Who has influenced my style?
Where do the ideas come from?
The ideas that bounce around in my brain are born from a mixture of some very funny relatives, but also some well known figures both living and dead.
Here's a list of the key ones I can think of for now, and I strongly recommend you check out their work. It is notable that the living ones are all getting on a bit, suggesting I'm completely out of touch with Millennials and Gen Z, let alone Gen Alpha.
The Living
UK
Boothby Graffoe
Possibly one of the funniest men I've seen live - one particular late night unscripted gig at the Adelaide Fringe in the 1990s sticks in my mind as being the most electric performance live I've ever seen by a comedian. Check out his YouTube song 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' and you get the idea - sheer genius.
Boothby Graffoe - Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde - Songs From The Shed - YouTube
US
Rich Hall
If you get a chance to see Rich Hall live then jump at it - he's mastered the craft of stand up comedy and like Boothby Graffoe, combines music with an incredibly sharp wit. He appears every now and then on BBC 4 documentaries, but he's really in his element on stage with an audience, at his best reacting to the crowd in the moment.
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Spain
Sergio Aragones
Said to be one of the fastest cartoonists on the planet, his long running stint in MAD magazine and his epic character GROO revealed that simple character drawings can be incredibly appealing. I also really like his densely drawn scenes rich in details that require several visits to pick up everything that's going on.
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UK
Chris Morris
Making a splash with his still relevant TV shows like 'The Day Today' and 'Brass Eye', in which he pre-empted Ali G getting reactions from famous folk about his fake stories, I am even more a fan of his less well-known show 'Jam' (or 'Blue Jam' on Radio). A surreal and very dark set of sometimes incomprehensible skits - they stick a large pin in the bubble of the self-righteous.
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UK
David Renwick
This British comedy writer created the perfect TV series for me in 'One Foot in the Grave' which ran during the Nineties last century. I thought it was really daring to find hilarity in a childless 60 something suburban couple living an unremarkable life, where the lead character Victor Meldrew finds himself in repeatedly absurd situations. The cleverness of the farcical constructs is laugh out loud funny and I look back on that series with great fondness.
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UK
Nick Park
The founder of Aardman Animations, Nick Park's early characters of Wallace and Gromit were immediately appealing to both adults and children alike with their innocent idiocy and gentle humour. The simplicity of the design of the lead characters was very appealing to me - as was the team's ability to get so much expression from a plasticine face that is 70% a mouth.
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Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Train Chase Scene) - Bing video
US
Gary Larson
Back in the day when newspapers used to be a thing and comic strips were syndicated, the king of the one panel joke was Gary Larson. I particularly loved his animals realising their predicament, like the cow above.
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​The Far Side Comic Strip by Gary Larson - Official Website | TheFarSide.com
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UK
Alexei Sayle
I first saw his shouty, anarchic persona on the classic TV series from the 1980's 'The Young Ones' which as a teenager I was obsessed with. Everyone involved in that show was brilliant, but for me Alexei Sayle was the one who has continued to be relevant with shows like 'Stuff' and his podcasts for the BBC 'Alexei Sayle's Imaginary Sandwich Bar'. I love his well conceived stream of consciousness style of delivery, linking topics together that require real contortions of the mind.
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UK
Josie Lawrence
Something isn't quite right when you look at the top comedic / cartoonist influences on your style and find only one woman amongst nine of the remaining people alive. Not sure if that says something about me or the nature of the sectors. Maybe both. But Josie Lawrence, a multi-talented actor, singer and comedian, is one of the must-sees in the troupe known as the Comedy Store Players, on stage every Sunday evening off Leicester Square. She is simply brilliant and her ability (combined with the rest of the players) to riff off-the-cuff is inspirational. And I love how they try to avoid hackneyed sexual innuendo as too easy. Not that I've got anything against innuendo but it works better in very small doses.
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Film & Theatre Styles (telling him she's pregnant) - Whose Line UK - YouTube
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The Dead
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UK
Spike Milligan (1918-2002)
When people ask whom would you choose to have at your dinner table from everyone who has ever lived, Spike Milligan would be first on the list. The creative force behind the Goons, the 1950's radio show that was the genesis of alternative comedy, his zany sideways view of the world is what every comedian worth their salt aspires to. Naturally funny but also intensely hard working, he pushed the boundaries that paved the way for everyone else to follow.
