Carl Donnelly: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)
As a 40-year-old, I’m the generation that bridged the gap between the analogue and digital age. Because of this, I have quite an old-fashioned relationship with it. I’m hesitantly on social media (although I recently got locked out of Facebook and didn’t realise for two months, which will show you how little a part it plays in my life). I’ve opened TikTok a couple of times but then shut it as soon as I’d uploaded a video as it gave me a headache and made me feel like a creep.
Most of my choices come via YouTube, which I rarely go on other than when a friend sends me a link to something amusing or I want to watch an old music video. Basically, I don’t actually think I like the internet but have begrudgingly accepted there are often funny things on it.
1. “We’re just normal men”
Y’alright Cockers!! Here it is the original ‘Innocent Men’ clip with me and @LaurenLayfield no need to thank me... pic.twitter.com/P8TVKgvFgE
— Hacker T Dog (@HackerTDog) April 20, 2022
This is a new clip that went viral last week and I think I’ve watched it about 25,000 times since. It’s from a UK children’s television show where the puppet mentions an in-joke shared by the host and puppeteer and the results are one of the all time great bits of corpsing. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a dog puppet genuinely corpse. Enjoy!
2. Adam and Joe: the Queen
If you want to hear the funniest impression of the Queen ever then this is the video for you. It’s Adam and Joe at their best being a couple of very silly grown men.
3. Gary Busey attempts the Irish accent
This is a two minute clip from the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother 2014 where Hollywood actor Gary Busey is having a conversation about Scottish and Irish accents with a member of 1990s Irish girlband Bewitched. It’s one of the strangest conversations I’ve ever seen and I think in the last seven years I’ve watched it more than any other thing on the internet.
4. Limmy: “How American sports sound to me”
Scottish comedian Limmy is consistently one of the funniest people on the internet. He now spends most of his time doing very funny Twitch streams. Here’s a little clip of him driving a truck online and pretending to be various US sports commentators.
5. Mega64 - Shenmue
One of my old favourites. It’s a big guy re-enacting awkward chat scenes from the 1990s video game Shenmue. Needless to say, members of the public are not up to speed on the joke.
6. Norm Macdonald
Arguably the best talkshow guest of all time. We could pick any of a thousand videos but his shaggy dog stories told on Conan O’Brien were always a treat. Here’s one about being a bartender.
7. The entire Instagram account of Chet Hanks
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This is actually just the Instagram account of Tom Hank’s son Chet Hanks. I’ve followed him for some time, mainly because every time he posts I am more and more shocked that he’s the son of Tom Hanks. He’s a tattooed, inspirational quote- peddling chap who mostly posts videos of himself topless talking in an accent that doesn’t sound as if he spent more than a second of his childhood in the Hanks household.
8. Oliver Reed in the barber’s chair
I’m not quite sure how I ever stumbled across this bizarre, sinister interview of a drunk Oliver Reed from French television, during which he receives a hair cut and moustache trim while being aggressive and xenophobic towards his French interviewer. It’s a real hark back to a time where actors could be absolute maniacs and still maintain successful careers.
9. When the cinnamon challenge goes wrong
This is a video of the UK radio host Mike Parry attempting the cinnamon challenge where you have to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. He confidently decides to try it with a tablespoon and what happens is really excellent.
10. Brad Pitt speaks patois in Meet Joe Black
If you’ve never seen the film Meet Joe Black, then you’re in for a treat. Here’s three minutes of Brad Pitt speaking full Jamaican patois as the most handsome grim reaper ever to grace the big screen. One of the cringiest scenes in film history.
Carl Donnelly is performing as part of the Sydney Comedy festival at the Enmore theatre, 29 April – 1 May, then touring the country as part of the Melbourne International Comedy festival’s national roadshow.