Norman Collier's Faulty Microphone Gag

[@stephenhowell8863]

One of the most ingenious hilarious sketches EVER and No one but Norman Collier with his awesome innocent facial expressions could pull it off so convincingly. A one off comedy masterpiece. FOREVER GRATEFUL. 😄💜

[@YTB952]

My wife’s grandfather…he was mad even when we were at family get togethers . He’s survived by his wife . But a lovely bloke, I think the only time he was serious with me was when he told me about been a gunner in the RN during the war . RIP Norman

[@kenthomson9562]

Seems a lovely guy too.

[@stevenoct1967]

Me and my father in law still try to copy him.. Thanks for the laughs Norman

[@bobdylan7120]

In the early 80's I was a Corporal in the RAF, stationed in Gibraltar. Mr Collier was there on holiday and agreed to do a show, in the Corporals' Club, basically for free (just drinks and snacks). It was hilarious and, even better, the Officer's and Sgt's Messes were absolutely livid when they found they'd missed out.

[@A-Jay.]

I was once on the same bill as him, in a club in Sheffield. I remember before the show, he was walking up and down the corridor warming up, talking to people like he had that broken mic. One of the funniest things I ever saw and a lovely man.

[@bhamacuk]

Never fails to crack me up after all these years. There's only one.

[@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4]

Thank fuck for that, not even funny you all are fans, when you get this as a suggestion and ain't a fan it's utter crap

[@spinaway]

@@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4 Utter crap, a bit like like your childish comment, get in bed mummy will be home soon.

[@sugarbertie1143]

I still say 'yer sounding like Norman Collier' if the sounds faulty at work on a call. He was a very funny guy, no bad language, just great sketches. God bless him.

[@Bladerunner4511]

Wheres all this comedy gone love it

[@simonlevett4776]

Gone forever like the UK's heritage and christian values.

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

Not only very clever, but Norman was able to predict how the average phonecall with 3 Network would sound in 2021

[@Bob-ts2tu]

Co re t

[@thehouseholder5468]

🤣😂😂😂

[@biggedybiggedybong8032]

Absolutely bang on fella... jus been the fone(3)! to our lass n she said im having a Norman Collier moment.... 👍

[@TheWizardOfTheFens]

Perf… .ut! Nev… a.. ..ruer ..ord!

[@rectify2003]

😀

[@glencollins2395]

Colin Crompton: "Give 'im a chance, please. 'e's doin' 'is best!" So many memories. Absolutely hilarious.

[@SnowMst]

Norman Collier was a genuine comic genius. Ther really aren't enough superlatives to describe how brilliant he was.

[@PHILG2864]

'Norman Colliering' has become a stock 'technical term' used throughout the telecoms and audio industries. It perfectly and concisely describes the symptoms of an intermittent connection and survives into the digital era as realtime streaming systems chop in and out of lock. I'd like to think the term will survive for many years to come :-)

[@stephensmith799]

Loved your post. At a different level altogether, in our house my brother invented a term for doing a poo. It was a ‘plumps’. He settled on this word when we were sat on sky blue plastic potties… because that was the sound of poo dropping into a potty full of pee. Plum-pssss. We were sat in a first floor bay window at the time, watching porpoise leaping about a mile offshore as they herded the mackerel further towards the beach where they could be caught more easily. Somehow there was a similarity between the leaping porpoises dropping back into the water and doing a plumps.

[@jedfra9172]

@@stephensmith799 Random

[@petemarr824]

Even to this day most of us will still do different versions of his act with all sorts.. microphones, telephones, even hearing aids lol.. CLASSIC

[@archibaldchimpin]

I loved watching Norman as a kid, he cracked me up every time with his microphone routine.

[@robair67]

To this day, I can't actually say the whole word- I always say "icrophone" and it's always at the end of the sentence. Yes, I am single.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Holding a Shure SM 57, one of the most indestructible microphones in history.

