Standup Comedy Favorites?

[matt72582]

I'll list first, and then we can discuss...

Bill Hicks
George Carlin
Mort Sahl
Louis C.K.
Doug Stanhope
Dave Chappelle
Mitch Hedburg

[gbgoodies]

My two favorite stand-up comedians are:

Bill Engvall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBjelRDKHUk


George Carlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIkqNiBASfI


Honorable Mentions include:
Buddy Hackett
Robert Klein
Alan King
Rita Rudner
Robin Williams
Howie Mandel
John Pinette
Jeff Foxworthy

[jamierreed92]

When I watch stand up, most of my attention is on the writing (how well the joke is constructed and how original or clever it is) than anything else. I want a joke so well put together and original that when I hear it, I am so impressed by the quality that I don't even have time to laugh, just smile and think "Man, that was great work." I know, I'm strange, haha. I just really appreciate people that love it enough to spend time constructing a joke that's going to blow your mind, as opposed to reciting a funny racist joke that guarantees a chuckle with pretty much any crowd. I love comedians that really work for and EARN the laugh by putting in a lot of thought and creativity. Basic, cookie cutter jokes may be laugh out loud funny because it on a subject/topic that humors you, but they aren't "good" or original.

I also pay close attention to the delivery method. I never want to hear the beginning of the joke and then start thinking about the punch line before its told. After the first couple lines I should be so engrossed in the story that I'm on the edge of my seat, completely focused, waiting to see what you're going to say next. After you start the joke, If my brain even wonders for a split second about anything other than what you're saying in the moment, your delivery has failed to keep my undivided attention, which must happen in order for the joke hit as hard as possible.

There are many different successful styles of delivery, but my personal preference is like sneak attack/plot twist. Basically, I don't want to see it coming at all, but when it finally shows, I want it to be abrupt, quick and hard hitting.

When ya get down to it, there are tons of factors that have a hand in building your very own sense of humor, and there are many different methods to success in comedy. Just like with any other art form, music or film, sometimes you just like what you like because its familiar or something you've thought, said, or done before, or maybe its just purely catchy and entertaining. At the end of the day, the comedian that can tell a story I don't personally relate to and STILL smacks me down with a hard hitting punch line is the comedian I will pay money to see over and over again.


My personal preference shows up in this entire list, but the excellent writing and delivery is what keeps me a fan. They are all great, but The BOLDED comedians are the stand out writers of the group and the underlined comedians deliver flawlessly from start to finish. (in my opinion)


Seth Meyers
Dane Cook
Kevin Hart
Joan Rivers
Robin Williams
Jim Carrey
Jimmy Fallon
Chelsea Handler

[Camo]

No Particular order:

Frankie Boyle
Eddie Izzard
Sean Lock
Richard Pryor
Jimmy Carr
George Carlin
Billy Connolly

[Hit Girl]

Phil Jupitus
Jack Dee
Frankie Boyle
Sarah Millican
Sean Lock
Alan Davies
Greg Davies
Dara O'Briain

[Daniel M]

No Particular order:

Frankie Boyle
Eddie Izzard
Sean Lock
Richard Pryor
Jimmy Carr
George Carlin
Billy Connolly

Good list, recently I have been watching loads of 8 out of 10 Cats and I love Jon Richardson too.

[Camo]

Phil Jupitus
Jack Dee
Frankie Boyle
Sarah Millican
Sean Lock
Alan Davies
Greg Davies
Dara O'Briain

Great list the only two i dislike there, are Jupitus and Millican. One thing that really annoys me about Sarah is that if you watch her earlier standup and panel show appearences she talks like a normal human being, but she's now heavily exaggerated her Geordie accent to get laughs :rolleyes:, i suppose it does distract people from the fact that she's not funny.

[Camo]

Good list, recently I have been watching loads of 8 out of 10 Cats and I love Jon Richardson too.

