Best Stand-Up Comedian in the History of the World
 

With the passing of Rodney Dangerfield, I started thinking about the history of stand-up. Give me your nominees for the best of all time.

My favorite - Steve Martin. I saw him live in his banjo-playing, juggling, arrow-through-the-head days, and he was great. I'd also add Robin Williams for being jaw-dropping insane.

Side note - I once saw Heni Youngman walking down the street in Manhattan, and I've always regretted that I didn't ask him how to get to Carnegie Hall.

I would nominate George Carlin. He does tend to get a bit political at times, but he can really bring out the laughs. I really like his style. SOme people find him too harsh, but his in-your-face observational humor is a favorite.

How about Richard Pryor? He's been around for a while and his body of stand-up comedy is impressive.

Steve Martin is also a good choice. I don't care for Robin Williams in stand-up. His routines are a bit too frantic and random to follow and enjoy. I have really liked Williams in some of his movie roles. I suppose that his talent is best for me when it is focused by a director into a particular vein.

I personally like Pablo Francisco.

But George Carlin is another good one.

All time favorite though is Robin Williams

Yeah, he is another great one. I am not sure that he has been around for long enough to qualify as the "History of the World" category. "Pablo, I have to shave my huevos for my job, alright?" He's got the funny.

How about Steven Lynch? We saw him live and he had people laughing until they cried. Really offensive to some people, but really, really funny too.

Robin Williams's history of golf puts the HA in HA-larious. Stephen Lynch is awesome. Dane Cook is also great to watch.

Richard Pryor is the best comedian of all time. Nobody ever has been in his league.

Currently, I'm digging Carlos Mencia.

Mitch Hedburg - his stuff is so incredibly stupid it's funny.

How a "best stand up" thread can be up for 12 hours and not have a single mention of Bill Hicks, I'll never know.

http://www.savannahnow.com/diversion...full_cosby.jpg

Maybe not the funniest, but i'd say the best. My favourite, at least. Everybody can relate to his act, unlike most stand ups today where they cater for a particular group (I'm looking at you, Chris Rock.)

EDIT: Am i allowed to post big pictures like that?

how did you get an avatar...94 post boi :P

I fully agree with George Carlin and Robin Williams. Both are excellent comics. Did any one see them on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno recently? Carlin was on yesterday to promte his new book "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chop?" and he was brilliant (Click *HERE* for a sample of his book [I think] on aduio, it's very funny :lol: ), his use of word rendered me a helpless laughing fool for the remainder of the show. Williams was on sometime ago, last month I think, and he made fun of George Bush, his impressions and the way he act--so damn goofy--also got me laughing really hard.

tie between Denis Leary and Chris Rock

Richard Pryor was a real pioneer. I think he made today's comedy possible.

I'm gonna big up the Brit comedians Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard and Lee Evans!

Socrates.... you did say History of the world

Sam Kinneson

I would have to agree with Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. Without Pryor, there is no Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock...man he was a funny muthafucker!!

Cosby for the longevity of his act. He has been able to maintain his act for so many years and he supposedly does extremely long shows as well.

That George Carlin 10 Commandments thing is old...been around for a while now...years even. Ha Pablo Francisco..he's funny..do you guys get SiTv? He has a show on that channel called <i>Latino Laugh Festival: The Show</i> that they show every day at around 10 A.M, and 11 P.M. I dunno who the greatest of all time is. I like Carlin except for the religious jabbing. Other than that he's probably my favorite. George Lopez had me laughing my ass off on Latin Kings Of Comedy...I'll always hold a soft spot for him, Paul Rodriguez, and Cheech...I'm mexican so I can relate to a lot of what they say which makes it all that more hilarious.

Asta!!

I nominate Lenny Bruce.

Definitely. Bill Hicks is my own personal god. RIP Bill.

Carlin went from awfully funny in his earlier years to just plain awful later on (at least from what I saw of his later stuff). I agree with Robin Williams, and would add more, but I can't remember the names of most of the really funny ones (they're not "big name" standups).

Rowan Atkinson -

Yes, he does standup, too. Insanely funny.

Those mentioned are all great answers to this question. The guy who cracks me up most lately is the Amazing Johnathan.

Also, I've not seen Dave Chappelle do a standup routine, but his tv show is awesome.

Thanks for listening.

As far as acts I have seen live, Dennis Leary back in his hey day was the funniest thing out there. But Pryor should be crowned King

I've always been a fan of Peter Ustinov.

Yay! I was hoping that I wouldn't be the only Izzard fan!

