Comedy

Chris Rock (for the N word material, I think classic) and Richard Prior, and of course, of course Bill Hicks.

Good ones. Rock's Bigger and Blacker is amazing.

I'm on Marc Maron's jock now and for all time.

Also I'm all about Patton Oswalt lately. And Paul F. Tompkins.

I just watched Comedians of Comedy again, so I'm big on Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn & Zach Galafinakis at the moment.

I've actually been proselytizing for Christopher Titus's Norman Rockwell is Bleeding lately, which is weird. I don't usually tell friends "man you've really got to see this stand-up special."

The legends go without saying, but I'll say em:

Pryor, Bruce (who I like and don't think is dated, putting me in a tiny minority), Steve Martin, Hicks, Carlin, and (as "uncool" as it makes me) I grew up on Cosby and still laugh at his records.

I'm uncool too, then. I love Cosby's records.

And Bob Newhart's records too.

And Robert Klein's records too.

I just watched Comedians of Comedy again, so I'm big on Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn & Zach Galafinakis at the moment.

The mayonnaise sketch is too fucking funny. I laughed so hard I was short of breath.

I like Peter Kay and David Cross a lot. Is that uncool?

O and let me just say that Carlos Menstealia does totally suck ass, re: the mention of Crosby and Ned's stealing of that bit almost word-for-word.

x - uncool but strangely alluring in a sort of fetishistic way.

Carlos Mencia is atrocious.

I love David Cross and Peter Kay (in Phoenix Nights esp.) and Patton Oswalt.

Also, Oswalt has an amazing dog which earns him even more points.

STEVE COOGAN AS ALAN PARTRIDGE.

I just forgot.

And they're making a Partridge movie are they not?

Really?? I hadn't heard that!

shit, I just looked it up on imdb and it's "not happening any time soon"

;_;

Why you tease? Hmpf.

Also, Oswalt has an amazing dog which earns him even more points.

Points x100 because the dog's name is Grumpus.

I know. Grumpus is the best name for that little guy.

Daniel Kitson's stand-ups. Almost <i>un</I>comedy. Tragedy, even. Amazing.

search: Louis CK

fuck you: dane cook

Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia, mostly

ooooh. Controversial selection.

I like my comedy straight and to the point. Why mess around with subtlety, tact, and legitimately humorous material? Get to the JOKES.

i just watched the new brian regan special. he's so great.

Oh yeah I like Brian Regan too!

Coogan is awesome.

I love Shaun Micallef, though no one outside of Aus would really have heard of him. Superb absurdist dry humour though.

Superb absurdist dry humour though.

Consider me now intrigued.

WHERE IS THE ROBIN HARRIS LOVE
i saw Brian Regan on TV for the first time in like 15 years last month, seems even funnier.
2nd Louis CK, Patton, Zach G, love all the obv. giants (is it too early to put Chris Rock up there?) except for maybe Bruce but we went over that last month.
all the kings of comedy, but cedric and steve harvey make me lose my shit. Rodney Dangerfield! Is anyone doing that Henny Youngman/Dangerfield quick-hit type of stuff these days? I'd settle for someone who does it poorly. I've always thought Robin Harris modeled alot of his stuff from Dangerfield's persona in a weird way, I wouldn't be surprised. I totally want to dust off my comedy nerd badge but I don't have the patience for it now with so much shit out there.

i heard thea vidale on the radio the other night and she cracked my shit up. robin harris was great. have you guys heard those coyle and sharpe podcasts? they are great.

new scharpling and wurster cd is the best one too.

Steve Wright, Eddie Murphy, Bill Bailey, Rich Hall, Les Dawson.

Trayce, yep. Shaun Micallef is hilarious. But not in Seachange.

<i>Is anyone doing that Henny Youngman/Dangerfield quick-hit type of stuff these days? I'd settle for someone who does it poorly.</i>

Dave Attell might be your man. He's not necessarily a traditional set-up/knock-down comedian, but his jokes are short and he moves along faster than you can laugh.

Mitch Hedberg was kind of the same way, except he was often absurd and surreal. Attell's just the king of low-brow lockerroom humor.

I like my comedy straight and to the point. Why mess around with subtlety, tact, and legitimately humorous material? Get to the JOKES.

I believe you mean, get to other people's JOKES.

I remember Brian Regan and D Attell from when I performed at NY Improv, so I must leave thread now.

johnny yeah I forgot about Dave Attell, love him. Renting Dr. Katz' 1st season brought back memories. Andy Kindler killed(I've never seen him on stage? just on that show for some reason), Ray Romano, Steven Wright, Dom Irrera, Judy Gold. RIP platypus man he a favorite waaay back in the day. I have still never heard Mitch Hedberg except on Letterman or something when i was falling asleep, i think i got the wrong impression.

