed by Thatcher’s evil empire that they
would often forget entirely their pre-rehearsed
routines, and use the stage to promote their socialist
ideals. One such “alternative” comedian was angry
young socialist Ben Elton (now played by TV’s Mark
Thomas). In the mid-80s, having “made it” as a
stand-up, he got the gig fronting Channel 4’s comedy
showcase Friday Night Live. Unfortunately Elton, not
understanding his role as light-hearted host, repeatedly
used the show to criticise the government. On one
occasion he turned his attentions to The Daily Star for
featuring a semi-naked 15 year-old Page 3 girl who,
they’d promised, would whip her tits out upon her 16th
birthday. Fine sentiment, Ben: wrong venue for it.
Years
before, clearly sensing something of an emerging trend,
the BBC had hung out at the Comedy Store, and invited
some of the better performers in for a coffee.
The
result was The Young Ones, a surreal and almost
controversial BBC2 sit-com about house-sharing students,
watched almost exclusively by under-15s who’d never
before heard swearing on the television. It starred
double act Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall as punk Vyvian
and poetry-spouting virgin Rick, along with Nigel Planer
as hippy Neil, tage
actor Christopher Ryan playing Mike Thecoolperson (after
Planer’s comedy partner Peter Richardson dropped out),
and Comedy Store mainstay Alexei Sayle dropping in once
or twice per episode to deliver a desperately unfunny
monologue. The show’s cameos read as a veritable
who’s-who of British comedy, with guest appearances
from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, French and Saunders,
Her Who Married Kenneth Branagh, and dozens more who
you’d recognise from down the DHSS. Written by Elton,
Mayall and his then-girlfriend Lise Mayer, watching The
Young Ones today is a painful experience (nevertheless,
the high point of mid-80s comedy was the Comic Relief
charity extravaganza, at which a bewildered and clearly
distressed Cliff Richard – dressed in red leather -
was forced to perform with The Young Ones cast having
just witnessed Rik Mayall pledging to “get my cock
out”. “I think tonight that I’m the
alternative,” sobbed a quivering Cliff).
Over
the course of the decade alt-com evolved. Harry
“Loadsamoney” Enfield – though admittedly, never
really part of the Comedy Store crowd – stereotyped
Greeks with the Xenophobic Stavros, and pre-dated
Changing Rooms’ convicted DIY burglar Handy Andy by
about 15 years with Loadsamoney. In 1989, however,
Reeves and Mortimer more or less killed alternative
comedy by proving that you didn’t need to swear and be
political and rude as an alternative to mother-in-law
jokes. You just spouted shite about putting rabbits
under a petri dish.
For
all their foul-mouthed socialist fury the alternative
comedians of the early 1980s have become part of the
establishment. Following a stint as Terry Wogan’s
stand-in, Ben Elton has gone on to be a
multi-millionaire author and playwright, Mayall and
Edmondson an increasingly unfunny partnership, reprising
their Rik and Vyvian act ad-infinitum with the dire
Bottom, Nigel Planer voiced Magic Roundabout, Dawn
French married the non-funny, adulterous pillar of
British comedy Lenny Henry, Jennifer Saunders married
Edmondson and has carved a million pound fortune for
herself with Absolutely Fabulous, while Hugh Laurie is
“wowing Hollywood” with roles in kiddie movies like
101 Dalmations, The Borrowers and Stuart Little…
Mercifully, Alexei Sayle has been removed from
television screens altogether.
There
is no longer an “alternative comedy”. For better or
worse, there is merely “comedy”. And whichever way
your tastes turn, there’s still nothing funnier than
seeing that clip of an elephant doing a poo on Blue
Peter…
And
then he did a wee and they all fell in it! Ha ha ha! Do
you see?
