Who, in your opinion, is the greatest/best stand up comedian of all time (well known or not)? I would definitely have to give my vote to Richard Pryor. Some of the things he did on stage were just down right great. I like how he took personal tragedies and made them into jokes and comedic skits and some way or another taught me and others a lesson from those stories. In my opinion he is the best it's just too bad he is in the condition that he is in. He's the real "King of Comedy"!!!
That is a VERY tough choice. Personally, I'd have to go with Richard Pryor or George Carlin. Either would be right up there for me.
There's so many I can think of, but I'll stick to the ones I listened to when I was growing up... Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby (not the 80's tv show stuff, but his comedy records from the 60s are timeless), the Smothers Brothers (same here- the older comedy albums, not the tv show) Garry Shandling, George Carlin... I could go on and on... x34
Don't know about all-time, but my favorite right now, and in my book is already the "greatest" has got to be Mitch Hedberg. "This shirt is dry-clean only, which means it's DIRTY!!!"
I can't just choose one, so in no particular order : Richard Pryor Bill Cosby Redd Foxx Eddie Murphy Steven Wright Mitch Hedberg Cedric The Entertainer ... and probably some others I'm forgetting.
I would say George Carlin is the best of all time. He is actually funnier now than he was twenty, or thirty years ago. Richard Pryor's best work ranks with anyone. My favorite comedian was the late, great Bill Hicks. I think his loss was a great tragedy for comedy.
Lenny Bruce broke all the rules. He was actually arrested and did time in jail for using obsenities on stage!!! Lenny Bruce was the inspiration for the likes of Carlin and Pryor. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/net034.htm
I too saw Mitch once at the laugh stuff.. pure stoner comedy.. some of my favorite comedians include: Robin Williams George Carlin Richard Pryor Emo Philips (bizarre) Mitch Hedberg Steven Wright Cheech & Chong (back in the day) and that Seinfeld guy.... Jerry Seinfeld
Lenny was the man... did you see the movie "Lenny" with Dustin Hoffman? I enjoyed that very much... I would love to have a Lenny Bruce Box Set... is there such a thing?
Great call on Bill Hicks, Elvis. As far as current ones go, Rock has been at the top for about five years now. Dave Attell is pretty damn good, the Kings are up there, Sarah Silverman is bloody brilliant, and I'm wondering if Ellen DeGeneres is getting back into standup. She surprised the hell out of me with how good she was in her SNL monologue a few months back.
HEAD, if you have Morpheus, you can find quite a bit of Lenny Bruce there. I have lots and am always searching for more.
In addition to Pryor and Bruce, I'll throw out andy kaufman. Kaufman had an understanding of audience that few have had. He's a genius.
Personally, I think Dana Carvey is the best stand up comedian ever. Did you ever see that HBO special "critics choice" I almost died laughing so hard. But Carvey is also my favorite. If anyone on the board has any dana carvey stand-up on tape, let me know because i'd be really interested. His imitations are dead on.
"She's cold as ice.............paradise" "My lady, she went downtown, she bought some... brocoli... she... brought... it home...she's choppin' brocoli."
RM, I actually have Critics Chioce on tape, but it came from Comedy Central, so some of the expletives are bleeped out. I liked the Cat singing on the piano. "It's just Boots, It's just Boots Meeeow, Meow, Meeeeoowwwww Meeeow, Meow, Meeeeoowwwwwww"
