Who are some of your favorite stand-up comedians?

berzirk

berzirk

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Maybe a a few famous, and a few "underground" guys.

For me:
Zach Galifinaikis-I remember first seeing him on a Comedy Central special about 6-7 years ago and thinking he was the funniest new, young comedian I'd seen in years)

Bill Cosby-I think he's the greatest of all time, with nobody even close to him for second place.

Steve Martin-He has never NOT been funny.

Norm MacDonald-Could make a patient laugh while telling them they have AIDS.

Underground:
Ryan Stout-Saw him in SF when he was still just a local artist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTJG6mQdwk

John Hoogasian-Another SF guy that the comics would always stop what they were doing and watch his sets

Others I like: Jasper Redd, Brent Weinbach (recently on George Lopez' show)

Oh, this guy always struck me as kinda funny ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY_mIzVKQkA

I'm sure once others start mentioning some, more will come to mind.
 
Pretty much everyone who has been named so far and some people who haven't been named yet:

Louis CK
Jim Jefferies
Tommy Tiernan
Robert Schimmel
Sinbad
 
[quote name='Danimal']My 3 all time favorites are all no longer with us :cry:

1. Bill Hicks
2. Sam Kinison
3. Richard Jeni[/QUOTE]

Same here. I'm going old school with this list.

1. George Carlin
2. Richard Pryor
3. Redd Foxx

I actually saw George Carlin live once or twice and albeit he did recycle quite a few jokes from his comedy albums, but they were STILL funny the 10th time I'd heard them.:D
 
[quote name='doraemonkerpal']Russell Peters had me laughing non stop the first (and only time) I watched him :D[/QUOTE]

Wife and I are seeing him 2 weeks from tomorrow.

Besides the ones that have been mentioned, I like Gaffigan and Demetri Martin.

Also, OP, which video is you?
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']Wife and I are seeing him 2 weeks from tomorrow.

Besides the ones that have been mentioned, I like Gaffigan and Demetri Martin.

Also, OP, which video is you?[/QUOTE]

It depends, which one was funniest? Heh, nah, the second one is me, with my son. At that point I had been doing standup for about 9 months. Moved out of the area, and there aren't really any good stand up venues where I am now, so I've basically stopped doing it, but during the last few months of doing it, I was getting paid to perform (barely gas money, but technically a professional ;), and was getting booked every couple weeks. For anyone who is even mildly interested in it, DO IT!
 
Mitch Hedburg is someone I haven't seen listed yet. Wife said to add Mike Birbiglia but someone^ just snuck that one in.
 
Chris Rock
Eddie Izzard
Louis C.K.
Dana Gould
Patton Oswalt
Bill Hicks
George Carlin
Mitch Hedberg
Mike Birbiglia
Mitch Fatel
 
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George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Bill Hicks

Doug Stanhope is currently one of the more promising comedians still actively working. His material carries on the legacy of Bill Hick's antiestablishment screeds in that they're poignant, funny, and not a straight up ripoff of Hick's material. In short, he is the anti-Denis Leary.
 
Based on the ones not listed:
Robin Williams (can't believe no one said him granted, most people think of his movies)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIWB-Neyj-c&feature=related

Jim Breuer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_WPcSGHgs&feature=related

Pablo Francisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53E-u0U5rI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thUW1cgHCZ8&feature=fvwrel


Michael Winslow (from the Police Academy movies does amazing impressions)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0PuIsK2ySk

Damon Wayons
The Kings of Comedy (Harvey, Hughley, Cedric, and Bernie Mack (RIP)
Redd Foxx (RIP)
Bob Hope (RIP)
 
Bill Burr
Pablo Francisco
Christopher Titus
Jim Gaffigan
Don "D.C." Curry

To the person above talking about Dane Cook: It was never 'hip' to hate him. It was 'hip' to like him. Hippy. ;)
 
Always liked Dave Chappelle, Bill Hicks, Louis CK, George Carlin. Bill Hicks is the only comedian that has gotten money from me though. Bought his Rant in E Minor album.
 
Hey OP, how did you get your start? Did you just go to some local joint and do it for free? Oddly enough, I was just thinking about trying something like this because I'm hilarious.

Did you ever have any sets that went bad? Did you ever have any hecklers? I just don't think I could take that kind of rejection... :)
 
George Carlin is my favorite, I got to see him live not too long before he died.