Intelligent humor, that's where it's at. I can really respect Cosby and Carlin and folk because they are really smart cookies, they have a real reason behind their comedy, not just making fun of the mob or something...

I agree that Rowan Atkinson should also be up here, I saw a live show he did, way too funny. Best slapstic I've ever seen.

He's funny. I remember he was talkin something about how unreasonable women are in arguments and start mentioning things that aren't even relevant to the argument he was like

"The other day we were arguing and I was like 'Baby why can't you wash a dish instead of just leaving it in the sink?" "Pre-mature ejaculator!" "Hey hey baby why you gotta go there? You know I don't even believe in that. As far as I'm concerned when I cum it was RIGHT ON TIME!" "They look at you like yer a muderer...'HOW COULD YOU DAVE?' 'HOW COULD YOU?!'" "I was fuckin! I dunno what the fuck you were tryin to do"

Asta!!

Richard Pryor - made comedy what it is today
George Carlin - Great specials. He is just different than everybody else.
Dave Chappelle - His HBO special (Killing 'em Soflty, I think) is hilarious, as well as his show
Denis Leary - I love pissed off comedy
Dennis Miller - Maybe not great, but I always enjoyed his comedy and rants. Maybe because you had to be at least somewhat intelligent to follow it.
Lewis Black - His HBO special was also great. Another pissed off comedian.
Bill Cosby - Grew up watching his clean yet very funny "Himself" special
Ray Romano - Kind of the same funny family type comedy in his acts as Cosby. Good stuff

I am only 25, so I have not seen much of the "older" comedians.

Steve Martin...my friend lent me one of his comedy albums and it was hilarious (of course, it's comedy!). I haven't given it back yet either...

I wouldn't give him "historic", but the Amazing Jonathan was one of the funniest I've seen on Comedy Central.

Chris Rock.

Steve Martin
Brian Regan
Jeff Foxworthy/Bill Engvall
Bob Newhart
Stephen Wright - the king of one-liners.

Newer guys I really like:
Stephen Lynch
Mitch Hedberg
Carlos Englesias (Spelling probably. A very Large, AND FUNNY comedian.)

That's a great link. :lol: :lol:

That's straight from his HBO hour long show from several years ago. I watched that several times when it was on.

Back on topic... I think Robin Williams and Mr. Carlin would top my list. Insert the double Dennis' in there for good measure. (Leary and Miller) :thumbsup:

Word, yo.... :thumbsup:

Too hard to compare. There's this guy I used to work with, he had some funny shit that made all the other look bad, but he never did anything with it.

All the names listed so far are very good, and all have their own style, so I can't nominate just one.

Aside from Richard Pryor, and George Carlin, I don't think anyone has mentioned:

Robert Schimmel.

He is one funny dude.

-bear

I can't believe that no one has brought up Rodney Dangerfield since the beginning of this thread! Now he was the king of one-liners.

Steven Wright is hilarious, yes.

Lewis Black has the angry man thing going well.

Bill Cosby has gone through several periods of being funny and less funny.

George Carlin was funny. Now he's just angry and not so funny. Ditto Dennis Miller.

Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen all seem funnier on their sitcoms than their standups, if that makes any sense.

Definitely Carlin, Pryor, and Cosby. My first reaction was true surprise that more people haven't said Newhart, but then I realized that I'm something of an oddball for being so young and knowing his work as well as I do.

In way of newer comedians, Stephen Lynch is (I hope) going far. Yes, he can be offensive. Yes, he can piss people off. But he's genuinely funny all the time, and doesn't just rely on preplanned ideas for a show. One of his best attributes is that he plays a crowd so well. He acts like he's on the same level as them. Sure, they've paid to see him, but he treats them like he does his friends, not like comedians usually treat an audience. I think that may be a large factor in separating good comedians from great ones, the abilty to relate to the crowd. And, on the few occasions I was lucky enough to meet up with him for a while, I really got to see that he is just a guy who loves making people laugh and letting them feel better than the humdrum of everyday life lets them.

This thread is not complete without mention of young Dane Cook

I've never laughed like that before... ever

Dane Cook... check him out... He's always fresh and funny.

For the younger folks - Heni's response would have been -
"Practice, practice, practice."

i cant beleive nobody has mentioned David Cross.
The man is brilliant.

I love Stephen Lynch... almost all his songs start out serious and then... BAM! - you're suddenly hearing about how mommy left because daddy likes porno and ten-dollar whores... love him... Im not gay, but I wouldn't kick this guy out of my bed. :thumbsup:

lol... I said the exact same thing to my girlfriend after I saw him the first time. She thought it was great, and went to go see him the next time he was in town with me, in her words, "Just to make sure I kept my hands to myself."

why has no one mentioned me????

