Just got through watching Eddie Izzards “Dressed to Kill” show for the umpteenth time and I still think he’s brilliant. History lesson + comedy + social commentary…not just a bunch of one liners…
Anyone else out there do that brand of comedy? (Thinking man’s comedy for lack of a better term?)
Dennis Miller for one… George Carlin, but he’s not nearly has funny as Eddie…
Anyone else?
Lewis Black.
Al Franken.
A. Whitney Brown, if he’s still around.
Robert Klein, when he’s not recycling old jokes.
Drat. I came in here to say ‘Sandman,’ but that isn’t what you meant by ‘comic.’
Carry on.
Stephen Fry, of course.
Does Spaulding Gray count as a comic?
I’d agree with this, but I’ve only seen his SNL and Daily Show (back when the correspondents were funny) stuff; has he done anything else that is notably funny?
I may be biased, but I like Bill Hicks a lot. I just finished reading a fair biography of him and it certainly rekindled my feelings for his work and of stand-up in general. Lewis Black is also great. I just know his heart is going to explode in a fit of rage one of these days.
Novus
Lenny Bruce invented the genre, before being destroyed by The Man. Robert Klein, Mort Sahl, and George Carlin all followed in his footsteps.
Bill Cosby is a very literate standup. Apparently he’s still performing at places in Vegas and Tahoe.
Does Tom Lehrer count as a standup?
[nitpick]
It’s Dress to Kill. You know, because he wears one.
[/np]
Lenny Bruce invented the genre, before being destroyed by The Man. Robert Klein, Mort Sahl, and George Carlin all followed in his footsteps.
Bill Cosby is a very literate standup. Apparently he’s still performing at places in Vegas and Tahoe.
Does Tom Lehrer count as a standup?
[nitpick]
It’s Dress to Kill. You know, because he wears one.
[/np]
I don’t think of Spaulding Gray as a stand-up, but the one show of his I caught live was brilliant.
And I saw A. Whitney Brown at a comedy club years ago. He told long, incredibly funny stories instead of jokes.
I wish there were dozens more we could name, but I guess this kind of comedy is really, really hard.
I agree with you…completely forgot about Bill Hicks… hilarious, literate, entertaining…definately put him up there with Izzard in terms of pointing out the hypocrisy of mankind…
Bill Hicks!
God bless his poor, bitter-sounding soul.
That and… “We lost another moron!”
Via con Dios, Bill. We miss you.
My fave was …“I’ve got a one word argument for all you creationists out there…ready?..strapped in?”
“Dinosaurs”
You think if the bible was accurate they KINDA woulda mentioned dinosaurs at some point?
Lol…
I think my favorite moment of his was comparing American foreign policy to Jack Palance in SHANE. “Pick it up!.. pick it up!..[BANG]… I had to shoot him, he had a gun…”
I’m totally over Dennis Miller; he’s become a bitter smirking tool and shadow of his former self with all of his monologues written on the same template. In addition, I don’t think he himself catches many of the references he throws.
Steve Martin is probably the most intelligent and well-read comedian (the only one to my knowledge ever to have been published in a peer reviewed art journal), but not so much of it makes it into his act (which he rarely gives nowadays anyway). Carlin has retreated from hilarious social observation to “whatever Americans do is f*cked up!” curmudgeonly griping most of the time.
My favorite Izzard moments: “Ciao!”, “Death… or Cake?”, and actually keeping an audience laughing for five minutes over whether or not Engelbert Humperdink was killed in a car wreck.
BTW, I actually came here to vote for SANDMAN also 
A few choice Hicks quotes for those of you out there who’ve never had the pleasure of listening or seeing him:
"I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I’m not proud of it, I was hungry. And I’m alone, I’m eating and I’m reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: “<smack smack smack smack> Hey, whatchoo readin’ for?”
Isn’t that the weirdest fucking question you’ve ever heard? Not what am I readING, but what am I reading for? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well… hmmm… I dunno… I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don’t end up being a fucking waffle waitress."
“No, I don’t do drugs anymore, either. But I’ll tell you something about drugs. I used to do drugs, but I’ll tell you something honestly about drugs, honestly, and I know it’s not a very popular idea, you don’t hear it very often anymore, but it is the truth: I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day.”
“The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones that come up to you and cough. That’s pretty fucking cruel isn’t it? Do you go up to cripples and dance too?”
Yeah, isn’t it grand?
Novus