Mitch Hedberg was kind of the same way, except he was often absurd and surreal.

Ahh Mitch. RIP.

He is also on my list.

Daniel Kitson's stand-ups. Almost <i>un</I>comedy. Tragedy, even. Amazing.

My husband downloaded a great Kitson show that I love. I don't know the details but it was recorded in Hull because he keeps talking about how terrifying it is there. You're right, he's incredible.

Amazingly, I've never heard Medberg. I'll have to change that.

Hedbeg - oops. Although, Medberg for short could work.

Robert Buscemi.

That's it. I give up.

The Thick Of It

Patton Oswalt - Feeling Kinda Patton

Mitch Hebdige

I think Mitch has ruined me for standup.

how dat

Loving Franki Boyle a lot right now. He's great on Mock the week but this is pretty good too:

so do you like medberg or what dude??

Louis CK, now and forever

I was kind of sad yesterday when I realized I wasn't gonna enjoy any of these newbie Todd Barry/Demetri Martin/Aziz Ansari/Zach Galifinakais/Maria Bamford/Eugene Mirman-type mid-00s Fleet Foxes-era comics as much as I love Louis CK and Patton Oswalt. Those two are just working on some other level.

Like there's this pressure to keep up on those guys and their various doings, but none of them are really bringing it at a level that's blowing me away like Louis and Patton do consistently.

Joe DeRosa and Zach Galifinakis were pretty loltastic and awesome at Bamboozle Fest tho.

grouping Todd Barry and Zach G with Dimitri Martin should be punishable by death

Louis CK is good. I like Oswalt OK, but don't really rate him any higher than most of the folks on your "Fleet Foxes-era comics" list. Except Demetri Martin, fuck that guy.

xpost

AJ OTM

grouping Todd Barry and Zach G with Dimitri Martin should be punishable by death

― AJ Styles, Monday, May 25, 2009 8:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM, he's leagues above those two, but they are all part of the same generation

For some reason, stand-up comedy seems to have gone downhill (or maybe I'm not paying close enough attention). When I was growing up, stand-up was something cable stations used to fill air-time, so there was plenty of it, and a large group of up-and-coming comics. Now it seems the up-and-comers are a much smaller group, and getting less attention.

Well yeah. In the 80s there was comedy clubs EVERYWHERE and lots of TV shows becuz it was a trend. The popularity died down, so now the only people who can succeed are true diehards and internet memes

Basically stand-up comedy is like 1980's-era indie rock where you have to actually pay a shit-ton of dues and a band like Vampire Weekend would never get signed.

kids these days amirite

Yes, you am rite. I miss non-stop, round-the-clock stand-up on cable. (In fact, I miss the more quaint cable of my youth, when programs looked more like home-made creations and oddball public-access programs (and, of course, 10 hours a day of The 20-Minute Workout on HBO)).

Sometimes I record Comedy Central's Premium Blend, which has that vibe and is OK about half the time. I see a lot of NYC comedians who can totally SLAY in a club doing material that's not very funny on TV.

I went to see Louis CK last year, he was very funny, if not tremendously original. He did make my friend's dad walk out in disgust though, which is all you can ask of a stand-up sometimes :-) I used to stan for a whole ton of standups years ago, but I've pretty much reduced it to Rich Hall, Bill Bailey, Frankie Boyle, Stewart Lee and Ed Byrne now. Should really check out Daniel Kitson properly at some point as well.

What were all the old shows from back in the day?

Circa 1989-1991

Caroline's Comedy Hour
A&E's Evening At The Improv
The HBO Young Comedians Showcase
The MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour

when programs looked more like home-made creations and oddball public-access programs

http://taargustaargus.com/spagett.jpg

Is Rich Hall still good live? You couldn't tell by those shitty Simpsons episodes he does now. He was always great on Conan.

I saw Gilbert live about a year ago and it was pretty awes. Big Stern contingent in there tho

Those shows Whiney mentioned were all great.

I used to stan for a whole ton of standups years ago, but I've pretty much reduced it to Rich Hall . . . .

I haven't heard Rich Hall's name for years. Wasn't he an SNL regular long ago?

yep. did the david byrne giant suit bit.

and invented the sniglet

He's mostly based over here now (UK), does a lot of TV panel shows and the like, and tours doing observational comedy and his Otis Lee Crenshaw character (redneck hillbilly type country singer). He never really fails to make me laugh. He's also got a great face, which helps.

Rich Hall is SO much more famous in the UK than over here. When I lived in England I was like omg why this this man everywhere?!

