Best stand up comic of all time?

[GhostThatWalks]

Poll question: Best stand up comic of all time?

Edited for typo.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

1. Bill Hicks. n/t

[Webster Green]

11. Yep!

My favorite....sure miss him now!

[screenprinter]

29. Yes.

The flacid labia/Limbaugh in the bath tub bit was fucking-a brilliant.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

36. That bit made me laugh so hard I was sick.

"Then the maggot ran off and joined a pro-life group".

[Hailtothechimp]

32. Hicks was the best one I ever saw, and the best one I'll ever see.

His JFK assassination bit was priceless.

[screenprinter]

35. back and to the left

back and to the left
back and to the left

[Twillig]

78. Welcome to DU, Screenprinter

:toast:


Sixteen years I've pounded my head against the mentality of america. Which I ascribe to about, I'd say it's about an eighth grade emotional level that we're at as a country. And ah, You're doubting that? You don't think so? O.K. Well, anyway, go watch who's the boss and then we'll chat later.

[screenprinter]

79. Thanks!

Sit back, get high, and learn to play the sitar.........

[OpSomBlood]

68. Who's your favorite New Kid? The first one that dies.

n/t

[Enraged_Ape]

71. Bill Hicks. Best. Comic. Ever.

The funniest, smartest, most-F-U-to-the-powers-that-be comedian ever--well, since Lenny Bruce. But Hicks was funnier than Lenny Bruce.

When I'm down, I listen to his Limbaugh golden-shower rant, and it has me in tears with laughter every time.

[screenprinter]

77. The carving of the wooden

dildo had quite the humor value too.
I haven't heard that CD in a couple of years now though.

[OpSomBlood]

2. Bill Cosby? Denis Leary? Bill Hicks?

We need a complete set to choose from.

[Deja Q]

65. I second you on Bill Cosby

Very funny and generally clean humor. :loveya:

Chris Rock being #2.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

76. Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow

RIGHT!

[IronLionZion]

3. Dave Chappelle

and a bunch of lesser known people that are on Comedy Central, like Kevin James and aa bunch whose names I don't remember

:P

[MirrorAshes]

25. Yes! Chapelle is the funniest man in America right now.

I voted for Pryor for all time, but Chapelle has definately surpassed Chris Rock for the current title.

Dave Attel is freaking hilarious too

[NWHarkness]

4. Pryor

Because he could make you laugh so hard while discussing topics that aren't the least bit funny.

[Wickerman]

5. What? Where is Dennis Miller?

*ducks*

[ronzo]

15. Good damn (good) thing you ducked...

I'm flingin' things your way, bud. :P

*urp*

[tcfrogs]

50. I must admit

I love his comedy. Post 9/11, of course, he turned into a total freak-job.

His old HBO show was a must see - and his books (only on audio tape) were HILARIOUS!!!

Enough.

[k in IA]

6. Remember Bill Cosby's stand up routine that was on TV.

Where he was talking about thinking his name was "God Dammit" and his brother's name was "Jesus Christ" (or maybe the other way around) because that was all their dad called them. It had the segments about going to the dentist, cake for breakfast, hangovers etc.

Maybe it was because I was just a kid but I thought that was hilarious.

[jobycom]

18. It wasn't because you were a kid

That is one of the best performances of all time.

[k in IA]

19. I remember my dad laughing his ass off at that one and that

doesn't happen very often.

[Insider]

63. 1st: Bill Cosby, 2nd: Flip Wilson

maybe because i related to cosby's stories more than richard pryor's

3rd: george carlin

[earthside]

7. "Well ... "

Perhaps you are too young. This question has already been decided. The best comedian/comic of all time was Jack Benny.

[troublemaker]

13. Best timing at least

[NightTrain]

8. Carlin is a close second for me, but I had to go with Pryor.

[troublemaker]

9. Lenny Bruce for content

Rodney for style

Richard Pryor for the total package. (But I voted for Lenny anyway. His Berkley concert made the last 40 years of political comedy redundant.)

[jpgray]

12. I don't think many people are familiar with his bits

The amount of character and imagination in bits like "the Palladium" just no longer exist in comedy as we know it today.

