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Jerry Seinfeld.
Whilst his hugely popular and mega successful tv show finished nearly twenty years ago, Jerry has still got it as far as stand up goes. Never missing a beat from beginning to end, he delivered on all of my expectations of him. That's gold Jerry. Gold!
That is simple but so captivating!
Thought he'd retired from touring etc but obviously not... @Benny
I've been going through the seasons of Seinfeld recently as there's a few episodes I missed. One of the funniest shows ever!
I quite agree with you, @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 -- and we're unlikely to see anything like him or his show again, unfortunately. I remember discovering it back in high school. The great thing was feeling like I was his lone viewer. I wouldn't have doubted it. It looked like he was being broadcast from a closet, and he played to that, best exemplified perhaps during the leaky roof episode.
That he acknowledged the absurdity of the format (and his timeslot) was what drew me in, as well. Before Geoff (his robot skeleton sidekick, if anyone hasn't watched, who wore a The Price Is Right name tag) he really just went out there alone and winged it each night, improving different bits and running with them till they got stale (like all the puppet shows he did as cold opens). He had to go through the same motions in broad-stroke each night, as any host does, but he managed to make it feel different, to give it the same kind of happening now quality a live show would have. I also appreciated his more reflective moments and his refusal to go out there and just hit talking points, to let the conversation flow. And how about the more experimental episodes! Like when he and (I think it was) Kristen Bell just walked around Paris talking. He did one similar with Mila Kunis, as I recall. It was just such a great thing to have on the air. I remember his final show being the same week Colbert left Comedy Central. All the attention was focused in the wrong place. Craig's show was by far the more monumental. I sorely miss it.
If you haven't read his autobiography, Brady, check it out. Seems like an awesome guy. (Apparently he's also got a SiriusXM show now, excerpts of which I'm slowly seeing appear on youtube, FWIW).
@Strog, you're right to point out that Craig's indifference to leading a late show in the dead of night was one of his main strengths. He didn't care how many viewers he'd get, or if he was in the gutter; those that were watching were all he cared about and he did his damnedest to entertain. He had no allegiances to corporations or CBS as his "handlers," simply using the opportunity they gave him to have some fun. There are many times where it was painfully visible how much Craig didn't care for censorship and spoke his mind, sometimes to his own detriment.
A top ten Craig Ferguson moment would have to be the one show where, completely off the cuff, he went on a mini comedy rant about a certain product or company that went on and on. Then I think you could tell that he was being talked to in his ear by the producers off stage, and the next thing you know Craig said something along the lines of, "I've just been informed that [the company or product he slanted] is tonight's sponsor" to heaps of laughter. Moments like that make him very endearing and endlessly amusing, because you never knew what trouble he'd get himself into next.
The Marx Brothers - specifically Groucho Marx - but all three of them were brilliant comedians. Excelling at physical, verbal (in Groucho and chico's case!) and satirical comedy. Their best movies are on the cusp of the restrictive censorship of the Hays Code being brought into effect. 'Duck Soup' is of course a rightly lauded satirical masterpiece about the absurdity of war and has the legendary silent 'mirror sequence' between Harpo and Groucho and 'A Night At The Opera' has their most famous set pieces ('the party of the the first part' bi-play between Groucho & Chico and the influential state room sequence). But 'A Day at the Races' is often overlooked with another classic -the 'tutti-fruitis ice cream' sequence where the con-man work is swapped once more between Groucho and Chico. But I've always had a special place in my heart for 'Horse Feathers' which is the film that made me fall in love with them. Containing the immortal line - 'you have the brain of a four year old boy - and I bet he was glad to get rid of it'.
I was a child introduced to them by my father who thought they were magnificent. Groucho Marx's put downs and the skewering of the authority figures - pompous and corruptible - were always great fun. Not to mention Margaret Dumont's great work as the perfect foil for Groucho's madness. If you haven't seen them I recommend starting with any of the four films I mentioned which I think are incredible works of comedy - even eighty years later.
I haven't read that book @stag - will have to pick it up online. Thanks for the suggestion. I have a couple of contemporary books - 'Why A Duck' which breaks down the individual elements of the comedy set pieces and the Marx Brothers Scrapbook. I also want to read 'Groucho and Me' which is another Marx autobiography. And I've heard good things about 'Harpo Speaks'.
Also - I too love Spike Milligan. The Goons and the Marx Brothers were the two biggest comedic influences on my impressionable eight year old mind. I listened or read as much Goons as I could. I still have my father's records and goon show scripts. 'Six Charlie's In Search of an Author' is my favourite. Absurdist humour of the highest order.
