?

On Monday night we were treated to yet another RTE TV vehicle (or veh-hick-hell) for the successful Irish(y)/New York migrant comic Des Bishop. No one can accuse Des of failing to work hard at developing his act and establishing his career. I must admit a grudging admiration for his determination. But one thing you could not accuse him of is being funny.

The format of the show ties in the unquenchable desire (amongst TV execs) for reality TV with the televisual equivalent of the saxophone solo which often featured in Chart hits of the 80s. I’m referring of course to the usual slab of bland stand up comedy. Basically the idea behind the program is that Des hand picks several Ballymun based comic hopefuls from auditions tapes and then helps them through a series of comic workshops with the idea of turning them into bonafida stand-up comics in their own right. Yea, right.

Anyway, once they go through the initial workshops with Des they are handed over to an established comic who act as their mentors and finally they do a live gig. Whether they’ll get hurled with rotten tomatoes or hailed as comic genius’ is what we’re all waiting to see, eh?

Everyone wins in this scenario apparently. The salt-of-the-earth, down-at-heel, common-as-shellsuits Ballymun ghetto Dubs who participate, the already highly exposed Irish comics and of course, Des. Des wins big time. He’s doing a Jamie Oliver, bringing it back for the kids, or whatever. But what about the audience - the ones who are supposed to watch it? Will no one think about the audience?

This is perhaps the third program that Des has put together that follows in a kind of theme where he looks at Ireland from the bottom rung of the ladder; seeing things from the point of view of those who normally don’t appear in the Irish media. The first one I came across had him doing a Nickel and Dimed kind of deal where he had to work at loads of low-paid jobs ‘round the country, only surviving on the money he earned.

Good concept I thought, and if it provides fodder for his act then that’s fine. They showed bits from his shows he did after the program was recorded. They reminded me of those awful opening and closing segments in Seinfeld where Jerry would introduce a theme that was touch on in the show – more often than not they were the stale bread sandwiching the delicious meat of the show.

It was the style of thing that was satirized so well in the Simpsons when Homer patches in to Flanders cable and starts watching the Open Mike comedy shows. After watching a series of bland ‘dontcha just hate it’ routines about there never being any toilet paper in the loo he’s laughing hard and says ‘It’s funny ‘cause it’s true!’.

Then Des did it again, with a program where he hangs out with a load of travellers. Again, I was willing to give him some credit but it increasingly began to seem that he was just a comic tourist and that genuine people were being used as the rampart on which to launch a glittering career. He did a good impression of a ‘gouger’, a 12 year old kid constantly on the make, with a compulsive habit of looking over both shoulders when talking and avoiding all eye contact. He demonstrated the kids wiry, energetic body movements perfectly.

But Des’s type of humour in general has only ever been workmanlike. He’s a journeyman rather than a comic. It’s not sociological incisive enough to bring any truths to our attention and it’s not funny enough to justify the audiences huge guffaws. The laughter recorded at the shows sounds to me like a pre-recorded laugh track tacked on. But it’s the real audience’s actual merriment as they watch his live shows.

I should, however, make a disclaimer here. I admit I’m not funny myself. I fluff the easiest joke. When I try to be funny people literally walk out of the room. Just read some of the Cheap Laughs stuff on this site to see what a weak funny bone I have. I also don’t like stand up in general or rather I’m sick of the current all-pervasive trend. I love all the great stand up comic though: Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Woody Allen, Pete Cook, even Ross Nobel. When it’s done well, it’s brilliant and life affirming, even when its talking about nuclear disaster and death. But more often than not it’s done disastrously and Des is pretty close to the disaster end of the scale.

When I watched this latest program Des was able to cash in on the little credit I was able to provide him with. But it was already too low to last long. Then I saw the segment where he incorporated his impressions of Ballymun people into his live act.

Watching Des on this occasion was a bit like having your teeth drilled under anaesthetic. You can’t feel any pain and it’s not as bad as your thought it was going to be but still you’re getting pulled about vigorously against your will and you can’t wait for it to be over. Also, although there’s no pain now you know the discomfort is going to come back later. Des made some joke about the number of stripes on your runners being of some significance and I started to howl. ‘This is crap’ I said. ‘Then turn it off’, said my Wife. The laughter bank was now closed, Des Bishop’s credit had run out, so I did.

Update:

After writing this I realised that the supreme artist Clamnuts has already taken up the case.

LIST OF COMMENTS ....

	1. Written by Guest/Visitor     Thursday, 07 September 2006
You are quite correct Mr Donagh. Saw Bishop five or six years ago in the International Bar. He was not funny then, and is not funny now. However, he must give great hope to those of medium or no talent but plenty of perseverance. Stick at it, and you might just become famous. But my concern is for those of us who are supremely talented but who have no drive and no stickability. What will become of us? How are we to succeed? Talent alone is just not enough.

	2. Written by Guest/Visitor     Thursday, 07 September 2006
Maybe we, the supremely talented should mount a rampage and bring down these mediocre types who seem to be taking over. Are you with me, eh? Anyone? Oh what's the point, they'd probably win anyway. Better to just sit here and fume.

	3. Written by Guest/Visitor     Wednesday, 13 September 2006
What if some of those acts have gone on to have successful careers. Would you still have the same opinion.

	4. Written by Guest/Visitor     Wednesday, 13 September 2006
What is talent.