# What deceased comedian are we most lost without? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489 "2003-11-16T01:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![guy\_from\_wpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@guy\_from\_wpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guy_from_wpa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/61 "2003-11-17T22:06:43Z")
Groucho Marx ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/62 "2003-11-18T08:53:33Z")
George Gobel Steve Allen Alexander King Oscar Levant (I know those last two were not primarily comedians, but they were among the funniest, wittiest men ever.) And lest we forget the ladies: Lucille Ball (more a comic actress) Totie Fields (a great stand-up who left us way too soon) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/63 "2003-11-18T13:59:10Z")
**William Jennings Bryan** He used to do this bit about evolution that was just hilarious, just as funny today as it was back then! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/64 "2003-11-18T14:00:14Z")
I’m the first one to mention \*\* Benny Hill\*\*? ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/65 "2003-11-18T15:05:36Z")
Peter Cook without a doubt. Graham Chapman (Where will the world be the day there are no Python boys left?) All the lost Goons. Douglas Adams, certainly. But Cook is first. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/66 "2003-11-18T15:51:07Z")
Groucho Marx. Pure genius. His/Their work still stands seventy years later. Mae West. I would love to hear her against say, “Bill I can’t keep my pants on” Clinton. Rosalind Russell. Not a comedian in the truest sense, but excellent comic timing. The Late Great Margeret Dumont. ---
**Author:** ![Sneeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sneeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sneeze)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/67 "2003-11-20T09:24:27Z")
Bill Hicks. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/68 "2003-11-20T23:29:35Z")
Another vote for Belushi, Radner, Madeline Kahn, Kovacs. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/69 "2003-11-21T00:47:12Z")
The Marx Bros and Bob Hope. Phil Hartman, too. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/70 "2003-11-21T02:00:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*I’m the first one to mention Benny Hill? \*\* Yes, and I sincerely hope you’re the last, too. 😉 What’s funny about sped up pictures of girls in bikinis? The only possible answer to this thread has already been given. I discovered him way after his death, and _I_ even miss him. And MAN, would he have had a field trip with the current US administration. 1. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/71 "2003-11-21T06:50:57Z")
Michael O’Donoghue (More of a writer than a performer, but had plenty of creds on both counts). He and Bill Hicks were better-known to other comedians than to the general public, the way Alex Chilton and Tom Rush are better-known to serious musicians than to FM radio listeners, but their influence on their peers is _incalculable._ ---
**Author:** ![modro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/72 "2003-11-21T14:32:11Z")
To those of you who mentioned Bill Hicks… Thank you. That man had gone undiscovered to myself, and he is definitely an amazing talent. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/73 "2003-11-21T16:32:36Z")
All of the good comedians today owe a debt of gratitude to all of those who ran before them redefining and pioneering various performance forms and forums. Lucille Ball for instance. Gilda, and John. Lenny? for sure. I miss the old Richard Pryor. I really miss Groucho. He was the best. Peter Sellers, the sad clown. Was going to say Andy Kauffman, but am not sure if he fits in this category. lol. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489/74 "2003-11-21T19:04:22Z")
Lenny Bruce is kinda overrated. He’s known today as some sort of First Amendment martyr, but in his final days, his “act” consisted of him reading the transcripts from his trials and trying to intersperse it with some kind of commentary. That’s not groundbreaking, it’s masturbatory. In his prime, Lenny was running second fiddle to Mort Sahl. We still have Sahl, and frankly, we’re no less lost for having him around. That goes double for Dick (“Bahamian Sawdust Diet Scam”) Gregory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-deceased-comedian-are-we-most-lost-without/213489.md?page=3)