george carlin

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

man, he's hardcore ! i love him 

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

http://joox.net/cat/137/id/1418567

 

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Carlin is one of the greatest if not the greatest stand up comedian of all time.

[DevilHatesALoser]

Doug Stanhope

Freedom
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=14115999


2 headed babies
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15156400

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

http://joox.net/cat/137/id/1259301

talkin about the 1st gulf war ... still sounds true.
man, that guy hates the us

[25]

man, that guy hates the us

You think Carlin hates the US? And has warm, fuzzy feelings about Lithuania or Crete?

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

man, that guy hates the us

You think Carlin hates the US? And has warm, fuzzy feelings about Lithuania or Crete?

i dunno, he seems very angry that's all, altho he is funny
i loved the moment when he was sarcastically commenting on the american hunger for violence and war and people were cheering !

[25]

He's much more angry these days. And no less funny.
But for perspective, a little later in that same show he does his entire airline wordplay bit, material that was at least a decade or two old by that point, and he gets just as worked up about that subject. It's just jokes, Carlin is in the business of being pissed at everything for comedic effect.

I'd say that he hates human mediocrity in all its forms, that seems to be the through-line connecting all of his material. The US just happens to be the biggest producer of high-profile mediocre bullshit and so it incurs his wrath more often than, say, Turkey. Yet Carlin still plays in residence for months at a time in Vegas every year, figure that one out for yourself. 

And if you want to see an embarassing temporary plot-loss on Carlin's part, check out "Complaints And Grievances"  his 2001 special. It's very interesting when contrasted with all of that previous anti-war sentiment.

[SLCPUNK]

Carlin is one of the greatest if not the greatest stand up comedian of all time.

Agreed.

[tim_m]

He is one of the last true living legends plain and simple. Maybe the greatest comedian of all time a true genius.

[Skeba]

I honestly can't remember why he's not one of my favourites. I do have a lot of his material but no.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's bad. He isn't. He's good. But I couldn't say he's in my top 3 of comics.

Edited to say: After watching the video linked here, I remember. Too much yelling (can work in decent doses, but not when used like this), too much underlining of punchlines in bits... So like I said. Not bad, has good points, but not the best, not even close.

[25]

Edited to say: After watching the video linked here, I remember. Too much yelling (can work in decent doses, but not when used like this), too much underlining of punchlines in bits... So like I said. Not bad, has good points, but not the best, not even close.

Since you're talking personal preference, who is in your top 3 (or 4, or 5)?
I'd put Carlin in there, tied with Bill Hicks, both behind Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. 

[Skeba]

Top 3?

Hard to say in which order, but the no1 for me would most definately be Ricky Gervais. Both of his DVDs are absolutely amazing. The 2 and 3 are a bit harder, but I've always liked David Cross a lot. I really don't know why. But _really_ like him. One of the more recent comics that I've grown to like (a bit too late) is Mitch Hedberg.

Both of the latter two do have some weaknesses, but that would propably be it.

1. Ricky Gervais
2. David Cross
3. Mitch Hedberg

Special mentions could go to Doug Stanhope (who you mentioned earlier), some of Ron White's stuff (the drunk fat guy thing just fits some bits extremely well), Sarah Silverman (very unusual to have a woman who's actually funny at times), Stephen Lynch (the singing thing is something different but he can _really_ sing) and I love some of Eddie Murphy's stuff from Raw and Delirious.

I really like comedy so I could mention a _lot_ of people that I enjoy. But those are great... Really enjoy Robin Williams', Lewis Black's and Bill Hicks' stuff as well.

[25]

Gervais is hilarious. I've seen neither of his dvds (rectifying that right now) but I remember his contributions to various radio shows nearly a decade ago - foul, filthy, funny stuff. On the other hand, I get sick of guys like Lewis Black and Stephen Lynch pretty quickly, one-note performers with tired gimmicks in my eyes.

I revisited Eddie Murphy's live dvds recently and found that Raw held up much better than Delirious. Murphy's performance in Delirious is way, way above the standard of the material (Dane Cook Syndrome) which seems really infantile and generic compared to the material in Raw. Watching Raw makes you wonder "whatever happened to that funny motherfucker?" While watching Delirious answers with "oh yeah, he makes shitty fat-suit comedies now. . . ."

I think Sarah Silverman has great potential, slowly being squandered. Her tv show is almost unwatchable and "Jesus Is Magic" is unfortunate to have Liam Lynch smeared all over it - that shit never washes off. 

 

[Skeba]

With Lewis Black the thing I dislike most is his constant yelling. Yes. You're angry, we get it. But still.. He has some really good bits. Silverman's biggest problem is that she can't present all that potential she clearly has and goes sometimes for the shockfactor when she could've had a great piece of actual comedy with the material.. About Eddie Murphy. Raw came after Delirious. So. Development. From there on.. Well... I don't know what he was thinking. Maybe easy cash? The Lynch DVD for me is good for a few plays. I like playing his songs at partys where we play sometimes.

The thing about being a stand up comedy fan in Finland is that I have to try really hard to find new good ones. The whole industry (if you can call it that) is very young. It's only now becoming a more popular thing. And the problem with that is that the comics are as a rule of thumb... bad. So through out these years (last 7-8), I've had to rely on American and British comics. Which is again hard because the good ones are never displayed to the public (though I guess I prefer that.. the whole comedy being my thing and not in the media all the time..)

[stolat]

Australia has some very fine comedians, worth checking out.

If you can get your hands on the Fast Forward TV series on DVD (late 80s), you will find on there some of our finest comedic talents. The Doug Anthony All Stars are also from this golden era of Australian comedy.

The 'Working Dog' team - the best writers in the industry. They wrote the Australian films - "The Dish" and "The Castle".
They started off as comedians in the university revue scene and then formed "The D-Generation" (you can also find this series on DVD). Their finest work can be seen on "The Late Show" (ABC TV).

These writers coined the phrase "Champagne Comedy".

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

reading you, comedian experts, it seems that jerry seinfeld rarely makes it to the top 5 list ... ?

[stolat]

reading you, comedian experts, it seems that jerry seinfeld rarely makes it to the top 5 list ... ?

That should go without saying!

[tim_m]

reading you, comedian experts, it seems that jerry seinfeld rarely makes it to the top 5 list ... ?

I've never found him in the least bit funny honestly. Just my opinion though.

[JMack]

Seinfeld has about 50 million reasons not to care about what anyone thinks. Haha? 9 or 10 years on T.V. He made over 50 million for that show just for syndication.? Who knows how much he makes with the DVD's.? He was offered 5 million and episode to do 1 more year and said no.? I heard he's doing regular stand up and that he may have a movie coming out?

Carlin plays the angry 1960's stand up comic who is well into his 60's maybe 70's.? He was also the narrator for Thomas the Train so how angry can he really be?? He brilliantly makes his money on profanity laced political humor and normal everyday stupid occurances.