Dave Allen at Large

The best damn show to watch to make you just laugh so darn hard at all the jokes and the skits you feel like coughing up a lung. I miss watching this show and wish that I could find it somewhere on video.

"Because they missed the boat." Sayeth Dave Allen in one of his many riffs on religion and fables thereof. I watched Dave Allen imports from the UK throughout the 70s and 80s, and loved every minute of them.

I don't have too much to say about Dave Allen or his show, other than he was a comic genius. His vignettes, his stand up material where he usually sat in his chair on a stage before an audience as he delivered zingers and funny stories, it was all entertaining.

Unlike Benny Hill who did largely burlesque, Dave Allen's material was a little more high brow. His sketches and jokes didn't rely on sex nor body functions, and usually were just poking innocent fun at history and society as a whole.

There's nothing much more to add, other than don't think about his humor too much. Take it for what it is. Just love and laugh the legacy he's left us.

Enjoy.

Nice review from Rosabel - but it does seem that people from north America have a distorted view of Dave Allen. Yes, he started out telling traditional jokes, but his material evolved over the years and became increasingly observational, drawing on his own life. He was probably the first comedian to say on British television "Have you ever noticed that...?" Much as you may dislike modern comedians, he was a major influence on them - whether they realise it or not. He was certainly unique in that he straddled that gap between old and new. As for Benny Hill - it's an insult to Dave to even mention him in the same sentence. Dave was gentle - but he could be savage too, and his targets were usually people who deserved it. Much missed for his integrity and compassion. And for being funny!

If Benny Hill is the King of British Comedy, then Dave Allen is the Duke. He has a marvelous talent for combining mimmickry and mannerisms into telling stories, as well as a mind for creating the funniest sketches. Even without the scale of a Benny Hill size extravaganza, he creates the same level of humor. While Benny was always, can he do that, Dave was always, he did that ! His humor, though, of sex, drinking and religion might be too contoversial for today, but there's a lot less funny comics getting way with a lot more.

Gosh, I loved this show! It came on Canadian TV when I was a kid, and it was one of the highlights of my week. Dave Allen was an extremely skilled raconteur, and his show mixed comedy skits with standup (or, in his case, sitdown) comedy monologues. Unlike most present-day comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Allen mostly did not do self-referential humour. He told regular *stories* and typical jokes, but he did it so well, he leaves many modern, trendy comedians looking thin and cramped. His were stories about little old ladies going to mass, boozy men down at the pub, village priests and country gossips, all delivered in a captivating Irish brogue that could just keep you enchanted for hours. He's the sort of fellow you wish you had for a favourite uncle, who you could imagine holding forth after family dinners, leaving everyone in stitches with his mimicry and crazy tales. His stories and skits making fun of Catholicism and the Church were some of the best things he did, and remind me of a more innocent time, when the laughter wasn't as bitter as it is today.