Favorite Comedians

I have to agree with most of your choices.

Edited by Zappa88 - December 18 2007 at 14:18

Lewis Black!  Soooo angry! 

Richard Pryor, Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Lewis Black.

Edited by The T - December 18 2007 at 14:31

Steven Wright  ...a true genius

also Jim Gaffigan, Dennis Regan, Andy Kaufman, and of course Lenny

 

TheProgtologist wrote: Wow.....no mention of Bill Hicks yet?

Look near the top sir.

I don't get Bill Hicks at all. Anyone who feels like they "get" Bill Hicks, feel free to correct me, but to me he kinda feels like...someone who might have had something to say but chose the wrong media in which to say it.
At best, i can see him as a revolutionist in that he was admittedly pretty free spoken, but he has never really been funny.. (nor have i ever had the feeling he says anything i don't already know, but i probably wasn't around when he was "breaking the ground", maybe his ideas were more revolutional then, who knows)

That said, i have a soft spot for the slightly less political comedians, and to those i count Eddie Izzard (best timing of all, and a heck of a mimer, plus his being a transvestite puts a filter of occasional absurdity over some of his jokes) and Dylan Moran (i adore his style, ranting like a raging drunk, and he also has the most perfect timing, which i think is pretty crucial in comedy).
I also like what i have seen of Russell Peters, he almost exclusively talks about racial issues, in a very refreshing way and he also claims to make it a point to "make fun of everybody".
I saw Ricky Gervais doing his standup routine, and he does not really have that same timing as some of the others i mentioned to on stage, and he plays the "David Brent" card a few times as well, but he's really fun the way he also tries to make as politically incorrect statements as he can, and he's just plain funny, really.

I wasn't familiar with Dane Cook until he was the guest host on Saturday Night Live and they were portraying him as the best current comedian.  It was one of the stupidest opening monologues on that show ever.  Do people actually find him funny?

Evans wrote: I don't get Bill Hicks at all. Anyone who feels like they "get" Bill Hicks, feel free to correct me, but to me he kinda feels like...someone who might have had something to say but chose the wrong media in which to say it. At best, i can see him as a revolutionist in that he was admittedly pretty free spoken, but he has never really been funny.. (nor have i ever had the feeling he says anything i don't already know, but i probably wasn't around when he was "breaking the ground", maybe his ideas were more revolutional then, who knows)

To date, Bill Hicks is the only comic I've listened to whose humor became evident after his socio-political statements. The first time I listened to Arizona Bay and Rant in E-Minor I fully agreed with his positions but rarely laughed. I kept listening a few more times, then suddenly I couldn't stop laughing. His bits on dinosaurs in the Bible, the Rodney King riots, Reagan, Bush I, fundamentalists, and rock against drugs are achingly funny. I recommend you pick up the DVD Bill Hicks Live. It gives you three performances each about 6 months apart. Much of the material is shared but he presents it in vastly different ways. While the DVD was really meant just to placate fans who wanted any footage of Bill they could get, it serves to show how he evolved night after night, until throwaway jokes became 5+ minute showcases of verbal bile and wit so acidic it could burn through concrete.

If you prefer less political humor, you could try Dennis Leary. He stole Bill Hicks' material and made it less edgy.

1800iareyay wrote: Evans wrote: I don't get Bill Hicks at all. Anyone who feels like they "get" Bill Hicks, feel free to correct me, but to me he kinda feels like...someone who might have had something to say but chose the wrong media in which to say it. At best, i can see him as a revolutionist in that he was admittedly pretty free spoken, but he has never really been funny.. (nor have i ever had the feeling he says anything i don't already know, but i probably wasn't around when he was "breaking the ground", maybe his ideas were more revolutional then, who knows) To date, Bill Hicks is the only comic I've listened to whose humor became evident after his socio-political statements. The first time I listened to Arizona Bay and Rant in E-Minor I fully agreed with his positions but rarely laughed. I kept listening a few more times, then suddenly I couldn't stop laughing. His bits on dinosaurs in the Bible, the Rodney King riots, Reagan, Bush I, fundamentalists, and rock against drugs are achingly funny. I recommend you pick up the DVD Bill Hicks Live. It gives you three performances each about 6 months apart. Much of the material is shared but he presents it in vastly different ways. While the DVD was really meant just to placate fans who wanted any footage of Bill they could get, it serves to show how he evolved night after night, until throwaway jokes became 5+ minute showcases of verbal bile and wit so acidic it could burn through concrete. If you prefer less political humor, you could try Dennis Leary. He stole Bill Hicks' material and made it less edgy.

I saw a show on youtube where he ended the set with a speech about something really deep (he also said "okay, i guess there has to be a moral to all this". He also had a hat, if that helps...) and i did like certain parts of the show, but i always thought he kinda was... slow. He did these faces and voices which seemed kinda unpolished and immature, and his (again) timing was TOTALLY off.
Thanks for the explanation, i guess it's all in the politics with Hicks.. you've just got to agree with him first. :)

Evans wrote: I saw a show on youtube where he ended the set with a speech about something really deep (he also said "okay, i guess there has to be a moral to all this". He also had a hat, if that helps...) and i did like certain parts of the show, but i always thought he kinda was... slow. He did these faces and voices which seemed kinda unpolished and immature, and his (again) timing was TOTALLY off. Thanks for the explanation, i guess it's all in the politics with Hicks.. you've just got to agree with him first. :)

I can understand some of that. I never understood the fuss until months after I started listening to him. I do agree that some timing is off, and he had a tendency to throw in random and unfunny lines under his breath, that no one could hear (the only reason I ever catch them is because I have exceptional hearing). He usually closed his shows with some deep philosophical musing about the need for man to abandon their trivial qualms with one another so that we might enter the future as one being. I've never done drugs, but I pick up what he put down. I kinda liked his voices though (his Bush was right up there with Dana Carvey's), though his British voice was a little too airy.

But hey, Bill's not for everyone.