Funniest Comedians: How your tastes have changed

Cafe Society
1

In my earliest awareness of comedy, aside from cartoons at the movies and when all that was available was either radio or movies themselves, I thought these guys were funny:

Red Skelton
Jerry Lewis
Lou Costello
The Bowery Boys

I could only tolerate the Three Stooges

By the time we had TV (1955) I began to appreciate:

Don Knotts
Louis Nye
Tom Poston
Mike Nichols
Stan Freberg
Ernie Kovacs

I could tolerate Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, but they weren’t really funny to me.

When it got to the comedy records era, I liked:

Shelly Berman
Jonathan Winters
Bob Newhart
Brother Dave Gardner

I found Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Moms Mabley amusing, not funny.

After being in college a while I had mild appreciation for Woody Allen.

Since those days, the comics I’ve really laughed at have been:

George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Charlie Callas
Norm Crosby
The Smothers Brothers

I find nothing funny about Adam Sandler, Pauly Shore, PeeWee Herman and virtually all the SNL players since Phil Hartman’s days.

I used to think Bill Maher and Dennis Miller were funny. Now they make me smirk at best, and wind up pissing me off most of the time.

What’s been your evolution in terms of which people really make you laugh?

2

My taste has been pretty consistent. I’ve always liked Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy (stand-up and sketch, not his Disney movies), George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams. To this day, all of them can still make me laugh when I watch the old stuff. Martin doesn’t do stand up anymore, nor do Murphy or Pryor. I bet Cosby does but I haven’t seen any; the old stuff is still decent. Carlin, Goldberg, and Williams are still great.

Now, I also enjoy Margaret Cho, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bill Maher, Ellen DeGeneres (I like her more now that she’s out), Jon Stewart, and Eddie Izzard. As far as SNL goes, I loved Will Ferrell (still do, and I don’t care what anyone says about him, he will always been on my Top Ten Greatest SNL Players of All Time list). Jimmy Fallon sucks, but Tina Fey is great and I like her with Amy Poehler on the news. Best thing on the show these days.

Comedians who I used to like but now find boring: Dennis Miller, Colin Quinn, Tracey Ullman, probably more that I’m forgetting.

3

Likewise. When I was in junior high, I thought Miller was one of the funniest people out there. Him and George Carlin, who I still like even if his latter stuff has not been his best. Now I think Miller is smug and rarely funny. And I got really into Politically Incorrect my freshman year of college, but lost interest because I Maher seemed more interested in being a prick and pushing people’s buttons than being funny.

I used to like Mike Myers, but I think it’s him that’s changed, not me. The last time I saw Wayne’s World, I still liked it.

As time has gone on, I’ve acquired more of an appreciation for ironic and disturbing humor. I’ve discovered how much I love sarcasm and nastiness (if Comedy Central aired a new Friar’s Club Roast every night, I probably wouldn’t leave the house- I love hearing a good comedian tear into someone. The funniest thing I’ve ever written was a roast). But that’s made me a fan of more comedians and I haven’t discarded too many. I’m less into Monty Python than I used to be, but I think their best stuff still holds up very well.

People I’ve become a big fan of in the last few years: Sarah Silverman, Eddie Izzard, Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, Dave Chappelle.

4

Rubystreak, I should definitely have mentioned Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Ellen DeGeneres. That helped me remember some other females I should have listed: Paula Poundstone, Rita Rudner, Elaine Boozler, Maggie Smith and Judy Tenuta. I can tolerate Whoopi and Robin Williams, and I think Billy Crystal is versatile if not always funny.

Jon Stewart is a genius in the Daily Show format. Margaret Cho is so unfunny it hurts to see her. Eddie Izzard’s appeal came and went quickly, as did Rowan Atkinson’s. Same with the Pythons and Beyond the Fringe. I blow hot and cold on Chappelle. Colin Quinn is a jerk, but I find Denis Leary funny on occasion.

Thanks for helping me remember some of these.

5

Marley23, Sarah Silverman is perhaps the funniest woman ever. I wish she had better exposure. I hate Jimmy Kimmel and wouldn’t watch him if I did stay up that late. To think that Sarah hooked up with that creep is as disappointing as seeing Kim Basinger with Prince.

6

Ah, that’s right. I was really into Mr. Bean for a while, but he seems to be a one-trick pony for the most part. Johnny English did have a few funny bits. I’m still a big Izzard fan, though. Maybe I discovered him later than some people, but I love his unique thought processes and the fact that he manages to be funny even when he botches a joke.

I passionately hate Colin Quinn. Inability to form a coherent thought + inability to tell a joke without lapsing into incoherence = unfunny. I found Tough Crowd totally unwatchable. Once, during a lazy attempt to tell a joke, he started eating a cracker and just ended up spewing crumbs on his shirt. Make the effort, Colin, jeez…

I recently discovered that I really like Mitch Hedberg… sadly, it was too late.

7

I’ve enjoyed her Friar’s Club stuff, but between the way she steals The Aristocrats and the very funny trailer for Jesus is Magic, I’ll be watching her with a lot of interest. She’s pretty easy on the eyes, too.

