I’m starting to wonder (and to be a little afraid of) who many of you actually think IS funny…
Back to the OP:
JIMMY KIMMEL, are you ever funny??
ROBIN WILLIAMS, are you ever funny??
JAY LENO, are you ever funny??
Nope.
Probably because he’s such a…bland mediocrity (a little harsher than I mean to be) that he’s forgettable. As such he’s escaped everyone’s notice…
-Joe
I have liked Norm McDonald ever since he and Courtney Thorne-Smith ripped on Carrot Top on Conan’s Show while Thorne-Smith was doing the publicity for a movie they appeared in together. They had been making little mean spirited remarks all through the show, and fellow redhead O’Brian was trying to put a stop to it.
O’Brian. (chaning gears) What’s the name of the movie again?
Thorne-Smith. “Chairman of the Board.”
O’Brian. “Chairman of the Board.” (to Norm McDonald) Do something with that, you freak.
McDonald. I’ll bet they spell “Board” B-O-R-E-D.
Another vote for Dave Chappelle here and Jay Leno.
Now it’s my turn, BLASPHEMY!
Though Ron White is the best of the Blue Collar folk and Bill Engvall is pretty damned funny as well.
I’ll reiterate the nomination of Jim Carey. I can tell that he has talent, but he’s also a huge ham, and his overacting always ruins his comedy. He was tolerable in that one Batman movie (when he played the Riddler) but I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed his performance in anything he’s ever done.
Now that he’s in the current batch of Chrysler commercials:
Jason Alexander.
He actually sucks talent away from his co-stars. A veritable black hole of comedy is he.
Oh, Ron White and Bill Engvall are funny as hell. “Tater Salad” cracks me up no matter how many times I hear it.
But Larry the Cable Guy is the dude you watch when the jokes in “Gilligan’s Island” keep going over your head.
Oh, come on. Larry the Cable Guy’s stand up routines are side splitting funny (A personal favorite is when he shoots his horse with the broken leg).
Actually he was equally funny before that, too. If he didn’t luck into Seinfeld he’d be working in a shoe store by now. A very unfunny shoe store.
And to make matters worse, whenever he appears on a talk show he’s so cocky–as if he’s…a star, a funny star. If there’s any justice he’ll be holding a sign begging for fodd in Santa Monica some day.
I remember watching one of his specials … for the first 15 minutes, he was absolutely KILLING me. Then, about a half an hour later, I realized that I hadn’t laughed since that early stretch. It was weird how fast he went from hot to cold.
Punk’d (or, for that matter, any “practical jokes” show ever aired).
There are very few funny practical jokes, especially when you don’t actually know the person. They’re by definition designed to have a victim, and natural empathy precludes them from being funny unless
1- they’re totally harmless
2- the person’s a complete ass and deserves it
3- it’s over quick with no harm done
Most of the jokes on Punk’d, Con, or the lesser clones are just mean spirited cruel pranks played on a “Let’s make this person look like a total idiot” template.
The IRS is raiding your house and seizing your belongings and you may be going to jail… HA HA HA HA HA! Isn’t it funny seeing a celebrity have a panic attack because they’re terrified they just spent several years working their ass off only to have it embezzled or mismanaged and to wind up broke and deeply in debt! Or “let’s make them think that a prized belonging has been stolen or vandalized… or that they’re going to jail for a crime they didn’t commit and their career will be destroyed! Ooh yeah, that’s better than a pie in the face!”
Total crap.
(I will admit one thing in interest of fairness: hearing Justin Timberlake’s voice switch from scared whiteboy when he thought the IRS was really seizing his stuff then back to ersatz ebonics when the prank was revealed was funny, but that wasn’t planned.)
The one exception was 20+ years ago: a visibly shaken Joan Rivers was babbling pathetic excuses and lame defenses when she was granted an audience with Maggie Thatcher while in Londong and Thatcher ripped into her for her jokes about the Royal Family. Only when Rivers was about to have a nervous breakdown was it revealed that the Prime Minister was in fact a skilled Margaret Thatcher impersonator hired by Johnny Carson. Now THAT was funny, but it was because
1- Rivers, who makes a fat living dissing others, deserved it
2- It was damned clever
3- The timing of the revelation was perfect
Unfortunately it was that special that begat “Bloopers & Practical Jokes” which begat a host of copycat shows which begat umpteen Candid Camera revivals (none of them as funny as the original) which begat the Punk’d and copycats.
I thought that Dressed to Kill was absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately, every special I’ve seen since then he came off as an arrogant self-impressed git, constantly mugging to the audience and doing very unfunny adlibs.
Everyone seems to love the guy but I just can’t stand Jerry Seinfeld. He has one joke he tells in 100 different ways.
I tried to watch Larry the Cable Guy once. I could only make it about 5 minutes into his set. I started to feel like I was being whooshed. Is he REALLY a comic telling jokes OR is the joke that he’s really a cable guy who thinks he’s funny and you laugh at him and not with him? I’m at a loss.
Jeff Foxworthy. No funny. Any of the neo-Hee Haw comics. No funny.
I also have to stray and say any prime-time, big 3, sitcom in the last 10-15 years.
I can’t stand him either. He seems to whiny and vapid and self-centered (as did everyone on his show, not that there’s anything wrong with that).