Reginald D Hunter: ‘I’m sorry baby, I don’t eat funny food’
The funniest standup I’ve ever seen …
Patrice O’Neal’s Elephant in the Room. There wasn’t a wasted joke. A lot of comics, when a set is going well, we can be self-indulgent, and do some shit that we know only makes us laugh. But he didn’t do that. It was efficient. It was hilarious. About as high as the artform can go.
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The funniest sketch I’ve ever seen …
Saturday Night Live’s Eddie Murphy’s Buckwheat sketch. There’s a moment when a friend of his is mad at him, and Buckwheat said: “Uh-uh, it was supposed to be funny. It was a doke.” Ever since then, I refer to jokes as “dokes”.
The funniest book I’ve ever read …
Probably Bill Maher’s True Story, about life as a standup travelling-circuit comedian. I read it when I was still quite early in my career and I knew it was the truth, man.
The funniest TV show I’ve ever seen.
The Boys, the send-up about the superhero corporation. I don’t love violence, but it has the hilarious kind of violence I like, where someone will be making their point and then their head will explode.
The funniest film I’ve ever seen …
The New York Ripper. Now, it’s supposed to be a horror film but it is so bad it’s funny. It features this guy who, every time he’s killing a victim, he calls the police and he goes: “Quack.”
The funniest person I know ...
Glenn Wool – he’s known as “the comedian’s comedian”: he’s excellent onstage, but he’s triple worth the price of admission if you get to be around him offstage.
The funniest item of clothing I’ve ever owned …
The first outfit I ever bought myself. I was 14: it was swim trunks in a shiny acrylic blue, like Superman, with a matching fishnet shirt of the same colour. I was with my mama in the store and she said no. But Mama didn’t realise I had $20 of my own.
The funniest meal I’ve ever eaten …
I’m sorry baby, I don’t eat funny food.
The funniest hairstyle I’ve ever had …
Somewhere between 2008 and 2010 I was going through this phase where I was tying my hair up in two little braids, and they poked out like mouse ears. A lot of people still tease me about it – “Mouseketeers”.
The funniest number …
I guess the only number I’ve ever laughed at was the number eight. When I was a kid, they kind of looked like titties on a unicycle to me.
The funniest word …
Waxotic: it’s when everything you plan goes to shit and still works out anyway. It is not a real word. I invented it but I use it quite often.
The funniest joke (or doke) I’ve ever heard ...
OK, I will put my ass on the line here. Because this is a joke that’s hilarious to me, but nobody else finds funny. Nobody. So here goes. A dog walks into a bar, and the dog sits at the bar. And the bartender says: “What will it be?” And the dog says: “I’d like a martini with an olive, please.” And the bartender says: “A talking dog! You’d probably be able to get a job at the circus.” And the dog says: “Why, do they need an electrician too?”
Reginald D Hunter: Bombe Shuffleur is on tour 15 Apr to 13 Jun; tickets from mickperrin.com
