Ken Dodd vs Frankie Howerd vs Les Dawson vs Larry Grayson

[naughty boy]

Meh..Kept hearing about the supposed 'cleverness' of Dawson's comedy, but never saw much evidence of it myself.

People often talk about how well read he was - he wrote books and all that. Yet that has little to do with his work, and those jokes were pretty tiresome - even at the time.

but I have to say, I love the 'cream lagoon' bit here (from around 5:15) - just watch LD's face...

Howerd should be walking this poll.

I get the criticism that he was limited, but he made me laugh way more than the other three. I love those kinds of comics that create this ridiculous, larger-than-life persona (Grayson had it too but he wasn't as funny).

[Rayge]

Howerd and Dodd were both essentially performers – all of those oo-er missus things Howerd did were scripted – while Dawson was a writer as well, and it's his use of words I respond to. It's a bit of a left-field comparison, but he reminded me of Viv Stanshall (albeit without the Essex) in his delight in enunciation, especially of recherche vocabulary. I find that sort of thing amusing.
Victoria Wood was more chortle-worthy than all of them, though.

[naughty boy]

Julie Walters doing any Victoria Wood is pretty fucking fabulous.

[The Slider]

Larry Grayson
You are almost all completely mad

(interesting to note I'd picked FH just ahead of him five years ago)