Other celebs btw who fall into the same category include Huey from the Fun Lovin' Criminals and some lady named Ruby Wax.

Huey's star seems to have faded now, thank God.

We gave you Alan Cumming and Craig Ferguson, and you thank us with Ruby Wax.

Ignatiy whatshisname on the fall of Hollywood film comedy in the last 25-30 years (and some measure of hope he sees in, uh, Bridesmaids:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/in-the-margin-all-solos

His point is kinda made by you guys having a "Comedy" thread that's all about standup and TV.

"you guys"

yeah, you guys who haven't seen the Ritz Bros

(I don't mean you del!)

yeah, but there you'd be right. i ain't never seen any ritz bros movies. nor bowery boys for that matter

Hmmm I will read that later

Also, for the record, "Right now I am loving Demitri Martin", that did not last long.

but one of the Bowery Boys was named Dell! xp

I recently found out that a writer-producer for "Everybody Loves Raymond" (ugh), and Ray Romano's new one on cable, is Mike Royce, who was a decent standup comic at the Improv when I was performing in '90-91. In fact, he once said to me "You remind me of Dennis Miller -- the same intelligence." Now, even back then, I thought Miller was a smug, glib hack with no real brains. But at least someone who went on to make millions in TV thought I was either funny or smart, huh?

Yeah! I'd say that's pretty neat.

It's interesting as I read through this thread just now that, for someone who's hoping to hack out a career that in some respect interfaces with the comedy world, I have very little interest in stand-up. Which is not to say that there aren't some very talented and funny stand-ups out there, just that I don't really have much engagement with that world or form.

Men Of A Certain Age is pretty dece as far as I've gotten into it, Morbs. Certainly moreso than I ever would've expected from Romano.

I have watched a couple of those because of Bakula <3 and they're not too bad. He's great but imo he's always great.

why don't you do comedy anymore, dmorbs?

yeah, why

"You remind me of Dennis Miller -- the same intelligence."

ouch

His point is kinda made by you guys having a "Comedy" thread that's all about standup and TV.

When was there a time in cinematic history where comedy didn't originate on the stage or TV?

I have given some hilarious blowjobs in my day.

"You remind me of Dennis Miller -- the same intelligence."

ouch

hmmm, yeah, but i mean i think he can be kind of a boof for various reasons (most glaringly his current political views), but i wouldn't accuse him of not being super-smart. so, not sure exactly what you guys are on about

I have watched a couple of those because of Bakula <3 and they're not too bad. He's great but imo he's always great.

Since we don't have a Men Of A Certain Age-specific thread, and since it is pretty funny: this.

thought them trying to replicate 'lol old commercials on youtube' was prob the weakest moment of the show to date

Vishnevetsky won me over a little by praising Ghost Town, which really is one of the most refreshingly old-fashioned comedy flicks in recent memory

assorted responses:

I loathe sitcoms

I don't do standup anymore bcz it sucks

politics aside, Dennis Miller has always been a slick jerk who only qualifies as 'smart' in America

I don't do standup anymore bcz it sucks

ya mean doing it sucks, or you just think standup in general sucks?

both

and I suck

and have no discernible sense of humor

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

(seeing you bleed would reduce me hysterics tho)

see i think dr. morbius has crafted out a distinct, humorous persona here in his posting.

and if much of standup is the art of making humorous observations/complaining about things, then it's not far off from posting on ilx in general

except it's easier, b/c you are playing to a crowd of largely intoxicated ppl, rather than ppl who are bored/frustrated at work

no, doing 'material' for drunk idiots is the worst.

Told a buddy via FB chat that the House passed a law banning the word "lunatic" from appearing in Federal Law, and he then quickly improvised the different late night talk show jokes you'd hear.

"yeah, the house has banned the word lunatic. yeah, yeah. [clasps hands three times]. which is weird, because they're now enforcing the word RETARD.... seems unreasonable." - a funny jimmy kimmel joke

which is weird because when asked to comment on the bill, House Speak John Boehner said "What? That's retarded." -- a funnier Conan O'Brien joke circa 2003

"which I find strange because, I mean, when you think about it Paul, george w. bush is retarded." - an intentionally unfunny david letterman joke from the same period.

"Really? Banning the word lunatic? From the same people that want to drive this country towards the fiscal cliff!? *audience laughter* We know why you want that word removed!" - a not funny jay leno joke

"which i find strange, because when I was drinking real heavy, you know, right on the edge of dying an' 'at, I think lunatic is really the only word you could use to describe a fella like me. [horse dances]" - a craig ferguson joke that scrapes by on raw conviction

^ Cunga's buddy nailed it