[jobycom]

38. He was Bill Hicks before Bill Hicks.

[Lautremont]

10. Neil Hamburger

[SmileyBoy]

59. Dude, he had a show at my college!!!

He was pretty funny...

[Magrittes Pipe]

62. He did a show at my alma mater in April. I missed it, though.

AMERICA'S FUNNYMAN!

[tridim]

14. Emo Philips

Just kidding.. I think.

[Lautremont]

21. No, he's great!

Saw him once. He opened the show with (imagine Emo Phillips delivery here) "...Ben Gazzara is a good actor..."

Believe me, it was funny.

[jobycom]

31. He has a political joke...

His aunt had a stroke and the doctor told him her heart was still working but her brain was dead. He said "Hmm, that makes her the first Democrat in our family!"

Didn't like the politics, but the joke was funny.

[Dogmudgeon]

46. Emo, a Republican?

Not that I doubt your memory of the gag, but that's hard to believe.

But these are very weird times.

--bkl

[jobycom]

54. No idea

It's a little hard to take anything Emo says at face value. It was still a funny joke.

[tridim]

49. I do think he is/was great

My post was a lame attempt at an Emo-ism..

"I'm a great lover.. I bet"

I haven't seen him much at all since he married Judy Tenuda and cut off his hair. IMO the "hair" was Emo.

[jobycom]

55. He DID marry her?

That was a running joke for both of them for a while, I had no idea they actually married. Man, his life is as funny as his act. If he knows the difference.

[OilemFirchen]

16. "Hold it and tap... tap, tap."

Buddy Hackett

Bob Newhart

Lenny Bruce

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

17. Red Skelton

WAY too many children hanging about here...

[Spinzonner]

27. Not to mention Bob Hope

You got that right

[ForrestGump]

20. I can't pick, but I'd give Billy Connolly, Robin Williams, and Bill Cosby

more points than most. Looks like George Carlin's doing well in the poll, but I'd rate him lower than some of his peers...he can be excellent, but much of what he does is not particularly funny. I love his fixation on words, but sometimes the anger that so deeply infuses his comedy is just anger.

[Donkeyboy75]

22. Stephen Wright

Love the guy.

"Do Roman paramedics call IV's '4's?"

[jobycom]

28. So did he or Andy Kaufman come first?

Cause one was sure working off the other. I remember Kaufman first, but he got big because of SNL and Taxi.

[ForrestGump]

58. Andy Kaufman had been doing it since the early '70s

[NewYorkerfromMass]

66. Disagree, you still have to be brilliant to think up the material

Deadpan deliveries were no innovation anyway.

[jobycom]

72. It was more than deadpan

Andy Kaufman wasn't always deadpan, anyway. I was referring to their substance more than their delivery. Both used a dry, disconnected monologue, focused more on bizarre random comments than on a continuous monologue, the way the Far Side used to do comics. I've always thought of Kaufman as one of the originators of this style, or at least the popularizer of it.

I wasn't running Stephen Wright down. He had has own brilliance. But Kaufman, imo, opened the door for that style of comedy. Others followed, like Emo, Judy Tenudo, Gilbert Godfrey and Bobcat Goldthwaite (both had their moments). Wright was far above the rest of those, except maybe Emo, at times. (Jay Leno once called Emo the best comic writer alive).

Jonathan Winters and Don Rickles both used that bizarro style at times, but they didn't base their whole monologues on it. I'm sure there were others, too.

[Digger]

45. Another Wright masterpiece

"I put a blank tape in my stereo, turned it up full blast and the mime next door went wild". :D

[jobycom]

56. Then there's

"I remember once... no, that was someone else."

[mac56]

75. Here's another

I went to a 7-11 and asked for a 2x4 and a box of 3x5's. The clerk said, "ten-four".

[jobycom]

23. I'm not this old, but Buddy Hackett was unbeatable

I never believed it until I watched a routine once... I've never laughed that hard before or since. Foulmouthed, filthy, yet substantative.