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UK
Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)
Actor, writer, film-maker and UNICEF ambassador, Ustinov was a brilliant raconteur whose charm, erudition and wit were incredibly charismatic. He didn't overcomplicate his anecdotes and you felt comfortable that with Ustinov on your screen you were in for a great yarn. He belonged to a different era but was still able to appeal to all generations.
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France
Jean-Jacques Loup (1936-2015)
I first came across Loup in postcards when I was on holiday in Surfers Paradise in Australia in the 1970s and fell in love with his detailed colourful and whimsical pictures. Full of tiny unrelated vignettes pulled together under one theme (say the Forum of Rome for example, or an Ancient Greek village), I was captivated by each scene. I've tried to replicate at least one Loup style picture in every chapter of The Gospel Truth (albeit on a far less accomplished scale). I think they're great fun.
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Jigsaw Junkies - Artist Retrospective: Jean-Jacques Loup (puzzlewarehouse.com)
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France
Albert Uderzo (1927-2020)
There isn't really a better Bande Dessinee or comic graphic novel set to get you started in my opinion than Goscinny and Uderzo's Asterix series. Brilliant characterisation, wonderful drawings, and consistently high quality across the entire collection, this was the source from which as a youngster I repeatedly practised copying how to Uderzo's drawings. Targeting I guess 8 to 12 year olds, their charm is timeless.
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NZ
Murray Ball (1939 - 2017)
Growing up in the late 1970s in rural Australia on a farm with the least intelligent border collie sheep dog in the Southern Hemisphere, I was immediately drawn to 'Footrot Flats'. The series lasted over 20 years, but during the time I dipped into it I was engrossed with the narrative and adventures of the main character 'dog', who reminded me very much of our idiot pooch. The pacing and style of the cartoon strip were also influential in how I structured my own efforts.
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Australia
Norman Lindsay (1879 - 1969)
Although nothing like him stylistically, I loved his artistic contribution to the famous Australian children's book he wrote called 'The Magic Pudding'. And I also greatly admired his published cartoons in the national papers. He was a master of cross-hatching which I manifestly am not - and trying to copy him taught me early on that if you haven't got the natural talent, then don't waste your time trying a style you just can't replicate. Try something else that's more efficient.
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I suppose I also liked him because he drew or painted loads of sexy women with voluptuous bodies and slightly wicked eyes.
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Australia
Barry Humphries (1934-2023)
I am so happy that I got to see Barry Humphries on stage many times from the 1990s onwards, both in Australia and the UK. Most recently in 2022 on his final tour where at the age of 88 he delivered a wonderfully nostalgic and hilarious set explaining how he came to be the incredible performer he was. The stultifying boredom of suburban Melbourne in the 1950s that he parodied so well was pretty much the same as rural Australia in the 1980s, and his devilish wit reminded me of my own long dead relatives of his generation. He truly deserves the title of legend, even though in Australia this is a derogatory term I recall regularly being applied to me.
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UK
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
The funniest book I have ever read is 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', followed by the scripts to the radio series of the same name. Instead of the UK immigration test being some boring clap-trap about the somewhat rose-tinted history of Britain, I think everyone should just be made to read this book. His way with words, combined with his off-kilter way of looking at the world, make him another mandatory guest at the eternal dining table. If you haven't read this book, then you shouldn't be in any sort of position of responsibility - it's like not being able to count, a key gap in basic human knowledge.
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Douglas Adams' Last TV Interview More if you subscribe www.youtube.com/bartonbishoff - Bing video
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UK
Peter Cook (1937 - 1995)
A list of comedic influences without Peter Cook would be like cataloguing superheroes and leaving out Superman. Or Disney characters without Mickey Mouse. Or rock'n'roll stars without Elvis. Co-founder of Private Eye, still the most biting satirical magazine in Britain, and comedy trailblazer with the 'Beyond the Fringe' review in the 1960s, it is tragic that so little of his incredible talent has been recorded for posterity. A tiny glimpse of his genius for me will always be the 'Interesting Facts' conversation with John Cleese in the Secret Policeman's Ball. Check it out here.
Secret Policeman's Ball: Peter Cook and John Cleese 'Interesting Facts' - Bing video