Top 5 Comedians
 

I was just looking to see what Mel Brooks films are in the library as I've only seen the recent version of The Producers and I thought I should see some more of his work.

This came about because I found out that Larry David is supposidly gonig to star in the next Woody Allen film. Confirming this IMDB fact on wikipedia (through a cited reference) I noticed that Mel Brooks is cited as an influence of Larry David. This was not a surprise as Mel Brooks appears frequently in series 4 of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

It got me thinking, who are my five favourite comedians of all time? Here is my list (in no particular order):

1) Woody Allen
2) Larry David
3) Bill Hicks
4) Simon Pegg
5) French and Saunders*

*to make the list slighlt less male-orientated, could easily have been Victoria Wood

Now, I'm sure I've probably missed a few people who would make the list but this is all I can think of at the moment. I would like to give special mention to Bill Bailey, Jack Dee, Dylan Moran, Chris Barrie, Groucho Marx, Gene Wilder, and the main cast of Ghostbusters (who tend not to do comedy anymore (Bill Murray) or tend to not appear in movies any more (Dan Ackroyd, Harold Ramis)).

Edit: further mentions go to Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr, Dave Gorman (duh!), Steve Coogan

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

1. Bill Hicks
2. Robin Williams
3. Billy Connolly
4. Chris Rock
5. Jimmy Carr

That's my current favourites, subject to change based on my mood.

Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis are currently writing a script for a Ghostbusters pc game. It's set to feature voice-over performances from all the original cast with the exception of Sigourney Weaver.

Dan Ackroyd's best role in my opinion was in the Blues Brothers. I still have the OST on cassette and CD lol, I love it. When I found out it wasn't just a film and that they'd had a slot on the Saturday Night Live(?) show, I was quite pleased.

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not in any particular order:

Billy Connolly
Frankie Boyle
Jimmy Carr
Jack Dee
Bill Bailey

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I'm pretty funny

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I don't get it....

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Everything about him is a joke.

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I am aware of this and I'm interested but seeing as I've not played a PC game since C&C: Red Alert 2 I doubt I'll be buying it.

I'ts always nerve-wrecking when people bring things back after nearly 20 years.*

*no, Extreme Ghostbusters doesn't count

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

Bill Hicks
Jimmy Carr
Craig Ferguson
Steven Wright
George Carlin

Honorable mentions to Lewis Black, David Cross, Dimitri Martin, Dave Gorman and Ron White.

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I never laugh.

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I agree with this list with the exception of Jimmy Carr whom i would swap with Denis Leary or Doug Stanhope, probably Leary.

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Bill Hicks is amusing but should be nowhere near any top 5 comedian list.

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I've also just noticed french and Saunders and Victoria Wood in the O.P.

It should be noted that their inclusion is the only thing funny about them!

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I've only seen stuff by roughly half the people in this thread. On the plus side, it has inspired me to watch Bill Hicks - who is excellent.

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Royston Vasey
Jimmy Carr
Al Murray
The Late Bernard John Manning
and that weird ex forum member Bbud2

I suppose the last wasn't a comedian but made me laugh so it counts.

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Trying not to mention someone All Systems Go has already, even though I agree (except Woody Allen - not funny).

Eddie Izzard
Emo Philips
Jeff Green
Alan Davis
Lucy Porter

With a special mention to Lee and Herring.

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anyone thinking about not following T&F's link for whatever reason: you are fools. I was about to post PRECISELY the same link, making you fools twice over.

Stephen K Amos
Colin Ince
Mark Thomas
Mark Steel
Marcus Brigstocke (or any vehicle thereof)



Stew Lee and Dylan Moran are both stupidly great standups but have been covered. Frankie Boyle's already been mentioned, Bill Bailey's standup is shit compared to his TV work, and everyone loves Dara O'Briain anyway. Continuing a theme, Russell Howard's standup is worth catching once, but not twice (I don't like Mock the Week, but the regulars are all excellent standups left to their own devices) Anyone with freeview should watch whose line is it anyway a lot because the hit rate for great improv/slapstick comedy was huge throughout. Even though it means prostrating yourself to rebranding exercises and watching UK Gold DAVE! WE'RE CALLED DAVE FOCUS GROUPS SAY ITS A GOOD NAME DAVE THE CHANNEL

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I don't know the names of many comedians but I think I'll check out some of the people mentioned in this thread.