Bruce, Hicks, Pryor, Carlin (at his best, anyway-- I'm trying to forget that tv pilot he did) had a better political message, and Andy Kaufman had an originality that I've not seen since, but Hackett was unbelievable for a pure gut laugh.

[Dookus]

24. Gotta go with Carlin

VERY VERY few standups have had his longevity, and seeing him live is really seeing a an accomplished artist. He's the smoothest comedian I've ever seen. Never a missed beat.

[Digger]

48. Yeah, me too

cerebral humor at its best.

[WilliamPitt]

26. Bill Hicks

Step on the fuckin' gas, man!

[teach1st]

30. So many great comics...

..but you gotta give Jonathan Winters an honorable mention.

[jobycom]

33. So true. And another great add-libber

Don Rickles. He did a sketch on SNL with Joe Piscopo once that broke down after a few lines into an add lib joke fest. One of my favorite SNL memories.

[WLKjr]

34. I have about 4 favorites

those being George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Lewis Black.

[Paragon]

37. Bill Hicks

You don't know stand-up if you don't know Bill.

[ConsAreLiars]

39. Lenny Bruce because he had to FIGHT to win a stage for Carlin, Pryor, etc

He paved the way and fought hard for the right to speak truth to power through humor.

A biography: http://www.planetpeschel.com/Reviews/Biography/bruce.htm
His FBI files: http://www.fadetoblack.com/foi/lennybruce/
His work is listed here: http://ubqtous.com/lennybruce/

[FranzFerdinand]

40. what would Bill Hicks say today?

i think about that all the time. i'd do anything to hear him speak again...

[Gom Jabbar]

52. He'd have a rage-induced stroke

and be arrested in Washington while throwing bags of live rats over the White House fence.

Just a guess.

[koopie57]

41. the johnnys

carson
belushi
candy

But where are the women? There was one women, small, black hair, Jewish who cracked me up. One of her jokes was she received a postcard in the mail asking if she knew it was time for her gynocological appointment. She says, nooooooooo, but now my mailman does. Oh and Ellen Degeneres (sp).

[OilemFirchen]

44. Sarah Silverman?

A hoot and just under a half.

[Burma Jones]

42. Jonathan Winters n/t

[LuminousX]

43. Henny Youngman

or Jack Benny

[Bombtrack]

47. A little rediculous to include Lewis Black with those others

I think he's funny. But he's a one trick pony when it comes to standup. I don't think he'd break any top 50.

I'd say George Carlin.

[FDRrocks]

51. Carlin, Robin Williams a close second.

I know many might contest the whole Robbin Williams thing but his stand up is insanely funny. The guy is almost as funny as Carlin and apparently has all the energy of a 6 year old, every second of his life.

Richard Pryor rivals Williams for the second spot, though. Chappelle is working his way up. His show seems to be getting progressively better, and we'll have to see what his next comedy special will be like.

[richmwill]

53. Dennis Wolfberg (n/t)

[Spirochete]

57. Hard to settle on just one

I like most of the ones mentioned, plus others, like Richard Belzer, Margaret Cho and Sam Kinison, to name a few.

[SmileyBoy]

60. Dane Cook.

All bow down before him.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

61. Don Rickles

and Rodney Dangerfield

[dmr]

64. I have to throw in Tommy Smothers

What I wouldn't give to have 'The Smothers Brothers' back on TV now; but if GOP silenced them then, they'd take them out now.

I voted for Carlin for old times sake. He has made me laugh 'til my sides hurt.

Robin Williams stand up is another. He is such a spas! I wonder if he has a turn-off button.

[terrya]

67. A vote for Rodney Dangerfield.

This is a man who has been consistently funny over a long career. :-)

[RushIsRot]

69. I've gotta speak up for Steven Wright. nt

[chemenger]

70. Will Rodgers

I know he pre-dates the majority of us (myself included) but what little I've read and heard about his routines he was one astute and funny guy.

[TX-RAT]

73. Ron White

Love his drunk in public routine.

[Kadie]

74. Phyllis Diller

:D Just wanted to see a female listed.

[OpSomBlood]

80. Has Sam Kinnison been forgotten?

He's in my top 5.