What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Best 21st century comedic actor? (1 Viewer)

Pick

  • Jim Carrey

    Votes: 4 5.1%

  • Jonah Hill

    Votes: 2 2.6%

  • Steve Carrell

    Votes: 10 12.8%

  • Tina Fey

    Votes: 2 2.6%

  • Amy Poehler

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Simon Pegg

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Ricky Gervais

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Will Ferrell

    Votes: 32 41.0%

  • Ryan Reynolds

    Votes: 2 2.6%

  • Bill Murray

    Votes: 15 19.2%

  • Kristen Wiig

    Votes: 1 1.3%

  • Sacha Baron Cohen

    Votes: 5 6.4%

  • Seth Rogan

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Adam Sandler

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 3 3.8%
  • Total voters
    78
AnonymousBob

AnonymousBob

Footballguy
Who do you think is the 'best' comedic actor of recent years (Ie no Sellers, Marx, Chaplin, Ball, etc). 

Define best however you please, be it box office success, popularity, variety of comedy roles, best peak, just someone you found funny, etc. Judge them for what they've done since 2000 is the only request. 

I'm sure I missed a lot of names. :shrug:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Good list. I'll go Will Ferrell but Cohen is kind of a genius I think. 

I also get cracked up by Vince Vaughn though so my judgement can be questionable. 

 
SBC is probably the smartest comedian there, but his quality output is really limited.  I go Ferrell  and have Fey and Poehler as close seconds. Steve Carrell should be on the list too. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Quint said:
I suppose Bill Murray should be in the mix 
Click to expand...
True. He's been great with Wes Anderson and his cameo in Zombieland alone is funnier than a lot of comics ever do. 

Vince Vaughn is a funny guy. Where the heck has he been hiding the past decade? 

 
AnonymousBob said:
True. He's been great with Wes Anderson and his cameo in Zombieland alone is funnier than a lot of comics ever do. 

Vince Vaughn is a funny guy. Where the heck has he been hiding the past decade? 
Click to expand...
Tough to have Murray up there though when he's mostly been a supporting character in the better 2000s comedies. As for Vaughan, he made some terrible movie choices in (Couples Retreat, The Watch, Unfinished Business,etc.) and that either made him a guy Hollywood is avoiding or VV needed a break because he's been pretty inacive the last couple years. Looking at his recent 2016-17 work, it looks like he doing more serious dramas and action movies now. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Tough to have Murray up there though when he's mostly been a supporting character in the better 2000s comedies. As for Vaughan, he made some terrible movie choices in (Couples Retreat, The Watch, Unfinished Business,etc.) and that either made him a guy Hollywood is avoiding or VV needed a break because he's been pretty inacive the last couple years. Looking at his recent 2016-17 work, it looks like he doing more serious dramas and action movies now. 
Click to expand...
He has also been doing a lot of producing. 

 
Steve Carrell has many more misses than hits when it comes to films, but of these choices, I will give it to him on the strength of The Office, 40-Year Old Virgin and Anchorman. 

Paul Rudd is also underrated, although he is rarely a main character. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Tough to have Murray up there though when he's mostly been a supporting character in the better 2000s comedies. As for Vaughan, he made some terrible movie choices in (Couples Retreat, The Watch, Unfinished Business,etc.) and that either made him a guy Hollywood is avoiding or VV needed a break because he's been pretty inacive the last couple years. Looking at his recent 2016-17 work, it looks like he doing more serious dramas and action movies now. 
Click to expand...
It's a pretty subjective thing. Should Eddie Murphy be on there? He has Shrek and it starts getting bleak after that, but donkey was really funny to a lot of folk. I'd agree Murray is all time great but imo he doesn't really equal the others in recent times. I think someone like Tina Fey beats Murray's Anderson roles from 30 Rock alone. 

