Originally Posted by chickentribs

Here are my 3:

Redd Fox - who without Richard Pryor wouldn't have happened and you can do the math from there.
Andy Kaufmann - we are still only now getting a lot of what he was doing. Brilliant and fearless.
Bill Mahr - love or hate his politics, the only comedian who had the balls to be relevant when it was important. Whether or not the emperor truly wears clothes is up to us.