best stand-up comic of all time?

[nageov3t]

inspired by the dane cook thread...

I think George Carlin is an obvious favorite, but I'd have to give my vote for Eddie Murphy. I watched one of his comedy specials the other day for the first time and was laughing my ass off... I'm not sure what happened to him during the time between his amazing stand-up and godawful movies

 

[Phoenix86]

Richard Pryor.

 

[Rage187]

Bill Hicks or Mitch Hedburg

 

[JS80]

Jerry Seinfeld



:laugh: i keed i keeed

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

One guy who gets overlooked is, believe it or not, Jay Leno. He is as dull as wet cardboard on the Tonight Show, but his spots on the NBC Letterman show were as funny as anything I've ever seen. The Tonight Show has definitely made him a big star, but taken away immeasurably from his comedy cred.

Personally I think Richard Pryor is overrated from a pure comedic standpoint (though I can see he was really groundbreaking). I also think Mitch Hedburg and Bill Hicks are overrated, largely due to their premature deaths (though both were decent comics).

George Carlin seems like a logical pick, and hard to really refute.

Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock, at their respective peaks, were just brilliant.

 

[DurocShark]

Eddie Murphy around Delerious.

George Carlin for lifetime achievement.

 

[Ika]

wtf, no one said Dangerfield yet??

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Aflac
wtf, no one said Dangerfield yet??

I don't put him in the mix, because his standup career was short (IIRC he didn't break nationwide until he was something like 50 years old), and he was SO reliant on the Rodney persona and Henny Youngman, joke-book-style jokes, rather than a modern, anecdote and observation-based standup act. I think he was a brilliant talent and did a ton for comedy, though.

 

[jpeyton]

Best stand-up comic?

That's like asking someone what's their favorite song of all time.

Comics can have different styles and subject-matter and still be funny to the same person.

 

[mpitts]

Eddie Murphy
Bill Hicks
Mitch Hedberg

Chris Rock is up there too..

 

[randay]

Samuel L. Jackson

 

[TheChort]

George Carlin
Dave Chappelle
Robin Williams
Bill Cosby
Eddie Murphy

* my top 5, in no particular order

and as a side note, i think Peter Russel and Dane Cook are idiots

 

[marvdmartian]

Originally posted by: randay
Samuel L. Jackson

But only on a planeful of snakes!! :laugh: (<<you wouldn't believe how close I just came to typing, "a snakeful of planes"!!! )

I know I'll likely get some disagreement, but I'd have to give a tie between these three (in no particular order):

George Carlin
Steve Martin (come on, let's get SMALL)
Robin Williams

George for his irreverent ways of making us laugh at ourselves, Steve for his overall entertainment value and zaniness, and Robin for his absolute insanity at improv.

 

[ActuaryTm]

And while all this is going on, Canada burns to the ground but nobody notices.

 

[mobobuff]

Brett Butler had a few HBO specials that had me cracking up, Ellen DeGeneres did a few too. Some of Cosby's work was hilarious. Sinbad was always nice for some feel-good comedy. Eddie Murphy's "Raw" had my sides hurting for days.

Mitch Hedberg, Robin Williams and George Carlin were greats too.

 

[Ilmater]

Eddie Murphy
Mitch Hedberg
Robert Schimmel
George Carlin
Red Skelton - notice, only "clean" comedian on my list

That's pretty much it. I don't know enough to be the most authoritative, but if I had to pick one, I'd have to say Eddie Murphy. It's pretty universal that he was just amazing. Carlin would be a close second just because he's kept it going SO LONG and is still hilarious as ever.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Chris Rock

 

[Icanoutsmokeany1]

Alonzo Bodden

 

[torpid]

Hard to pick just one...

Bob Newhart
Bill Cosby
Lenny Bruce
George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Mitch Hedberg

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
And while all this is going on, Canada burns to the ground but nobody notices.

That wasnt funny at all.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: DonVito
One guy who gets overlooked is, believe it or not, Jay Leno. He is as dull as wet cardboard on the Tonight Show, but his spots on the NBC Letterman show were as funny as anything I've ever seen. The Tonight Show has definitely made him a big star, but taken away immeasurably from his comedy cred.

Personally I think Richard Pryor is overrated from a pure comedic standpoint (though I can see he was really groundbreaking). I also think Mitch Hedburg and Bill Hicks are overrated, largely due to their premature deaths (though both were decent comics).

George Carlin seems like a logical pick, and hard to really refute.

Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock, at their respective peaks, were just brilliant.

I saw Leno do a stand up act last year and he was so hilarious. I laughed my ass off for the whole 2 hours he was on stage. Much better than his regular TV show by far.

 

[aircooled]

I also vote for Bill Hicks & Mitch Hedberg

I also like Andy Kaufman

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Brian Regan is pretty funny.

 

[Ika]

Regan and Hedberg get my votes. Hedberg was more of a Dangerfield-style comic, though - lots of one-liners.

 

[Mucho]

Richard Pryor