[@AlanCanon2222]

@Graxxor Anandro Vidhelssen It would make sense for the gag that he'd use microphones that could basically never possibly fail....or he would never have been able to retain an audio engineer for more than one show. I bet if you strapped a stick of dynamite to a 57 or 58 and set it off, it'd be the dynamite that'd be the worse for wear. (And you'd have a very nice, if brief, recording of the event).

[@AlanCanon2222]

@Graxxor Anandro Vidhelssen OMG I have to tell you a story. I performed in a stage play version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'd just moved "up" to acting after being the theater's audio engineer. The new audio engineer, call him Dave, was a real character, and I was almost but not quite resentful of not being the audio engineer for the show (I'd designed the sound system and it was my baby). The new audio engineer thought it would be a good idea for the cast of six to have "microphone practice" since we were doing a staged reading of the original radio scripts, as if we were BBC 1970s radio actors. Much as I was annoyed by not being the audio engineer, I conceded that having microphone practice was a pretty good idea, so I printed out the data sheet for the SM 58 and photocopied it for the other actors so they would have a visual representation of what Dave was telling them. Dave, a Baby Boomer, started by saying "Who here knows who Bing Crosby was?" To my Gen-X relief, every hand went up. Score! Dave then asked, "Who knows how he became famous?" The answer he was fishing for was one I knew: Crosby, a baritone, was successful because of the invention of the PA system, where previously, only tenors could hit the back of the hall with their voices. But our "Arthur Dent", a millennial actor by the name of Kent Carney, beat me by a mile: "You mean because he used to beat his kids?" I wanted to kiss him.

[@bigblue6917]

He was local to where I live. My youngest sister used to work at the bank he used and if he came in near closing time he would do his act for the staff. In fact there were occasions they closed the bank a few minutes early for him.

[@jacktar9567]

Just one act...& a great one! Bless his soul 🎙❤

[@suffern63]

He also had the chicken walk

[@jazzman1626]

I used to love when he came on telly. He also did a routine where he had a car door, back when the car window was a wind up window. He’d ‘talk’ with the window up and no sound from his voice, then wind the window down as an irate driver, shouting at whoever, then wind it up again and his voice silent but his lips still moving. Hilarious. I miss great comedy acts like his.

[@chrisaskin6144]

To be able to talk like a faulty microphone, and that it sounds genuine and funny is one of THE hardest things to do. He was very clever.

[@Life-is-a-Dance]

Always laughed at his act, good comedian and humble with it, such a pleasure.

[@gb5uq]

Pure genius. The kamikaze pilot is still the funniest visual gag I have ever seen.

[@bobupen6476]

An extremely funny and talented man, made my family laugh in the 70s and still does with our new generation now.

[@lostgeordielad]

Saw him live. Absolutely superb! Had the entire audience in stitches from start to finish. ❤️

[@Jan-S-Simonsen]

I used this gag myself many times in the clubs when I was an entertainer. Norman was a comedy genius.

[@thefonzkiss]

Just watched your showreel. It was crummy.

[@Jan-S-Simonsen]

@@thefonzkiss Thank you for your input. I never liked Happy Days either to be honest. 😉

[@Bob-ts2tu]

wheeltappers & the comedians, loved it then and still do now

[@1066gaz]

Me & my family used to love watching norman with his act haha. Watched wheeltappers & shunters all the time. Some great acts.

[@santallum]

It got a few laughs, so I did the same gag for 30 years ! .... Glad you did Norman ... love it mate

[@leonardmcdermott7703]

As a kid i cried laughing 😂... No change now, sheer classic humour.

[@Stun-69]

Still funny today, comedy gold. I used to love the car window but as well. Legend.

[@hannarice3007]

Loved this bloke

[@klomax7750]

Seems very simple but it's actually difficult to do effectively.

[@dontaskme7004]

And now we all do it as a way of getting off the phone... "I'm just going into a tunn... I'll ...ve to... all you ... ack"

[@trippymchippy8586]

As I near my 50th, this makes me feel all warm, reminded of simpler times :)

[@craigorford9932]

Amazingly funny,why haven’t we got comedians like this now

[@davidwebb8877]

Just great,pure fun.