Aziz Ansari is a more recent one that really cracks me up.
 
In no particular order:

Jerry Seinfeld (Many people are familiar with the sitcom but not with his stand up. The "I'm telling you for the last time" special is absolute genius)
Bill Maher
Chris Rock
Dave Chapelle
Louis C.K.
Katt Williams
George Carlin
Carlos Mencia
Joe Rogan (Yes, the UFC commentator is an incredible stand up comedian)
Kurt Metzger
Bret Ernst

Fun fact. Joe Rogan (which I'm a huge fan of) was banned from a comedy club for an incident with Carlos Mencia (who I'm also a huge fan of) where Rogan accused Mencia in public of stealing other comedian's jokes. The clip is somewhere on youtube.
 
How has this thread gone this far without mentioning Ricky Gervais? His latest stand up has been less satisfying than his previous works but good non-the-less.
Also have to reiterate/nominate:
Louis CK
Mike Birbiglia
Zach Galifianakis
Jim Gaffigan
Jon Lajoie
Flight of the Conchords (don't know if they qualify as stand up but are hilarious)
 
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George Carlin
Ricky Gervais
Oswalt Patton
Zach Galifianakis
Louis C.K.

Surprised there haven't been any female comedians mentioned, so I have to throw out some love for them:

Rita Rudner
Ellen Degeneres
Joan Rivers
Kathleen Madigan
Maria Bamford
 
[quote name='Cantatus']Surprised there haven't been any female comedians mentioned[/QUOTE]


For some reason, I hardly ever see a woman comedian that is even partially funny.

Maybe Comedy Central is terrible at picking them, but nine times out of ten, I will watch a full routine and barely snicker once or twice.

My girlfriend usually gets irritated when we watch the women comedians because she thinks they're an embarrassment to the gender for not being funny enough. :lol:
 
George Carlin
Steven Wright
Patton Oswalt
Sarah Silvermann
Dave Mordal
Mitch Hedberg
Jay London
for whatever reason I can't remember the tall british bald guy who played the double bass on Last Comic Standing
Emo Philips
 
[quote name='Lieutenant Dan']Hey OP, how did you get your start? Did you just go to some local joint and do it for free? Oddly enough, I was just thinking about trying something like this because I'm hilarious.

Did you ever have any sets that went bad? Did you ever have any hecklers? I just don't think I could take that kind of rejection... :)[/QUOTE]

Really the biggest thing is write, write, write. You think of something funny, jot down a note. Come back to it, try to expand on it, and constantly revise. One of the mysteries of comedy for me was when I thought I wrote something hilarious, performed it, it bombed, then a joke I included as a throw-in gets a really good reception. Heh, go figure.

But yes, the only way to do stand-up is to hunt down those crappy bars, coffee shops, etc, and ask for 5 minutes of stage time (If you're doing longer than 5 minutes in your first couple months of stand-up, you're punishing the audience for about 80% of it). You will bomb. But if you have enough glimmers of hope to want to get out and do it again, try a different venue and go for it.

Also, really important if you keep doing it, buy a little audio recorder and record audio of all your shows. When you're on stage, you are sometimes so focused, you didn't really catch one line that may have gotten good laughs cause you were too involved in getting to the next line.

And I guess lastly, realize that the greats we all see on TV, get canned laughter added in at many of their TV specials, and also get courtesy laughs even when something isn't funny because they are already well known. Us new guys? The audience is just fine with staring at you like you just fisted their grandmother, if they don't think the joke was funny enough.

Hecklers happen. They're not as common as people make it out to be though. It's usually drunk assholes that are the problem, and you only get those at designated comedy clubs and bars. The coffee shop people are too snooty to make comments.

All in all...GO FOR IT! It's so much fun, it's something that not too many people can say they've done, and if possible, start off only doing clean material. It's much harder, but if you get a good, clean set, you can do it anywhere. TV, family events, you name it. If the punchline to half your jokes is an F-bomb, then you're stuck when a PG-13 gig comes around.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I'm DEFINITELY not a pro, barely an amateur, but I've got a few shows behind me.
 
Jerry Seinfeld
Dave Chapelle
Ralphie May
Sarah Silverman
Dane Cook
Robin Williams
Jim Gaffigan
Eddie Murphy
Sinbad
Chris Rock
Martin Lawrence
Chris Titus
etc.
 
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