Yuriko Kotani Wins BBC Best New Comedy Award

[Wage Slave]

Crikey - Well done her.



Listen here to the winning routine:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038n60h

[Coligny]

well...

just wonder how bad the other must have been...

[Russell]

Tongue in cheek...

[Tsuru]

But seriously though... Holy shit, a Japanese stand-up comedian? Who is a woman? That's like finding a fucking unicorn.

[Wage Slave]

Tongue in cheek...

Exactly - And nicely wry and pointed.

[Wage Slave]

well...

just wonder how bad the other must have been...

Not fair - She was good and with the help she'll get now, she'll definitely be one to watch.

[yanpa]

Damn, I'm married already.

Also: Frenchies critizing piss-takes is only marginally better than Krauts trying the same thing. (Wonderful people, the Krauts that is, by law all male university students must be able to recite Monty Python sketches from memory in English, but lousy at actually producing humour, except the one time ARD breakfast TV totally took the piss out of Big Brother with the aid of hamsters, that was kind of funny).

[Coligny]

Guys, ok, she got a vagina... but she's no George Carlin...

[chibaka]

Get's my vote, good for her.

[Coligny]

Moooooommm, everybody is ganging up against meeeeeee...

[Russell]

Moooooommm, everybody is ganging up against meeeeeee...

Only the Brits, that is...

[Wage Slave]

Moooooommm, everybody is ganging up against meeeeeee...

Only the Brits, that is...

And what do they know about creating new and original comedy?

[Coligny]

Moooooommm, everybody is ganging up against meeeeeee...

Only the Brits, that is...

And what do they know about creating new and original comedy?

Build a whole country under sea level...

Not as good comedy material as the way Brits lost their empire though...

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've heard a number of North American comedians say stand up in the UK is awful overall. This would support that claim. Americans and Canadians are definitely better at it.

[inflames]

I listened to the first half and couldn't listen to any more. She had something to work with but her delivery there is quite bad - she can't set up the story well, and her pacing when delivering it is terrible.

At least in the US, there is a high chance the PC police would have been over her as well.

[yanpa]

I've heard a number of North American comedians say stand up in the UK is awful overall.

I'm sure the reverse assertion is also true. Divided by a common language and all that.

[Wage Slave]

She had something to work with but .............

The idea is to choose someone as yet undeveloped but with originality and promise and then work with them to develop that promise as much as find someone previously unrecognised who is already almost a finished work.

[Wage Slave]

I've heard a number of North American comedians say stand up in the UK is awful overall.

I'm sure the reverse assertion is also true. Divided by a common language and all that.

Exactly.

[Wage Slave]

(Wonderful people, the Krauts that is, by law all male university students must be able to recite Monty Python sketches from memory in English, but lousy at actually producing humour, except the one time ARD breakfast TV totally took the piss out of Big Brother with the aid of hamsters, that was kind of funny).

As always, the exception:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_Wehn

I think they think Yuriko has a similiar potential.

[Russell]

I listened to the first half and couldn't listen to any more. She had something to work with but her delivery there is quite bad - she can't set up the story well, and her pacing when delivering it is terrible.

At least in the US, there is a high chance the PC police would have been over her as well.

Yep, I couldn't get through more than half of it.

It was basically complaining about the UK and saying how much better Japan was.

But then again, the trains in the Netherlands don't run on time either.

Ahum...

[wagyl]

A previous winner of the prize is Nina Conti, the ventriloquist with the Scottish granny puppet Russell enjoyed.

[Yokohammer]

Yep, I couldn't get through more than half of it.

It was basically complaining about the UK and saying how much better Japan was.

Not at all. You really should listen to the whole thing.

She has a very British approach to humour, if you like that sort of thing (I do), which I guess is why the audience is loving it and she won the award.

In time people might tire of the novelty (i.e. British style humour from a Japanese person), but not many British comedians manage to make a solid lifelong career out of it either. I suppose that would apply to American comedians as well.

[yanpa]

(Wonderful people, the Krauts that is, by law all male university students must be able to recite Monty Python sketches from memory in English, but lousy at actually producing humour, except the one time ARD breakfast TV totally took the piss out of Big Brother with the aid of hamsters, that was kind of funny).

As always, the exception:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_Wehn

Yeah, but it's telling he had to go into exile to develop his career

[Russell]

Yep, I couldn't get through more than half of it.

It was basically complaining about the UK and saying how much better Japan was.

Not at all. You really should listen to the whole thing.

She has a very British approach to humour, if you like that sort of thing (I do), which I guess is why the audience is loving it and she won the award.

In time people might tire of the novelty (i.e. British style humour from a Japanese person), but not many British comedians manage to make a solid lifelong career out of it either. I suppose that would apply to American comedians as well.

OK, I'll promise to listen to it whole when I am bored.

Maybe I'll eventually change my mind.

[wagyl]

Damnit, it looks like I am the only one who has locked down Flash so tight that I can't get the audio on BBC radio to play. For some months now I thought that they had started region-blocking their audio.

[Wage Slave]

Just for a bit more national stereotype piss taking:

[Yokohammer]

Yep, I couldn't get through more than half of it.

It was basically complaining about the UK and saying how much better Japan was.

Not at all. You really should listen to the whole thing.

She has a very British approach to humour, if you like that sort of thing (I do), which I guess is why the audience is loving it and she won the award.

In time people might tire of the novelty (i.e. British style humour from a Japanese person), but not many British comedians manage to make a solid lifelong career out of it either. I suppose that would apply to American comedians as well.

OK, I'll promise to listen to it whole when I am bored.

Maybe I'll eventually change my mind.

You might have misunderstood me.

I'm not saying that you'll like it if you listen to the whole thing. That's a matter of personal preference.

What I am saying is that she's not just "basically complaining about the UK and saying how much better Japan was," which becomes obvious when you listen to the whole thing.

[Russell]

Just for a bit more national stereotype piss taking:

Piss taking is fine, but this is not even original.

[matsuki]

Her material/delivery needs some refining but for clicking with "Japanese comedian" expectations, I thought she was pretty good.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've heard a number of North American comedians say stand up in the UK is awful overall.

I'm sure the reverse assertion is also true. Divided by a common language and all that.

It's not. A lot of American and Canadian stand ups do well in the UK but the reverse isn't true. I'm not talking about the superstars in either market because those are the exceptions. I'm talking about people who just do stand up for a living. I think it's partly (mostly?) because The US/Canadian stand up scene is a lot bigger so there's more of a chance to develop your material and you can actually make an OK living as a stand up without becoming an Eddie Izzard or Louis CK. I've heard British (and Australian) comedians say in interviews that unless you really make it there, you have to have a job and do comedy on the side as a hobby. A lot of working comics in North America only do comedy. It means being on the road all the time but that's the nature of the business.

Her material/delivery needs some refining but for clicking with "Japanese comedian" expectations, I thought she was pretty good.

I don't think she's bad for a new comedian. I was just surprised she won that competition. The question is can she develop material beyond the Japan vs. UK shtick. She'll probably need to if she wants to continue being a comedian for long.