Your favorite comedian? (spam on subject)

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:02 am

Just curious. Really, no, don't look at me that way..! Maybe I should begin again.

Well. How are you doing, today? I mean...no, this isn't working out. Let's try it one more time, shall we?

Okay.

Hey, you. Who's your favorite comedian, and why?

There. That's better.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:54 am

There are a lot of funny commedians around, but my favourite has to be Sinbad. I like that he's funny for everyone; George Carlin is too adult, Chris Rock too racial, Dennis Miller too political and so on. Sinbad is just plain funny and I like that I can watch his show with the kids and not worry about what he's going to say next.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:59 am

I like Rowan Atkinson (Mr.Bean) Probably because he is seriously warped

Skuld · Post by **Skuld** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 8:02 am

Well I really can't decide. I like Chris Rock because he's too racial. Most of what he says has at least some truth behind it, and it's hilarious. George Carlin, hilarious. Old Robin Williams HBO specials are insane. And if you ever get the privelage to watch to old Pee Wee HBO specials, it's the same setup as the childrens' show with Cowboy Curtis and Miss Evonne, but it's anything but for kids. And there are countless other that are just hilarious that I've seen on Comedy Central specials and Premium Blend but can't remember the names.

CM · Post by CM » Fri Jul 11, 2003 9:02 am

George Carlin - i love his airplane skit.
Chris Rock - but waaaay to racial for it to be funny all the time.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 9:25 am

Greg Giraldo, seen him a couple of times on comedy central, both in stand up and on tough crowd. For whatever reasons, his views on stuff and the way he tells it just doubles me over in laughter.

smass · Post by **smass** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 10:54 am

George Carlin - he beats the crap out of both sides of the political spectrum - and he rails against hypocracy. His humor is intelligent, silly, dirty, and almost always thought provoking - a killer combo. Also - he picks on established religion - his skit on the reducing the ten commandments to one commandment is priceless (2 hbo specials ago)

Chris Rock - purely hilarious. While his humor is often racial - he has a way of poking fun at his own race even more than others and I respect the self deprecation.

nael · Post by **nael** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 11:47 am

Eddie Izzard- just genius.

A classic comedy special dear to my heart is Eddie Murphy's Delirious. I boycott all of Eddie Murphy's movies now ever since he apologized for the soem of the jokes he used to make.

they're jokes!!!! people that are offended need to get over themselves!

There's one comedian I like but I can't remember his name. he wears fairly big shades, kind of a shaggy mop haircut. "I like escalators, because they can never break, they just become stairs" His comedy is very unique.

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 11:54 am

Tony blair.

RandomThug · Post by **RandomThug** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 12:28 pm

Mitch Hedberg - You know that long haired stoner guy on comedy central, funny funny stuff.

Carlin because Leary, Black, and even the late bill hicks all lay under his crown of genious. Yes his 10 commandments skit is awsome, although any of his religion stuff is great work.

"The great Waaaaa"

Robin Williams early work when he was a coke head is freaking off the wall.... Even if he did do that crappy ass doctor movie my forgiving brain wont let me remember.

Oh yeah and you brits sometimes kill me, And now for something completely different kicked ass... wierd ass.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 1:22 pm

As far as non-standup acts go, I think Steve Martin has one of the greatest comedic bodies of work around. He does well as either the straight guy or the funny man, plus he has a knack for surrounding himself with other people who are funny individual and joining with them to be really, really funny in an ensamble.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 3:08 pm

Good point, @HLD. So many comedians are afraid to let anyone but a straight man into their acts--Jerry Lewis is an horrific example. Steve Martin is far better than that, and I think some of his best material hasn't always been his biggest box office hits, either.

My opinions, FWIW, in order of descent:

1) Buster Keaton
2) WC Fields
3) Woody Allen
4) Dave Allen

Nobody seems to know Dave Allen on this side of the Atlantic, but he was a sophisticated, slightly cynical, brilliantly funny British comic whose tv show used to pop up on American public stations about two decades ago. His brief sendups of Romantic classics, like Wuthering Heights, were classic in themselves.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 3:12 pm

I recall Dave Allen, he was great

I loved his spoofs on religion

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:45 pm

Oh, yes--and remember his closing comment on every show? "May your god go with you."

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:52 pm

Originally posted by fable
Oh, yes--and remember his closing comment on every show? "May your god go with you."

lol! Yes

He was a really classy guy. I would actually like to get all of his programmes on video, I should hunt about to see if they are available

oki101 · Post by **oki101** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 5:27 pm

Kristian Valen (local guy)
Denis Leary
Bill Hicks
Smith & Jones
Hale & Pace
[/list=1]

Scayde · Post by **Scayde** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 5:55 pm

Well, if I look at who I have actually spent money on, it would have to be Carlin, Martin, and Bill Cosby

Carlin is IMO the greates satirist of our time, wel, at least of the ones I have seen or heard.

Steve Martin is perhaps one of the most versitile comedians ever, from slap stick, to provocative.

Bill Cosby has a way of taking the monotony of family life and turning it into a sidsplitting epiphany by showing you what you have been looking at for years, but never have seen.

nael · Post by **nael** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 6:29 pm

some random trivia-
Carlin was the first guest host of saturday night live.

Silur · Post by **Silur** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 5:17 am

Someone worth mention, although he's not really a favourite of mine is Groucho Marx. The guy was way ahead of his time in terms of satire and witty political criticism. My personal favourites in no particular order are Michael Palin and Eric Idle from Monty Python, Rowan Atkinson in Black Adder-mode rather than Bean-mode and Jaques Tati within limits. Some of the Saturday night live crew were really great while still at SNL, but pretty quickly got tiresome when stars in their own right. Far too many comedians picked up by Hollywood tend to start plagiarising themselves ad infinitum. To me, a great comedian has to renew himself. That's what makes him great.

@Craig: ROFL, I completely agree, although it's really difficult to laugh at him and his jokes. Candidates in the same category are Persson, Mahathir, Berlusconi and last but not least, Dubbya.

<spam slighly off topic>
As for things not to do as a politician if you want to take the punch out of political satire, is to publicly state that you are gravely insulted by a cartoon or whatever, and demand a public apology. Mahathir did just that in Malaysia while I was there, and managed to get this cartoon to go from one local newpaper to national (and now global) distribution. Personally I cant stand the guy, but dismantling SAR (which is a public Islamic school system in Malaysia) is one of the good things he's done. Religion is something to be chosen by the individual, not mandated by the state.
</spam slighly off topic>

Skooter327 · Post by **Skooter327** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 8:24 am

Wasn't Carlin the train conductor for that kids show about some talking trains on the Public Brodacsting Station? I think he replaced Ringo Starr. I don't recall it being that funny.

I like the older Richard Pryor HBO(?) Specials, but they are quite racial. He and Gene Wilder make a great combo. Hear No Evil, See No Evil is one of my favorites.