My Favourite Comics Top 5 list has evolved over time but Gary Gulman’s always been on it, and he’s been my favourite comic for as long as I’ve been a comedian myself.

The list changes slightly from year to year. My favourite comics ten years ago probably reflected who was expressing my unspoken feelings at the time, or possibly represented the kind of comedian I thought I might be if/when I started.

Before I became a stand-up comic and learned about the craft the comedians I was impressed by were different to the ones who inspire me now that I actually understand the mechanics of what they do. Since I’ve had an inside appreciation of comedy, Gary Gulman’s been the benchmark top comic I emulate.

I enjoyed his debut album, 2005’s Conversations With Inanimate Objects (that’s the cover at the top of the page) but it wasn’t the style of comedy I was typically attracted to. It was observational and absurdist, didn’t particularly challenge my worldview, but Gary Gulman’s mastery over words, comic structure and delivery shone through.

Subsequent releases got more personal and communicated more point-of-view, while still demonstrating his command of comedy writing and performance. After his depression got the better of him and culmintated into an on-stage breakdown that’s pretty hard to watch, he eventually released a special which is part documentary called “The Great Depresh” where he addresses mental health as well as perform his comedy.

I could go on for ages but the punchline is basically that I’m 100% a Gary Gulman fan. He crafts bits better than anyone else I’ve seen, and he just gets better with time. His bits reflect mastery of both writing and performance.

One of the wonderful things he did was spend a year tweeting a comedy tip every single day, and they’re all great advice for comics. There’s more gold in Gulman Tips than you’d find in many of the expensive comedy course out there.

I tried to pick out a few choice examples but I ended up wanting to pick them all, so it’s better if I just leave the link to the whole collection. The link is below:

All 365 of Gary Gulman's Tweet-Sized Writing Tips for Comedians, Open-Mic'ers, Writers, Humans

Enjoy and learn from them and watch The Great Depresh if you get the chance because it’s awesome as a documentary as well as a solid stand-up special.