After agreeing with most of the ones mentioned, here’s a couple more I didn’t see: Larry Miller and Richard Jeni.
Eddie Izzard is amazingly funny and tops my list as the funniest stand-up ever. The “Englebert Humperdink is dead” bit just kills me.
::look of serious confirmation, look of whimsical denial, look of serious confirmation, look of whimsical denial::
Someone else mentioned Bob Sagat and it’s true. It’s even funnier now that he’s played the dad on Full House and recited whatever was written for him on AFV. He was so straight-laced in his TV stuff, but his live act is surprisingly raunchy…crackofmybutt, crackofmybutt, crackofmybutt…
Richard Jeni makes my sides hurt too. As does Eddie Murphy (remember Delirious?).
For comediennes, I thought Margaret Smith was very funny, but she changed her delivery. She used come off as this hostile, wise-ass, but the last time I saw her, she was smiling through her set. I thought it messed up her whole act.
My guilty pleasure in the stand-up world…Bobcat Goldthwaite.
Ciao!
Some lesser known guys:
Dave Attell
Louie CK
Dave Chapelle
Bernie Mac
Don “D.C.” Curry
Marc Maron
Dana Gould
Jon Stewart (helllo!!)
Janeane Garofalo
Laura Kightlinger
Bobby [Somebody] who used to be on VH-! Standup Spotlight all the time
And I would say the Bob Saget of the current generation is the guy who used to be on “Boston Common” and is now on the heinous “Yes, Dear”…dang, what the hell is his name? Anyway, that guy’s stand-up act is hilarious, but he’s stuck in these lame sitcoms that don’t let his talent shine forth.
I pine for the days of Comedy Central’s day-long stand-up schedule. Anyone remember Jon Stewart on “Short Attention Span Theatre”?
I figure it’s all due to growing up in the 80s with HBO. Rather than favorite comedians, I have ‘favorite bits’:
Larry Miller gets some shitty parts in TV & movies, but his “Five Levels of Drinking”* is so damned funny.
Tom Parks did, for me, the definitive bit about going to a nude beach… (re: sunscreen, “The tube said ‘Re-apply every 20 minutes’! I figured it’d take me that long to calm down from the first application!”)
Local radio guys will occasionally play Tommy Davidson doing Sly Stallone and I always wind up nearly driving off the road from laughing so hard
Second the recognition of Wendy Liebman - she’s the Queen of the throwaway line.
Also second The Amazing Jonathan - wife and I always stop channel surfing to watch him.
*Six if you live in a trailer park.
Brian Regan
Also, Jay Leno’s standup act is hysterical, and he is amazing at working the audience, as is Paula Poundstone.
I’ll also put down the remote for Louis Black,Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, or Dennis Miller.
Don’t forget Elvira Kurt.
My current favorite is the extremely weird (and cute) Dane Cook
Billy Connolly gets only one mention? Is it the accent? The ill-fated appearance on American sit-coms? I’ve been crying laughing at that man since I was about ten.
Bill Hicks was the man too though. If only he was still going… he’d probably be the most hated (and funniest) man in America.
Billy Connolly
Robin Williams
Emo Philips
Damn, somebody else who remembers that joke. I’ve had that line rattling around in my head for years, with no one to share it with, 'cause nobody remembers who A. Whitney Brown is.
Everybody I was thinking of has been mentioned so I will just 2nd the ones I like.
Dave Attell-This guy is ME drunk
Chris Rock-Funny everytime I hear it
Tim Wilson-3 times funnier than Foxworthy was even in his prime
Larry the Cable Guy-another funny red neck
Louis Black-funny funny man
also ran’s:Janeane Garofalo,Dave Chapelle,Eddie Murphy(80s)
[sub]…and shoot me in the head for not knowing who the hell Bill Hicks is[/sub]
Sam Kinison, because he taught me how to eat box.
Jack Dee.
Lee Evans.
And Steve Coogan is very funny, I haven’t seen much standup, and I don’t like his paul and pauline calf characters, but the rest are great. Alan Partridge is the best, it’s genius.
I’d second Robin Williams and Eddie Izzard as great comedians, but the funniest out there is Ann Coulter. Man, that girl is crazy. She’ll just start off in a talk show and do improv for five minutes, and I’m on the floor laughing. Crazy stuff!!
Awwww, shit, you mean she’s SERIOUS???
I can’t believe that I forgot David Cross and Eddie Izzard the first time. Hell, my sig line is a David quote from Mr. Show! The Pride is Back and Mr. Show are hilarious, and I think that Izzard’s bit on the English language is hilarious.
“And that’s just cheating at Scrabble.”
I think this is my first thread to top 30 replies, so thanks guys and gals!
-brianjedi
Ok. This guy has a 30 min. Comedy Central piece they play on that ‘Friday nite two hours of standup’ they do. Seen it twice. Utterly brilliant, side-splittingly funny.
But has he done anything else? I’d love to know.
I don’t see much standup comedy, but Eddie Izzard is fantastic.
Eddie Izzard, Bill Hicks, Dane Cook, Ardal O’Hanlon, Lewis Black, Greg Proops, Jon Stewart, Dave Attell,
And now, please make way for a scathing joke about Bill Hicks, Denis Leary and the theft of comic material.
Why is Denis Leary famous?
Because there’s no cure for cancer.
Thank you. I’ll be here all week. Be sure to try the veal.
Lewis Black
Greg Proops
Okay, I must interject and please forgive me for the hijack:
Does anyone think Craig Shoemaker is funny? Our paper gave him a cover story on its weekend supplement last week because he’s in town (again…) I’ve seen one or two of his bits on Com. Cent. and always thought he was nothing but a hack. That damn “Lovemaster” bit got annoying immediately. And the fact that he was a regular on Hollywood Squares just shores up this opinion of mine.
Anyone else agree/disagree?
I’m wondering how people can say “Whatever happened to A. Whitney Brown” when he’s been all over the Daily Show.
Count me in on the Bill Hicks love. I was a gigantic Denis Leary fan…and then I heard his material done by the ORIGINAL artist.
Now Bill’s dead and Carrot Top has a lucrative deal with AT&T (or whomever). There’s something so fundamentally fucked up with the universe as to be beyond description.