It's great to see the Mort Sahl love. Extremely influential. I happen to be enamored with both his and Lenny Bruce's later forays into political material. They're not standard comic fare, but with Bruce some of my fave LPs are The Law, Language and Lenny Bruce and The Berkeley Concert, despite the poor reputation of that era of his work. Not exactly wham-bam funny, but fascinating stuff for the interested listener. This era also coincides with my fave Dick Gregory LPs like Frankenstein, Light Side/Dark Side and Caught in the Act, which also venture into deep politics. more monologue than straight jokes. It's a shame about Gregory's descent into chemtrail conspiricism, but it could be worse, he could have been Cosby. I kept all of my Cosby LPs as well, but I get too pissed to listen to them anymore. I also love the early LPs of Bob Newhart and Woody Allen.
Richard Pryor is my absolute favorite comedian, but I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said. Carlin is great, but I prefer his crustier later period to his 70s era, starting around What Am I Doing In Jersey? through to the end. The only poor release was Complaints and Grievances, which we now know was botched due to his having to excise the central bit, "I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die" after 9/11, but that's since been released as well. My favorite comedians of the 70s are the more meta ones: Andy Kaufman, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, Robin Williams.
Has Sam Kinison not been mentioned yet? Unfortunately a lot of comedians are badly dated due to their abhorent attitudes toward homosexuals, but Kinison was a force of nature. Bill Hicks is justifiably legend, and probably the most bootlegged comedian I can think of. Among my 80s faves would be Garry Shandling and Richard Lewis, Louie Anderson and Kevin Meaney. Dennis Miller was excellent before his mid-life crisis. It's worth revisiting prime work by Roseanne Barr and Whoopi Goldberg (respectively I Enjoy Being a Girl and The Spook Show) to remind people how funny they used to be.
Bernie Mac has to be the greatest comedian of the 90s, and I'm not sure how it's even close, unless, again, the "sissy" thing. Dave Chappelle is easily the most electric and compelling comedian working today. Chris Rock has cooled from his early 00s peak. Some more recent favorites would be Paul F Tompkins, Maria Bamford, Dana Gould, Doug Stanhope, Jen Kirkman, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, John Mulaney.
I suppose most recently I was impressed by Sam Morril. Really solid set.
Richard Pryor is my absolute favorite comedian, but I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said. Carlin is great, but I prefer his crustier later period to his 70s era, starting around What Am I Doing In Jersey? through to the end. The only poor release was Complaints and Grievances, which we now know was botched due to his having to excise the central bit, "I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die" after 9/11, but that's since been released as well. My favorite comedians of the 70s are the more meta ones: Andy Kaufman, Albert Brooks, Steve Martin, Robin Williams.
Has Sam Kinison not been mentioned yet? Unfortunately a lot of comedians are badly dated due to their abhorent attitudes toward homosexuals, but Kinison was a force of nature. Bill Hicks is justifiably legend, and probably the most bootlegged comedian I can think of. Among my 80s faves would be Garry Shandling and Richard Lewis, Louie Anderson and Kevin Meaney. Dennis Miller was excellent before his mid-life crisis. It's worth revisiting prime work by Roseanne Barr and Whoopi Goldberg (respectively I Enjoy Being a Girl and The Spook Show) to remind people how funny they used to be.
Bernie Mac has to be the greatest comedian of the 90s, and I'm not sure how it's even close, unless, again, the "sissy" thing. Dave Chappelle is easily the most electric and compelling comedian working today. Chris Rock has cooled from his early 00s peak. Some more recent favorites would be Paul F Tompkins, Maria Bamford, Dana Gould, Doug Stanhope, Jen Kirkman, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, John Mulaney.
I suppose most recently I was impressed by Sam Morril. Really solid set.