Phyllis Diller always cracked me up. One of my faves: “I never clean my oven. I can only bake one cupcake at a time.” I like Wanda Sykes quite a lot, too.
I love Michael McIntyre. His bit on kids is one of my faves.
In no particular order:
Jonathan Winters
Robin Williams
Michael McIntyre
Bill Cosby
Steven Wright
George Carlin
Wanda Sykes
Phyllis Diller
Richard Prior
Lenny Bruce
Bob Newhart
Stand-up comedians I don’t find that funny include Rosanne Barr, Jeff Dunham, and Dennis Miller.
Another vote for Sam Kinison.
We went to see him once. On Valentine’s day. Yeah, he was in a “holiday mood” alright.
OMG, that guy was funny. Brilliant.
After considerable evaluation and analysis I have found that the correct answer is Norm Macdonald. Some of the others are pretty funny, some have even funnier jokes, but nobody tells 'em as well as Norm does. He is truly funny, his humor isn’t based in the jokes, it comes from the way he tells it. He could get people rolling in the aisles reading a dry cleaning ticket.
I’ll repeat for the record, the Funniest Stand Up Comedian of All Time is Norm Macdonald.
And here I would’ve bet this thread would not have a definitive answer.
Well, I guess if everyone agrees it’s Norm (and not someone, like, say, Mort Sahl)… we’re done here.
I would say that Norm Macdonald was the funniest talk show guest, but George Carlin was the funniest stand-up.
This clip of Norm Macdonald on Late Night with Conan O’Brien is classic quick-witted Norm:
I’m sad to report to all the Mitch Hedberg fans that I saw him live and he was terrible. Must have been on industrial strength speed. He just blew through the jokes, killing the delivery which was so much of his funny.
I was sad.
He was dead within months.
Unpopular opinion: Norm McDonald and George Carlin are way too smug to be funny. Norm less so, but Carlin, I can barely stand him.
Smug works for Jeselnik but not Dice Clay. I get what you mean though. I think Norm has brillliance (as above) but did not like him on SNL Weekend Update since he was too smug for the script (but still funnier than most in that role).
I like comedians who make you think and have a point. No one has mentioned Vir Das, who is very insightful (though not the funniest of all time by any means).
Speaking of smugness there is always Dennis Miller and Bill Maher,
That’s for sure.
Jeselnik is faux-smug though. Part of his jokes is how ridiculous his smugness is, the joke’s on him. That’s the exact opposite of Bill Maher or Dennis Miller.
I agree. It is a hard balancing act to pull off. Jeselnik does it well, it needs to be done ad absurdum or not at all.
Jeselnik operates in the same way Rickles did, all of it over the top, and with a wink.