Funny comedians

[ejay]

if you have not heard richard pryor you should get on that right away. By far the greatest ever.

[joeblack]

I was at the HBO taping of Dave Atell which was hilarious (it will air on TV sometime in the next few months). I also saw Demetri Martin live which was alot of fun. Lets rate some acts I saw live, shall we:

Dave Attell - A
Demetri Martin - A
Arti Lang - C
Bob Levy - A
Jim Fennigan - D (maybe E)

[Kharnage]

I enjoyed Ricky Gervais' Politics, and Animals.

[gimmetheloot]

already mentioned but robin williams and george carlin are both histerical.

[steamraise]

Sam Kinison,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_VURr6jnWQ

[invisibleleadsoup]

in general i don't really like stand up comedy,most of the stuff that i see,even stuff that friends of mine with similar taste in other things to me like,seems fairly dull and unoriginal,i just don't think its that good a format compared to tv shows-a great simpsons or seinfeld episode will always be a million times better than any stand up.

having said that,there are a few gems out there.

dylan morgan,who was mentioned upthread,had a really good first dvd. the best thing about it is these impossibly long,beautiful sentences he comes up with,and he pulls off the whole somewhat cranky,bitter,but yet likeable schtick much better than any of the millions of others trying to make it work.i haven't seen his second dvd because i heard its much like the first only nowhere near as good.

eddie izzard at his best is really great,dressed to kill and glorious were hilarious.after that they went downhill fast,i remember getting circle when it came out and watching it with two of my friends who were huge eddie izzard fans,we turned it off after half an hour,it was absolute [censored].

the ricky gervais ones have some great moments,nowhere near as good as the office but well worth watching.

i used to be really into bill hicks when i was a teenager,some of his stuff is still great but i watched a dvd recently and some of it was embarrassingly bad,the kind of stuff you feel cool for watching when you're seventeen but then when you see it again you realise he's really not saying anything funny at all,and its real "look how shocking i am" rubbish. having said that he does have some really great jokes,the elaborate pun about the kenneddy assasination is particularly good.

my absolute favourite is chris rock though.i only saw his stuff recently but it made me feel like i had been too quick to write off stand up comedy.you see so many comedians try to pull off the whole shouty,brash attitude and they just look like total gimps,then you see his act and you realise what they were trying to do.

his stage presence is fantastic,his enthusiasm is really infectious,with anyone else the whole repeating his point the whole time thing would be annoying but he pulls it off by having such great jokes and the sort of swagger you normally only get from great rappers and old movie stars.he knows he's funny and that somehow makes him even funnier.i don't agree with whoever said never scared isn't good,its a little patchy but there's some great stuff there.

there's loads of chris rock on youtube if anyone hasn't seen it yet.

[sonneti]

Dylan Moran not dylan morgan ^^^^

I thought Joe Rogan's "Live from the belly of the beast" was great. Some say a touch immature but he's very witty/quick.

[invisibleleadsoup]

lol yeah,i was getting his name mixed up with dermot morgan

[ohgeetee]

Bill Hicks and Mitch are awesome dead guys.

Cool to see someone mention Brian Regan. Jim Carrey kinda overshadowed him but he is hilarious.

John Pinette had my gut aching when I saw him live recently. He is seriously hilarious.

[fitnessfreak]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Rock - His third one, "Never Scared" blew, so don't waste your time with that.

[/ QUOTE ]

you gotta be kidding me. this might not be his best but its still about 1000 times better than most of comedians out there. i lol'd pretty much through the whole thing.

oh yeah, richard pryor has got some but definately not enough love so far.

my top 3 is clear:
1) richard pryor
2) eddie murphy
3) chris rock

i like chapelle but i prefer his skits to his standup. and as far as non-vulgar comedians go jerry seinfeld is awesome.