I guess one joke, and kind of a style of comedy has kinda resurfaced that I've noticed. It's like, the 'deadpan dipstick' typified by this comedian called Dave Hughes who's a mainstay of standup, radio and panel shows over here. Think Mitch Hedberg but only operating on a single layer.

One of his best known bits is "I bought a bag of Snakes Alive (a gummy lolly) the other day. I opened up the pack, and they were all dead!" (delivered in this kind of shocked shout).

Really, really simple stuff. In any case, he appears to be a lovely man to all accounts and despite being a bit of a punching bag for about a decade, him and that style of joke has come round again.

It was semi resurrected during a Boonta Vista podcast fund raising drive for the flooding in the North of the country (iirc). They got listeners and comedians to call in with their best impersonation of the Snakes Alive bit. For me at least, it went full circle and became funny again.

There's been a crop of comedians who, whether deliberately or not, have adopted elements of his style and have gone on to success. There's one comedian, Sam Campbell, who I will sing the praises of to anyone and everyone, who I think owes a lot to Hughesy, and is making a name for himself in the UK.

One of his gags from a recent comedy circuit basically was

"Why are they called letterboxes. I'm seeing a lot of numbers here! Don't even get me started on number plates!*"

(*Car licence plates)

Sam's got a bit more going for him, since he spins off the Hughesy material into absurd/awkward humour. But the hallmarks are there.