Who do you always laugh at, no matter how many times you’ve heard the routine? Mine are:
Lewis Black- If you’ve only seen “Back in Black” on The Daily Show, you are missing out. Check out The White Album.
Mitch Hedberg- Hilarious. That about sums it up.
Denis Leary- I loved No Cure For Cancer. The part about the bow-and-arrow set was great.
Tim Wilson- His songs are only half the act, as he has some great stand-up material.
I also am laughing my head off at a Pablo Francisco bit about the “Movie Preview” announcer. “Jean-Claude Van Dam…in the same crap you’ve seen over, and over, and over again!”
I’ve seen plenty of great comedians on Comedy Central Presents, but I invariably come into them halfway through the act and never get to see the rest of it.
Eddie Murphy before movie stardom.
Billy Crystal-still
And the bugeyed guy that’s now dead about 5 years or so.A regular in the early 90s on cable standup 1/2 to hour comedy shows (Catch a Rising Star,etc.)
Dom Irezza = Dom Irrera. Hilarious. During one of Comedy Central’s televised friars club roasts, he did a five minute riff on euphamisms for cunnilingus. The one that sticks with me is, “to yodel in the yeasty valley of love.”
The bugeyed guy = Dennis Wolfberg. Played Gooshie on Quantum Leap. Funny guy, but doesn’t particularly stand out in my mind. I mostly remember him for the way he over-played his punchlines.
I’ll second Eddie Izzard, Mitch Hedberg, Jake Johansson, and Paula Poundstone.
Bill Hicks was simply the funniest human being I’ve ever seen. Makes Dennis Leary look like Carrot Top.
Also: Steven Wright, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Lenny Bruce, and Bill Cosby.
Well, George Carlin has always been the man, but a lot of his schtick came from Lenny Bruce, who was, well, also the man…
However, Bill Hicks was possibly the best stand-up comedian to ever walk the earth and, well, do a lot of drugs. Not only was he patently hilarious, he also was unafraid to stand up for his beliefs right onstage. You didn’t have to agree with him, but you had to respect his willingness to speak his mind and hold to his point of view.
I love George Carlins early stuff (Al Sleed the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman"…If you don’t like the weather. MOVE!") But, over the last few years he’s got a bit crochety and ranty.
{pryor voice}No one loves Rich? That’s one funny ni**er {pryor off} His body may be racked, but I bet that mind will be Kicking till the end. Blessings for ya Rich.
Denis Leary will be a perennial favorite just for The Asshole Song. Never mind that he’s right about Marajuanna smoking and carpentry. I’ve got a whole shop here to prove it.
Elaine Boozler and her Peeps. Her impression of Andrew D. Clay is still here in my brain after 8 years. (We’re doin’ it doggie style, so we can both watch the Giants game)
George Carlin, when he was young and rebellious, was funny. When he got middle-aged, he got too mellow and was no longer funny. Now that he’s old and crotchety, he’s got his edge back and he’s funny again.
Sam Kenison. I caught him at a midnight show at Duke. Just 80 ppl in the audience but he blew us away. He was just as intense as if he were in a stadium. YOU WANT TO HELP THE STARVING PEOPLE IN AFRICA? Don’t send them FOOD! Send them LUGGAGE! Send them U-HAULS! IT’S A FUCKING DESERT! NOTHING GROWS HERE! MOVE!!!
I’ll toss in, from my own experience, Tim Wilson, Pinkerd & Bowden, Judy Tenuta, Dr. Dirty, and Penn & Teller.
George Carlin, Denis Leary, Eddie Izzard, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Bill Cosby, Norm MacDonald, Steve Martin, Carolyn Rea (although I refuse to ever watch her show), Martin Short, and suprisingly, Bob Sagat’s stand up is really fucking funny!
And I feel like a real shit because I can’t remember her name, but the woman with the accordian. I’ve seen several of her specials, and she even came into our studio and did an interview on our news program. She was fucking hillarious, and if you asked me any other day of teh week, I’d be able to give you her name. My favorite part of the interview is she was talking about going to this wedding. “It was for one of my ex-boyfriends. Well, not really boyfriend, more like some guy I used to sit on!” Awww, you should have seen the anchor’s face, she wouldn’t let up on him the entire interview. Then we got her to do the weather. It was great fun.
I’d also vote for Wolfberg as one of the funniest, but if you’re counting living comedians, he doesn’t qualify.
The funniest stand-up I’ve ever heard was an obscure comedian by the name of Chris Rush back in the early 70s. His album “First Rush” left everyone helplessly laughing. His style was unique: he’d set up a joke, then bombard you with 3 or 4 punchlines in a row, each one funnier than the last.
There also was Jackie Vernon. His “vacation slides” routine was hilarious.
Just to throw in a name that nobody else has: A. Whitney Brown. He was on SNL many years ago (I am A. Whitney Brown. Someday I hope to be the Whitney Brown.) But I saw his live show at a small comedy club and he was just brilliant. He did long stories rather than one-liners. They were hilarious and also intelligent, a quality missing from 99% of stand-ups. I wonder what happened to him.