[@BOOMBABY2020]

i tought myself how to do this i found it so funny ,it has stayed with me all my life and i love it

[@karatefella]

Superb. Really funny.

[@drd6416]

I do a very passable impression of this and can even do it with a working mic.... also loved his reliant Robin, turbo sketch with the window 🤣 bonkers but brilliant....

[@terencefynan8611]

I love to go to manning's at weekends, more to see the comic acts like cannon and ball ,norman to, Frank Carson, and the singers as well but the comics were class ,

[@johngraham5996]

we had proper comics in the 70's that knew their craft, ok there was plenty blue comedians but they could all deliver a joke! unlike these trendy wannabees on channel 4 nowadays!

[@GameOfDepth]

The Microphone he’s using in the opening ia a Shure SM57.

[@LFOVCF]

This technique took me ages of practice to get it sounding right, for a party piece. Norman was a comedy genius, and was one of my favourite comedians.

[@briz1965]

The kind of comedian you would start laughing at before he said a word. Bit like Les Dawson in that respect. Brilliant time for comedy, still imitated.

[@melancholiac]

In many ways, the 1970s was the high water mark of working class culture. Apart from the keg beer, that is.

[@jamesnield]

Priceless!!!

[@Longshanks1956]

Absolutely priceless.

[@MrMrh1958]

Brilliant stuff!🇬🇧✌🏻

[@DeadRpoetry1167]

At a concert once, he had to stop his routine and ask my mother to leave.....because she couldnt stop giggling and had set Norman off giggling too lol

[@natfandaggy]

Saw him performing this routine at The Capenhurst Club when I worked there as a glass collector in the early 80's

[@michaelteale6386]

Comedy at its best.

[@shahidhamid962]

Brilliant !!!

[@threepot5874]

The good old days!

[@natrelacoustix]

No... Wheel tappers and shunters club I'll show myself out 😳

[@porkscratchings5428]

Brilliant, I remember him in the 70’s, very funny fella with that. Act, always had us in giggles 👍🍻

[@jaymonkey699]

As a child I used to roll about to this act, Brilliant to have this pop up after so many years,

[@MegaBlizzardman]

I always thought Chevy Chase invented this gag in Spies Like Us. Good to see the original. I've been trying to perfect this since I was a kid!

[@naptownrandb]

Fitz Hume! This is where he pinched that gag from. I never knew that

[@RobCharles1981]

A Total Genius - when ever I witness someones microphone packing up, I always think of Norman Collier is at it again! lol

[@astronomenov99]

I had the pleasure of meeting him once in the early 90s when he was appearing at the Spa in Bridlington. Very nice bloke, he seemed to love golf, kept asking people if they played, could have been a set up for a gag though...

[@electrojones]

I loved the wig bit he did for decades.

[@Wriggs74]

You can never beat old British comedy.

[@TheMrB]

Loved this gag

[@DanLoudShirts]

Also used to love the winding down the car window gag too!

[@alandean6692]

Good clean honest comedy at its very best unlike today's comedians

[@jantyszka1036]

A comedy genius, no question.

[@Lerequindemort]

As a kid this nearly made me piss myself laughing 🤣🤣🤣

[@edwardedward7974]

Brilliant !

[@blazingsaddle166]

Very well known comedian during the 70's/80's. Literally everyone tried mimicking this guy at some point & yeah, if you heard a broken phone call, it was always said it always sounded like Norman Collier.

[@magicknight8412]

What a classic, to this day every so often I try and copy him and still can't do it well :)

[@andrewbarrett2685]

Absolutely hilarious.

[@thefella131]

Anyone that watches this and doesn't laugh must be a Russell Brand fan. 😊

[@paullawrence4986]

Russell Brand, about a funny as cramp🤮

[@kthwkr]

I use this at just about every sound check. "Is thi....icropho....erking?" Use glottal stops at the dots. And people always scream, "No! It's cutting out." And I respond, "It's...utting out?"

