August 17, 2004

• Y'know my favorites don't make me laugh out loud as much. Cosby, Steve Martin, Python, old Robin Williams, Steven Wright, Mitch Hedberg - I just like listening to them. Oh the Woody Allen nightclub stuff is good too.
• Dylan Moran (both as a stand up and in Black Books). Bill Bailey (ditto). Izzard Izzard Izzard. Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, both together and in solo (Fielding especially). Peter Kay. People on the internet who tell me about Jon Stewart (not being able to experience the real thing). Chris Rock. Rich Hall. Andy Zaltzman. Dan Antopolski. Julian Fox. Noble & Silver. Simon Munnery used to, but he's a bit flappy now. Charlie Brooker's writing. And of course, Chris Morris. Vintage: Peter Cook. Spike Milligan. Woody Allen. Bill Hicks. That's all you need. Doesn't do it for me: Seinfeld. I mean, have you ever noticed how he isn't funny? What's with that?
• Laurel & Hardy make me laugh the hardest, even now. And Buster Keaton. And Monty Python. I guess not understanding Seinfeld or Woody Allen would make me antisemitic, so I don't admit to not getting their stuff.
• Every time I listen to Abbott & Costello's "Who's On First" I laugh 'til it hurts. Such incredible writing and timing. Other classic comedy that gets to me as a musician is almost anything by Peter Schickile, aka PDQ Bach. The "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony play-by-play" and "The Short-Tempered Klavier" are music-nerd humour at it's best. Another great comedian (musical and otherwise) was the great Victor Borge. His "Phonetic Punctuation" and "Inflationary Language" are true classics. Bust-a-gut funny stuff. Also a Python fan when I am in the mood and some of those old Bill Cosby routines ("Noah and the Ark" comes to mind) can still make me laugh after all these years. Old Woody Allen albums from his stand-up days are great if you can find them. I find that not very much contemporary comedy makes me laugh as much as that old stuff, though I love Steven Wright ("I bought some powdered water but I don't know what to add..."). Robin Williams at his best is a force of nature and Richard Pryor in his prime was hard to beat. But for me topical comedy doesn't do it as much as the classics.
• Chris Morris, Bill Bailey and Robbie Williams (only when he's doing stand-up) split my sack. Peter Kaye, though, is probably actually less funny than the average person you meet on the street. I have no idea why he's a successful standup comedian (here in the UK, at least).
• What doesn't make me laugh is any comedy routine aired on National Public Radio--from Harry Shearer (sp?) to the Montana Logging and Ballet Company to (especially!) the Capitol Steps, they are all cringe-worthy. Too much liberal earnestness spoils the comedic stew. Whoopi Goldberg is painful as well, and Garrison Keillor has been drifting into that territory.
• Izzard, definitely. Ditto Mitch Hedberg. Dane Cook's great, if you're in the mood for over-the-top. I loved Carlin, before he became a preacher, and I miss Richard Pryor on stage sooooooooo much. Monty Python is fabulous. And though his movies get worse and worse, Steve Martin's hilarious in print. Letterman's amusing, but I have absolutely no idea how Jay Leno still has a show. Jon Stewart's the best of talk show comedy, period. On preview, I still enjoy Keillor, but Michael Feldman gets more and more annoying every week.
• Margaret Cho, Jennifer Saunders, Wanda Sikes are the women who I adore. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Mike Judge, Rowan Atkinson. David and Amy Sedaris. Augusten Burroughs. Vintage: definitely old Bill Cosby and the Smothers Brothers. I know that there are others I am forgetting
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour had me laughing pretty hard. I'm too young to have much for vintage preferences (or maybe old stuff is more the kind of funny where I just enjoy listening but don't laugh, like Bill Cosby for me).
• Benny Hill and the Carry on gang - (Old time Londoners know who i'm talking about!) Speaking of which does anyone know where i can get DVDs of any of the Carry On series?
• Carlin, Python, Rock.
• flashboy, here is a link for you, so you can watch the Daily Show with John Stewart from the comfort of your very own home. The Daily Show Clips They are organized by Correspondants, Host, and a special one for Black. Enjoy. I like Ed Helms and Stephen Colbert. Watch the one about Communism, too funny!
