Harry Hill

A common misconception is that his name is actually Harry Hill, but it's not. He's called Matthew Hall, and Harry Hill is just his stage name. Brain surgeon turned comedian Harry Hill's been around for a fair while now, but it's only now that he's really tapped into the mainstream, and he really does deserve it. He's become so recognisable mostly because of 'TV Burp' (since 2001?!) and partly thanks to 'You've Been Framed'. I began watching TV Burp probably about 6 or 7 years ago, and I found it hilarious every week. It was scheduled at a rather awkward time though, if I remember correctly; at about 5 o'clock on a Saturday, so I could never convince the family to watch it as mum was preparing our meal (as usual...) and my dad and brother couldn't be arsed, presumably. Then the show got moved to a prime-time slot, and the viewers began to really pour in. He's managed to find a really clever but ever so simple blend of family friendly humour, with (at times) some more subtle, risky, adult undertones. Yes, since becoming more popular I do feel he has become less funny (for me personally) as unfortunately his material is becoming more geared towards the many simpletons of our beloved nation, but I still find it hard not to laugh at many of his programme's moments. Mocking bad TV is simply a funny thing to do, and I think it's something that could go on for a long time to come. As for You've Been Framed? Well, that's on its last legs for sure. The show has completely lost it (I'm not sure if it ever had 'it') - there's only so many times I can watch a man fall over whilst dancing, or a cat jumping into a window. In fact, I'm not too sure if it was ever really funny in the first place. Regardless, Harry Hill still does enough with his voice-over work to make the show slightly entertaining at least. On top of these, there's a couple of particularly interesting things that Harry Hill has been up to recently. He's got his own mini internet series, and boy, is it strange. Seriously. I've seen many many strange things in my time, but this is something else. It reminds me of a cross between TV Burp and Weebl's Stuff in terms of its style, and it's actually pretty funny. It lacks high production values, and it's certainly not something that everyone will 'get', but for a free web show, you really can't complain. It's good fun. Then there's a recently released album (yes, an album), which I can only wildly assume was made to have a stab at the massively cramped Christmas market. Titled 'Funny Times', it's had a pretty quiet landing. Funnily enough, I hadn't actually heard of this until I bought it for my mum for Christmas as a spur of the moment purchase. It's a risk, I know, but now after listening to it the whole way through, I'd say there's a pretty good chance that she'll enjoy it. I'm very impressed indeed actually. It's hit and miss, definitely, but it's genuinely quite funny at times; and it's quite astute in its statements. It's also easy to listen to and pretty catchy - not something that I expected to say. It certainly won't be an album that you'll stick on repeat, but I think it's got a broader scope than just 'listen to it once and put it away, never to be touched again' despite what the opening track jokingly suggests. If I was a professional reviewer, I'd give it a 6 or a 7 out of ten. But I'm not. So I won't. But here's the dilemma I'm currently facing.

I like TV Burp, but I also like Funny Times

But which is better?

There's only one way to find out...