Battle of the First Night Stand-Ups

Richard Bacon (Radio Five Live, August 27, 2009) vs Sarah Palin (Tonight Show, March 2, 2010)

Varying levels of cringe arise from both first-time efforts (and, yes, some people in Palin’s Leno crowd seem overly keen to express their support, though no more so than your average please-reinforce-our-worldview Now Show audience) but I think she wins with the better gags and snappier delivery. The self-obsessed BBC presenter (and renowned Palin-hater) is simply dire. One-nil to the Barracuda?

Richard Bacon:

Sarah Palin:

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22 Responses to Battle of the First Night Stand-Ups

  1. Martin says:

    Richard Bacon is why I hate the BBC.

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  2. David Preiser (USA) says:

    And here people thought I was kidding when I said that Sarah Palin is the second-most hated female politician in history at the BBC.  Except she’s not even a politician now.

    How is she relevant at all to a British audience?  Why should any of you care what she says or does these days?  Or is it becoming some sort of collective societal memory?  I’m sure those with children are happy Bacon was canned from Blue Peter.

    If nothing else, even though Bacon has infinitely more experience in front of a microphone and speaking spontaneously, Sarah Palin has infinitely better timing and self-awareness.

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    • John Horne Tooke says:

      David – I agree, Sarah Palin has no influence in this country. I cannot vote her in or out of anywhere. But for the BBC this is not important. Bush has gone so the BBC need another “right-wing” hate figure to scare children and keep their socialists ideals alive.

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      • hippiepooter says:

        She’s a popular Conservative who tells it like it is.  She represents a danger of influencing people in this country, so the Left have to run a hate campaign against her.  Anyone they feel threatened by, anyone who stands up to them and speaks their mind, the only answer the Left has is hate and vilification.  They are morally and intellectually bankrupt.

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    • deegee says:

      It’s hard but not impossible to recycle Bush hatred now that he is quietly retired and Ronald Reagan died in 2004. Palin is a much more accessible and currently recognisable figure to mock.

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  3. Asuka Langley Soryu says:

    Richard Bacon is that annoying prick who used to sit next to you in Biology class and could never seem to learn to shut the f*ck up.

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    • Martin says:

      When I was at school turds like Bacon used to get beaten up on a daily basis, wrong I know but when you see them as adults you don’t seem to mind.

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  4. AndyUk06 says:

    Someone seems to have told Bacon that he should try and get some mileage out of his coke-sniffing past. Perhaps raise a few wry smiles from the audience.  A few minutes into his routine and it sounds tired and contrived already.  I really hate when politicians try to be liked by doing stuff like this, though Bacon sounds even worse than a pre-menstrual Palin.

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  5. L1A1SLR says:

    A mate of mine met him before he was famous – family connection sort of thing.

    My mate reckoned Bacon was an arrogant, spoilt little sod who thought the world should revolve around him. I doubt the cocaine use and ‘fame’ has made him any more likeable.

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  6. Daniel Smith says:

    I can’t say I found Palin too funny but Bacon’s routine was just lazy. He obviously thinks his life is so inherently interesting that just waffling will make an audience laugh. I could feel all audience sympathies draining away at his ill judged animal death train remarks.

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  7. Travis Bickle says:

    I couldn’t bring myself to push the play button of either of these two media whores.

    As for Bacon.  How long until the News of the World catch him on the sherbert again?  Not soon enough.

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  8. Jason says:

    I endured exactly 10 seconds of Bacon’s irritating BBC-brand accent before I had to switch the f*cker off. I HATE that voice and everyone who talks like him, which happens to be virtually every young presenter on the BBC. Yes I’m a northerer but no that doesn’t just mean I hate southerners…I love the cockney accent, love posh accents, but Bacon’s type is just HORRIBLE. Just reminds me of every cheesy Radio 1 presenter since 1980. And they’re all gay of course. I wonder who’ll be next to auto asphxiate himself. Hope it’s Bacon!

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  9. Jason says:

    OK so I’m back, having given the guy a second chance. Forget about his voice and concentrate on the comedy. Got to 2:45 before I couldn’t take any more. He was beyond awful. This guy is NOT a naturally funny person. His material is terrible, he has zero personality and crap timing. You could give this guy dynamite material and he would make an arse of it. Bring back the days when audiences were allowed to throw rotten fruit at arses like this.

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  10. Asuka Langley Soryu says:

    Well, I think Bacon is hilarious. Of course I’m laughing at him, not with him.

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  11. NotaSheep says:

    I made it to 2:26 of the Bacon routine before I lost patience, not a single laugh, very poor for a ‘professional’ broadcaster.  Sarah Palin’s performance was more of a gag-fest but she has timing and is not scared to poke fun at her perceived weaknesses.

    In the old days, Richard Bacon would have been gonged off in under 90 seconds, Sarah Palin would have made it to the end of her performance.

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  12. deegee says:

    Bacon would not be the first comedian who bombed at his first gig. What makes him think that his life is so funny?

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  13. piggy kosher says:

    The coke makes him think his life is so funny. And significant innit.

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  14. Travis Bickle says:

    I just pushed play.  That’s nine minutes of my life I would eat my own feet to get back.  Still, when the standup career fails he could have a good career in sign writing, if the predictability of his gags are anything to go by. 

    Or maybe studying the theory of relativity.  Because Richard ‘the snort’ Bacon has succeded in making 9 minutes last 9 days.

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  15. rainbow.64 says:

    Richard Bacon was severely beaten up in a pub toilet a few years ago, and one can see why. It’s almost worth taking up smack-peddling just to get an opportunity to finish the job.

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  16. D B says:

    Re. the beating up Richard Bacon references from a couple of posters. Any need? Sense of perspective, please.

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  17. Travis Bickle says:

    Yeah, it’s not violence he needs, it’s ejecting permanantly from any job that allows his big, fat lefty gob air time.

    Anyway hitting Bacon would be like beating a 4 year old girl.  This is his account of the beating:

    “I was in a defensive position on the ground, and I kept saying, ‘Whatever it is I’ve done, I’m sorry’. But that didn’t seem to get a reaction, so in the end I just screamed for help really loudly, and then he went.

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  18. hippiepooter says:

    Wow!  She was good.

    After nearly 4 mins of Bacon I had to turn off.  A rambling self-obsessed narrative.  Where was the comedy?

    I guess if Sarah Palin knew of this nonentity Bacon she might have said: “I go for McCain, he goes for Cocaine.”

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