• The Pythons. Marx Bros' 'Duck Soup' is my last-resort depression antidote. Mr. Bean, Third Rock from the Sun, Seinfeld, yes. Allen's 'Bananas' and 'Sleeper'. Letterman, even while it's painful to see time marching over him. Jon Stewarts' odd clips I get from the net. Phil Hartman. Dana Carvey, before he imploded. Currently I'm getting a kick out from 'Celebrity Jeopardy' SNL skits. Don't know why, but they make me really ROTFL.
• I laugh 'till I have tears in my eyes. When I watch Funniest Home Videos. Really.
• flashboy, I don't know a single person you mentioned with the exception of Chris Rock, Woody Allen, and Jon Stewart. (Rich Hall as in "sniglets" Rich Hall?)
• Marx Bros' 'Duck Soup' is my last-resort depression antidote. Here here. I could watch that movie every day for three years and laugh just as hard the last day as I did the first. No--harder. It just keeps getting better every time I see it. Pure comic genius, that. Also, I have a soft spot (in me head) for Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Later on, Laugh In really got me. Just the surreal non sequitor glory of it all. And speaking of surreal, The Monkees was always fun for me. Moving into modern movie comics, Cheech and Chong always make me snarf bong water. Their first two movies are so good, they're funny even if you aren't baked. Everybody on the Daily Show makes me laugh out loud. Everybody. As far as standups go, classic Bill Cosby, Murphy and Pryor of course, and Bill Hicks, though that should qualify as straight-out literature. I can't name a single standup comic still working that I think is brilliant, though I do like Louis Black (a kinder, gentler Sam Kinnison)--mainly b/c of his Daily Show bits. The Ritz Brothers and the Bowery Boys also had their moments.
• Bill Hicks (all-time fave). George Carlin. Steven Wright, Gilbert Gottfried, Chris Rock, Dennis Miller from 15 years ago, Monty Python.
• I can't name a single standup comic still working that I think is brilliant Then you need to watch my Eddie Izzard DVDs. Seriously.
• Then you need to watch my Eddie Izzard DVDs. Seriously. IT'S ON, SUPER BON-BON!
• Speaking of which does anyone know where i can get DVDs of any of the Carry On series? I don't know from that, but does anybody know anything about a British comedy from the 70s called "The Goodies"? I only remember catching a few eps on PBS when I was like 6 years old, but I thought they were hilarious back then. Then again, at that time I thought Peanuts was gut-bustingly funny. :(
• Part 1 of Several: I remember "The Goodies" when I was 14, and my memories of them are as like yours. Sillier and nicer (they are called "The Goodies", after all) than Monty Python, but still capable of emitting the perfect combination of surprise and glee. They fit in the same category with the Marx Bothers and "Third Rock", which I also delight in. to be continued
• hmmm. Chris Rock. Steven Colbert or anyone involved with Strangers with Candy. Family Guy. Older stuff...Woody Allen, Richard Pryor. Even older...W.C. Fields, silent film star Harold Lloyd.
• Part 2: And add "The Monkees" to that category, although I didn't think they executed as skillfully; a little restrained on the TV show, and trying too hard in the movie "Head". to be continued
• I second the Louis Black nomination, and Jake Johansen is brilliant - it's a shame he didn't hit it big. Most so-called "classic" comedy bores me almost to tears, including Marx Bros, Abbott & Costello, and many others. What I find interesting is that I rarely actually laugh out loud at something, although I may consider it really funny. I'm more likely to laugh if there are other people around.
• Thank you kimdog for reminding me of Amy and David Sedaris. Can't get enough of their stuff on "This American Life" (listen to any of their shows free online) -sorry Real Audio. I think it helps that they have those voices. Here's a list directly to some of David's pieces. If anyone has a similar page to Amy's stuff, I'd love to see it.
• I really loved the month when "Black Books" was on Comedy Central. Them was the days when I actually paid for cable. and I'd like to thank TP for bringing some much-needed rasslin' smack-talk here. was that so hard, people?
