Victoria Wood - a comic for the ages

Oh God I'm afraid it is beige. I think my washing up bowl has just been permanently downgraded to my shame.

On what turned out to be the afternoon of her death, I'd gone into a hardware shop to buy a replacement washing up bowl. The man behind the counter had his radio playing with people sadly discussing the death of someone remarkable, I didn't realise who it was for a while. She had kept any knowledge of her illness strictly private. So now I am the Keeper of the Victoria Wood Memorial Washing Up Bowl. It's bearing up nicely.

I remember watching As Seen on TV as a 10 year old. Loved her work for over 3 decades, and it resonates differently now. So glad to have seen her live.

"Spots, specs, terrible at sex. Laid there like a stunned gazelle.
I was thirty-tgree when it dawned on me that girls could move as well."

I never thought she was particularly funny. Same goes for Miranda Hart.

“Is it on the trolley?”

I completely loved her. I still watch her stand up performances on YouTube, especially when I need cheering up. She never fails to make me laugh. Rarely do I get misty eyed when someone famous dies, but her death really moved me.

I adored her.

Was a fan from my early teens, when it definitely wasn’t cool to be a fan of someone like her at my age.

She absolutely nailed what life is like for the ‘average woman’ . Made the mundane hilarious.

‘As seen on TV’ is my favourite body of work from her, closely followed by dinnerladies and the series of half hour stand alone stories she did.

Anyway, I don’t know names, so I don’t know names. I’ve given gallons of blood and I can’t stick whelks, so that’s me for you. I’m off to walk the Penine Way in slingbacks to raise awareness of mental health....

😁

The first time I heard her sing Let's Do It, I was in tears of laughter.

I am by no means a prude, but I think there is a real art to being cheeky and rude without being crude, and she was supreme at this.

Totally, Datun, never 'got Dinnerladies first time round but now I see that ever single word was perfectly placed and completely brilliant.

Sarah Kendall fans should check her out on this series of Taskmaster, she’s very good (and running away with the title at the time of writing).

Since this is FWR I’ll add that I suppose it’s an ambiguous sign of progress over the last 5 years that I heard Alex Horne looking back at series one and being genuinely baffled in retrospect that he could have cast four men and one woman in the line up for each of the first three series (2015-2016) and thought “well that’s fine, isn’t it. We’ve got a woman. Diversity ✅”

She made it seem so easy and natural (which obviously it wasn’t she had to work extremely hard). And that to me showed how incredibly talented she was.

I remember a documentary when she talked about the hours she spent deciding on which biscuit would be funniest in one of her lines. She was so dedicated to treating her comedy seriously.

I think with great comedy, you can appreciate it at different ages.

Yes, that's so true.

I never thought Dinner Ladies was edgy enough. A bit too gentle, and Dads Army-esque.

But I watch it now, and the nuance and 'life encompassing narrative', resonates so much more.

She was a genius! The use of her language and observations. Sadly missed.

She was one of a kind. I saw her live three times and I never get bored of watching her body of work. Truly missed.

Also totally bono fodo

I also really liked Linda Smith but once heard her make a joke about Jamie Oliver's slight speech impediment and thought, no, Linda, you don't have to do that. Women comedians making fun of others is rarer than it is with male comedians - not complaining, I think if you can make people laugh without being nasty about others, as Victoria Wood could, then you truly have the comedy gift.

Victoria Woods definitely.

I'm going to chip in with Joyce Grenfell whose one-woman shows and works were remarkable.

As I catch-up with TV I'd never seen before - I'm impressed with how groundbreaking some US women were in comedy and how often they raised contentious issues long before they seemed to be 'respectable' to talk about in public.

I love her beyond measure. Acorn Antiques is just my favourite thing of all time. I think of her surprisingly often: custard creams, eiderdowns, varicose veins, Julie Walters in the shoe shop, Kimberley, Kelly Marie Tunstall. I miss her!

She was starting to make her mark with her more serious acting and writing too. Housewife 49 is one of my favourite pieces of TV.

Beat me on the bottom with the womans weekly! Lets do it, lets do it toniiiight.

Agreed. I also loved Linda Smith

She was hilarious. A sad loss. I really enjoyed that Sarah Kendall piece too, fanny, very funny

Yep!