Love 8 out of 10 Cats, Sean Lock is a masterpiece :cool::D. Forgot about Jon, no doubt he should've been on my list. I can actually relate to him quite a bit as my older Sister is very OCD.

[Hit Girl]

Good list, recently I have been watching loads of 8 out of 10 Cats and I love Jon Richardson too.

Have you seen 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? Joe Wilkinson cracks me up!

[Camo]

Have you seen 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? Joe Wilkinson cracks me up!

Great show too, that reminds me of another comedian i forgot Lee Mack. Some of Joes parts in the show have floored me :D. His Synchronised Swimming (on land) part was hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMW3aS_rTOc

[Daniel M]

Have you seen 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? Joe Wilkinson cracks me up!

Yeah I like him too for most the part, although I find he can be a bit hit and miss at times, sometimes he ventures too far into the silly/obvious for me.

[TylerDurden99]

Eddie Murphy. Nobody else comes close, however Jimmy Carr is making me laugh a lot lately.

[honeykid]

i suppose it does distract people from the fact that she's not funny.
Couldn't disagree more. She's been one of the funniest stand ups out there for the last few years.

Love 8 out of 10 Cats, Sean Lock is a masterpiece :cool::D.
He's great, but I feel he works a lot better on 8 Out Of 10 than he does doing stand up. He's always been a good stand up, but on 8 Out Of 10, he's tremendous.

Have you seen 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown? Joe Wilkinson cracks me up!
He's great. Have you seen Him & Her?

I like too many to really list them all, but the one's who've made the biggest impression (if you'll excuse the pun) on me are, in chronological order (or as I remember it): Billy Connolly, Robin Williams, Emo Phillips, Eddie Murphy, Steven Wright, Bill Hicks, Denis Leary, Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay, The Pub Landlord (Al Murray), Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle.

[Hit Girl]

Will have to check out Him & Her, thanks HK.

[The Gunslinger45]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtk5Ej-xLsM

[jiraffejustin]

Louis C.K.
Dave Chappelle
George Carlin
Patton Oswalt
Hannibal Buress (I saw him live!)
Anthony Jeselnik
Doug Benson
Tig Notaro (I've only heard Live, but it's pretty great.)
Norm MacDonald
Adam Carolla
Craig Ferguson (His show is way better than his stand up though.)
Bill Burr

I haven't listened to enough stand-up.

[Frightened Inmate No. 2]

louis ck
mitch hedburg
bill cosby
gary gulman
mike birbiglia

[christine]

Richard Pryor . He's made me laugh for more than 30 years and at the same stuff over and over again

[matt72582]

I've been getting into Bill Burr lately... His standup and his Monday Morning Podcast which is on youtube..

[Dannii]

Roy Chubby Brown, Peter Kaye, Jason Manford and Jo Brand. All extremely funny! 😁

[cat_sidhe]

Dara Ó Briain
Eddie Izzard
Billy Connoll
Frankie Boyle
Kevin Bridges
Rhod Gilbert
Jimmy Carr
Ed Byrne
Trevor Noah
Dylan Moran
Tommy Tiernan
Lee Mack

... and more. Haven't even started on this list. :lol:

There's stoner twins I flipped upon the other day, but don't know who they are. I rather liked them. Need to check up on that.

[Dannii]

Dara Ó Briain
Eddie Izzard
Billy Connoll
Frankie Boyle
Kevin Bridges
Rhod Gilbert
Jimmy Carr
Ed Byrne
Trevor Noah
Dylan Moran
Tommy Tiernan
Lee Mack

... and more. Haven't even started on this list. :lol:

There's stoner twins I flipped upon the other day, but don't know who they are. I rather liked them. Need to check up on that.
Fantastic list! 😁

[cat_sidhe]

Dannii I'm not sure I ever quite got over Jimmy Carr's laugh. It surprises me every time I hear it! :lol:

[Dani8]

Rude word wrning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw

[d_chatterley]

I like pretty much each one mentioned, but I will have to check some of the newer British ones since I am not too familiar.
I will add one more:
Sheryl Underwood - she is currently a talk show host in the US so she does not do too many standups but she used to. She was and is hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WVeGaXvkvY

[matt72582]

I forgot to mention Dick Gregory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-fF0ntEVsY

[cat_sidhe]

Oooh. New names for me except for Minchin (brilliant). Will be clicking fo watch. Thanks!