I liked The Man Show for a while (when Kimmel was on it), but there was no variety and it was too stupid for me to stay interested.

8

Me, too. Likewise with Sam Kinnison and Bill Hicks, though Hicks wore thin on rewatching/rereading.

Although I’m sure the fad won’t last, I get a kick out of the redneck comedy tour, especially Foxworthy. Brett Butler sure blew her chances, and Roseanne is as funny as a rubber crutch. If Tom Arnold weren’t so hyper, I might laugh at his stuff.

Sitcoms in general? Not funny. I grew to appreciate Larry David after we could see old episodes on On Demand. I never had the patience when it was on first run. Never got into Seinfeld.

9

I’d have to disagree there. Mr. Bean itself had some funny moments, but I never really got into it. Blackadder, however, is full of scathing wit and is often hilarious. A while back, he did a one-man comedy show (though he did have a partner for a couple skits) which had a solid mix of physical and verbal comedy, including a very impressive imaginary drum solo. :slight_smile: He does lean toward physical comedy, but he definitely doesn’t drive one particular shtick into the ground.

For my own tastes, I actually liked Mr. Bean a lot when I was much younger. Now I really don’t care to watch it, because I like a mix of physical and verbal comedy, and Mr. Bean had very little dialogue.

I used to find Jeff Dunham, one of the most popular stand-up ventriloquists out there, absolutely hysterical. Then I recently watched his Comedy Central act with a friend, and somehow that brought to light how…weak some of his jokes were. I still find his amusing, but not as falling-out-of-my-chair funny as I used to.

The first time I saw Mitch Hedberg’s act (it may even have been his first televised show), I was dying. So, so funny. Then I saw a newer act sometime later, and it just didn’t catch me the way the first one had. It’s a disappointment that he died, though. He had a really unique style to him.

George Carlin…I love the guy, and have always enjoyed his stuff. I bought a CD of one of his acts to listen to in the car this week, and I listened to the entire thing last night. While some stuff was as funny as ever, a lot of it just left my head hurting from the ranting style and the stretching he sometimes did to make a joke fit. IMO, jokes are generally funny because they’re true, and when there’s more to the truth than a comedian lets on, I fail to find the joke as funny as it maybe ought to be.

Marley23, the Friar’s Club Roasts are absolute goldmines of humor. I’ve seen some people flop miserably at the podium, but when they do it right, it’s some of the funniest stuff I have ever seen. The absolute best performance was by Steven Colbert at Chevy Chase’s roast. I’m perfectly willing to believe Steve honestly had never even met Chevy Chase before the roast, and he knocked it out of the park when people who’d known Chevy for decades fizzled.

In truth, I like such a wide variety of comedians that I’m going to stop while I’m ahead. (I even find Gallagher hilarious, ferchrissakes.) My current favorite stand-ups, though, are Dane Cook, Gabriel Iglesias, and Louis Ramey. Unfortunately, I haven’t had access to Comedy Central for over a year now, so I haven’t been able to see any of the up and coming stand-ups.

10

Do any of you folks remember (it may still be on somewhere in reruns) the “Make Me Laugh” show? Bobby Van ( I think) was the host. Some guys who have gone on to become big names in comedy were more-or-less regulars along with guys (and a few gals) who didn’t make it after the show. Gallagher was one. Gary Muledeer another. Two others are slipping in and out of my memory and I’m almost sure I’ll screw up their names. Kirkenbauer? Dukkomun? (Both of these guys were in movies after the show had faded).

What about past tense comedy showcases like Live at the Improv and Caroline’s Comedy Hour?

Did anybody really get into Last Comic Standing?

11

On Dennis Miller no longer being funny – it’s not me who changed, it’s him. He is no longer funny. I thought the OP was talking about maturing comedy tastes.

For instance – I find the Marx Bros. less hilarious than I did when I was a kid. Heresy, I know.

12

I guess because I never saw them as a kid, and by the time I did see them my tastes had moved on to more “modern” comedy paradigms, I never found much to laugh at in the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Fatty Arbuckle, Mae West, any of those folks. I did like Buster Keaton, mostly for his face.

Even with all the hype Ed McMahon laid out about Fields, and even watching Fields’s stuff from the vantage point of it being “in” in the 60’s, it was just old schtick to me.

13

I do indeed remember that show. It was interesting to see how comedians reacted to an audience of one. It’s one thing to be facing a crowd, some of whom might be laughing, some of whom might be talking on their cell phones, but it’s quite another to be doing your act directly to one person. Some comedians flopped hard on that show, and some did really well.

14

[ol]
[li]Moe[/li][li]Larry[/li][li]Spread out, Opal![/li][li]Curley[/li][/ol]

The, now, & always!!!

STOOGES ROOL! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Or, should that be, :smack: :smack: :smack: ?

15

As a kid I watched the 3 Stooges because it was the only thing on after I came from school. All the other channels had news programs. I liked them but I never found them as funny as Bugs Bunny and other Warner Bros. cartoons. As I’ve gotten older, I actually find that a little of them goes a long, long way.

