Pick your favorite from the list.
Seriously, I’d question the sanity, not to mention the taste, of anyone who doesn’t choose Richard Pryor.
Is it too late to go back and make this multiple choice? The answers would probably be more interesting.
As it is, I am voting Pryor.
All of them were funny. Are we talking about their stand-up acts, their TV shows (if they had one), or their work in movies? For my money, until he became Cliff Huxtable, Cosby was the funniest especially because he didn’t work blue. Bill Cosby Himself is still pants-pissingly funny no matter how many times I see it.
I toyed with the idea but rejected it in favor of a short list. I would love to see somebody else’s list of 20 or so comics of all eras and categories, with a multiple choice option.
Be my guest. I hope we can explore the “who’s funniest?” notion some more.
I pick Bill Cosby. I have heard stand up from all of them, except Redd Foxx. I’ve seen most of them do acting. I pick Bill because he is so clean and funny. It takes genius to be able to make several generations laugh at the same time and not offend anyone (for the most part).
Richard Pryor. I wish I could put my finger on the genius of him, but I can’t.
I didn’t like his stand up as much as I liked moments from his movies that were so funny that I laughed till I couldn’t breath.
Tough list. Cosby’s early and middle stuff are classic (200 MPH, Noah). Pryor set the bar for everyone to follow, and would have been my choice, but…
Chris Rock. Right now, Chris Rock. Time will tell if he has the staying power of Pryor. But the poll says “funniest,” not “most ground-breaking,” or “most insightful.”
This is where I went back and forth. I think Cosby’s late career took him out of the running, and for me Chris Rock hasn’t proven to have the staying power though he is getting there shortly. If in another 5 years or so if he is still relevant I will probably give him the nod instead of Pryor. But Pryor’s stuff is still funny even 30+ years later and I don’t know if Rock will be. Eddie Murphy, for example, hasn’t aged well.
It was a tough tossup between Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. Pryor in his prime was some funny stuff, but I had to give the edge to Bill Cosby just for Bill Cosby - Himself and for the Noah and Weird Harold bits from his albums. When he has stuff i can watch with my 70±year old mom and 7-year old daughter at the same time, that is good.
…which is why I voted for him. If I ranked them, Pryor would be 2nd and Murphy 3rd, so I’m a little surprised he has no votes.
Prior by the length of a crack pipe over Cosby. Anyone who can make jokes about his running down the streets with his clothing on fire – and make it funny – deserves the crown.
Of that list, Pryor. But my ultimate vote goes to George Carlin. Funniest funny man EVER.
Very little doubt in my mind that you’re right! But to try to build a list of challengers to that claim, so we can have a knock-down-drag-out comics poll to beat them all, add to these, please:
Mitch Hedberg
Bill Hicks
Steven Wright
Steve Martin
Steve Allen
Jonathan Winters
Bob Newhart
Wanda Sykes
Elayne Boosler
or somebody else from List of comedians - Wikipedia
Richard Pryor, by a mile.
At least if we’re talking about stand-up, it has to be Cosby. His “To My Brother, Russell…” may well be the single greatest stand-up routine ever. If you include performances in movies and TV, it becomes a lot closer.
I may not be being fair, because I haven’t heard/seen the complete works of any of these gentlemen, but I’ve come closer with Cosby than with the others. It helps that Cosby’s comedy is about stuff that this square, non-drug-using, white guy can relate to.
I don’t think downgrading Cosby for his late career items is fair, considering how long and how great his career was/is. He did a great job guest-hosting for Letterman during Dave’s bout with shingles several years ago, and down grading him for getting old is like kicking Willie Mays out of the Hall of Fame just because he fell down in the outfield in the 1973 World Series.
I vote Cosby but they’re all excellent. The current funniest is Chris Rock.
Bill Cosby
If you only know him from The Cosby Show, then you’re missing a lot. The man’s stand-up is hilarious.
I voted Cosby because his stuff holds up the best.
I loved Pryor’s stand-up when it was current, but in retrospect a lot of the stuff that made me howl was pretty weak. “I did some acid once… white boy gave it to me… He said, ‘you goin’ be trippin’ I said, ‘Shit, I ain’t goin’ nowhere without my luffage. […] I got to get the fuck out of here I got to get the fuck out of here I got to get the fuck out of here waaa waaaa waaaa open the pod bay doors, HAL.” When you’re seventeen and high, that is brilliance. Also, the theme of “White people are _______, but black people are ___________” has lost a lot of its shine since Pryor was working on it.
When I go back to Cosby’s stand-up, I still laugh - it’s not so much “Man, I used to find this so funny!”
I wonder how Red Foxx holds up? I haven’t heard his stuff in ages. (I am still reminded of one of his routines often in the shower. I am pretty sure it’s not as funny as I thought it was when I was a teenager.)
Pryor, then Murphy, his heir apparent in my opinion.
It’s amazing that Harlem Nights had Pryor, Murphy, and Redd Foxx- three of the funniest comics of all time, and the movie didn’t work. (Had a couple of funny moments, but overall a thud.)