The Comedy of Tim Minchin
While searching for some other video on YouTube, I stumbled upon comedian Tim Minchin. Minchin is Australian born, but living in England.
Early in his career, he wanted to be a serious recording artist (i.e., not a comedian). Later, he wrote some comedy songs and found them well-received, so he began doing more of them. Today, he’s known in several countries as a very clever, insightful, and (above all) funny guy. Tim is also a good singer and a talented piano player.
After hearing some of Tim’s YouTube performances, I located his web site and ordered his two albums on CD from England (that’s how much I liked what I heard). I’ve listened to them many times since receiving them.
Tim’s comedy usually has at least a couple of levels to it. On the surface there’s an obvious joke you can laugh at, but underneath it there’s usually a very insightful observation about how people live, think, interact, etc.
Since discovering him a few weeks back, I’ve added Tim to my short list of “favorite comedians”. Hopefully, after looking at some of the videos linked later in this article, you’ll agree with me that his comedy is fresh, interesting, and above all, funny.
His 2005 album “Dark Side” includes several of his best comedy songs, including (links below go to YouTube videos where you can hear each song performed):
- Inflatable You: A love song about a man’s passion for his inflatable girlfriend.
- Mitsubishi Colt: A beat poem about an encounter between Tim and a rich stock broker in a bar who thinks Tim is better off not being as rich
- Angry (feet): A poem Tim writes at the request of his therapist about his anger issues
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now: This is almost a serious song Tim wrote to his wife. I really enjoy listening to it, even when I’m not in the mood to laugh.
- Not Perfect: This is another “almost serious” song that I really enjoy listening to, about feeling insignificant in the world but accepting that neither he nor the world is perfect
Tim’s 2006 album “So Rock” features a number of great stand-up bits as well as musical numbers. In “London, Advertising, and Hippos” he talks about how he worries that he’s been with his wife since the age of 17 and if he ever had to enter the dating scene again it might be difficult. He worries that he and his wife might have “drifted” from the sexual norm “bit by bit” such that if he started to get intimate with another woman and “I get out the Mickey Mouse ears, and the jelly beans, a length of bungee rope, and the Hungry, Hungry Hippos” when she says “What are you doing? I thought we we just gonna make love.” This is when he finds that those implements don’t fit in with her picture of love-making.
Also in “So Rock” we find Tim’s warning to parents about how they should keep their children from becoming obese, his song about the dangers of being too open-minded, and another “semi-serious” song called “You Grew On Me“. This last song upset me when I first heard it because it reminded me of my late mother’s death from melanoma.
I’m looking forward to Tim doing a comedy tour in the USA and landing somewhere near me so I can go see him.
In the meantime, here are some other Tim Minchin bits on YouTube that I enjoy:
- “If I Didn’t Have You (Someone Else Would Do)”
- “If You Really Loved Me“
- “Tony the Fish” (about evolution and religion)
- Tim actually singing a serious song: “Hallelujah“
- Tim’s mime performance “So F*cking Rock” that is the inspiration behind the album name “So Rock”
- A song about envy and livestock
- A situation any straight man can identify with: “Lust (Outstanding Woman)“
- “Taboo” (a song about the language of prejudice)
- A sample of his stand-up comedy
There are lots more out there. The ones linked here are some of my personal favorites.