Wow, I am sure glad that there have been TWO mentionings of Eddie Izzard. Seriously people, if you haven't seen any of his stuff DO IT. Especially Dress to Kill. It is funny as all hell. My boyfriend had one of his cds and I listened to it for the first time while we were in Portland, ME. Now, picture this, we are on a ferry in our car because we were staying on an island. So we're on this tiny ferry with cars all around us listening to Eddie Izzard and crying because it's that damn funny. Needless to say people were staring

I am certainly glad to see that Eddie Izzard and Billy Connolly were both mentioned... I got to see Eddie Izzard in person a few weeks ago when I was in the Late Night w/ Conan O'Brian studio audience.

Personally, I am a huge fan of Drew Hastings, Richard Jeni, Mitch Hedberg.

Some off the wall folks that I like include Jim Gaffigan, Joe Rogan (yes, I said Joe Rogan), and Robert Schmeigel (Spelling? It's the guy who does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog).

Really OLD comedians that I like include: Rodney (of course!), Lenny Bruce, Freddie Prinze (father of Freddie Prinze Jr., extremely funny!) and Don Rickles.

Everytime i've seen Jake Johannson he's had me laughing. Similar to Steven Wright, not style wise, just both have unique deliveries.

No one has made me laugh as much as Eddie Murphy did on Delerious...

next to him it has been Jeremy Hotz ... funny guy

wipeout, I believe the reason nobody has nominated you is this: we're talking about standup comics. Generally, one sits down at the computer, thus making you part of a largely overlooked group; sit-down comedians.

Wouldn't Comicus be a better answer then?

I like denis leary, then I saw the great Bill Hicks and realised where he got his act from.

Eddie Izzard is definately up there, his pavlovs dog sketch is one of the funniest

Ever hear this one?

• Why is Denis Leary famous while Bill Hicks is not?
• Because there's No Cure For Cancer

RIP Bill.

Jonathan Winters is a funny man.
Flip Wilson and Moms Mabley were GREAT story tellers.
buddy hackett
I always enjoyed Steve Allen.

I mention these guys/gal because no one else has. All the above are funny.
There is no best. All of this is subjective. Personal taste.

In art, there is plenty of room at the top.

Come to think of it he was a Stand Up Philosopher. Nevermind.

I've never heard anyone like Robin Williams. The man is "on" 24 hours a day. It must be wild to live in his house. When I was younger, my folks took me to see Bill Cosby. At one point he was doing an audience participation thing. He pulled some people up on stage. One of those selected was a disabled man in a wheelchair. Cosby was trying to get the guy to act out some scene. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever seen. You could see everyone in the audience cringing. The show never recovered after that.

You mention Cosby using another person.

Jerry Lewis has done amazing improvisations working off other people.
He did some telephone calls on Steve Allen's show in 1963 or so that were out of this world. Very Funny!

Of course Groucho Marx worked well with others too!

But this maybe is not "stand up".

I like Bill Hicks, Magaret Cho, David Cross...

I don't care for his tv show, but I saw George Lopez when he came to town a month ago and he was very funny

Bill Hicks
Lenny Bruce

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.

Richard Pryor
Bill Cosby
Eddie Murphy

George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lewis Black, Richard Belzer, Dave Chappelle, and the best angry comedian ever, PAT COOPER.

My god... how'd I forget BOTH Redd Fox AND Andy Kaufmann?

Richard Pryor definitely. My parents would never really let me watch it, but I always had cable in my room when I was young. Very funny and very crude.

dane cook gets my vote as, i guess, best young comic...although pryor, eddie murphy, and robin williams, and lewis black are great also

i myself like the stand up that chappelle did. "killing me softly"
stephen lynch is as talented a singer as he is funny.

there's also another comedian named brian regan that i have a cd in my car for. it always gets lotsa laughs with each new rider i share it with. "brian regan live".

John Manzo is the funniest that I've seen in a long time, and he's not even professionally a standup comedian.

Bill Hicks. No question.

Definitely Bruce Campbell if he did stand-up.

While not the funniest ever, one comedian that is not very famous that I think everyone should check out is Brian Regan. Bought his cd on amazon, and I dont think ive ever laughed so hard at a stand up routine.

:thumbsup:

Billy Connolly
Ben Elton - Another Pommy. Someone at work said he'd moved out here to Oz.
Sam Kinneson

I've just been looking at "bushisms.com". Dubya is a real laugh in a sad sort of way.

In the history of the whole world? I dunno how the comedic situation was like during Saddam Husseins regime in Iraq or in Northern Korea, but I can tell you the Robin Williams is the funniest man alive.