Some of my personal favourites:
- Pablo Francisco
- Gabriël Iglesias
- Chris Rock
- Dave Chapelle
- Eddy Murphy

If anybody here understands dutch there are 2 that I'd recommend (but most people that speak dutch probably allready know these):
- Hans Teeuwen
- Theo Maasen

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Neither was Bernard Manning, it didn't stop you there did it?

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It's all rather up in the air to be perfectly honest. I've not seen Larry David do stand up but I think Curb Your Enthusiasm is so funny that he couldn't not be on the list.

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Last time i checked Bernard Manning was a comedian? Simon Pegg was a failed stand up comedian turned actor. But that didn't stop you did it?

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Bernard Manning is one of the most famous brittish stand-ups of all time. Love him or hate him, but he was primarily a stand-up comedian and he did his gigs for some 40 years before passing away.

Ps. What the hell? Nobody else is mentioning George Carlin? Seriously, he's a legend, and still going as strong as ever. Also is it just that people don't know who Steven Wright is, or do you find him hard to get into? For me, he's one of the most ingenious comedians around, a master at wordplay and mixing concepts. His dry delivery is impeccable aswell.

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Stalin is one of the most renowned dictators of all time :rolleyes:



What ASG was trying to say is that although Manning's brand of humour was acceptable when he first started out in working mens' clubs in the 50s/60s, society has changed. Society now generally abhors his racist performances, which only now appeal to a certain type of person.

I refuse to condemn any stand-ups for doing it in that era. It was the way of the times. But society changed and Manning didn't - he was the only one that kept going with the same performance for the next 40 years despite the country in which he lived changing completely.


To still go for the racist humour, even in this decade, means that I have no sympathies whatsoever. Screw Manning.

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Kill all dissidents? Seems to me your more like Manning than you realize.

Dismissing anyone because their views don't coincide with yours is a defence of the insecure. And who is to say who's right? I'm sure we're all certain our views are correct, otherwise we wouldn't hold to them. You might think it's absurd to argue that racism might be correct, but many people might think it just as absurd to argue that global warming isn't as clear-cut as it is being presented as, or that feminism has gone too far. At some point in time, many things have seemed absurd. Lots of people have been sure of the correctness of their thought. Lots of people have been wrong. Perhaps some humility would do us all some good?

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Is this Sun_Tzu, calling for people to be more humble? Brb, dying of laughter.

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I've seen many comedy festivals, but gone blank when faced with such a simple question. From the top of my head:

Steven Wright
Greg Propps
Dane Cook
Mitch Hedberg
Jeff Green

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Oh shaddap ;P Humility doesn't preclude forceful debating ;P

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I didn't see 'kill' anywhere in his post. This is hardly the best defence of a comic I have ever seen. As a rule, those who advocate mass murder aren't funny.*

Oh ok, you've won me over. Let's hate the Germans, lynch homosexuals,** and beat our women.

Fantastic!

I used to believe this. But the older I get the more I feel that people justify their beliefs even when they know they are incorrect.

Maybe you should look for some humanity first.

*jokes about mass muder are hilarious however
**MM, do you find yourself attracted to Bernard Manning?

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

Original kings of comedy, with Bill Hicks in particular, are pretty darn funny.

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'Corpses can't say no.'

My top five would be: (probably)

- Billy Connolly
- Peter Kay
- Mark Thomas
- Roy Chubby Brown
- Jo Brand (Pre-marriage)

Frankie Boyle and Dara O'Briain also get honourable mentions.

Also, how much confidence can you have in a person who can't even spell 'British'?

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Pater Kay's whole act is 'look at me I'm chubby yet happy and my whole act is for people who want to relive the 1980s'.

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what?

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Nonsense. His social observation is second to none. If you didn't have a northern working class upbringing then you probably won't be able to relate to his act, but that would seem to me to be a pretty weak basis on which to dismiss him entirely. There are plenty of southern/ethnic commedians who I don't really 'get', but I can respect their stuff.

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I'm pretty sure that none of the comedians I listed are from Wales, yet I 'get' their comedy. The problem with Peter Kay is that he's just not that funny. Period.

His social observation is trite. 'Don't people dance at funny at weddings?' It's hardly at the cutting edge of comedy.

His jokes come from the 1980s. I can relate to what he says but it's just not funny. I've watched his stand-up DVD, Pheonix Nights and Max and Paddy. The guy is just not that funny.

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We shall have to disagree to agree.

Also, I never knew you were from Wales.

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Pre-marriage phase or not you deserve to die an incredibly painful death for even suggesting that waste of space.

