Who are the funniest living comedians?

berzirk

berzirk

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Maybe a list of 5 or so.

Mine in no particular order are:

Steve Martin
Jonathan Winters
Chris Rock
Norm MacDonald
Bill Cosby

I'm sure others will list more that will make me debate my list, but here's a start.

Honorable mention:

Zach Galifianakis
Steven Wright
Robin Williams
Dave Chapelle
Gilbert Gottfried
 
As a writer and avid listener (aka, Ive listened to a good 150-200 albums in the last 3 years), there are five "modern" comedians that still get me no matter what they say.
-Patton Oswalt
-Jim Gaffigan
-Lewis Black
-Brian Regan
-Gabriel Iglasias
 
[quote name='Filler2001']As a writer and avid listener (aka, Ive listened to a good 150-200 albums in the last 3 years), there are five "modern" comedians that still get me no matter what they say.
-Patton Oswalt
-Jim Gaffigan
-Lewis Black
-Brian Regan
-Gabriel Iglasias[/QUOTE]

You write comedy? I did standup for a couple years in the Bay Area then unfortunately moved to a crappy comedy destination and sort of fizzled out.

Gaffigan and Black are good adds. I've never really gotton onboard with Oswalt though. A little too self-righteous for me. Also, never got Iglesias. Seemed like a fat Dat Phan.

And thank you to those who have replied. Saving my sanity is the fact that I haven't seen Dane Cook mentioned once. God bless you guys.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@berzirk

^Or Jeff Dunham

As living comedians go, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, and Gilbert Gottfried are still amazing, but not modern in the traditional sense.

The greatest all time comedian is Richard Pryor, no question.
 
[quote name='Filler2001']@berzirk

^Or Jeff Dunham

As living comedians go, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, and Gilbert Gottfried are still amazing, but not modern in the traditional sense.

The greatest all time comedian is Richard Pryor, no question.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I wasn't sure Dunham had a big enough name to be included in the list of the worst (Dane Cook, Dunham, Mencia, anything after 10pm on BET)

I've tried to get into Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and Andy Kaufman, but just can't for some reason. To me, Cosby is the best because he could be hilarious without ever swearing. It's so much harder to get laughs without profanity (he said "asshole" once). Pryor's stuff was good, and heartfelt usually...just not AS good as Cosby to me.

Eddie Murphy definitely had a lot of success with his Raw and Delerious stuff, but for me, it hasn't really withstood the test of time. I watched it the other day and outside of a few of the impressions, I didn't really enjoy it.
 
I could very easily catch flak for this, but I love Joe Rogan's stuff. I feel like he deserves a lot more credit than he gets. Forever doomed to be "The Fear Factor Guy"/"UFC Dude".

Also on my list would be Chapelle, Louis Black, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Gaffigan, just to name a few off the top of my head.

EDIT: Oh, Mike Birbiglia had me in hysterics the other night, and then he tried to sing. If he'd can the awkward "oh god where do i look" inducing songs he'd be up in my recent top 5 anyway.
 
[quote name='Filler2001']
^Or Jeff Dunham[/QUOTE]

Ventriloquists suck. They're just a sliver above prop comics.

EDIT: Oh, never mind. I thought you meant he was a good comic.
 
Man, you guys have gotta check out some Jonathan Winters clips. Probably the greatest improv comic who's ever lived. One of the best character comics too.
 
[quote name='theonlinelegend']
  • Dave Chappelle
  • Kat Williams
  • Wanda Sykes
[/QUOTE]

A little piece of me just died inside. Katt or Wanda would make my worst list personally. Dave is great though.
 
Lots of good names have already been mentioned. My current favorite comedian is probably Dan Mintz. I also really enjoy Neil Hamburger for some reason, but he's definitely not for everybody.
 
[quote name='HotShotX']George Carlin

/thread
I don't care that he's dead!

~HotShotX[/QUOTE]


You dick that was my answer.....but agreed. Greatest comedian ever.
 
[quote name='strayfoxx']At first I was infuriated that no one mentioned Mitch Hedberg, but then remembered......[/QUOTE]
That was my first thought. Then I got very sad...

Anyway, two people that none of you jerks are gonna mention: Ron James and Sean Cullen.

And if we're not limiting ourselves to stand-up comedians, then I'll score a nationalism hat-trick with Rick Mercer.
 
A couple of my favorites that haven't been mentioned yet are Daniel Tosh (Tosh.0 isn't hilarious, but his standup is) and Tom Papa.
 
[quote name='Filler2001']As a writer and avid listener (aka, Ive listened to a good 150-200 albums in the last 3 years), there are five "modern" comedians that still get me no matter what they say.
-Patton Oswalt
-Jim Gaffigan
-Lewis Black
-Brian Regan
-Gabriel Iglasias[/QUOTE]

This is my list, replace Regan and Oswalt with Robin Williams and Demetri Martin.
 
Louis C.K. (probably the funniest man on earth at the moment)
David Cross
Zach Galifianakis
Dave Chappelle
Patton Oswalt
Chris Rock (older stuff)

I'm not going to name all of the comedians I think are the best but these are the few that stand out to me. Also I can't believe some of the people that are listed here, you people should be embarrassed to admit those sort of things.
 
It's a tough thing to do, given that there are many people 'still alive', but who I don't really consider comedians anymore. To me, guys like Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy were great, but are so far removed from stand-up that I can't really count them. Regardless, I'm not going there anyway, and staying more with guys that still perform.

My 5:

Louis CK
Eddie Izzard
Jim Gaffigan
Steven Wright
Bill Burr


Not necessarily in that order, but close enough.
 
Dane Cook (Retaliation was great I dont care what anyone says lol)
Demetri Martin
Daniel Tosh
Dave Chappelle
(Tommy Tiernan and Ricky Gervais comedy specials both killed me)

I hate Jeff Dunham so much. And alot of my friends are like hes so funny dude whats wrong with you. I dont get it but thats why we all have preference.

EDIT: BILL BURR is utterly hilarious as well, was lookin at specials on my ipod and saw him and it jolted my memory, his stuff is really great.
 
Dave Chappelle's Killing Them Softly is my favorite standup.

Zach Galifianakis is up there for me. His routines with the piano are so great.

Recently saw Craig Shoemaker and he was hilarious.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']Billy Connolly[/QUOTE]
I'm surprised anyone mentioned him, guy is hilarious but fairly unknown in the states.

I think Lewis Black is probably my favorite living comedian.
 
[quote name='bmachine']Marc Maron
Jim Gaffigan
John Stewart
Patton Oswalt
Eddie Izzard
Lisa Lampanelli[/QUOTE]


Lisa Lampanelli?


Are you f'ing kidding me? She is funny for the first 2 minutes and then you realize that every joke is the same. Does she even tell a joke that doesn't involve her with a Black Man??


I am suprised nobody has metioned Artie Lange.

Just kidding.
 
Brian Posehn
Patton Oswalt (I didn't like him that much originally, but the new material he works on gets better and better)
Jim Gaffigan

I Would say Dave Attell, but man after Dane Cook made it big his stand up just feels like it's trying to follow in Cook's foot steps.

Demitri Martin I like, but watching his show on Comedy Central made me dislike him (at least when he's not doing stand up). It just wasn't funny.
 
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