Survey reveals North is top of the class for comedy

Nov 22 2009 Sunday Sun

A NEW survey has found Southerners admit they aren’t as funny as Northerners. KIM CARMICHAEL looks at how the region won the comedy crown . . .

“As a Northerner who edits a magazine that is loyal to all England, I have to remain unbiased, but the North East certainly has a rich history of comedy.

“The comedian Jimmy James is a favourite of mine, and he was from Teesside.

“Also, there is Rowan Atkinson, who is from County Durham and, more recently Ant and Dec.”

However, the Lancashire lad still thinks the South has a lot to offer in the comedy stakes.

“There are some funny people from the South, obviously,” he said.

“I think Michael McIntyre is the most popular comedian of the moment and programmes like Peep Show do very well.

“It’s interesting to see the results of the survey and really very surprising.”

The survey spoke to 1,040 adults in England last month.

Participants hailed from all over the country, including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Southampton.

It was found that just 3.8% of Northerners think that southerners are the funniest and 12.9% of southerners think they are the most humorous.

The news might come as no surprise to the people of Newcastle, the city that brought the world Viz comic and gave the backdrop to hit television shows Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and The Likely Lads.

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, the comedy-drama series about a group of seven British migrant construction workers living and working on a German building site, met with great acclaim in the 1980s.

The show followed the success of The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, which depicted the friendship of two working-class young men, Terry Collier, played by James Bolam and Bob Ferris, played by Rodney Bewes.

Also on the list of comedy heroes are Ant and Dec.

The duo found fame after their career was launched following a stint in teenage drama Byker Grove.

Tim Healy, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and Jimmy Nail also count among the region’s comedy greats, as well as Laurel and Hardy star Stan Laurel, who lived in North Shields.