Rhys Nicholson: 10 Things that make me laugh

10 July 2018

1) Broads

There is a particular type of older woman in show business that all gay men gravitate towards. Behind every gay man is a loud, powerful woman shouting “Sing out Louise”. You know the ones. They’re always described as “Brassy”. What does that even mean? My favourite is Elaine Stritch. She came from that era where everything she said is like a line out of a Noel Coward play. She makes me howl.

Rhys Nicholson

2) John Mulaney

Without wanting to sound like a weirdo, whoever we have guests staying at our house and someone asks “should we watch something?” My partner and I will almost always say “have you seen John Mulaney’s specials?”. I can’t pinpoint what I love about him. He’s razor sharp, fast paced, peculiar and also quite dishy. Wears the shit out of a nice suit. Yes please.

3) Nighty Night

If you don’t know, Nighty Night is a sitcom by Julia Davies. Look, it’s probably the darkest sitcom ever made. It’s a about a woman who convinces her neighbourhood her husband has died of cancer. She does this in an attempt to have an affair with her new next-door neighbour. I have watched it through about 6 times and it’s the greatest show. The end.

4) Farts

Look, they are very funny ok? People love to pretend they don’t find them funny. They can diffuse any situation. I bet Oscar Wilde found farts hilarious.

5) My friend Kyle.

I mean, you don’t know him, but he’s very, very funny. You’d love him.

6) A google image search of “Unusual animal friendships”

I shit you not, there is an owl that is best friends with a cat and a duck who hangs out with an otter. I’ve always thought if you were to get all the worlds leaders in a room and show them this, we’d have world peace. Unfortunately the UN is no longer returning my facebook messages.

7) Maria Bamford

She’s the reason I started doing stand up really.She’s just, perfect. A perfect stand up. Go now and watch everything of her’s that is available.

8) Videos of pubic marriage proposals not going well.

I know this one sounds cruel, but I challenge you to watch one of these on youtube and not laugh. I think I’m just fascinated by the gusto of it all. Why would you risk that in public? I proposed to my fiancé in the middle of the night while we were alone. That way if he said no I could wait until he fell asleep and wander into the ocean in a wedding dress. You know, being an adult.

9) Clips of school plays gone horribly wrong.

Holy shit. Guys, I can’t recommend this one enough. There are endless clips on youtube of this. Sets falling down, children throwing tantrums and in one wonderful production of Peter Pan, a backstage person pulling the wrong rope and a teenage boy is all green being flung across the stage unexpectedly. No one was hurt. Look. It. Up.