Old Bill Cosby audio still does it for me. I recommend listening to the classic "To Russel, My Brother, Whom I Slept With." It very accurately captures precisely what it is to be a young boy with a younger brother sharing a bed late at night.
I'll need to listen to that one. My personal favorite bit of his was "Chocolate Cake For Breakfast."
I recommend listening to the classic "To Russel, My Brother, Whom I Slept With." It very accurately captures precisely what it is to be a young boy with a younger brother sharing a bed late at night.
Why did no one say Eddie Izzard yet? He swears while talking in an erudite manner about Latin Grammar and history, while wearing sparkle make-up. I love his routines so much.
Second. A lot of his programs are on megaupload, streaming. Funny stuff.
I listened to Aziz Ansari's first stand-up CD recently. It's a lot of fun.
I listened to Aziz Ansari's first stand-up CD recently. It's a lot of fun.
Aziz Ansari's RAAAAAAAANDY stuff is brilliant.
All his stuff is pretty awesome, and I think a lot of it has to do with the enrgy he brings to the stage. He looks like he's having a good time when he does stand-up, and his jokes reflect that.
I saw Russell Brand's Comedy Central special and laughed my ass off. Same for Aziz's. I like a couple of the puppets Jeff Dunham uses, mostly the old guy puppet. I did see one special where he had some great improv when a guy got up to use the restroom. I saw Steven Wright last year, and he was great. Charlie Murphy has some hilarious stand up, I saw him in 09. What I've heard of Dave Attell is great.
I did see one special where he had some great improv when a guy got up to use the restroom.
A lot of times, this is a prepared bit (i.e., not improv) they use in the very likely event someone gets up to use the bathroom during a show. Even Blue Man Group does something like this.
A lot of times, this is a prepared bit (i.e., not improv) they use in the very likely event someone gets up to use the bathroom during a show. Even Blue Man Group does something like this.
Most of that was the puppet talking to the guy's wife. There was another coincidental thing in the special. And the people who do things like that are stealing from andy kaufman.
I haven't heard his stand up but have been told it's great, Steve Martin.
A lot of times, this is a prepared bit (i.e., not improv) they use in the very likely event someone gets up to use the bathroom during a show. Even Blue Man Group does something like this.
Most of that was the puppet talking to the guy's wife. There was another coincidental thing in the special.
As a professional comedian (though I pass myself off as a juggler) I can tell you that nothing you see on a "special" will be improvised during the recording.
I perform way less than most stand up comedians, but unlike them, coming up with new material as a juggler takes way more time and effort. But let's say I've performed a certain 10 minute section of my show 500 times in the last 7 years since turning professional. That is probably a low estimate, but let's go with it. Jeff Dunham and other comedians perform their material a comparable number of times. After 500 performances it is almost impossible for the audience to do anything you haven't seen or heard before. They just aren't that clever. Or, to put it another way, the average audience is pretty average.
After my show, one of the most common questions is "Was that lady you brought up on stage a plant?" Nobody can believe that I have something ready for every single thing a volunteer may do, because when you get down to it, if I give instructions to someone, they'll either do what I ask, but if they don't, there's probably not even 500 things they could do otherwise.
The other day someone DID do something different, something I've never seen before. But you know what? I just carried on like normal, and it made the show even better. She was obviously a very funny lady, so was doing something funny, but it just so happened that she picked the very same funny idea that I always do 5 minutes later in the same routine, with the same props. So when I got to that part of the show, by saying "You did this earlier, right?" made it LOOK like there was no way I could have written that part in advance, and performed it 500 times before.
This is what I love about performing. New things happening give you new material. Every show I'll come up with a new improvised joke, or a new way to say an old joke. But my "great improv" in the way you stated it above is some of the more structured parts of my show.
My job as a juggler is to make the hard things look easy, and the easy things look hard. The same goes for a comedian.
Probably old by now, but Pablo Francisco's movie guy routine was one of the funniest things I ever saw on first experience:
There's also a german comedian named Michael Mittermeier who had me rolling in the isle. Another german comedian called Otta Waalkes was also hilarious, but petered off in the last decade. Unfortunately the language barrier prohibits you guys from enjoying it in the same manner
Other than that, George Carlin, Robin Williams and a few other known entities.
I wish my office didn't block YouTube so I could actually watch some of these videos.
Jeff Foxworthy is a hack who relies on one conjugated gimmick to bring in the money.
Foxworthy actually used to be quite good before he let "...you might be a redneck" take over his act. I saw some of his stuff on Sunday Comics (a comedy show our local Fox affiliate used to run on Sundays after the Fox Block was over) back in the early 90's, there wasn't a drop of YMBAR in it, and it was pretty good. Unfortunately, within a couple years he saw what was going to make him money and ran with it (and it alone). Same thing with Larry the Cable Guy. I saw him live at the Funny Bone in Columbus, OH before his career skyrocketed and he was funny without the whole "Git R Dun" shtick. Once again the lowest common denominator took over and he degenerated into a catchphrase-spewing waste of stage space.
