Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian


Dave Allen was a comedian of Irish origin. He was a very funny guy, doing both standup and sketch comedy and I have linked to clips from his shows before. He was a master storyteller who died in 2005 at the age of 68. In May of this year they released a one-hour long documentary of his life. I discovered that he was also a serious actor and documentarian as well.

Allen attended Catholic schools but became an atheist and had a lot of fun at all the foibles and hypocrisies of the church, offending many people along the way. I was impressed at what British television was willing to show in the 1960s and 1970s. He would end his shows with “Good night and may your god go with you” which initially sounds like a standard benediction but then you realize that the inclusion of the ‘your’ makes it possible to interpret it as being quite irreverent.

Here is a compilation of some of his bits on religion.

I enjoyed watching the documentary although they could have perhaps shown a few more of the comedy bits. Here it is in its entirety.

Comments

  1. Patrick Gauna says

    Wow! Dave Allen was a comic genius. I remember watching his program Sunday late nights on PBS along with other British comedies. Just loved it. He was one of the funniest men I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing.

  2. says

    Yeah, I used to love watching him when I was younger, too. Very funny guy, and having been a young atheist myself, I loved his “may your god go with you”, which always sounded to me quite clearly as “you and the god you rode in on”, as it were.

  3. GalapagosPete says

    Dave was a master of timing and storytelling, true. Sometimes a random line will go through my head. (“Darling, do you think I’m made of bricks?”)

    I wish Dave Allen at Large was available on DVD.

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