 
AnonymousBob said:
It's a pretty subjective thing. Should Eddie Murphy be on there? He has Shrek and it starts getting bleak after that, but donkey was really funny to a lot of folk. I'd agree Murray is all time great but imo he doesn't really equal the others in recent times. I think someone like Tina Fey beats Murray's Anderson roles from 30 Rock alone. 
Click to expand...
I agree. Eddie and Bill are all time greats, but they peaked in the in the last 70s-80s-90s

 
Ghost Rider said:
Paul Rudd is also underrated, although he is rarely a main character. 
Click to expand...
Big fan of Rudd. Role Models, I Love You Man, and This is 40 are much better flicks than they're usually given credit for being. And his Ant Man role has a unexpectedly solid comedic role.

 
Other: Louis CK. So incredibly foul. But also the intelligent voice of a generation. Maybe not an "actor" but his work is the funniest in a long time.

 
Zach Galifinakis?  

This is a hard question.  Nobody stands out.

Jason Bateman? Jason Segal? Jason Sudeikus

Just thinking of people not on the list.

 
Ilov80s said:
SBC is probably the smartest comedian there, but his quality output is really limited.  I go Ferrell  and have Fey and Poehler as close seconds. Steve Carrell should be on the list too. 
Click to expand...
My thoughts almost exactly.

Ghost Rider said:
Paul Rudd is also underrated, although he is rarely a main character. 
Click to expand...
:yes: I love Rudd but while he's possibly the best sidekick in this generation, he doesn't quite have the chops of Ferrell, Carroll, or fey.

 
You know Seth Rogen is funny because he laughs at everything he says.

Uh-huh-huh-huh-huh, uh-huh-huh-huh-huh.

 
I know it's an imperfect measuring stick but I rate comedic actors based on whether I find myself laughing and/or smiling just seeing them - before they do anything.  My list would be:

Ferrell, Belushi, Chapelle and Don Knotts.

 
AAABatteries said:
I know it's an imperfect measuring stick but I rate comedic actors based on whether I find myself laughing and/or smiling just seeing them - before they do anything.  My list would be:

Ferrell, Belushi, Chapelle and Don Knotts.
Click to expand...
That's a good system. I also use rewatchabilty. The two movies my family has rewatched the most are elf and mean girls. Plus I don't think I've seen a Ferrell movie I didn't like. Admittedly I haven't seen everything he's done. But even his snl skits hold up, while Sandler really doesn't.

 
Long Ball Larry said:
Ryan Reynolds?
Click to expand...
Some roles since 2000 that had him doing some sort of comedy:

Deadpool 

The Proposal 

Van Wilder

Just Friends 

He's had a bunch of other lesser stuff and he usually brings some humor to his character. Not as strong as some of the others on the list but he has good comedy chops and can hold his own here. 

 
No way it's Sandler.  So many duds.  Borat was by far the best concept/delivery from anyone on the list, so it's hard to look past SBC.  Ferrell and Carrey (not getting enough love here) are way up there for their body of work, as is Bill Murray.

 
Judge Smails said:
Ferrell and Carrey (not getting enough love here) are way up there for their body of work, as is Bill Murray.
Click to expand...
Ferrell had a lot of hits this century. Jim Carrey peaked in the 90's and imo hasn't really done enough to warrant any serious consideration since 2000. Bill Murray wouldn't be my pick for the same reason but he's at least been consistently great with Wes. 

 
Ty Burrell, Chapelle, Julia Lou Dreyfus, Kenny "El Flama Blanca" Powers, and Larry David are all in the convo.

 
Ferrell is the most OVERRATED to me.  I felt the same about the fat guy in a little coat and everyone loved that unfunny bastage too.

 
The crazy coworker on Blackish and JB Smoove are the best side men imo. Those dudes are nuts.

 
Dwayne Johnson has had some pretty funny roles lately.  Maybe not the best, but I gotta give the guy credit - he makes me laugh.

 
Seems like there should be serious competition since there are so many comedies released but I do not see it.  I went with Ferrell even though he is simply annoying in too many roles. 

