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Icarium

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 05:45

Craig Furgeson are my favourite.

Dean

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 05:26

Not enough Australians in this thread (okay, that's a cheap excuse to post another Minchin clip)

Jim Jefferies

Steve Hugues

Edited by Dean - August 25 2013 at 05:26

What?

Toaster Mantis View Drop Down

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 03:48

Has Neil Hamburger been mentioned yet? His entire concept is to parody the clichés of stand-up comedy, something I used to consider impossible.

Dayvenkirq View Drop Down

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 01:40

stonebeard wrote:

(Not) interestingly enough, this past Monday I did my very first open mic stand-up night. We recorded it but I haven't listened back. It was definitely rough around the edges but I'll probably be doing it again.

Oh, I'd die to hear it. I'm thinking about recording my first full-fledged performance, but I have to get my material together and polish it.

stonebeard wrote:

Oh and I like how we're divided nicely along English/American lines so far. I love QI and various other comedy/quiz show things, but I have to admit half the time when you put up someone from the UK and let them rant a bit, I can get lost in the slang (re: Frankie Boyle). Though Dara O'Brien and Bill Bailey are pretty good.

Gotta say I still like American stand ups the best, if there is any real distinction.

Honestly, I don't know jack about any stand-up outside the U.S. other than Billy Connoly and Eddie Izzard. I've yet to get into them, though every bit of the "Deathstar Canteen" routine is hilarious.

Edited by Dayvenkirq - August 25 2013 at 01:41

Dayvenkirq View Drop Down

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 01:36

Textbook wrote:

Watched the second Sean Lock clip- gosh but isn't he Michael Caine as a stand-up comedian?

Also saw Pablo Francisco- great clip but more as incredible voice work than comedy.

Hmmmm ... there are times when he just doesn't really pull it off, but there is this one time when he will do it exceptionally well. There is more that one YouTube video when he ruins the "Movie Previews" bit, but the one below was done very well.

stonebeard View Drop Down

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 01:14

I've always been very fond of Carlin, David Cross, Louis CK, and Patton Oswalt. I gravitate toward people who can tell stories well, get away with saying terrible things, being clever without having a "thing" like relying on music, props, one-liners, and an overly niche style. Although I do love me some Jimmy Carr when I'm in the mood for one-liners or Mitch Hedberg when I want deadpan. And I really admire Bill Hicks and love his comedy, but even as I love politics he got a bit preachy with it.

(Not) interestingly enough, this past Monday I did my very first open mic stand-up night. We recorded it but I haven't listened back. It was definitely rough around the edges but I'll probably be doing it again.

Oh and I like how we're divided nicely along English/American lines so far. I love QI and various other comedy/quiz show things, but I have to admit half the time when you put up someone from the UK and let them rant a bit, I can get lost in the slang (re: Frankie Boyle). Though Dara O'Brien and Bill Bailey are pretty good.

Gotta say I still like American stand ups the best, if there is any real distinction.

Edited by stonebeard - August 25 2013 at 01:25

My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!

Luna

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 00:56

Haven't really ventured into stand-up apart from Demetri Martin and Bill Hicks.

Dayvenkirq View Drop Down

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Posted: August 25 2013 at 00:36

Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope, David Cross, George Carlin, Chris Rock. Pretty much The Golden Five for me. Love their stuff. Always putting truly hilarious twists on the reality. Stanhope and Cross' styles are really controversial, but in my view they really do have the gift for making intelligent observations without leaving their audiences cold. I really love their individual styles.

Can't get much into Richard Pryor, what with all the recordings of crappy quality. As for Bill Hicks, I'm getting into him, though I don't always find him as funny as his live audience on the albums does. Mitch Hedberg and Steven Wright ... sorry, I'm not a fan of absurd one-/two-liners, though there are rare times when they could get me to chuckle.

Textbook

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 17:25

I quite enjoy Omid Djalili. Here's the classic Sheiks And The City clip from his TV show.

And here he is doing stand-up. Wait for the Nigerian accent speech.

