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Favorite / Influential Comedians

AgeGap said:
Alexei Sayle.
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Bizarre derail - my wife graduated with Alexei Sayle.

Best stand up comedians
Bill Hicks, no question.
I am surprised but heartened by the number of posts for Stewart Lee (and Richard Herring)
Ben Elton did an amazing job for British humour in the eighties. He almost single handedly dragged us out of our Bernard Manning type humour era.
Ricky Gervais is brilliant in (almost) anything. And a good hardcore sceptic to boot.
Jimmy Carr always makes me laugh.
Bill Bailey is a bit hit and miss, but when he hits (such as with Part Troll) he is absolutely superb.
And, although the schtick has worn so thin as to be transparent now, Robin Williams in his best shows was remarkable.
 
I understood the question as "influential to me" rather than "influential to the art of comedy" I like Eddie Izzard and Chris Rock, Emo (is he still married to Judy Tenuta?) Phillips and Stephen Wright but...

Nobody has mentioned Kathy Griffen, I absolutely adore her.
She's part of a small group who have challenged theism in large venues. Her Emmy acceptance speech was brave and hilarious.
To quote her, "People always come up here and thank Jesus. No one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it Jesus!"
Her comedy is very gay pop culture oriented, but if you watch her show, you can see she is capable of entertaining others as well as challenging her target audience.
She's performed in Iraq and at Walter Reed Hospital and really puts herself out there with the 'supporting the troops without supporting the war' angle.
The Suck It incident on Larry King:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbziBwi489Q

Patton Oswald is also wonderful. He is topical, but his base is his small town, comic book fan roots. Anybody that can throw Galactus and This Mortal Coil in his bits is OK with me. You should check out his album "Werewolves and Lollipops," it's a genius work.
Check out his shame bowls bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfan5MacmsI&feature=related
 
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fatewilleatyou said:
Nobody has mentioned Kathy Griffen, I absolutely adore her.
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I think, without a doubt, Kathy Griffen is absolutely the bravest woman in comedy in that she shows remarkable persistence without being even the slightest bit funny.
 
David Cross is great, of course. I'd have loved to have seen Adam Carolla's complete failure as a stand-up: he's as quick as anyone out there, crippled by a face made for radio combined with a voice made for silent movies. I like Kathy Griffin more for her appearances off-stage than for her stand-up(which is competent enough). Speaking of competent, I consider someone like George Carlin as being more skilled than out-and-out hilarious... his act was rarely a revelation to me, but it was always honed to a sharp edge performance-wise.

Chris Rock used to be funny, and then he got famous ans started to suck the big one... which explains why Dave Chappelle hit a similar phase in his career and ran away to Africa/World of Warcraft instead of cashing in. Eddie Murphy was a force of nature for a few years. Bill Hicks was... ok, although I think because of similar personalities I always knew where he was going with a joke before the point where it would be really funny, so he always came off as more clever than anything else.
 
Loss Leader said:
I think, without a doubt, Kathy Griffen is absolutely the bravest woman in comedy in that she shows remarkable persistence without being even the slightest bit funny.
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Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Isn't she awful? :D Just so silly and cheap and stupid? Isn't she so obnoxious? So needlessly crass and vulgar? Don't the dumb, irritating and pointless stories about her encounters with celebrities work on you like fingernails on a blackboard?

She has her moments but holy hell, do I wish she'd just drop off my TV screen. She makes Joan Rivers seem like Gracie Allen by comparison.

I have a friend that loves her and constantly sends me YouTube videos of her act. I give him George Carlin, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Jerry Seinfeld and he gives me Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho! :(
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Isn't she awful? :D Just so silly and cheap and stupid? Isn't she so obnoxious? So needlessly crass and vulgar? Don't the dumb, irritating and pointless stories about her encounters with celebrities work on you like fingernails on a blackboard?

She has her moments but holy hell, do I wish she'd just drop off my TV screen. She makes Joan Rivers seem like Gracie Allen by comparison.

I have a friend that loves her and constantly sends me YouTube videos of her act. I give him George Carlin, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Jerry Seinfeld and he gives me Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho! :(
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First off...he is no friend. Secondly, watching kathy griffin is like asking a popular 13 y/o girl about her day. She just drones on and on about nothing interesting or funny. No offense to her fans, but you can do better.
 
Wides said:
First off...he is no friend. Secondly, watching kathy griffin is like asking a popular 13 y/o girl about her day. She just drones on and on about nothing interesting or funny. No offense to her fans, but you can do better.
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I mean no offense to anyone with this but, since my pal happens to be gay, I have to wonder what it is with gay men (and some gay women) and Kathy Griffin.