I know a that a lot of comics(myself included) will refuse to work a night with Dustin Diamond, because he's notorious for swiping bits.
I've never seen Screech's act but I've heard it's pretty much a dead rip-off of other comedians he's worked with.
Other people I genuinely find unfunny: - Dane Cook (How does going on the stage and making incoherent howling noises for ten minutes straight pass as comedy?) - Denis Leary (I didn't realize how much of a hack he was until someone introduced me to the work of Bill Hicks) - Pretty much any late-night talk show host, save Craig Ferguson
Tops on my list: - Bill Cosby (I grew up listening to my dad's Cosby album collection once dad showed me how to use the record player) - George Carlin - Eddie Murphy (who, granted, owes a tip of the hat to Richard Pryor) - Eddie Izzard - Sam Kinison - Robin Williams
And ones I like that may not be everyone's cup of tea: - Henry Cho - Gabriel Iglesias - Billy Gardell - Robert Schimmel
Man, I can't believe I forgot about Patton Oswalt. He's currently one of my favorite stand-ups as well, just because he has such great delivery and stories with his tangents and comparisons. He's geeky, he's insightful, and he can burn people like no other. His early stuff is great, but I love "Werewolves and Lollipops" to death. I need to read his new book, which I hear is full of completely new material of him growing up in a small town in Virginia.
As to other unfunny comedians? I have to say, I vehemently despise George Lopez. He's so painfully unfunny, because he points out every single joke he does. And his whole schtick is "Mexicans are the Master Race."
I've not been a huge fan of Ricky Gervais, but I just watched the opening of the Golden Globes, and that was funny shit. The jokes themselves weren't amazing, but doing those jokes in that venue was.
Comments
I listened to Aziz Ansari's first stand-up CD recently. It's a lot of fun.
Also, the Sonic Forest was awesome.
Jim Henson... where would the world be without you?
Here's some more Ricky Gervais.
I haven't heard his stand up but have been told it's great, Steve Martin.
I perform way less than most stand up comedians, but unlike them, coming up with new material as a juggler takes way more time and effort. But let's say I've performed a certain 10 minute section of my show 500 times in the last 7 years since turning professional. That is probably a low estimate, but let's go with it. Jeff Dunham and other comedians perform their material a comparable number of times. After 500 performances it is almost impossible for the audience to do anything you haven't seen or heard before. They just aren't that clever. Or, to put it another way, the average audience is pretty average.
After my show, one of the most common questions is "Was that lady you brought up on stage a plant?" Nobody can believe that I have something ready for every single thing a volunteer may do, because when you get down to it, if I give instructions to someone, they'll either do what I ask, but if they don't, there's probably not even 500 things they could do otherwise.
The other day someone DID do something different, something I've never seen before. But you know what? I just carried on like normal, and it made the show even better. She was obviously a very funny lady, so was doing something funny, but it just so happened that she picked the very same funny idea that I always do 5 minutes later in the same routine, with the same props. So when I got to that part of the show, by saying "You did this earlier, right?" made it LOOK like there was no way I could have written that part in advance, and performed it 500 times before.
This is what I love about performing. New things happening give you new material. Every show I'll come up with a new improvised joke, or a new way to say an old joke. But my "great improv" in the way you stated it above is some of the more structured parts of my show.
My job as a juggler is to make the hard things look easy, and the easy things look hard. The same goes for a comedian.
There's also a german comedian named Michael Mittermeier who had me rolling in the isle. Another german comedian called Otta Waalkes was also hilarious, but petered off in the last decade. Unfortunately the language barrier prohibits you guys from enjoying it in the same manner
Other than that, George Carlin, Robin Williams and a few other known entities.
Other people I genuinely find unfunny:
- Dane Cook (How does going on the stage and making incoherent howling noises for ten minutes straight pass as comedy?)
- Denis Leary (I didn't realize how much of a hack he was until someone introduced me to the work of Bill Hicks)
- Pretty much any late-night talk show host, save Craig Ferguson
Tops on my list:
- Bill Cosby (I grew up listening to my dad's Cosby album collection once dad showed me how to use the record player)
- George Carlin
- Eddie Murphy (who, granted, owes a tip of the hat to Richard Pryor)
- Eddie Izzard
- Sam Kinison
- Robin Williams
And ones I like that may not be everyone's cup of tea:
- Henry Cho
- Gabriel Iglesias
- Billy Gardell
- Robert Schimmel
At the bottom would be the blue collar douchebags(see location), and Dane Cook.
As to other unfunny comedians? I have to say, I vehemently despise George Lopez. He's so painfully unfunny, because he points out every single joke he does. And his whole schtick is "Mexicans are the Master Race."
Alec Baldwin, on the other hand, looked like he was loving it but didn't want the cameras to see that.