If Music Could Talk

1. Carlin
2. Louis CK
3. Dave Chappelle
4. Bill Hicks
5. Ricky Gervais

Was very close to putting Louie 1st instead of George Carlin because I love him so much, but that's sort of crazy talk.

You can do top 10 comedians too, if that's easier.

For me, Carlin and Louis CK are the two main guys who usually hit the spot. I laugh minutes, maybe even hours later, after hearing something funny.

I don't think much of Gervais' stand up, though the Office and Extras are very good.

My top five would look a lot like yours, Chuck, but there'd be a place for Stewart Lee.

I mostly put Gervais in because he was the first Brit who came to mind, but there are others I like from game shows and whatnot.

Greg Giraldo, Mitch Hedberg

Carlin is so damn important to how I developed my worldview, it ain't even (ha ha) funny. He's actually the back-up plan for my dissertation if the Biafra idea goes splat.

Patton Oswalt and Norm Macdonald are my two favourite guys working today. Steven Wright was great back in the early 80s (no idea what he's like now). David Cross was pretty damn good up until Arrested Development (not causal, just when his stand-up started to be more smug than funny).

Richard Pryor
George Carlin
Dom Irrera
Don Rickels
Steve Martin

Billy Connolly in his pomp.

I love Bill Bailey for the surrealist muso stuff he does.

Connolly was the first comedian that I was ever interested in. Bites Yer Bum, Handpicked By Billy, An Audience With. The last thing that I really loved of his was his live video from '94. Since then, each live show's been a bit more like sitting with a meandering elderly relative telling the same stories you've been hearing from them since you were a child.

1. Carlin
2. Hedberg
3. Hicks
4. Rivers (in her day, she was biting. Now she is a caricature)
5. Schimmel

HMs are Oswalt and Wright.

Silent Majority wrote:Connolly was the first comedian that I was ever interested in. Bites Yer Bum, Handpicked By Billy, An Audience With. The last thing that I really loved of his was his live video from '94. Since then, each live show's been a bit more like sitting with a meandering elderly relative telling the same stories you've been hearing from them since you were a child.

I remember watching the first "An Audience With" in the mid-80s, my whole family were crying with laughter, aching jaws, the lot. That didn't happen often.

I've just guffawed all over again at this bit...

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Silent Majority wrote:I don't think much of Gervais' stand up, though the Office and Extras are very good.

My top five would look a lot like yours, Chuck, but there'd be a place for Stewart Lee.

I don't either. It's cute though. It's also funny to see him get his shit wrecked by Seinfeld/CK/Rock on that Talking Funny special HBO did awhile back. They just completely dominate him in terms of knowing how stand-up works as a job and a craft. Gervais just doesn't take it seriously enough, and they all seem to gradually resent him for it.

Kaleb wrote:

Silent Majority wrote:I don't think much of Gervais' stand up, though the Office and Extras are very good.

My top five would look a lot like yours, Chuck, but there'd be a place for Stewart Lee.

I don't either. It's cute though. It's also funny to see him get his shit wrecked by Seinfeld/CK/Rock on that Talking Funny special HBO did awhile back. They just completely dominate him in terms of knowing how stand-up works as a job and a craft. Gervais just doesn't take it seriously enough, and they all seem to gradually resent him for it.

Absolutely. He had some balls putting himself in their company and thinking he had something to contribute. I'm not sure if they resented him; I think they found him spouting off like a stand up who's just graduated from open mics to his first paying gigs endearing. You could just feel the decades of experience in the room silently saying "You'll learn, kid.”

CK
Mitch Hedberg
Rik Mayall
Rowan Atkinson was AMAZING in his prime. He's still great. I used to cry laughing when he'd open his mouth on Mr. Bean. Dead silent for most of the show and then that deep baritone voice. His "Live" DVD from the early 90's (?) is brilliant.
Patton Oswalt
Brian Posehn

modskin wrote:Rowan Atkinson was AMAZING in his prime. He's still great. I used to cry laughing when he'd open his mouth on Mr. Bean. Dead silent for most of the show and then that deep baritone voice. His "Live" DVD from the early 90's (?) is brilliant.

The wedding gone wrong and how to be an actor, fantastic stuff. I don't find Blackadder as funny as when I first discovered it, but that the stage show special is still top notch.