# Comedy That Stands the Test of Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581 "2004-02-17T00:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/1 "2004-02-17T00:53:57Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=240160) about Lenny Bruce, **occ** says: > [@](#): > > I would conjecture that comedy very rarely ages well. It’s too oriented towards “the moment” in time, that audiences years later are rarely connected to the subject well enough to “get it” in the same way that contemporary audiences (of the time) would have. I’d like to discuss stand-up routines, or other comedy routines, that are still funny years after their original “air date,” so to speak. I’d like to keep this thread to stage-oriented comedy, thus leaving out sit-coms, movies, slapstick, etc. The kind of comedy I’m talking about is a comedian, on the stage, with nothing but the mike and maybe some props. Here are some of my suggestions: [ul] [li]Andy Griffith’s _Romeo and Juliet_. Like most (all?) Andy Griffith stage routines, he looks at the subject matter from the point of view of a startled, yet fascinated, country bumpkin.[/li][li]Andy Griffith’s _What it Was, Was Football_. Another country bumpkin describing something new to him.[/li][li]Abbot & Costello’s _Who’s on First_?[/li][/ul] Keep 'em coming! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/2 "2004-02-17T00:58:11Z")
Bill Hicks, ridiculing Pres. Bush for taking the world to war for dubious reasons…not just still funny, but _spooky_ ---
**Author:** ![Cyrokk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Cyrokk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyrokk)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/3 "2004-02-17T01:09:33Z")
Steve Martin on “Let’s Get Small” and “Wild and Crazy Guy” Timeless because his jokes are simple, self-reflective, and not wrapped into the current events of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/4 "2004-02-17T01:10:04Z")
The Marx Brothers. Seventy years old and still light years ahead. Monty Pyton. So absurd it is sheer brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/5 "2004-02-17T01:43:31Z")
I’ll never get tired of listening to the great old routines of Bill Cosby and the Smothers Brothers, to name a couple that popped into my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/6 "2004-02-17T01:46:07Z")
Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/7 "2004-02-17T01:50:55Z")
We just saw Charlie Chaplin’s THE GOLD RUSH and laughed like crazy. It’s wonderfully enjoyable. Political humor obviously gets dated fairly quickly, but other humor can endure, although tastes do change. One can still read Oscar Wilde for amusement, f’rinstance. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/8 "2004-02-17T01:51:32Z")
First of all, Lenny Bruce was wrong. While it was probably true for his comedy – which was quite topical – it isn’t true of all comedy. People still laugh at Aristophanes, after all, and that’s thousands of years old. As far as stand-up comedians go, Bob Newhart’s “Button Down Mind” routines are just as funny today as they were 40 years ago. Woody Allen’s standup still holds up very well as does Robert Klein, Burns and Allen, Reiner and Brooks, Jackie Vernon, and Jonathan Winters. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/9 "2004-02-17T02:02:51Z")
Ah yes, Jonathon Winters. Back in 1991 I was producing books-on-tape and Mr. Winters came in to record a book for us. The owner, actress Deborah Raffin, was sitting in the sessions with me. Mr. Winters would frequently deviate from the written script, going off on a tangent in one or more of his many characters. After about the fourth outburst, I moved to stop the tape. Deborah stopped me. “I’m trying to save tape!” I protested. “Screw the tape,” Deborah said. “This is classic stuff. We might be able to use it someday.” Sure enough, the book should have taken two reels of tape, we ended up with 9 reels, and after cutting, we had a one-reel book and 5 reels of hilarious outtakes. I wish I would have kept a copy of those tapes. Absolute classic material, and no one there to hear it but Deborah and me. As far as I know, they were never released in any form. ☹ _That_ is comedy that will last forever. At least in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/10 "2004-02-17T02:05:04Z")
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mentiong Mike Nichols and Elaine May. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/11 "2004-02-17T03:20:40Z")
I won’t feel so bad for thinking Our Miss Brooks is comedy gold. I love Eve Arden. ---
**Author:** ![grisham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@grisham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grisham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/12 "2004-02-17T04:07:04Z")
Hold on no one has mentioned George Carlin and Richard Pryor yet… Thats amazing. Those are hands down the two best ever. With Carlin’s play on words and Pryor’s ability to make race jokes funny… people will always be laughing. I agree with Monty Python. There is also a 1930-1940’s group called the Bowery Boys. Hilarious stuff if you can ever get the chance to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/13 "2004-02-17T05:34:50Z")
