Who is the most "efficient" comedian or humorist?

[Llama Llogophile]

I define efficiency in this context as getting the most humor with the least effort.

To put this in perspective, a prop-comic or magician would be very inefficient because they use lots of stuff. A stand-up comedian such as Stephen Wright, who uses very little verbiage, would be extremely efficient. Someone like George Carlin or Bill Cosby would be in the middle of the scale because they often tell long-ish stories and jokes.

This isn't who is funniest in absolute terms, or who you would most like to watch. Rather, it's who gets the most bang for the comic buck.

My nomination is Roy Blount Jr. When he's on the "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me..." panel, he's like a comic ninja. He often requires only a sparse sentence, or a single word to break up both the audience and his fellow panelists, yet his humor is smart and incisive.

[RealityChuck]

Henny Youngman

[Exapno Mapcase]

Harpo Marx or Marcel Marceau.

[Sitnam]

Steven Wright's scthick is nothing but one liners. Theres no story line, no nuance, no buildup, his performance stops when he just stops talking.

Old school Robin Williams got more laughs while saying less but what he did on stage looked like a hell of a lot of work.

Roy Blount Jr...yeah, not so much. How about a link to some of his great stuff?

[enalzi]

In the same line as Stephen Wright, I'd nominate Mitch Hedburg. His jokes seemed even shorter.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

What about Rodney Dangerfield? Practically every sentence he'd say was a set-up and punchline.

[Cat Fight]

Second Mitch Hedberg. Little set-up, few rambling 'Did this ever happen to you?' observations, all funny.

Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts are pretty damned efficient. He occasionally writes a (very) short story, but most are two sentences.

Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.

Broken promises don't upset me. I just think, why did they believe me?

To me, it's always a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, "Hey, can you give me a hand?"
you can say, "Sorry, got these sacks."

[Llama Llogophile]

Originally Posted by Sitnam

Roy Blount Jr...yeah, not so much. How about a link to some of his great stuff?

What made me think of him was a remark on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me... The news story was that GW Bush had been asked about the best moment of his presidency. He supposedly said it was catching a big fish in his lake in Crawford.

The rest of the panel made mostly predictable jokes. When it settled down Blount simply said, "I'd like to defend the president on this. I think he was right."

It was like comedy aikido. He seems to be able to do that sort of thing consistently, which is what got me pondering the idea of "efficiency" in comedy and humor.

[The Shroud]

Morey Amsterdam (or Buddy Sorrell, at any rate).

[GuanoLad]

Jimmy Carr.

[commasense]

Rowan Atkinson. Definitely with Mr. Bean, but also with his one-man show, and many other things of his I've seen.

Here's an example.

[Irishman]

RealityChuck said:

Henny Youngman

Damn you! That's what I was going to say. He spent decades repeating one joke.

[dropzone]

You must admit that, as he delivered it, it was a brilliant joke, yet one not easily "gotten" out of context ((weary voice) if you have to explain it, it's not funny.)

[glowacks]

I immediately thought of Mitch Hedburg, although I couldn't remember his name until someone else mentioned him. He could very easily produce an amount of laughter far longer than the time it took for him to deliver the lines. And he didn't move on stage, he kept his head down and spoke into the microphone. Absolutely minimal stage presence, minimal joke length, but among the funniest comedians I've seen.

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Mach Tuck

My nomination is Roy Blount Jr. When he's on the "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me..." panel, he's like a comic ninja. He often requires only a sparse sentence, or a single word to break up both the audience and his fellow panelists, yet his humor is smart and incisive.

Shit, I've been listening to that show for years, and I didn't even know it was supposed to be funny.

[Mosier]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

What about Rodney Dangerfield? Practically every sentence he'd say was a set-up and punchline.

I was going to mention this. Every sentence he says is another joke. He probably tells more jokes-per-minute than any other comedian.

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Mosier

I was going to mention this. Every sentence he says is another joke. He probably tells more jokes-per-minute than any other comedian.

I remember reading once the Phyllis Diller, of all people, holds the world record for most laughs per minute.

[Kobal2]

Emo Phillips is pithy. And absurdly funny, if you're into weirdness.

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by Mosier

I was going to mention this. Every sentence he says is another joke. He probably tells more jokes-per-minute than any other comedian.

The jokes are aimed at UK audiences but Tim Vine probably breaks that rate easily.