[Dani8]

Oooh. New names for me except for Minchin (brilliant). Will be clicking fo watch. Thanks!

He's a genius. I love him.

[cat_sidhe]

He's a genius. I love him.

If you can call musical standup a musical, he's the only one I can stand, and in fact, dig a lot.

[cat_sidhe]

Wait. Tenacious D I like too. That's two.

[Dani8]

If you can call musical standup a musical, he's the only one I can stand, and in fact, dig a lot.

Yeah I know I was pushing it a bit there, but he does break out stand up at his concerts.

Another I have pledged undying love and devotion to is

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article7434809.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Eddie-Izzard.jpg

Very smart man.

[cat_sidhe]

Strike that, Tenacious D isn't standup.

[matt72582]

Strike that, Tenacious D isn't standup.

sounds like a basketball player's nickname :)

[Thursday Next]

My current favourite is James Acaster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd1LydmMtDI

[matt72582]

Dov Davidoff -- he's original, and to me, that's (almost) enough... Won't make my Top 5, but pretty close as I only like a couple, even though it's one of three things I love (music, movies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY9V19tUW2s

[DK Han]

Bill Burr
George Carlin (the greatest ever, no dispute)
Steve-O
Norm Macdonald
Donald Trump if him standing at a podium and delivering his speeches are considered comedy, which to me, they are.

[MissBlenerhassitt]

31965

[Yam12]

http://myspiltmilk.com/sites/default/files/main-image/untitled-1.jpeg

[Yoda]

Not sure if this will qualify as a favorite, but on a lark I watched the first part (there are sort of "episodes") of James Acaster's Repertoire on Netflix, and it was great. Very odd, very experimental. It literally has a storyline and there are tons of clever little callbacks. Haven't seen much like it. I appreciated all the new ideas he brought to the thing, as well as the odd mix of silliness and somber topics. Great stuff, looking forward to the other "episodes" in the series, I hope they're equally as funny and inventive.

[honeykid]

James Acaster has really tuned in over the last two or three years. I know his style and delivery puts alot of people off, but I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrQn8c6O3dE

[matt72582]

In over 5 years, I can't name a comedian since who I think is funny.... If I had to pick one, it'd be Jimmy Dore, but he's mostly funny when he's angry on his show (not during his stand-up, which is ok).. I'll never understand his (or Bernie fans) fawning over Tulsi Gabbard.

[colin5288]

Eddie Izzard. He’s British and brilliant. His Showtime special “Dress to Kill” was my first introduction to him. I learned more about WWII from his comedy special than I did in 4 years of high school. He’s different and highly intelligent. Since then, I’ve seen him live many times and he’s always, always met and exceeded my hopes and expectations. I can’t say that about every comedian I’ve seen, not by a long shot. Like I say, Eddie’s different. I guess that’s the best part.

[matt72582]

I learned more about WWII from his comedy special than I did in 4 years of high school. .
Now THAT is funny!

[GulfportDoc]

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill(2020)

Very nicely done 1hour stand-up routine recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City, shown on Netflix.

Seinfeld is an old pro, very funny, and didn't use one "F" word..:) He makes us laugh at ourselves. And what could be funnier than that???

[marriedactress]

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill(2020)

Very nicely done 1hour stand-up routine recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City, shown on Netflix.

Seinfeld is an old pro, very funny, and didn't use one "F" word..:) He makes us laugh at ourselves. And what could be funnier than that???



I was pretty impressed with this one. Not only does he still have it I think it was one of, if not the, best specials he's done.

[Yoda]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that came out today. Cool. Can't wait to see it.