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Okay you started a thread stating in your own opinion top 5 comedians, i guess me and a few others must not have stated our opinions on our top 5 comedians correctly as you keep seeming to say that they are not funny or not a comedian? Thanks for the advice but i am sure we all feel our opinions are correct, oh and just a note i also noticed Pablo Francisco and Chris Rock mentioned. You might want to add that they are bigoted racists too?

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Peter Kay isn't funny.

Bernard Manning is a racist/bigot/homophobe/sexist/**** etc

Just because you like him doesn't mean everyone else is so bigoted.


'You and a few others' = you + MM.

The difference however, is that whilst MM likes an overhyped northerner you like a fat, dead racist.* There is a difference.

That doesn't mean they are, or that they should be considered to have equal merit.

Peter Kay is a bigoted racist? I must have missed the racial overtones proclaiming the white supremacy of 'garlic bread?'

I've no idea about Franciso, so lets look at Chris Rock.

Black man says truthful things to other black people. Well apart from the obvious racism there (not to mention the self-hatred that only a Jew could top) I think you've (unsurprisingly) missed the point.

Chris Rock was making social commentary.

Nigga #1: I take care of my kids.
Rock: You're supposed to you dumb ****!

He was criticisng an attitude that is prevelant amongst some black people. The equivelent would be a white person criticising chavs or something.

Bernard Manning didn't like black people. Period. He didn't like homosexuals and had no respect for women. He was in short, a ****.

That you have tried to compare the two shows either a complete lack of knowledge or insight, or an overwhelming amount of ignorance.

God damn!

*so does MM, but in a different, creepier way

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All Systems Go said almost all I needed to say. Need to spread some rep around, sadly. Sun Tzu, your response was appallingly bad and you really should be ashamed of it :(

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Hmm

Ross Noble
Bill Bailey
Ryan Stiles
Colin Mochrie
Josie Lawrence

Need to stop watching Dave and FiveUS so much

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Ernie Kovacs
Graucho Marx
Peter Sellers
Elaine May
Al Gore

not necessarily in that order.

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too many mentions for dave gormon. i quite liked that are you dave gorman thing he did but i recently watched that thing where he drove accross america. abysmal, not funny at all. came accross as a really boring man.

best stand ups i have seen live are stewart lee (brilliant a couple of years ago, saw him last year though and he wasnt nearly as good) richard herring (seen his 'someone likes yoghurt' tour) and dylan moran.

btw - not getting all the ricky gervais loving. having seen one of his standup dvds - which was utterly shit - i have come to the conculsion that stephen merchant is the real talent.

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I think the problem with Stephen Merchant is that he can't really hold it on his own. He needs someone to play off, his humour is self-depricating rather than observational, so I don't think he could do stand-up.

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well i dont think he can be any worse than ricky gervais. what he did wasnt even standup, all he did was
1) makes jokes about a cripple (ironically of course!)
2) retell some bullshit 'anecdotes' about mates being caught having a wank or people shitting themselves on trains that i heard in the school playground 15 years ago
3) rip off lee and herring from when they did the fable sketch on fist of fun in the mid 90s

just baffles me how people thing he's good at standup comedy (admitedly his other shows might have been better, i havent bothered watching them)

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

Funnily enough, I saw his stand up first and didn't like it. Then I saw the Office and it was great. I think you appreciate the stand-up better once you've seen his other work.

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Top 5 in no particular order (based on the fact these make me laugh the most)

Graham Chapman
Billy Connolly
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Lee Evans

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George Carlin
Bernie Mac
Dane Cook
Lewis Black
Daniel Tosh

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Bill Hicks
Frankie Boyle
Chris Rock
Russell Howard
Stewart Lee

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

May I recomend Dave Gormans Important Astrological Experiment? A 6-part series for brittish television in which Dave undertakes to follow the guidance of the stars for a month. Comedy gold tbfh.

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

1. Peter Kay
2. Ricky Gervais
3. Jack Dee
4. Frankie Boyle
5. Paul Merton (can't believe no one has mentioned him yet!)

Re: Top 5 Comedians
 

That wasn't supposed to be funny, it was a documentary exploring the way chains are destroying society as we knew it. It was imho a very interesting documentary that used the setting and the concept well to really highlight how much individuality these chains are removing from society by making every town and city look and feel the same by driving the independent retailers out.

If you want to Dave Gorman at his best check out the following

Visual Media
Dave Gormans Astrological Experiment
Dave Gormans Googlewhack Adventure

Books *Evehttp://pirate.planetarion.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=3140033n if you have seen the live shows or the tv shows the books are a must*
Are You Dave Gorman
Dave Gormans Googlewhack Adventure

Radio
Genius