Bill Hicks. At least when he's not doing "Goat Boy." Then it just got weird.

I like "angry man" stand-ups; Dennis Leary, George Carlin, Lewis Black (love his bit on the Daily Show; he always acts like he's just had an overdose of coffee).

Penn & Teller deserve mention.

And the Marx brothers. They ruled.

Billy Connelly

most of the older guys have been mentioned but what about
Jim Gaffigan
Jay Mohr
Dave Attell

3 of the best newer guys i swear, even though they are all in their 30s and 40s
later edit
Mitch Hedberg funny guy too

I could have sworn I answered this....must have been an older comedian thread...

bar none, NO ONE is funnier than Eddie Izzard....I literally cry from laughing evertime I watch one of his tapes/dvd's

everything from duvet covers, to evil giraffes, to "Do you want a cup of Coffee" "Cake or Death", ceaser for yappy type dogs, "Did they bring a flag" and JAM!!!

Richard Jeni used to be my fav...and then I found Eddie and HE is what comedy is all about

I like most comedians, my favorites . . . . Dane Cook, Rodney Carrington, Robin Williams, Seinfield, and Eddie Izzard, and the whole gang from Blue Collar Comedy Tour (Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy) . . . Each one of the comedians listed is hilarious in thier own way

Bruce Bruce

Im going with Harland Williams. Hemakes me laugh harder than any oher comedian ever. He puts such a different spin on everything. the things that guy comes up with.

Carlin and Pryor.

Of course Hedberg and Izzard are doing great stuff today.

My favorite is Chappelle, Killing 'em Softly is the funniest set I've ever seen.

Does the Bob and Tom show count...doubt it. But that is the greatest comedy show on in the mornings. Listen to it everyday.

Sam Kinison was and has always been the best standup comedianof all time. Paddyjoe is cool, the rest of you need to get better.

Gotta go with Dave Chapelle,Robin Williams,and George Carlin.

Yeah Dave Chapelle, and George Carlin and the only two comediens who have actually made me burst out loud laughing

So true!

I've been listening to Leary this week, and he's act is quite similar to Bill's; mainly in the delievery, although not as good, or the impersonations. Also it generally lacks any intellegient, logical explanation behind the comedy. It seems to be a lot of shock humour. Where as Hicks always had an intelligent and logical backing for his comdey, which makes it so much better :)

Here's a funny clip of Dennis Leary getting owned by Greg Giraldo (i think he is the guy that does Lazyboy - Under wear goes inside the pants song).

http://the-w.com/redirect/http://www...Leary50803.wmv

Bill Cosby
George Carlin
Kevin James
Mitch Hedburg
Andrew Dice Clay
Lewis Black
Robin Williams (Live at the Met/Live on Broadway... same show different time periods)
Stephen Lynch

Good old Mitch.

I saw him at my college once. I was in the second row so I could see him pretty good. You know he always wears sunglasses? Well I could see under them from where I was and I swear he had his eyes closed the entire set. :thumbsup:

I just saw Kyle Keese last weekend. Definitely not the best comedian in history, but he was damn funny. Check him out if he's ever in your area.

Ya know I've noticed that recently Louis C.K. has made me laugh my freakin ass off. Just thought I'd give him a shout out..don't think he's the best ever.

Asta!!

I'd have to go with Robin Williams, his energy and ability to switch focus and rolls continually is amazing. Stephen Wright is a riot, George Carlin is great too

Jake johanssen, very funny and way under rated.

haha. I just recently went through a Louis C.K. phase. The guy is a riot, but at times it seems like he's just improvising and just says things to shock the audience and it's not necessarily funny. However, a lot of his material has cracked me up to the point where I'm tearing up and losing oxygen in my brain from incessant laughter.


But, as far as the best stand-up of all time? That's tough. Trying to answer that is like trying to pinpoint my favorite song or my favorite movie. Not fair. As far as the influence they've had on the history of comedy, you have to mention the likes of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Dangerfield, Carlin, Woody Allen, Kaufman, Hope and Eddie Murphy. I don't like all of those guys, but they've definitely left some of the biggest footprints in the world of stand-up comedy.


As far as today's up and coming comedians, I think Demetri Martin, Stephen Lynch, Dane Cook and Mitch Hedberg are the best and hopefully they continue to keep good comedy around for a long time.

i thought that stephen lynch was funny last time i saw him. the only stand up cd that i have in my car is brian regan. he's coming to town in a couple days... don't think i'll be able to see him, but he's funny too.

has to be Richard Pryor