TGM: Orb

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 06:38

Trouserpress wrote:

I've just finished reading "How I Escaped My Certain Fate" by Stewart Lee, a fantastic book of memoirs/annotated transcripts/musings on comedy in general which my friend and part-time double act partner got me for my birthday, and it's completely re-energised my love of stand-up as a form. So, all this is really just a w**ky way of setting up the following question:

Who are you favourite stand-up comedians? Youtube clips welcome, but not essential.

To get things started, here's Mr Lee in action, taking a wonderfully fresh approach to the stand-up favourite of political correctness:

That man is brilliant.

Textbook

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 06:24

Tim Minchin's OK though :)

Textbook

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 06:20

Watched the second Sean Lock clip- gosh but isn't he Michael Caine as a stand-up comedian?

Also saw Pablo Francisco- great clip but more as incredible voice work than comedy.

Textbook

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 06:14

I remember seeing Eddie Izzard live. He'd been super-hyped for me and I remember being disappointed by the early part of his act but he got better as he went on. He did the infamous "Englebert Humperdink is dead" thing which I thought was a very interesting bit because besides being funny it was again sort of experimental as it genuinely messed with audience heads. I'll also never forget his rendition of "God Attack The Queen". "Get away from me you crazy dogs!"

Proletariat: Thanks for finding that Ed Byrne clip, I thought it was hysterical.

This must be a truncated version he did for the show, live he expanded it immensely but I always admired him because you think it would get boring to do about a third of your show on Ironic but it wasn't at all, he really made it work. He also does a hilarious Eddie Vedder parody where he sings like Vedder and renders any song you like utterly imcomprehensible, as well as playing Pearl Jam songs and transcribing the lyrics phonetically for the audience.

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 05:58

Textbook wrote:

I've been working my way through the clips here (last one I saw was Vine, will try to get to the newer ones later) and I'm pretty disappointed. Hicks is easily the best so far (though he's not so much funny as he is awesome) and the Flag Hippo thing was amusing, though concluded poorly but the others... Lee's "not someone who works as a c**t" finish was hysterical but the wait wasn't really worth it, very slow and sedate. The chiselling thing is quite bold and Kaufmanesque but it's more funny in concept than practice. But I also liked "I remember you used to be able to put your whole family in the mincer and now they've banned Christmas!"

But yeah, the moon on a stick fell flat to me, Shappi was just poor generally and Maria's persona would be amusing as a character in a sketch but is insufferable in isolation.

Somewhere between the messianic worship of Hicks as the ultimate truth-teller and the backlash of those claiming he is overrated and thus crap, there is a comedian who was very good at what he did and pushed stand-up in new and fruitful directions. On a personal level though, he doesn't tend to thrill me.

I worried about using that Lee clip because, like all of his work, it's best kept in context. Lee tends to do long shows on a central theme which slowly build towards an often rather profound climax. Taken out of context the pace can seem arduous (having not had time to adjust) and the more challenging elements (like the 'chiseling' bit) tend to lose some of their impact. My advice is to go to gofasterstripe.com and buy his 90's Comedian DVD, and watch 70-or-so minutes of the finest stand-up ever committed to film.

A lot of the stuff other people have posted doesn't really work for me either. Never enjoyed Shappi Khorsandi's stuff and I don't tend to like American stand-ups at all. In fact, there is a pretty obvious divide in this thread between British and US comedians. I'd take Sean Lock or Dylan Moran any day over any of the US stand-ups mentioned so far, including Hicks.

Finally, that duck rape bit was pretty weak, IMO. Sorry to bang on about Stewart Lee, but watch how he tackles the same subject matter in this clip (it should start at about 5 and a half minutes in). He uses it as a way of exploring issues of religion, media accuracy and morality. The Irish bloke used it as an excuse to do a crude mime. Makes for a nice little comparison study, I think.

Dean

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Posted: August 12 2010 at 01:34

Can we have sit-downs?

Tim Minchin, a rare occasion where he is standing up: