Costello, Lsurel, Groucho, Hope, Pryor
2 + 2 = 5 for large values of 2? 
John Cleese
Tina Fey
Richard Pryor
Louis CK
A perfect choice.
I just bought a book of Braben scripts. He kept writing material for Morecambe and Wise after Morecambe died just because he enjoyed doing it so much.
he made a really funny album.
Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Lewis Black and Eddie Izzard. Not necessarily in that order.
Not a President unless you want to quibble about 2000, but Al Gore could be surprisingly funny. His turn on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me revealed a real wit behind the wooden facade.
All comedic forms:
Aristophanes, Rabelais, Swift, Dickens
US standup:
Benny Rubin, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Lenny Bruce
You might be a redneck if… this is your Mt. Rushmore of Comedy
After reading the thread title, during the 3-4 seconds it took me to click the link, open the thread and start reading the OP this is exactly the list I’d settled on. Pretty much no-brainers.
Without reading the thread, my personal choices might be Mitch Hedberg, George Carlin, Louis C.K., and Sasha Baron Cohen.
My objective choices might be more like Benny, Cosby, Pryor (or maybe Martin instead), and Cleeseidlepalinjoneschapmangilliam.
We’re talking English language, obviously. If we include other languages, that’s a whole other thing. You could start with Mexico’s Cantinflas.
ETA: If they keep going at the rate they’re going now, Key and Peele might just end up replacing one of the four on my personal list.
This is impossible, but I’ll give it a shot.
Limiting to performers rather than writers, I’ve still got to make two lists:
Stand-up:
Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, George Carlin
Radio/TV/Film:
Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Gilda Radner
Wow, all these posts and only one mention of Jack Benny. If you liked Johnny Carson, then you had to love Benny, since Carson freely admitted that he begged, borrowed and stole from the master. To me, Benny was perfect, and I even see some of him in a great contemporary comedian like Louis CK.
Jack Benny, Bob & Ray, Will Rogers, Sam Kinison
And honorable mention to Mort Sahl, who while not hysterical, sharpened the approach of Will Rogers and showed the way for comedians to make jokes about politicians.
This line from Sahl, in 1989, may be the most perfect line in political satire:
“George Washington couldn’t tell a lie. Richard Nixon couldn’t tell the truth.
Ronald Reagan couldn’t tell the difference.”
Two Jack Benny mentions, actually: myself, and aldiboronti (and now you)
Mort Sahl
Bill Hicks
George Carlin
Dick Gregory
Robin Williams
George Carlin
Lenny Bruce
John Belushi
Zombies and funny
I wonder how many would leave Cosby on their lists (looks like he had 12 or so mentions)? Does the funny overcome the moral failure?
The people I’ve laughed the hardest at:
Bob Newhart
Bill Cosby
Eddie Murphy
George Carlin
I don’t find him funny, but if I did, I would… I like the observation you made.