Ah, yes, it's polls again, that recurring malady which is so deeply instilled in the heart of Britons, it's just irresistible, you cast your vote, and then, when the results come out, you bitterly complain about those bloody idiots and what do they know, really?

As questionable as any, of course, five years ago Channel Four (would you ever have guessed... ) did a poll among 300 comedians and assorted humourists from both sides of the Pond in order to elect the Funniest Man That Ever Lived, or, the Comedians' Comedian.

Here's the result...

1 Peter Cook
2 John Cleese
3 Woody Allen
4 Eric Morecambe
5 Groucho Marx
6 Tommy Cooper
7 Laurel and Hardy
8 Billy Connolly
9 Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
10 Richard Pryor
11 Chris Morris
12 Tony Hancock
13 Bill Hicks
14 Peter Sellers
15 Steve Martin
16 Ronnie Barker
17 Steve Coogan
18 Charlie Chaplin
19 Eddie Izzard
20 Paul Merton

Now, I'm sure we'd all have some personal nits to pick, here...

Eric Morecambe funnier than Groucho Marx? Not only Reeves & Mortimer, but even Steve Coogan funnier than Charlie Chaplin? Buster Keaton not even in the first 20?

YOU MUST BE JOKING...

But what really leaves me dumbfounded, once again, is how on Earth does Eddie Izzard manage to creep into ALL of these polls? Bribes the panel seems the only reasonable answer to me...


Now, I thought, I'm a collector, I just LOVE making lists, what I don't like much is put the lists in order, I really can't make my mind up about ONE BEST comedian, so I made a list of folks I consider to be "Giants" of British comedy, to be commented on, added to and possibly taken out of, in order to make a list of candidates for a poll of our own, I seem to understand we already have the forum "tools" for that, don't we, Rogue?

Well, here's my British Giants (in... appearing order… more or less)

Alastair Sim
Margaret Rutherford
George Cole
Peter Sellers
Terry-Thomas
Kenneth Williams
Sid James
Spike Milligan
Eric Sykes
Tony Hancock
Hattie Jacques
Frankie Howerd
Peter Cook
Dudley Moore
Ronnie Barker
Marty Feldman
John Cleese
Michael Palin
David Jason
Leonard Rossiter
Billy Connolly
Rowan Atkinson
Stephen Fry
Hugh Laurie
Rik Mayall
Adrian Edmondson
Dawn French

I cant stand Woody Allen but some how he is considered funny by so many.

I remember seeing some of these polls on tv and it appeared that by 'comedian' they often referred to comedy actors too, which is not the same thing. A dramatic actor who has a hit comedy is not a comedian (unless of course they are writing themselves).

However, I should imagine those TV lists are delierately controversial because if they were all totally predictable, who would watch them?  They would quickly become boring, so no doubt this 'public voting' has somewhat 'creative' results.