[@ginskimpivot753]

Still hilarious. One of the all time greats, Norman was. Boyle, Carr, Skinner? Not fit to wipe the man's shoes.

[@Ronno4691]

Guest appearance by Colin Crompton - ".... Order! Order!!! GIVE ORDER, PLEASE!!!!".

[@mitchwarren1600]

Wonderful

[@stratobungle]

It cracks me up even more because it sounds like he's swearing up a blue streak!

[@SonOfAnders73]

His name is now an easy way of saying the phone reception keeps breaking up and the sound is intermittent "You've gone all Norman Collier"

[@matthewbogart4183]

Wow , I saw him live way back when 😂😂

[@markselvin2230]

A genius classic comedy I saw his act live 👍😂 It's funny my Bluetooth speaker does a similar drop out on speech now

[@Fog99horn]

Genius.

[@13strange67]

This was the Winter of Discontent . . . aaah I forgotten it well !

[@Vincentofvega]

Still makes me laugh.. To this day , with family if someone has a bit of a mixup with their words we'll ask if they're gone a bit Norman Collier...

[@garylynch4469]

He did a similar routine using a wind-up car window which was side-splittingly funny

[@BobSchoepenjr]

Great artist!

[@antystein]

That's exactly what I do when I get a telemarketer call!

[@GeorgeMCMLIX]

Legendary comedy 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😂🤣

[@neilwebster2084]

Still funny. Brilliant.

[@gabbsdad]

Can remember watching him on tv as a kid. They don’t make them like that these days!

[@dormantsuperhero]

Ah, memories:)

[@s3any1977]

That was his whole routine but it's still funny.

[@passiton3801]

Very clever, his timing, his reaction, all adds to anair of authenticity, thats there's something wrong wi the mic e......................

[@GG-ml3vr]

He did a similar thing pretending to roll up a car window,feckin hilairious(or did i dream that)

[@jackthebassman1]

Such a naturally funny man, English eccentric

[@AAAskeet]

Its like having Sprint as a cell carrier

[@chrisbaldwin3609]

fucking genius lol

[@dennistoon6271]

Where are the Mike Reid's Manning's and proper comedians these days? Today's so called comedians just ain't funny and are total crap in comparison.

[@chrisbaldwin3609]

@@dennistoon6271 haha totally agree , manning was banned in the seventies same as chubby brown , can you imagine the fucking uproar if they were transported to this day and age with political correctness and all that haha , , like you say nobody is in the same bracket as them guys nowadays , norman collier was a fucking genius fella.

[@johngraham5996]

@@chrisbaldwin3609 bang on chris, there is absolutely nobody could live up to these guys of the 70's and the way they delivered a joke! cant stand any of todays trendy 'comedians' 🙄 dont find any of them funny and once billy connelly goes there will be nobody left, even the sitcoms were better!

[@peterdemkiw3280]

Genius

[@juxty3102]

Comedy genius.

[@steerpike50]

Very funny

[@andrewdaley3081]

4 7 years ago bloody hell time flys. 🇬🇧👍⌚

[@stephenfoster8859]

Really brilliant sketch idea. I recall that he did something similar with an old wind up/down car window.

[@unbrokenandalive1089]

Hilarious!

[@tedbo1819]

Is he related to Milton Jones?

[@chris_3636]

Brilliant, and difficult to do well.

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Imagine turning a single joke into an entire career

[@anthonyleighton4754]

But what a joke ....hard to get right....

[@artrandy]

I remember telling Charlie Chaplain how monotonous his Little Tramp character had become, and couldn't he do something different, but he said if Norman Collier can make a career out of one character, then so can I......🙃........

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

This technique should be taught to all call centre workers fir when they have difficult callers.

[@MillerMooseMan]

Is that a young Michael Crawford at 1:07 ?