emo

Many comedians deserve a newspaper's praise but only one comes on stage with a Joan of Arc bob, big buggy eyes and a voice that is quavering and quizzical – and as camp as the fields at Glastonbury. Emo Philips is a pith artist, really. He tells semi-surreal jokes so short and sharp that they make the audience jolt as well as laugh. Those who see the Chicagoan play the Edinburgh fringe this month will get plenty of proof of this, but many of his gags are known by people who have never heckled a stand-up in their lives. This is bound to have turned up in more than a few inboxes: "I ran three miles today, and finally I said, 'Lady take your purse.'" After winning his first major success in the 80s, Philips was often dubbed an alternative comedian, but his jokes are much cleverer, cleaner and funnier than that term suggests. He is the elder statesman of the one-liner : "I think my ex-wife had weekly lessons with the devil on how to be more evil. I don't know how much she charged him." Indeed, his comedic style could easily feature on Radio 4 (you might say it already does, so many British comics have ripped him off). His jokes are often informed by a sense of cosmic injustice that means all people are cursed with rotten luck. Rather than get angry about it, the Philips way is to coin cheery one-liners. "I saw an old woman changing a flat tyre, and I walked right by, like everybody else," goes one classic. "Then I thought what kind of person am I?
So I went back and said, 'Have a nice day.'"

Laughing Matters in Paris
proudly presented the man who put the chic in Chicago and the gel in Los Angeles
Emo Philips

Sunday 15, Monday 16 & Tuesday 17
September 2002

There's an endless line of Ed's and Eddie's, bags of Bill's and Byrne's, masses of Mick's and Mike's even reams of Rick's & Rich's but there is only one Emo and he's back with a whimpering bang and a new image for a new millennium.
He may have a new haircut, wardrobe and jokes, but otherwise little has changed. The familiar disturbed, strangulated delivery is still there, the same unhinged persona, the same pattern of disjointed gags. And the gags are what it's all about. Philips has been described by Jay Leno as the best joke-writer in America, and it would be hard to argue otherwise. His one-liners are perfection. The sheer beauty of their construction a joy to behold. Punchlines of dazzling brilliance that arise from nowhere, only to twist into something even funnier and unexpected. The craftsmanship is stunning. In these gems of one-liners, he sets demanding standards for any comic to achieve, and that even includes himself.
Mostly by Steve Bennett @Chortle.com

three men in a tub rhodes, philips & beer

now here's the rub