Andy Parsons shares his comedy favourties
Andy Parsons arrives in Edinburgh on Monday for a two-week run of his new show, Bafflingly Optimistic, before heading off on a UK tour. Here he shares his Perfect Playlist of comedy favourites.
If I was marooned on a desert island with no luxury items and no sign of Lauren Laverne, these are the six comedies that I would quite happily watch on repeat – four films, one sitcom and a musical special.
The best alternative title in the history of film – ‘How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb’ – and contains Peter Sellers in three different roles, instead of the intended four roles which had included B52 bomber pilot and ‘H’ bomb straddler, Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong.
It mixes phenomenal technology with human stupidity, and given recent/current/prospective nuclear button guardians remains depressingly relevant 60 years on. You might even be able to see the BFI version, which includes the deleted pie fight ending.
The Pythons' masterpiece and ludicrous to think that it was banned by so many local authorities including mine, where I was growing up in Devon and Cornwall.
Also incredible that it would never have got made if it hadn’t been for one of the Beatles, George Harrison, stepping in at the last minute with financing after EMI pulled the plug.
Simply the best 'if you could live your life over again' script. I watched it again with my 11-year-old recently and we were both crumpled with laughter on the sofa.
When it finished, he wanted to watch it again from the start, partly because it’s brilliant and partly because it was getting close to bedtime.
One of the first films I watched repeatedly, would parrot the dialogue to anybody who would listen and was always very keen to try to order fried chicken and/or dry white toast.
Great music, some of the most destructive and expensive car chases in cinematic history, and a bunch of marching Neo-Nazis being forced to jump off a bridge into a river.
…specifically the finale to series 3, The Grand Opening, which culminates in two minutes of adlibbed expletives. If you ever found yourself on a desert island and a passing boat failed to spot your desperate waving, you could cheer yourself up by shouting after the disappearing ship ‘Cock, cock, jism, grandma, cock’.
If you were Stranded in the middle of nowhere, you’d want to watch this special self-filmed entirely during lockdown about a man struggling with, and overcoming, isolation. You’d also want keyboards, a headtorch and a glitter globe.
• Andy Parsons: Bafflingly Optimistic is at Pleasance Courtyard at 19:00 before heading off on a UK tour. dates
Published: 12 Aug 2023
Of course I like Friends… I’m a basic bitch at heart
Mainline Dibley’s saccharine rural English storylines into my veins
‘A very special show from a very special comic mind’
‘Activist art disguised as boob-filled musical comedy’
Nanette made me realise that a show doesn’t have to be an hour of just jokes
The weirdest sketch show I’ve ever seen
Gig of the day
Marcus Brigstocke: Cheese and Whine
Pleasance Courtyard
from 19:00 – 20:00
Book Now
Gary Faulds: Frontier
Perth Concert Hall & Theatre
Friday 18th Aug from 20:00Book now
Book Now
James Acaster: Hecklers Welcome
Glasgow Theatre Royal
Monday 14th Aug from 19:30 – 23:00Book now
Book Now
Dan Nightingale’s Special
Grimsby Docks Academy
Saturday 2nd Sep from 19:30Book now
Gig of the day
Paul Zenon in Monkey Business
Le Monde
from 14:30
Book Now
Jenny Eclair: Sixty Plus! (FFS!)
Cambridge Junction
Sunday 3rd Sep from 20:00Book now
Gig of the day
Sara Pascoe: Success Story
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
from 19:45
Book Now
Russell Brand: Bipolarisation
Chesham Elgiva Theatre
Saturday 2nd Sep from 19:00Book now
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