Comedy Movies that Stand the Test of Time: \*anything by The Marx Brothers (as already said) \*almost anything by Buster Keaton \ ***Auntie Mame** - damn, but Rosalind Russell was one classy good lookin’ broad. The scene in which she entertains the Upsens has lost nothing in almost 50 years anymore than her disastrous theater debut or her crash course in horseback riding. Cher has massive shoes to fill for the remake. \ ***Desk Set** with Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn- an oddity about this movie is that he’s a long-term executive with IBM and she’s the head of reference at a major corporate library and they develop romantic feelings for each other even though, can you believe it, they both look like they’re over 30! Odd. \ ***Harvey** - after all this time, invisible 8 foot tall rabbits and their genteel lush friends are still funny. (“I’d like to have you for dinner sometime… here’s my card… now that’s the old number, call me at the second number there…”) \ ***Cat Ballou** - Lee Marvin as Kid Shelleen is one of the most undeservedly forgotten Oscar winning performances of all time, and the scene in which he transforms from drunken derelict would-be-killer for hire to slick, rhinestone studded and besilked killer for hire is a total gem. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/14 "2004-02-17T08:40:23Z")
When I was a kid my Mother used to play her cassette of **Bill Cosby: _Himself_** in the car and My brothers, sisters and I thought it was hilarious, no matter how many times we heard it. No I’m a grown-up and I still think it is Hilarious. When I take my friend’s kids out, I play it in the car and they think it is Hilarious. _**Dad is Great! He gives us the Chocolate Cake!**_ _ **I looked out the window, saw my daughter, and she was eating dirt** _ _ **My wife announced to everyone in the delivery room that my parents were never married** _ _ **So, ever do any fishing?** _ ---
**Author:** ![3Much](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/4af34b/32.png) [@3Much](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3Much)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/15 "2004-02-17T11:52:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > First of all, Lenny Bruce was wrong. While it was probably true for his comedy – which was quite topical – it isn’t true of all comedy. First of all, Lenny Bruce didn’t say it. If you go back and read the OP, you will see that the statement you are disagreeing with was made by someone using the screen name “occ”. Second of all, it is not true of Lenny Bruce’s comedy. I still listen to it, and laugh my ass off. While some of his material no doubt has dated badly, like the names of politicians and celebrities he is referencing, the ACTS of those people that he makes fun of are still going on and worthy of lampooning. But as far as it not being true of all comedy, you are right on the money. Sam Kinison - A primal scream that vented the frustrations of a generation. Bill Hicks - An insight unparalleled in history of stand-ups (my opinion, of course, as are all these statements). George Carlin - One of the finest minds ever to turn his talents to the comedy stage. Richard Pryor - The most naturally gifted, best comedian EVER. Bill Cosby - A classic in every sense of the word. I do wish he had been nice to Wanda Sykes though. Lowered my opinion of him as a person. And believe it or not: Bill Engval - Unlike Foxworthy, he makes country comedy FUNNY. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/16 "2004-02-17T14:16:10Z")
**Victor Borge**. Politicians will come and go; comedians who take current mores to task will become obsolete; people who play with the structure and content of music will always (in my unconsidered opinion) be relevant. “And she stabs herself between the two big…TREES.” I mean, COME ON!! ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/17 "2004-02-17T15:13:19Z")
> [@3Much](#): > > George Carlin - One of the finest minds ever to turn his talents to the comedy stage. Absolutely! I’ve been a fan since I was 12 years old (21 years ago). “Gimme a balloon!!” > [@](#): > > Bill Cosby - A classic in every sense of the word. I do wish he had been nice to Wanda Sykes though. Lowered my opinion of him as a person. For a man who made me pee my pants and stop breathing from laughing so much during “Himself”, he seems to have lost his sense of humor. I don’t have anyone else to add, as my favorites (Carlin, Pryor, Hicks, Kinison) have been mentioned already. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/18 "2004-02-17T15:21:13Z")
BOB and RAY. Funny then , funny now. The Komodo Dragon is a classic. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/19 "2004-02-17T15:30:00Z")
I thought of the Marx Brothers as soon as I saw this thread title… shouldn’t surprise anybody, though. 😉 On the other hand, I’ll go on record as saying “Who’s On First” isn’t _that_ funny. It’s not that it’s dated, it’s just not that incredibly funny. :cough cough: Shakespeare, anybody? Not all of his comedy is funny, but when he got it right, he got it right and it still works 400 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581/20 "2004-02-17T15:58:05Z")
> [@Wumpus](#): > > Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Wow, six posts and we have Harold Lloyd. Impressive. Chaplin and Keaton were _amateurs_ compared to Lloyd. The man was quiet genius. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedy-that-stands-the-test-of-time/229581.md?page=2)