# Most annoying comedians of the mass communication era? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299 "2004-02-09T17:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/61 "2004-02-11T23:43:08Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Sorta like a younger Don Imus, a guy Stern apparently hates even though I think he got a lot of his ideas from him. No. That is wrong on so many levels I won’t even get started. To the OP, Ellen DeGeneris always struck me as someone who took Jake Johanssen’s act and worked it to remove all semblance of humor. Gottfried is brilliant live, but his best stuff is not suitable for broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/62 "2004-02-12T00:07:32Z")
Good for Imus if I’m wrong. 😛 I’ve heard them both and I don’t see much of a resemblance, but I’ve often heard him referred to as kind of a forefather of shock-jocks and Stern in particular. I"d love to know more if that’s not really so. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/63 "2004-02-12T00:17:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I was about to say Richard Lewis. I don’t think he was ever any good, but I saw him on Conan a few months back- he’d just gotten out of rehab and seemed to have given up sanity along with booze. I saw him on Jon Stewart not so long ago. There was definitely something very strange going on. He was acting like a little kid who’d just drank Mountain Dew laced with Pixie Sticks. I know Colin Quinn’s been brought up already, but the man is shockingly unfunny. How the hell is he so famous? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/64 "2004-02-12T00:35:17Z")
> [@Ex Machina](#): > > I don’t think people understand Robin Williams or Colin Quinn most of the time either, they just know where to laugh in the rhythm of the babble. Colin Quinn: unfunny, untalented, and a waste of valuable air time. What DON’T I understand? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/65 "2004-02-12T01:12:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Holy crap! Nobody’s nominated Howard Stern himself! He’s incredibly self-indulgent, and he’s been doing the same dumb, unfunny crap for decades now. Sorta like a younger Don Imus, a guy Stern apparently hates even though I think he got a lot of his ideas from him. Howard Stern SUCKS. I saw him while flipping channels last night (I really was flipping channels) and couldn’t believe that he was again using “Arnold the Retard” as a panelist for some lame gameshow. As seldom as I’ve seen his show (and I’ve never seen it for more than 4 minutes at a time) I’ve seen a mentally retarded adult called “\_\_\_\_\_\_ the Retard” each time- why AAMR or some other advocacy group hasn’t raised 400 kinds of holy hell about his exploitation of the retarded I have no idea. It’s not the least bit funny and the poor guy has to know that people are laughing at him (and not in the good way) and he’s being called “\_\_\_\_ the Retard”. I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Jimmy Fallon. There are two good things you can say about him: 1- he’s a talented impressionist 2- he’s very cute His comedy, however, whether hosting award shows or making lame comedy music videos or, most annoying of all, his complete frigging inability to make it through a skit without cracking up (it worked for Conway and Korman; for him it’s just unprofessional and it throws off the timing of the other performers [except for talentless ass Horatio Sanz, who’s usually cracking up with him) make him one of the most annoying comics to come along in a long long time. He can be funny **IF** he can actually say his lines and **IF** somebody else has written his material, but his improv and writing skills are on par with previous “Most Annoying SNL Cast Member of the Year” winner [Melanie Hutsell](http://imdb.com/name/nm0404525/)\*. (BTW, the “did I just get knighted or was I queened?” comment when Ian McKellen kissed him wasn’t an improv.) \*If you don’t remember her (and there’s no reason why you should) she played Tori Spelling, Jan Brady and “Delta Delta Delta! Can I help ya, help ya help ya?” girl. One critic called her “the lady of a thousand faces… all of them the same”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/66 "2004-02-12T01:18:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > “Most Annoying SNL Cast Member of the Year” winner [Melanie Hutsell](http://imdb.com/name/nm0404525/)\*. (BTW, the “did I just get knighted or was I queened?” comment when Ian McKellen kissed him wasn’t an improv.) > \*If you don’t remember her (and there’s no reason why you should) she played Tori Spelling, Jan Brady and “Delta Delta Delta! Can I help ya, help ya help ya?” girl. One critic called her “the lady of a thousand faces… all of them the same”. [Margo Ledbetter voice]Thank you veddy much![MLv] …for releasing that repressed memory. ---
**Author:** ![HomerIU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HomerIU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomerIU)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/67 "2004-02-12T02:34:21Z")
Jay Leno. The very definition of mediocre humor devoid of wit, edginess or thoughtulness. Go for the obvious joke everyone will get, nothing else. I once read how the writers of The Onion consider Leno like the devil and aim to be humorous in the exact way that he is NOT humorous. That pretty well explains it. ``` Jay Mohr. Anyone seen his stand up act? Not very good, which probably explains why he went into acting. Robin WIlliams and Eddie Murphy post-1990. The sad part is that they used to be funny, but then decided to give it all up at some point to make easy, B grade comedies. It depresses me to no one to see Eddie Murphy do crap like Daddy Day Care when he used to be so funny back in the 1980s. I agree with Bob Saget, but I never really thought anyone thought he was funny in the first place, so its kind of a weak point. Colin Quinn. My GOD, easily the worst SNL anchor ever. ``` ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/68 "2004-02-12T02:36:19Z")
Jeff Foxworthy. Sorry if that gave you flashbacks to a bad time of your life. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/69 "2004-02-12T03:02:55Z")
Sweet Zombie Jesus! How could I overlook the incredibly heinous Jeff “Butt steak” Altman? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/70 "2004-02-12T03:10:07Z")
