An Impossible Miracle....or Larry the Cable Guy having his stand-up routine without uttering GET ER DONE! once.

WTF?!?! You do realize she isn't acting, she really is that fucking stupid... [/b][/quote]I do realize that...

Richard Pryor

I don't really think that he was the greatest of all time but I just can't let a discussion about the greatest comedians go without at least one mention of the late great Mitch Hedberg


There is also this guy I saw on an HBO special the other day ( I have HBO on demand so I have watched it about five times now) his name is Kevin Brennan, I'm not saying greatest but certainly someone I'm going to watch.


As for greatest of all time sure Pryor, Murphy (when he wasn't a family movie remake bitch), and Carlin. I might even go as far as to include Robin Williams in this list.

And Mista Mista my favorite joke of Izzard is either

"To my left you can see the Sea of Tranqulity and to my right...Oh my god it's a fucking monster"

or the whole cat,mouse,chair,table, monkey to France bit

*--------------*

- Chris Rock
- Larry David
- Eddie Murphy
- Jerry Seinfeld

*--------------*

Conspicuous by his absence from anybody's list is Andy Kaufmann. Best ever? Probably not...but he was brilliant at times. And that's the curse of comedy.

Talk show hosts are a different breed. Many are funny on their own. But today, Stewart, Letterman, and Leno have a staff of writers providing material for them. With a staff of talented writers, and a little rehearsal, I'll bet any one on this board could end-up on our list.

How about Hudson & Landry? Bob Newhart? Ever hear tapes of Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes) when he worked in radio? VERY funny and way ahead of his time. (most people are only familiar with his later work in film...nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?) Paul Frisbie? Chris Rush?

No women on the list? Why not? Rita Rudner? Margaret Cho? Judy "le petite fleur" Tenuta?

Many comics are one-trick ponies who have a savant-like comic moment for thirty minutes and never rebound with fresh material. Or they have one brilliant bit that defines them and they can never achieve the same level of funny after that.

I can only ever picture Andrew Dice Clay doing nursery rhymes -- "Hickory, dickory, dock. This chick was..." It's hilariously funny and absolutely NOTHING he does after that even comes close.

Better example...Abbott and Costello. Who's on First is arguably the gold standard for comedic writing and timing. It works no matter where they do the bit...live audience or recorded. But after that, there's nothing else they do as funny as Who's on First.

But they're regarded as great performers because of one brilliant moment...and sometimes it's your ability to milk that moment for as long as possible, and that's how you end up on a list like this!

tony b.

#-1 Is Richard Pryor The best (IMO)
Red Fox
George Carlin

How could I forget, Conan O'Brien deserves a mention.

Johnny Carson. Funny every night, and he got out while he was still on top.

Best Stand up is Carlin just cause he has hung in so long and continues to come up with new material.

Pryor was great, but didn't last long enough to make the top tier.