I think they’re both rather funny. I feel Gervais is a tad more mean spirited than Izzard.
Can you tell me another comedian that discusses the spectrum where murder is reprehensible, but you get to the point where genocide is beyond the ability to grasp?
Cuz that seems to be kind of a fine line to follow and still be funny.
I don’t know that anyone has told that exact joke, but the general idea doesn’t seem at all novel to me. A lot of comedians I named touch on issues of morality or social relationships. Even some of Jerry Seinfeld’s stuff touches on this kind of thing.
To
My previous list you can add Robert Klein, George Carlin, and Lewis Black.
And since I didn’t think it was all that funny, I’m not sure how to address the second part.
Whelp, that the cool thing…some folks like Justin Beiber, too…doesn’t make it right, doesn’t mean you have to understand it, doesn’t t mean there can’t be any other people that sound like him.
Trying to describe what I mean is surprisingly difficult. I’m talking about someone who doesn’t seem to mind if he’s talking to only a few audience memebers at certain points of the show. George Carlin - yes. I don’t know Klein, and only saw Black’s early stuff. I definitely would have put Black in a completely different category. black made a lot of good points, but they were not abstract conenctions, just thing sthat most Americans don’t pay much attention to.
By intellectual I don’t mean “topical” or even “political.” I don’t mean just “not a fart joke.” I’m talking about stuff like UB’s example. A truly difficult to grasp abstraction, here and there, just to keep you on your toes. The kind of stuff that even a smart person may not “get” right away. The stuff that makes you go “wow” three days later.
And my home computer is down, which means I’m youtube disabled at the moment, or I’d find some examaples. . . but when I say unapologetically or agressively intellectusl, I mean someone who honest to goodness seems not to give a poop if only one person laughs because by gum they know it was funny, what they just said. The stuff that makes you feel like you’ve just been worked over by Will Hunting.
I don’t know any French at all, but that bit was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I’m going with Izzard.
I can’t tell if Gervais is actually a comic. Sometimes he’s just annoying and I don’t really get why people love him so much.
Well at least R.G. is actually funny. That’s quite unusual for a British person.
Izzard is interesting, but I wouldn’t call him funny. Gervais’s insults can sometimes be funny. I guess I’d go with the latter. Unfortunately, I can no longer vote.
Sure, there was a guy doing that bit 60+ years ago.
Personally I find Izzard’s stand up pretty run-of-the-mill, from what little I’ve seen. That Death Star bit being a prime example.
Did you watch the french clip?
You might not think it’s funny, but I don’t know of anyone else who does stuff like that and I watch a lot of comedy. I suppose you could make a case that he is ripping of Ionesco, but even that is sort of impressive.
Well, I guess I can’t say I’ve seen someone do precisely that, but I can’t help but think it’s just a jacked up version of “It’s funny if you say it with an accent”, which is pretty common. Basically, Steve Martin nailed it much more concisely with “It’s like those French have a different word for everything!”
For my money, nothing tops Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington together in a room. I have all their podcasts and xfm shows on mp3 and I never get tired of them.
Apart from that, the Office of course was great, but Extras was absolutely brilliant. Gervais and Merchant even top Curb your Enthusiasm for their ability to spin comedy out of awful, uncomfortable situations.
I don’t really have strong feelings one way or the other about Izzard.