• On the laughing out loud side: Monty Python, The Goodies, Eddie Izzard, Robin Williams, Bill Engvall, Billy Crystal, Bill Cosby, Joel Hodgson back when he was doing standup, SNL with the original Not Ready for Primetime Players, Abbot and Costello, Laugh In, The Smothers Brothers, Richard Pryor when he was doing standup, Howie Mandel's early standup career. Sometimes the Three Stooges. It seems to come and go in phases whether I find them funny or not. And path. In real life, path cracks me up. If you had heard her say the things I've heard her say... On the don't do it for me side: Adam Sandler, SNL for the last 10-15 years, Jim Carrey, Jay Leno, Dennis Miller, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Rodney Dangerfield, The Simpsons (or anything else that Matt Groenig has done, for that matter. Just not my kind of humor.) I've got a strange relationship with the Marx Brothers' material. I'm not real fond of their movies. But seeing the same stuff written in compendiums of quotes and such, I find it hilarious. Don't ask me why. I don't understand me either.
• Oh yeah, and George Carlin and Steven Wright. How could I forget the number of times I've been laughing until I was crying because of them?
• Norm MacDonald as Burt Reynolds on SNL, Christopher Walken in any comedic role. Jon Stewart & crew. As far as actual shows, since I don't really watch standup (except, of course, for the gorgeous Izzard): Black Books - I only just started watching a borrowed DVD of the second series; Blackadder (but only 2 and 3); The Goodies (first season is out on DVD!!); Father Ted ("How's about a cup o' tea, then?"); Coupling, although I have only seen season one; Monty Python, especially the Fliegender Zirkus. Can't stand American sitcoms, or any Brit comedy aimed at the middle-aged audience (like Hyacinth Bucket, whatever that show was called). Oh, and I remember watching Benny Hill when I was very young, with my grandmother. Didn't get it then, adore it now. Especially Ernie.
• The word "poop". giggle
• Part 3, Standup Part 1: Steven Wright tells the best short jokes, David Sedaris tells the best shaggy-dog stories; what they have in common is the uncommon skill of breathing life into "deadpan" delivery. I loved George Carlin, both in his suit-n-tie era and his longhair-n-tiedie era, but less so as he's gotten angrier and more cynical. Lily Tomlin, when speaking the words of Jane Wagner, is great. It's hard to judge Robin Williams; saw him once live and he pointed at my cable-knit sweater and said "Hey, look! Bill Tilden!" Following his career, I realized he wasn't so much a gifted improviser as a quick-response database of funny concepts for all occasions. I'm sure he's used the Bill Tilden reference before and since. The effect is good, but I can't forgive the man who has starred in so many mawkishly sentimental movies. Greg Proops still has the potential to become a great political comedian, if he'd just put his mind to it instead of paying the bills with game shows and Drew Carey improv things (but who am I to begrudge anybody paying their bills?). Speaking of the improv things, Colin Mocherie's my fave. Thanks for reminding me of the excellent Jake Johanssen, cabingirl, but Louis Black is creeping into that deadly category of self-proclaimed "Politically Incorrect" comics that lose me entirely. And how come all the good female standups turned into bad talk show hosts? (no, I'm not naming names) to be continued
• Slight derail I just got a chance to write about one of my all-time favorite forgotten TV comedy shows: "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine". It's Number 9 in my list of Top Ten Summer TV Shows of All Times, which would make a good Front Page Post to start a discussion from here or at MeFi... AM I HINTING LOUD ENOUGH?
• I laugh out loud at the quidnunc kid all the time. Vintage comedy - I listen to my parents' Smothers Brothers records and giggle. Doesn't do it for me - Ben Stiller, for the love, please stop making movies.
• For those who think that people are naming Woody Allen to be hip or something, please download "The Moose" by him. He was a tremendous storyteller whose jokes were more in the details and the phrasing than they were in the punchlines. It is why I find I can listen to his stand-up many times, while punchline-oriented comedians lose it for me after a couple of listens. I am surprised no one has mentioned Albert Brooks, so I will. Lastly, I remember finding Chris Elliot on Late Night to be the funniest thing ever. I was surprised at how bad Cabin Boy was, though Get a Life was frequently brilliant. Elliot was more a skit writer and performer than a joke writer or performer. I still laugh when I think about him donning a lab coat on Late Night to compare two brands of vegetable oil in front of a couple bunsen burners, and then proceeding to determine which brand was better by drinking them.