> [@HomerIU](#): > > Jay Mohr. Anyone seen his stand up act? Not very good, which probably explains why he went into acting. I admit, I really like Jay Mohr as a comic actor, and I think he’s hilarious on that sports show. Never caught his stand-up, though. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/71 "2004-02-12T03:23:25Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#): > > Spealing of Jerry Lewis, someone needs to go dig up that thread where someone admitted they’d spent their whole life thinking Jerry Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis were the same person. It’s hilarious. > > “Goodness gracious, GREAT balls of HEY LADY!” Ohhh. Classic SDMB thread. [My Rage Burns With The Fire Of A Million Suns](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=62082) by **lno** : > [@](#): > > And finally, to Jerry Lewis, and Jerry Lee Lewis. > You two both deserve to rot in the umpteeth circle of hell. Not because you directly affected my life in any way, but because for the love of God I lived twenty-four years without knowing you were two separate people. I went through life thinking that “Goodness gracious great balls of HEY LAAAAAAADY!” came from the same person. I thought that the performer whom the French strangely love was the same performer who married his underage cousin in Kentucky. You have no RIGHT to do this to me. You have no IDEA how aghast I was when this was explained to me. No, this was not explained to me in the privacy of my own home. No, this was not explained to me in the company of a few close friends, who would snicker momentarily and then forget about this. No, this was not even explained to me while giving a presentation to a board of directors. YOU TWO KEPT UP THIS CHARADE UNTIL MY GIRLFRIEND WONDERED WHAT THE HELL I WAS TALKING ABOUT. She’ll never let me forget about this. She now has the nuclear weapon of relationships. She can merely whisper “Jerry Lewis!” into my ear and I’ll curl into a mortified fetal position. She can win any argument, no matter how many cites I provide, or how many links to authoritative sources. ---
**Author:** ![HomerIU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HomerIU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomerIU)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/72 "2004-02-12T03:27:06Z")
Jay Morh was very funny in Go and Jerry Maguire. I don’t watch The Most Annoying Sports Show Period. Call me old if you want, I’d much rather listen to Frank DeFord or Bob Costas (even though he can be pretentious and smug) than second rate talk show hosts interview boring sports stars and try to be funny. ``` And speaking of the thread, if you saw Last Comic Standing, in which almost every comic standing at the end was not very funny, especially the winner, you would have seen Jay Mohr's stand up. He was the host. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/73 "2004-02-12T03:57:44Z")
> [@HomerIU](#): > > Jay Morh was very funny in Go and Jerry Maguire. I don’t watch The Most Annoying Sports Show Period. Call me old if you want, I’d much rather listen to Frank DeFord or Bob Costas (even though he can be pretentious and smug) than second rate talk show hosts interview boring sports stars and try to be funny. > > ``` > And speaking of the thread, if you saw Last Comic Standing, in which almost every comic standing at the end was not very funny, especially the winner, you would have seen Jay Mohr's stand up. He was the host. > > ``` I’m not really a sports fan anyway, I just chuckle if I happen to catch a bit of him on the radio. But Mohr was also quite good in a serious role in Suicide Kings, and he came away from that project with the ability to do the best Christopher Walken impression in the business. ---
**Author:** ![Eman\_Resu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Eman\_Resu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eman_Resu)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/74 "2004-02-12T04:54:51Z")
What about that load Jimmy Pardo? I couldn’t stand that commercial on Comedy Central where he’s swinging his goddamn arrogant, oblivious “gee whiz I’m funny, don’t you think? well _I_ do” face around saying, “Yuck it up, ya bastards.” His “Comedy Central Presents…” felt like a thirty minute long introduction. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/75 "2004-02-12T14:37:33Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] **Buddy Hackett**. This is a guy who made a career out of being butt-ugly. Never was, is, or will be funny or considered even mildly amusing by anyone other than someone with the comedic acumen of asphalt. QUOTE] Amen. I hated Buddy Hackett with the passion of a million blazing suns. Terrible beyond belief. Robin Williams is about one-tenth as funny as he thinks he is–and, in serious roles, he has the deftness of Robocop. Note to Williams: going without your lithium doesn’t make you funnier. Ray Romano is a mystery to me–especially considering he is reportedly the highest paid male actor in Hollywood today. Go figure. Jay Leno has lost much of his comedic chops, and so has Cosby. That said, comedy is generational and situational. What’s funny today is agonizing tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/76 "2004-02-12T16:27:35Z")
Sorry, I started another thread before seeing this fine one. But, again, my nominee is overwhelmingly: Colin Quinn, the “Black Hole Of Comedy”. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/77 "2004-02-12T18:51:51Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > I can’t believe no ones listed Eddie Murphy yet, That guy is one of the most obnoxious persons I’ve ever seen in my life…and to think that guy is a millionaire I like Eddie Murphy in most of his movies that I’ve seen, and I liked him on SNL, but never cared much for his standup routines. There was too much depressing material about family fights. Wasn’t he the one who did the thing about his mom throwing her shoe at him when she was mad? ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/78 "2004-02-12T21:37:48Z")
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Bobcat Goldthwait yet. I’d like to lock him and Gilbert Gottfried in a soundproof phone booth together and throw away the key. Even if the jokes are funny, the voices are so annoying it just doesn’t matter. Nails on a chalkboard sound better than these two. ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/79 "2004-02-12T23:12:40Z")
What about that curly-haired red (or brown) head who starts all her lines in a sororitorious “Okay…I’m like…”, and gossips most of the time? Suddenly, her face is on all the sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299/80 "2004-02-13T00:00:59Z")
> [@litost](#): > > What about that curly-haired red (or brown) head who starts all her lines in a sororitorious “Okay…I’m like…”, and gossips most of the time? > > Suddenly, her face is on all the sitcoms. Kathy Griffin. Highly annoying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-comedians-of-the-mass-communication-era/228299.md?page=5)