Most comedians aren't funny.

[Rocky058]

 

[Warren Pederson]

Try Sarah Millican on YouTube

 

[rave]

Just discovered Bill Burr and watched his latest netflix special and thought it was funny. I do enjoy Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Kat Williams. Also like Dice and also Gilbert Gottfried.

People I never found funny, Seinfeld, Gallagher and Sam Kinnison.

Also, got to love Don Rickles.

 

[Octorfunk]

Seinfeld is the master in my opinion. Relatable, perfect timing, and clean.

Chappelle is close, but veers too far into political commentary. Ultimately it distracts from his masterful delivery.

 

[ravindave_3600]

Comedy is based on surprise. I think the older we get it's harder to surprise us, so fewer things are funny. Then we satisfy ourselves with mockery.

 

[wildschwein]

Comedy is actually closer to tragedy than we often realise. Although there are different styles and focal points, self-deprecation and the personal tragedy of the clown is often at the root of most of the carefully timed utterances. Scorcese's King of Comedy is a good exploration of this.

 

[aging_rocker]

Rhod Gilbert.


Peter Kay.

 

[Toto'sDad]

There seems to be pressure for everyone to enjoy everyone's humor. That's not going to happen. People are going to like what they like, and not like what they don't, and feeding 'em smart pills until they realize they are actually rabbit droppings isn't going to change them.

 

[gkterry]

I like Bill Engvall the best because he mostly makes fun of himself or his wife and not certain 'classes' of people which other comedians are quick to focus on. I find it not funny when comedians make fun of particular (non)intellectual groups or racial groups or political groups or etc.

 

[nickmm]

 

[PoorNoodle]

Ismo…

 

[Canadiense. El]

Most comedians don't understand that comedy is supposed to be.... funny. Not controversial, not "thought-provoking", but funny.

hmmm... better not watch any George Carlin.

But seriously, don't you get tired of d!*k jokes? I want someone to take the state of the world and turn it on its head so that we can laugh at it, and it's probably a bonus if I learn something too.

Anyway, Britain's full of amazing comedians, and great shows that feature them like QI, Would I Lie to You, Taskmaster, 8 out of 10 Cats, etc., plus all the stand up.

 

[raysachs]

Seriously, I like to laugh. But I've seen my fair share of stand-up comedians in person and on video, and the vast majority of them, even the ones who are highly regarded "legends", really aren't funny.

Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock are two exceptions - both at their peak were the funniest people alive. Richard Pryor had his moments. Lenny Bruce, though given high praise for speaking on subjects that were generally avoided at the time, never made me laugh. Bill Hicks - mostly mean-spirited and rarely "bust out laughing" funny. San Kinison's first few performances were hilarious, but became more of an unfunny shock-show later, like he got too big too soon and had no new ideas to keep going. George Carlin was funny until the early 1990's when he decided he was smarter than the rest of us, and made sure we knew it. His much later stand-up was dreadful.

Joe Rogan - not very good stand-up but funny as crap winging it on his podcasts.

Norm Macdonald: probably the best of the bunch. Bombed half the time, killed the other half, didn't care either way (seemed to actually enjoy bombing), and through his last days remained shrouded in just enough mystery to remain a legend.

Bill Burr - that guy gets me laughing every time.

Someone much smarter than me once said, "Comedy died when the audiences stopped laughing and started cheering.". Most comedians don't understand that comedy is supposed to be.... funny. Not controversial, not "thought-provoking", but funny.

We all get to have opinions and mine are not in line with this. I agree Chris Rock is fantastic, Eddie Murphy was, but to my preferences Pryor and Carlin were the all time greatest, including, maybe especially, Carlin’s late stuff. I saw him a year or two before he died and he’d never been better. Sarah Silverman is still great but I saw her about 15-16 years ago and it took me days to recover from how funny she was. Before he showed everyone his ass Cosby could be really funny. Seinfeld is funny, but Larry David is the genius of that bunch…

Bottom line, because YOU don’t like someone doesn’t mean he or she isn’t funny - just not funny to you. I’m not gonna tell you that what you like isn’t funny, but I’m not listening to you when you try to tell me what’s not funny. Because, according to my opinion (ATMO), you’re wrong…

-Ray

 

[Telekarster]

I think this is the key. When I was young, it didn't take much to make me laugh. I thought Jerry Lewis was funny when he and Dean did their movies together. As I grew older, my view of the world, and on what's funny changed, and I would say it's been at least twenty years since a comedian made me laugh. I'm just not interested in what most of them have to say. The one's who resort to stringing vulgarities together are the worst for me. If the only thing you have is toilet humor, give it to someone else, I don't need it.

Yep, right there with you TD. I miss the days of Gleason, Johnathan Winters, Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett, Jack Lemon, Foster Brooks, Dean, etc. I don't know when I stopped laughing at comedians, but it's been at least 20 years if not 30 i.e. probably a good marker might be when Carson left the stage There are some "modern" comics that I "appreciate" but they are few and far between. I liked some of Kaufmann's stuff, some Billy Connelly, and I liked Williams and Pryor's film work (not their stage work), but meh... give the old days. Thank goodness we have a lot of em on film, and I've got a lot of the old guys on disc

 

[tery]

Slapstick is funny.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Yep, right there with you TD. I miss the days of Gleason, Johnathan Winters, Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett, Jack Lemon, Foster Brooks, Dean, etc. I don't know when I stopped laughing at comedians, but it's been at least 20 years if not 30 i.e. probably a good marker might be when Carson left the stage There are some "modern" comics that I "appreciate" but they are few and far between. I liked some of Kaufmann's stuff, some Billy Connelly, and I liked Williams and Pryor's film work (not their stage work), but meh... give the old days. Thank goodness we have a lot of em on film, and I've got a lot of the old guys on disc

I used to love to watch the Johnny Carson show, I enjoyed a lot of the people on there. Comedians, actors, musicians. Heck Johnny was funnier than most of these dodoes today. I don't like any of the late-night guys, they should have to follow the same rules as the TDPRI on certain subjects.

 

[Blue Bill]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I haven't seen mention of Norm Macdonald (RIP). IMO, he's the most fearless, therefore the most effective and funny comedian out there. He was constantly getting in trouble for making jokes about the "wrong" things or people. To me this means those things are exactly what comedians should be poking fun at.

 

[omahaaudio]

Doug Stanhope is hilarious.
Definitely NOT safe for work.

 

[lammie200]

I disagree. If the '60s to early '70s was the era of classic rock/folk protest music we are living in the era of classic protest comedy. There were others like George Carlin that proceeded it but now a lot of people use his template similar to many musicians using the same template as their predecessors back in the '60s and early '70s.

 

[omahaaudio]

I showed my younger daughter George Carlin and it did not go as expected, for me or her. He just sounded bitter and condescending.

After many years I finally got to see Carlin late in his career and it was so disappointing. He wasn't funny, just a bitter old man. I walked out half way through and went home. I wish that I hadn't bought the ticket as I'd then have good memories of the guy.