Who is your favorite stand up comic?

I liked Gallagher back in the 80s a lot also. Carlin was better but Gallagher was very funny.

Bill Cosby (yeah, yeah, but still…)
George Carlin (70’s and early 80’s. before his “Grumpy Old Man” years)
Freddy Prinze (Sr., of course)
Steven Wright
Sam Kinnison
Richard Jeni
Iliza Schlesinger
Eddie Izzard
Jerry Seinfield (BEFORE the TV show)
Eddie Murphy (sorry, but nobody does a better Cosby than him. Maybe not even Cosby…:cool:)
Steve Martin (if for nothing, the greatest comeback to a heckler ever.)

I like Sinbad. Steve Harvey also did some very funny standup. Wanda Sykes is funny but too coarse for me sometimes.

In my book nobody approaches Carlin.

He was not only funny, but he was smart, insightful, creative, and extraordinarily gifted at the actual skill of standup.

He provoked you to *think *while you were simultaneously laughing your ass off.
mmm

Norm Macdonald out of N. American comics - just seems to occupy a different space. Burr had Stanhope on his podcast and they were saying it’s easy to pretend you don’t give a fuck, but you sort of do have to if you want to eat. Norm does not, which is why other comics appear to idolise him.
It’s not quite like that, though, as Norm does live in the mainstream. He reminds me a little of Spike Milligan in some respects, but Spike was a feared guest on UK chatshows. Made the host nervous, like he’d start overturning the furniture. Norm reliably goes on the big US talk shows and slays to order.

In the UK I rate Peter Kay as the boss. Probably the most successful British comedian in recent times when you consider his body of work writing, acting etc, so he’s very mainstream. But his style still separates him from the London circuit - quite old school, Northern standup - hugely nostalgic but still manages to kill.

Fair enough. I’ll concede that point.

A timely Richard Jeni routine, years after his death.

Swearing, NSFW.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANyDzdDb7_4&feature=youtu.be&t=2m59s

Bill Burr

One of my fav’s too. Well worth the thread bump.

Lately, my go to guys are Jimmy Pardo and Doug Benson - more for the podcasting, though.

Speaking of podcasts, I’m also a big fan of Comedy Bang Bang, Scott Auckerman’s podcast. It features interviews of comedians, actors, musicians as well as heavy improvisation. Gino the intern (John Gabrus) is my favorite. If you like improv, that’s the place to go.

Matt Besser, Laura Lapkus, Ben Schwartz, Paul F Thompson, Nick Kroll, Horatio Sanz. Many more. Speaking of Laura Lapkus and Ben Schwartz (who I first saw in Coffee Town, with Glen Howerton of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia … I digress), I recently ran across this set of outtakes from a web series for Funny or Die called The Earliest Show, with Laura and Ben as well as Joe Hartzler and guests. It’s a spoof or your typical local morning show. The outtake reel is an hour and four minutes long. That’s the material they didn’t use for the series. That how much they just ran with shit. It’s pretty hilarious.

Daniel Tosh is my favorite stand-up comic.

George Carlin
Don Rickles
Norm McDonald
Bill Burr

Going just by my Youtube viewing history, it seems to be Bill Burr, then Chris Rock, then Ed Byrne.

Seeing Paula Poundstone tonight. I’ve always enjoyed her stuff

May be completely different, but I found it hard to watch parts of “48 Hours.”

Redd Foxx hasn’t been mentioned.