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Digicultures 1

Limmy, Master of Vines

There was a moment during Limmy's contribution to Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe that really stuck with me. It was not his creepy, overly-long stare of conclusion, nor the strangely white house he appears to live in with his family, but the short phrase 'come on'. For this tiny moment of material has a history that is well documented on the internet through Limmy's Vines: the series I have labelled the 'you can't be serious Geoff' series is evidence for the way in which the comedian uses the internet to work out his material. It is a fascinating look into his creative process.

But how to explain this man, this phenomenon? It's not just that he's funnier than almost anyone on television, it is the way that he approaches the whole idea of comedy which seems so unique. He is not a comedian who spends their time thinking up one liners and observing quirks of our behaviour, but makes his own characters who are dominated by dark, often repulsive, desires in a world that seems to be forever on the edge of violence and despair. Add to that his sharp sense of the surreal and one has a comedian capable of some of the most disturbing material since Blue Jam.

Limmy's Vines allows him to test his ideas with fans on twitter, though he is careful to keep much of what appears in his TV shows off the internet. His prodigious output is quite staggering and emphasises the feeling one has when watching him that he could be or do nothing else, that being a comedian is the only option he had. This is of course false as he worked before 'making it big' as a web designer, memorably creating the Swearing xylo. The apparently confessional nature of some his comedy – and his frank discussion of his use of anti-depressants – make you think you have got to know the man at work behind this comedy. But Limmy's work is that of an artist and not simply tales from his life; in his Vines as in his sometimes vitriolic twitter feed the 'real Limmy' remains tantalisingly elusive.

His comedy appears to be so firmly rooted in his home town of Glasgow – as his earliest work 'Limmy's World of Glasgow' testifies – and in the dark comedy in which this region seems to specialise (think Frankie Boyle); but I fail to see how his disturbing world is limited to one locale. The issues dealt with here are those of humanity, not just those of Glesga. But upon this you can decide for yourselves as from the rich source of Limmy's vines I have collected some of what I consider to be his best, perhaps most disturbing microvideos – though I've left out some of the more openly disgusting ones for fear of offending anybody.