Tough, thought provoking thread here…
I love several stand up comics, most of which were mentioned, like Carlin, John Pinette, Billy Connoly, Eddie Murphy and Bill Cosby.
My all time favorite has to be Mitch Hedberg (check my sig 
) He was the most original and unique comic I ever heard.
Also - no love for the hilarious Ricky Gervais?
I’ll give him some love. I couldn’t stand The Office (for example), but I saw him doing standup and he is brilliant.
Has anyone mentioned Peter Cook? Flawed genius doesn’t do him justice. Massively flawed genius doesn’t either. But still a rare talent. I remember seeing John Cleese talk about him thus: Cleese could sit down at his desk and put in an eight hour day and (in his opinion) produce three minutes of material just as good as Peter Cook’s output. The difference between them? In order to produce three minutes of material, Peter Cook required three minutes.
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Some people who say Leno was not good are still ticked off about Conan losing the tonight show. They may go to their grave mad about that. Of course Conan was paid $33 mil when he was axed from Tonight show so I don’t feel too bad for him.
Yeah, I’m exactly the opposite with him. Love him in his acting roles; don’t like his standup.
David Sedaris is not, technically, a comedian.
His earlier books were amusing, but as time went on, I thought ‘he’s just making it up as he goes’; his later books are odd but melancholy, and I think he is really exhausting all his memoirs.
Saw David Sedaris from the 3rd row last month. Some of his stuff was funny but not all of it. This was in Raleigh where he lived as a kid. When he took questions someone asked the dumb question: “Do you stay in a hotel here or stay with friends?” He said he stays in a hotel but he had relatives at the show.
His brother runs a local flooring company: https://sedarishardwoodfloors.com/
I thought Jay Leno was a hoot doing stand-up in the mid 80s. His TV show, to me, was worth a few half-hearted chuckles here and there.
Of course, network TV placed constraints on decorum/language, but still…
Good call on Ricky Gervais, I enjoy both the TV and standup.
*Great *call on Peter Cook, a rare, rare talent indeed.
Someone not mentioned and someone who is not a standup and not even a true comic performer but Armando Iannucci is a comedy god. A central point around which much of the best comedy writers and performers of the last 30 years have pivoted. You know his work and his influences even if you don’t know the name.
Talk of Whose Line Is It Anyway brings to mind Ryan Stilles. He does smary comedy better than anyone, including me.
As I remember, Leno didn’t need those constraints. He was known to be a clean comic.
Did you run across The Salt and Pepper Diner? It’s my single favorite bit of standup ever.
Leno was basically a clean comic prior to the Tonight show. But I’m sure he was more careful about what he did on TV since he did not want to lose that job. And in fact NBC considered firing Leno during his first year and they even offered Letterman the job. Letterman’s agent wanted the NBC offer on paper and NBC did not want to put it in writing for fear of it being leaked so that ended the NBC offer to Letterman who then went to CBS.
I just listened to it now. Hilarious!
Thanks.
ETA: The accompanying article is good too.
This joke right here puts you among the best listed. Thanks for making me piss my pants.
For anyone who wants to read about the behind the scenes going-ons when Johnny Carson retired and NBC was looking for a replacement I would highly recommend the book The Late Shift by Bill Carter. It goes into detail about Carson’s retirement, the start of Leno’s and Letterman’s careers, Joan River’s failed attempt at a late night talk show and even Arsenio Hall’s show.
He also wrote a later book about the whole debacle about Conan O’Brian’as attempt to take over The Tonight Show.
Not sure I could pick a “best”, because I like different styles of comedy. I’m always impressed by a comic who’s quick enough to improv, and riff on what the audience gives them. Jimmy Carr is brilliant at this; he actually invites hecklers, to give him a target for his fire. He’s also able to pull off shock comedy, which is hard to do without it sounding like a shtick.
On the other hand, some observational comics rise to the level of cultural critics, and can talk about significant ideas and important concepts in a way that still garners laughs. Dara O Briain is hilarious, but is almost a public intellectual.
(Thanks to hours of watching Mock The Week, Eight Out Of Ten Cats Do Countdown, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, et al. on YouTube, I’m more familiar with British comedians than Americans).
I saw Mike Birbiglia live on his last tour, doing “My New Couch”. I wouldn’t call it comedy, though; his routine was funny, yes, but also painful and sad and profound and moving. It was storytelling as performance art.
You’re not the only one. But saying that you don’t like David Sedaris is like admitting you don’t like jazz, or This American Life, or the Boston Red Sox - the NPRigensia looks down on you, and PBS returns your pledge check.
The Late Shift was made into a made-for-HBO movie, which was pretty entertaining.
Don’t go dissing my “best choice” Emo. I thought his opening act for Weird Al last year was better than the concert…
I first caught him on the Late Show with David Letterman. His religion on the bridge joke is great!
His interactions with David Letterman were pretty funny.
(before the term emo got co-opted)
Off the bridge, heretic!
Yes!! My work here is done.