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Greatest comedian ever

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:38 pm
by Cail
Feel free to move this CJ if you think it belongs somewhere else.

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Richard F'n Pryor, hands down the funniest man ever. Socially aware without being heavy-handed, and the best stand-up routine, which still holds up today.

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Sam Kinison, very close runner-up. Not quite as socially biting as Pryor, but utterly fearless on stage.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:06 pm
by CovenantJr
I think it's alright where it is,but thanks.

Not that keen on Pryor from what I've seen of him. My vote would probably go to Billy Connelly.

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Ridiculously sharp wit and a sense of humour that is genuinely warm and acerbic in equal measure. Also, he makes it up as he goes along and still ends up with arguably the funniest stand-up in history. Connelly is the only comedian in the world, ever, to actually make me roll on the floor gasping for breath from the sheer hilarity.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:11 pm
by The Laughing Man
I can't say there's just one, but that guy doesn't make my top 100, CJ, heh.... ;)

But I'd put this guy on the same stage as Pryor and Kinnison:

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George Carlin

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:21 pm
by A Gunslinger
Cail... I swear to God as my witness that when I saw you authored this thread that Sam Kinison was going to be one, if not your ultimate, favorite!!

The Wild Thing video...as misogynistic as it was...was also pretty darn funny (prose-wise).

There are a number of really damn funny comedians. I give a nod to:

1) Steve Martin

2) Bob Newhart ... you have GOT to love his bits!

3) Garry Shandling

4) Jon Stewart (though not a true stand-up comedian...more of a topical media guy)

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:29 pm
by Usivius
Although (for some unknown reason) I'm not his biggest fan, I can definately say that Connelly is one of the funniest stand-up comedians ever. And no one has made me laugh as long, as hard and as consistently as Robin Williams in his stand-up days... I real genius.

i agree with Pryor --- great mind --- however I do not agree with Kinnison. One trick pony as far as I was concerned. I found him loud (and not in a good way) and boring...

Bill Cosby the one of the masters of setting up a joke. He had a way of "telling" a story that drew you in.

Another guy who is probably not well known outside Canada is a guy named Mike MacDonald. Very very funny man.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:29 pm
by Cail
Carlin stopped being funny to me about 15 years ago. His early stuff is brilliant. Ditto with Steve Martin.

Shandling and Stewart wouldn't make my top 100.

Bob Newhart is funny as Hell, but (to me, at least) not on the same level as Kinison or Pryor.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:38 pm
by A Gunslinger
Cail wrote:Carlin stopped being funny to me about 15 years ago. His early stuff is brilliant. Ditto with Steve Martin.

Shandling and Stewart wouldn't make my top 100.

Bob Newhart is funny as Hell, but (to me, at least) not on the same level as Kinison or Pryor.
I doubted you'd like Stewart...what's wrong with Shandling? The guy is pretty damn funny! You no likee the self-effacing humor?

Newhart is on a different level I'd agree... certainly has a drier, perhaps more cerebral style. He is certainly a classic in the true sense of the word.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:40 pm
by dANdeLION
Jerry Lewis, when he was doing the Martin & Lewis show, kills me every time I see an episode. Steve Martin did a silent 'magician' skit on Johnny Carson way back that is the funniest thing I ever saw him do. Johnny dressing up like Willie Nelson to do "To All The Girls I Loved Before" with Julio Inglesias; ahh, that was rich. Eddie murphy on SNL.....the Buckwheat sing-along album commercial was my favorite.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:43 pm
by A Gunslinger
dANelly Waddlehoff wrote:Jerry Lewis, when he was doing the Martin & Lewis show, kills me every time I see an episode. Steve Martin did a silent 'magician' skit on Johnny Carson way back that is the funniest thing I ever saw him do. Johnny dressing up like Willie Nelson to do "To All The Girls I Loved Before" with Julio Inglesias; ahh, that was rich. Eddie murphy on SNL.....the Buckwheat sing-along album commercial was my favorite.
Eddie Murphy in "Raw" where he was doing a take on the Honeymooners...I laughed like crazy.... I was a freshman in HS I think!

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:48 pm
by Cail
Stewart's funny, but he's not a stand-up comedian. Shandling and Richard Lewis (and that type of humor) do absolutely nothing for me.

Eddie was hysterical in "Delerious" and "Raw", but faded quickly after that.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:49 pm
by A Gunslinger
I loved "It's Garry Shandling's Show"... even more than the Larry Sanders show.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:07 pm
by danlo
You want socially relevant? I didn't discover this guy until about a year away from his death...but his stuff completely blew me away...
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Bill Hicks - His fight between the alcoholic and the pothead is brilliant, among many other things! 8)

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:10 pm
by Cole
:goodpost: :thumbsup:

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:21 pm
by A Gunslinger
Bill Hicks...I have heard of him...I can't remember where though!

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:23 pm
by The Laughing Man
prolly the same place I did...never heard of him until I watched a tv show about censorship? him and Lenny Bruce had their asses banned from here to Walla Walla.... :?

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:37 pm
by danlo
Hicks was very contravertial--also extremely smart and posed some beautiful and interesting philosophical ideals. His crusade against the war on drugs and the church got him banned many places. Maynard of Tool thought he was so important that he (Hicks) appears on the cover of Aenima.

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:38 pm
by Cole
He was in my sig for a while. He's great.

Dying so young helped his career great guns aswell.

If ya know what I mean. ;)

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:42 pm
by High Lord Tolkien
It's funny, I thought I was the only one in the world who thought Billy Connelly was hysterical.
Some of his routines literally made my sides and cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.

I loved Bill Cosby when I was a kid (admittedly I only have his first few albums [yes albums!] so I don't know if he got better or worse) but when I finally had kids of my own I appreciated him even more.

Eddie Izzard seems pretty good too but I've only heard a little of his stuff.

I'm also surprised by how much I laugh at Chris Rock.

But "Best Ever"........................can't do it.
Too much to review!



8)

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:44 pm
by A Gunslinger
High Lord Tolkien wrote:It's funny, I thought I was the only one in the world who thought Billy Connelly was hysterical.
Some of his routines literally made my sides and cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.

I loved Bill Cosby when I was a kid (admittedly I only have his first few albums [yes albums!] so I don't know if he got better or worse) but when I finally had kids of my own I appreciated him even more.

Eddie Izzard seems pretty good too but I've only heard a little of his stuff.

I'm also surprised by how much I laugh at Chris Rock.

But "Best Ever"........................can't do it.
Too much to review!



8)
Connelly is quite funny as well. Izzard I never got. Rock is verrry funny.

I had a couple of Cosby records as a kids too, HLT. Remember "The Chicken Heart" ?

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:47 pm
by Cail
Oh yeah, old Cosby was great. The Chicken Heart That Ate Up New York City.

"It'll never get through smoke and fire and pudding!"