I think with Neil Hamburger, you DO need to know the "concept" and the back-story ...

There's a great piece about him in The Guardian:

User Posted Link

Which explains that the humour is drawn from how absurdly outmoded his references are, how badly delivered the gags, how ridiculously "wacky" the costume is, and how 'unfunny' (in the generally accepted sense) and offensive his jokes often are.

A lot of the entertainment comes from seeing his live act, and how much he can wind up his audience, and how much punishment each side can withstand from the other.

Which I find very, very funny - appreciate it's an acquired taste.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Mar 20, 14:30:25