[GuanoLad]

Tim Vine has the world record of jokes per hour, actually.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Jack Benny.

His entire act was a few simple lines, babded together with perfrect comic timing.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Originally Posted by Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

Jack Benny.

His entire act was a few simple lines, babded together with perfrect comic timing.

No, Jack Benny reacted, not acted. Entirely different style of comedy.

That's why Roy Blount doesn't count either. Without the proper set-up he doesn't have anything to say. That makes him a wit rather than a comic.

[ianzin]

Milton Jones writes terrifically condensed material that doesn't waste a single word. The linked clip is worth watching just for the 'spiritual leader of Tibet' joke.

Canadian Stewart Francis is building a strong reputation as the best one-liner comedian currently on the circuit.

[Elendil's Heir]

Andy Kaufman got laughs just by standing there, expectantly, as the Mighty Mouse theme played, and then lip-synching to it. Hard to top that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C570byQCLpI

[dubs]

Demetri Martin--“I wanna make a jigsaw puzzle that’s 40,000 pieces. And when you finish it, it says ‘go outside.'"

[bouv]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

Jimmy Carr.

I was going to say him, too.

"Throwing acid is wrong...in some people's eyes."

[Cat Fight]

Originally Posted by bouv

I was going to say him, too.

"Throwing acid is wrong...in some people's eyes."

Oh yes, he's quite concise, and consistently hilarious. Saw him going through maybe 50 jokes he had on a clip board and I'll be damned if every single one wasn't funny, even (especially?) the rape- and molestation-related stuff.

[TV time]

George Burns --- He asked Gracie a question, looked at his cigar for 10 minutes while pursing his lips and then said, "Say good night, Gracie."

Now that is efficent use of your time.

[TV time]

I second the Mighty Mouse Theme Song by Andy Kaufman. Of course every other bit he did was very labor intensive.

Especially if you call wrestling attractive women labor.

[Rhythmdvl]

In a different medium: Gary Larson

[Oy!]

Jack Benny wins the prize for efficiency. He rarely had to say a word; it was all reaction. But his reaction was what made whatever the joke was so funny.

[drastic_quench]

After Jack Benny, Bob Newhart easily.

[Oy!]

Originally Posted by drastic_quench

After Jack Benny, Bob Newhart easily.

You're right; his stutters are right up there with Benny's rolling eyes.

[elelle]

Came in hear to mention Jack Benny, who was a master at A Glance.

I'll also vote for Michael O'Donoghue, founding writer/editor of National Lampoon, then carrying it on to the early Saturday Night Live as Head Writer. He was the anti-Jack Benny, light mood wise, but a master at honing dark humor to it's bones.

His Mr. Mike character was eerily efficient, and novel for TV, in reducing comedy to the boundaries of "uh-oh, not funny territory", yet making that dark side quite funny.

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally Posted by Sitnam

Old school Robin Williams got more laughs while saying less but what he did on stage looked like a hell of a lot of work.

I was going to say Robin Williams. For him, all the physically stuff was second nature. It didn't take any effort on his part.

[elelle]

In thinking about old SNL, gotta say Buck Henry, who had the same everyguy look as Jack Benny, and could play the dryly befuddled character as well. He wrote the screenplay for The Graduate, and created the TV series Get Smart, which was very different than other series of the era in dry wit, poking fun at Cold War politics.

He became a staple at early Saturday Night Live, kind of a good uncle to the blooming humor there. It was a tradition that he hosted the last show of the season. Buck Henry often gets overlooked because he was so efficient at his humor, which, like a good hardworking editor, gets forgotten with flashier types.

[Superfluous Parentheses]

Originally Posted by ianzin

Canadian Stewart Francis is building a strong reputation as the best one-liner comedian currently on the circuit.

That's who I wanted to mention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pq2QycIEA

[lawoot]

Originally Posted by drastic_quench

After Jack Benny, Bob Newhart easily.

In deed. Much of his humor, the phone call stuff, had humor not in what he was saying, but what you imagine the person on the other end of the phone line is saying.

[Hunter Hawk]

I'll chime in with a vote for Frankie Howerd.

[Max Torque]

Seconds for some here, including some of my favorite representative samples:

Mitch Hedberg: "I love tennis, but no matter how much I practice, I'll never be as good as a wall."

Emo Phillips: "People come up to me and say, 'Emo, do people really come up to you?'"

Steven Wright: "You can't have everything; where would you put it?"