Of course, they are hardly the only people to like her but why is she such a gay icon? Why does she have such a following among them? Why do they in particular find her to be so funny? Ditto for Margaret Cho.

Not that there aren't plenty of very straight people into hack comedians- just look at Dane Cook's fans! :boxedin:
 
Another mention for Hicks. I watch so many stand-ups thinking 'Hicks... Hicks... Hicks.' Although for all I know Hicks was heavily influensed by earlier comics. I know from a couple of Biography's that he was heavily influenced by Woody Allens material. There's nothing original anymore.

I love Rowan Atkinson's early stuff -'The Schoolmaster' and 'Tom Dick and Harry' - are both superb as is 'The Devil' ("Athiests - you're over there. I bet you feel a right bunch of charlies now")

This guy I find very funny and appropriate for this forum too. I've only just discovered him although he's been winning awards for years apparently. He's more of a 'sit down comedian' though. I'm off to see him in a couple of months.

WARNING YOUTUBE LINK REALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK
 
Most of my favourite stand ups have already been mentioned (though I don't think anyone has listed Ross Noble or Phil Kay). So instead I'll mention my favourite comedy writer/performers: The League of Gentlemen (except for the film...), Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci.
 
Professor Yaffle said:
Most of my favourite stand ups have already been mentioned (though I don't think anyone has listed Ross Noble or Phil Kay). So instead I'll mention my favourite comedy writer/performers: The League of Gentlemen (except for the film...), Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci.
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Ooh, good calls on all of those. Especially the last two.
 
Professor Yaffle said:
Most of my favourite stand ups have already been mentioned (though I don't think anyone has listed Ross Noble or Phil Kay). So instead I'll mention my favourite comedy writer/performers: The League of Gentlemen (except for the film...), Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci.
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Oh yes - I really liked the Friday Night Project, especially their live election night special.

Armando Ianucci and Peter Baynham (and Steve Coogan) do a superb commentary on the Alan Partridge DVDs.
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
I mean no offense to anyone with this but, since my pal happens to be gay, I have to wonder what it is with gay men (and some gay women) and Kathy Griffin.

Of course, they are hardly the only people to like her but why is she such a gay icon? Why does she have such a following among them? Why do they in particular find her to be so funny? Ditto for Margaret Cho.

Not that there aren't plenty of very straight people into hack comedians- just look at Dane Cook's fans! :boxedin:
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I think she's funny enough, but never watch her on TV on the "D-List" thing. The first time I saw her she was on Sienfield, and that persona is pretty much how she made her name.

Also, she's staked out here claim on gays as a straight female, I think and she actively courts gay men as an audience. (Not just men, is it?) What makes her so popular with gays is, I think, because she acts like their advocate. Like Bette Midler used to be a gay icon in singing. Griffin flaunts convention and says it's all right. Maybe a gay person would sound off on this and delve deeper into it. I don't think Margaret Cho is funny at all.
 
Not that I'm biased toward Irish comedians or anything but: Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan, Dara O'Brien, Colin Murphy, David McSavage & Ardal O'Hanlon (Dougal from Fr. Ted)

Also love Bill Bailey & Eddie Izzard, who have been previously mentioned in this thread.
 
EeneyMinnieMoe said:
Isn't she awful? :D Just so silly and cheap and stupid? Isn't she so obnoxious? So needlessly crass and vulgar? Don't the dumb, irritating and pointless stories about her encounters with celebrities work on you like fingernails on a blackboard?
:(
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You may be missing the point of her stories. She subversively exposes all those thing you complain about. Kathy reflects superficial pop-culture back at itself. Her celebrity stories are usually character assassinations of deserving egoists.

EeneyMinnieMoe said:
I have a friend that loves her and constantly sends me YouTube videos of her act. I give him George Carlin, Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Jerry Seinfeld and he gives me Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho! :(
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It's not an either or proposition. I love male comedians who perform in a pseudo-academic way also. Kathy and Margaret speak to parts of society who may be turned off by those they perceive as square.
 
To tell you the truth, Kathy has made me laugh on occassion. Some of her barbs at celebrities are on target- and others are droning and yapping-and the people she mocks do need and deserve a good skewering. I'd say she's an allright mimic; some of her impersonations of various celebrities are pretty dead-on. I never saw the episodes of "Seinfeld" she appeared in but am certainly looking forward to getting to them.

I don't think she measures up to Sarah Silverman but she's not completely and utterly terrible.

She has her moments.
 
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