• I find that nothing makes me laugh like funny things. Humor also makes me laugh quite often. What I don't get are most of the internet cartoons that people email you. "Look! It's (insert animal name or celebrity here) with its mouth moving up and down sing to some lame song! It is the funniest thing EVAR!!!!"
• Rick Mercer is (to me) undeniably brilliant as a (political) satirical comic. I adore him and miss his rants (I don't know how his new show is, as I haven't seen it but I do know that much as Colin Mochrie seems like a lovely man, he ain't no Rick). I know it's an unpopular opinion, but Jim Carrey's before-he-was-anybody standup seriously makes me lose my breath from laughing. and tracicle, I'm there with you on Father Ted . Best line: -- What would you say to a cup of tea? -- Feck off, cup! It made me laugh just to type it.
• Most things that are supposed to make me laugh don't. Sitcoms, stand-up, Ben Stiller movies... they rarely do it for me. The exceptions to this rule are: Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, "Pootie Tang", anything from rathergood.com, most Will and Grace episodes, and the occasional Jerry Springer episode. In other news, I suck.
• Ooh! And then there's this thread...
• Maybe he doesn't count for this thread exactly, but not giving a rats ass I lurch forward. Seth Macfarlane, dammit. Despite having seen every extant Family Guy, I still guffaw loudly every few minutes. And did anyone see him host his favorite eps a few weeks ago? Classic. Since he does a large number of voices he should count. Uh huh.
• Part 4: Personally, I prefer... Harold Lloyd over Charlie Chaplin. "The Simpsons" over "Family Guy". The Smothers Brothers over "Laugh-In". "Frasier" over "Friends". "Scrubs" over "Will and Grace". "Laverne and Shirley" over "Mork and Mindy". Dawn French over Jennifer Sanders. Michael Palin over John Cleese. Albert Brooks over Woody Allen. The opinions expressed are solely those of the person typing at this keyboard who may or may not be Wendell Wittler, depending on whether I forgot to log out the last time I used a library computer. to be continued
• More votes for Father Ted and Black Books. Kath and Kim. Older stuff ... Keaton, Tati, Peter Sellers, Pete and Dud, Coluche, Reiser, Spike Milligan.
• I defy anyone not to laugh at this.
• Oh and Tommy Cooper
• I was surprised at how bad Cabin Boy was, though Get a Life was frequently brilliant. How odd, I didn't even think to name Chris Elliott even though I worshipped him for awhile. Get A Life is stupendous, although Rhino refuses to release any more episodes for the time being. I'm glad I have those 3rd or 4th generation VHS tapes of the originals. So sad that he got involved in that Scary Movie bullshit.
• Alexi Sayle makes me laugh out loud. Robin Williams also, especially because he appeals to the mimic in me. I suppose it's a bit of a case of self reinforcement. Female comics tend to be less outrageous and less physical, but Rachel Berger usually makes me laugh. I do find the characterisation of Kath and Kim quite hilarious and an improvement upon some of the crap that the same people used to do on 'Fast Forward'. It is quite hard to be consistently funny. Most sketch shows struggle with that. Sitcoms rely on familiarity for quite a lot of their laughs.
• Leslie Nielsen, Robin Willaims, and ... oh yeah that fat guy from Michigan.
• Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry, Margaret Cho, Chris Rock, pretty much any scene from "The Office", Laibach Kittens of Doom, my dog being astonished and alarmed by the sound of his own farts, the present state of the world, Bad Santa, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't come up with at the moment.
• Dave Chapelle, Dave Attell, David Cross, Bob Newhart, Lenny Bruce, RICHARD MUTHAFUCKIN' PRYOR, Early Cosby, Early Steve Martin, the Marx Brothers, WC Fields, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, the Sedarii, William S. Burroughs, Tom Waits, Homestar Runner, peabs, Lord Buckley, Gilda Radner, Early to mid-career Sam Kinison, Bernie Mac, Ren + Stimpy, The Simpsons, Mike Judge, Python... plenty more.
• Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, watching Mr. Bean with my 8-year-old niece, early Mel Brooks, early Woody Allen, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Dawn French, Lenny Henry, Blackadder, Office Space, Muppet Show episodes hosted by Marty Feldman, John Cleese and Peter Sellers, The Carol Burnett Show, Jon Stewart, Stephen Frye & Hugh Laurie (especially Wooster & Jeeves), Bernie Mac, Margaret Cho, McSweeney's, Spinal Tap, Bob & Ray, Drop Dead Gorgeous, South Park, Kids in the Hall, David Sedaris, Dr. Strangelove, MST3K, Steve Martin when he's not in one of those warm fuzzy wacky family movies, reading about monkeyjane's dog being astonished and alarmed by the sound of his own farts, Monkeyfilter on a daily basis.
• and lots of other stuff too.
• Shinything, i'm definitely with you on Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, Dawn French, Lenny Henry and also the Carry on Laughing Series with Sid James and Barbara Windsor. There is definitely something about English humor (i.e UK)...gets me every time!
• Cheers Ramix. Sometimes I think I was born on the wrong side of the Greenwich Meridian. Wallace & Gromit!
• And since my geography stinks tonight, that should read "Atlantic Ocean" instead of "Greenwich Meridian". me so S-M-R-T-smart!
• For stand-up:Eddie Murphy, Bill Hicks and Jim Carrey For film:Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Jack Black(you should check out Tenacious D if you get a chance),er, Adam Sandler(tollbooth willy), can't not laugh at Andy Dick Jay Mohr does the best impressions including a Christopher Walken that's perfect. Not funny, Howie Mandel, Ali G, Tom Arnold
• One of the funniest things ever to me, still cracks me up to no end, Dr. Strangelove. Sellers was brilliant in that and George C. Scott was absolutely hi-larious.
• As for things that don't do it for me... Does ANYBODY think Colin Quinn is or ever was funny? How does he draw a paycheck? On his tv show he can at least coast by on having funny guests. But if you ever see him attempt standup--painful.
• George Carlin hands down. Even the bit parts he has in Kevin Smith's stuff are funny. Bill Engvall when I've spent too much time with users. And Jeff Foxworthy when I've spent too much time with relatives. Rick Mercer is a Political Comedian God. Talking to Americans is wildly inspired. His new shoe is a little weak though. I think he need foils to play off of.
• Crackmeuppers: Jim Carrey, Louis Black and Sarah Silverman. Teehee'ers: Jon Stewart, David Letterman, David Allen Grier Where'dIputmygun'ers: Gilbert Gotfried, Robin Williams, Whoopie Goldberg.
• John Clarke and Bryan Dawe and Roy and HG.
• Ha! That Mr. Bean episode with the turkey on his head, even though it's been done a thousand times, is so priceless! Absolutely Fabulous (Jennifer Saunders), Dawn French, Kids in the Hall, Python, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Andy Dick (most of the time), Spinal Tap!!!, Family Guy, Southpark, Reno 911, The Young Ones, The Daily Show, old Steve Martin, really, really old Robin Williams, old Dennis Miller, Will Ferrell, definately Eddie Izzard, some of the Blue Comedy Tour, Bernie Mac, Kathy Griffin, Mad TV, Greg Proops, Janeane Garofalo, some Denis Leary, Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Wright. Sucktards: Leno, Whoopie Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Larry the Cable Guy, Sam Kinison, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Carrey, Ali G (huh?), and others that I am forgetting.
• Blue Comedy Tour is the shit!!!
• david sedaris. his "six to eight black men" is one of the funniest things ever. just heard him read it on one of those books-on-cd thingies. it's in his latest book, "dress your family in corduroy and denim."
• OMG Kathy Griffin and teh Woz?!11
• Kathy Griffin addresses a heckler.
• Hell, and Joyce Grenfell, and Rowan Atkinson again.