I've just found it!
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2z89bj
Glad to hear you enjoyed it @Major_Boothroyd I'd be surprised if you didn't.
Hugely likeable guy. So glad I got to see one of my comedy heroes. I hope he lived up to your expectation too.
Possibly not some's cup of tea but to call him rubbish unlike McIntyre who is just utter mainstream dreck. Izzard has been honing his craft for years and is quite talented dramatic actor to boot. I don't think we'll see old floppy head branching out into anything else as he's all surface and there is nothing going on in there.
If you are swinging to the right or maybe not but Stewart Lee is more than likely to be right up your street or like nails down a blackboard, though after seeing him only a month or so back, the guy knows his craft.
That being said find me a funny right wing comedian, I really don't think comedy is the right's thing, Frankie Boyle I've always liked and MTW was just so boring once he left.
I think when men say hate they are opening themselves to questioning, I'm open to male, female , gay or Lesbian whatever, also Joan Rivers another innovator.
I can see where some would not like Milican, she's pretty unoffensive to me and my Wife likes her but Victoria Wood is one of the innovators of comedy in Britain and I make no apologies for having enjoyed her talent from a young age.
Victoria Wood as seen on TV will always be a favourite.
As to others I really dislike Bernard Manning, Roy Chubby Brown, Jethro and of course Jim Davidson, that UKIP aligned comedian of recent times, he's a real nasty piece of work, Andrew Lawrence.
Though judging by some here's hate of the likes of Stewart Lee because of his leftist comedy he'd be the antidote they are looking for.
I do find it quite telling when men say they dislike practically all women comedians due to their supposed sexism, when male comedians for decade got away with being blatantly sexist and at times just woman hating bigots.
Then again we are living in an era where white males feel marginalised.
Ronnie Barker would be another I greatly like, not all the Two Ronnies stuff hits the target and some of it is questionable and dated but some of it's pure gold and Barker unlike Corbett wrote it.
Also is contribution to classic sitcoms, Porridge and Open All Hours, pure comedy gold.
I do think some comedians are fine as panel hosts or guests on variety programs but I wouldn't be paid to see them live. Josh Widdicombe is definitely an example of that. I can stomach him on The Last Leg but his stand up, no thanks. Though James Corden makes me want to throw things at the screen, he just rubs me up the wrong way a bit like old floppy head.
Jimmy Carr somehow manages to avoid the offensive tag in his cheeky chappy guise, Frankie Boyle is no worse really, in fact he's made quite a few other comedians feel the need to be edgy, Boyle though is not sugar coating it, I have far more time for him than I do most of them.
Also while some stand ups might think they are in the spirit of Bill Hicks they actually more Dennis Leary, fine he had his funny moments but his stand up was a stepping stone to other things. Whereas Hicks was for real, Boyle might not be in the league of Hicks (who is his favourite comedian and inspiration) but he's more like him than the majority out there who would think they are carrying his legacy on.
The Pythons of course together and separate, giants of the comedy world, Fawlty Towers still remains my favourite ever comedy program.
Steve Coogan of course, Partridge just genius and he even makes Rob Brydon just about bearable on all 3 series of the Trip, though they are in completely different leagues when it comes to talent.
I do like some of the vintage stand up of Woody Allen I've seen but it wasn't his real forte, Allen on form in cinema penning or performing has rarely been matched for me.
Of course Laurel & Hardy, The Marx Brothers, the real innovators who many of have been influenced by.
Also Rich Hall and Reginald D Hunter, seen those both over the last decade and enjoyed them immensely, they've both done some insightful documentaries over the years.
Harpo Marx is my comedy hero. There was something other worldly about him. He was like an imp, cut adrift in the real world.
When he chased a pretty blonde he had no intention of catching her, he just enjoyed chasing her. If she stopped running so would he.
When a couple of guys played cards and one of them said ‘cut the deck’ Harpo produced an axe from nowhere and obliged, literally.
As a silent clown he made me laugh more than Keaton or Chaplin, maybe because he operated in sound cinema rather than silent cinema.
His laugh is ridiculously contagious. I'll see outtakes from Extras or Derek and even if what happens isn't funny, I still can't help but laugh once Ricky starts cracking up.
His corpsing is legendary and is now instantly synonymous with the word, like a picture of his face scrunched into a teary-eyed laugh is right next to the definition of the word.
Always happy to share my favorite compilations...
Agreed. Brilliant set. The nut allergy stuff was hilarious!
Love Ricky Gervais. He's not afraid of anything, and I agree with most if not all of which he says. Very funny man, who hits the nail on the head.