The first stand-up comedian I remember watching was Bob Hope when he was doing his USO tours in the early Vietnam war. I thought he was hilarious. Later, as I got older and began actively demonstrating against the was, I still thought he was funny-but I ddn’t dare admit it to my friends. He was an active participant in those celebrity roasts and was as funny as any of the participants.

I listened to my mother’s comedy records with her as a teen, people like Nipsey Russell and Redd Foxx, and laughed along with her but it was more because she was laughing than I was swept away by the stuff.

I watched the Ed Sullivan Show as a kid but I really don’t remember any of the comics thoigh I’m sure there must’ve been ones on just about weekly. I don’t remember exactly when I first encountered Cosby but I loved his stuff. Now I find him very smug and only vaguely amusing. George Carlin was and still is funny. The same for Robin Wiliams, though his ad-lib stuff doesn’t seem to work as well for me. Eddie Izzard is a genius. He can take any situation and mine comedy out of it. Richard Pryor never did a lot for me.

Woody Allen, as a stand-up was wonderful and always will be. Maybe it’s just one New York Jew empathizing with another but his Night Club Years stuff always makes me laugh. The Marx Brothers movies are the same. Even the bad ones make me laugh.

My favorite comedian of all time is Steven Wright. The combination of his dead, flat voice with the absurd situations knocks me out. I’ve always loved the absurd and Wright is a portable theatre of absurd.

I love Adam Corolla who I’ve seen on Comedy Central. I want to take Lewis Black and shake him to make him stop yelling. I like Wanda Sykes a lot. I was once personally insulted on national TV by Rita Rudner so there will always be a place in my heart for her. I like Elaine Boosler too.

16

Ya gotta tell that story!

(BTW, the only live comedy show I’ve ever been to was Dennis Miller – back when he was still funny – and Rita Rudner. I think she’s great.)

17

How could I have left Steven Wright out of my OP list? Perhaps it’s that I manage to associate his stuff more with Emo Phillips and Jack Handey and thus to things I’ve seen in print (well, on the Internet) as opposed to in stand-up situations. But I agree that his stanad-up approach is unique and hilarious. Just to be able to come up with the situations he does would be a talent to develop.

Isn’t he the voice on the radio in Reservoir Dogs? If not, it’s somewhere. Just like Samuel L. Jackson as Mr. Senor Love Daddy in Do The Right Thing.

As for the Ed Sullivan show and comics, I don’t remember all that many. Air time was probably a factor even though the Steve Allen Show was on at the same hour and was riddled with funny stuff.

I came along just a bit too late for the Sid Caesar gang, but Howie Morris was always a riot. So was/is Howie Mandel. And Tim Conway.

18

As I’ve grown older, I have grown more fond of comedians whose material is whimsical or absurd. People like Steven Wright, Emo Phillips, and the late Mitch Hedberg tickle my funnybone.

19

Amazing simulpost!

20

[QUOTE=twickster]
Ya gotta tell that story!

I used to be in the book business and Rita rudner was doing a book tour to promote her latest opus, so to speak. The tour wasn’t going well. The day before she was scheduled in my store, she had been booked to some mall in California where the populace was like 98% Phillipino, many who spoke no English at all. They had made her sit in front of the store for 90 minutes and not only did no one buy a book but no one spoke to her the entire time she sat there. I was told also this by an agent of her publisher who called frantically and told me she was going to cancel the appearance if I couldn’t guarantee a turnout of 100 people or more.

i told the publisher that we had done all the right things. We had advertised in all the local papers. We had lots of copies of the book but that there was no way that I could guarantee that kind of audience. We hadn’t had many telephone calls which didn’t auger well. The publisher decided to cancel her appearance about 10am when she was dure for a noon signing. I knew I’d catch some flack from the corporate office but I felt I’d done the right thing by telling the publisher the truth.

We began pulling down the posters and dissassembeling the podium and reboxing the books when, about noon, she came in the front door unaccompanied by any kind of local minder which is very unusual for an author on tour. Mercifully she knew that the signing had been cancelled but she had come to sign stock for the store. Only about 10 people had come to see her and they didn’t keep her busy for long. I started roping people in from doing there jobs in the store to talk to her to keep her busy. There’s is no sight worse than an author sitting by themselves amidst the ruinsw of an unsuccessful autograph party. Most of my employees had no idea who she even was.

After that feebleness had run it’s course, I brought her to my office to sign stock for the store and others in the chain. I tried to make conversation with her both because I felt it was my job and also because I liked her work. She was very gracious and signed all the books. We shook hands and she left. I’d figured that was the end of any involvement between us. As P.G. Wodehouse was wont to say, I planned on watching her future career with interest, not thinking I’d have a brief part in it.

The next night she happened to be on one of the network talk shows, Leno IIRC. I stayed up to watch her. She was there promoting her book and Leno asked her how the tour had been going. She then related that she’d been in Seattle yesterday and spent too long in the backroom of a bookstore trapped with a John Candy wannabe, a double zinger because I didn’t weigh any where near what Candy did, so not only was I fat but I wasn’t even very good company. She didn’t use my name. I doubt she even remembered but we were her only Seattle appearance so she had to be referring to me.

Somehow, I’ve survived my national disgrace and gone on with what I pretend is a life.