Sadly this year's comedy coverage was dominated by not one but two unexpected deaths. Beyond The Joke's second most clicked story was the news of the death of Andy Cunningham, the entertainer best known for his work on Bodger and Badger. Cunningham died in June, aged 67. But in October the comedy world – and much of the showbiz world outside stand-up – was genuinely rocked by the sudden death of Sean Hughes, who was only 51. It is still hard to believe the award-winning star is no longer with us.
Elsewhere the top ten this year reflected some of the key TV programmes that touched the nation. BBC Three's This Country did for village tedium what The Office did for the daily commuter grind. And Peter Kay's Car Share proved to be another mainstream hit for the comedian who announced and then suddenly cancelled his forthcoming megatour. Tom Binns' multi-character Hospital People certainly attracted a lot of online attention too.
Another show that goes from strength to strength is Dave's Taskmaster, which closed the year with a Champion of Champions two-parter. Before then the participants gave interviews which were almost as funny as their ingenious appearances on the unique game show.
As for live comedy, Daniel Kitson's latest show prompted the Guardian to run a controversial piece about it when he opened at the Roundhouse. Guest columnist comedian Paul Sinha nailed what was wrong with the Guardian's piece in his Defence of Daniel Kitson. And Danny Baker, not necessarily a stand-up but always very funny, announced a second tour following the rip-roaring success of the first one.
Elsewhere comedy veteran Jim Tavare was seriously injured in a car accident in America. A campaign was set up to help Tavare pay some of the bills that had mounted up. Fortunately he is now on the mend.
And finally an old feature spiked in 2017. I'd previously noticed that a lot of comedians were coupling up and mentioned Sara Pascoe and John Robins in my column as an example of loved-up stand-ups. Sadly they split in 2017, but both went on to greater things artistically with acclaimed solo shows. Every cloud...
3. This Country
4. In Defence of Daniel Kitson
9. Go Fund Me Campaign for Jim Tavare
10. Stand Ups & Double Acts