 
Next to Lorne Michaels's ever more doddering mgmt of SNL and none of the very talented female comedians out there really breaking through on making fun of their gender, the most unfortunate development in 21st C comedy is that Jim Carrey didn't find a writing partner. It's very rare to find a comedian who can do ALL the stuff anymore because comics don't do the five shows a day that the founding gens did; it is just as rare to find a comic all of whose stuff comes from a deep, original place - no glib, no snide, no fish-in-a-barrel - especially without becoming a frantic meanie; and it is truly rare to find one with immersive acting chops. Having seen Andy Kaufman live backinaday, i was floored to watch Carrey channel his essence in Man in the Moon and was sure this was the beginning of the grand epoch of a GOAT-level performer. pffffffizzle........ Sure, he got tied up in Oscar bait and the sick & squishy charms of Jenny McCarthy for a while, but nobody found him and tied him to an obligation to be great.

Top writing & performing seem to miss each other in comedy as surely as they find each other in drama. Adam MacKay is a serious reason Will Ferrell clearly tops this list in achievement. Lack of an equal & opposing force is why Kristen Wiig, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman. Poehler & Fey haven't broken thru on why women still willingly go thru life backward in heels. Brits Cohen, Atkinson & Gervais at least find a character to hang it on but quickly become prisoners of persona and end up imitating themselves ad nauseum, and the rest of good 21C comedy has relied on Judd Apatow. But no one for the greatest comedic talent i've seen since Chaplin. How could they let it get away?! damn shame.....

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Best episode of that coffee & driving show Seinfield does was the one where he drove around with Jim Carrey in a Lamborghini Countach. Still a very funny guy.

 
wikkidpissah said:
Next to Lorne Michaels's ever more doddering mgmt of SNL and none of the very talented female comedians out there really breaking through on making fun of their gender, the most unfortunate development in 21st C comedy is that Jim Carrey didn't find a writing partner. It's very rare to find a comedian who can do ALL the stuff anymore because comics don't do the five shows a day that the founding gens did; it is just as rare to find a comic all of whose stuff comes from a deep, original place - no glib, no snide, no fish-in-a-barrel - especially without becoming a frantic meanie; and it is truly rare to find one with immersive acting chops. Having seen Andy Kaufman live backinaday, i was floored to watch Carrey channel his essence in Man in the Moon and was sure this was the beginning of the grand epoch of a GOAT-level performer. pffffffizzle........ Sure, he got tied up in Oscar bait and the sick & squishy charms of Jenny McCarthy for a while, but nobody found him and tied him to an obligation to be great.

Top writing & performing seem to miss each other in comedy as surely as they find each other in drama. Adam MacKay is a serious reason Will Ferrell clearly tops this list in achievement. Lack of an equal & opposing force is why Kristen Wiig, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman. Poehler & Fey haven't broken thru on why women still willingly go thru life backward in heels. Brits Cohen, Atkinson & Gervais at least find a character to hang it on but quickly become prisoners of persona and end up imitating themselves ad nauseum, and the rest of good 21C comedy has relied on Judd Apatow. But no one for the greatest comedic talent i've seen since Chaplin. How could they let it get away?! damn shame.....
Click to expand...
Carrey had some moments in the Wayans Bros. In Living Color show. but, imo he has always lacked the ability to rein himself in. if the choice was whether to push it farther over the top or choose subtlety, he always pushes it higher. 

 
Conanthecontrarian said:
Carrey had some moments in the Wayans Bros. In Living Color show. but, imo he has always lacked the ability to rein himself in. if the choice was whether to push it farther over the top or choose subtlety, he always pushes it higher. 
Click to expand...
That's why the equal & opposite power is such a necessity to good comedy. As has been said since Heraclitus, it is the dynamic tension between opposites that is behind most human, if not just plain physical, power.

Carrey is a naturally, conceptually funny person, perhaps only exceeded by Steve Martin that way. Yet he has the riffing skills of Robin Williams AND the natural charm (having pursued giving comic orgasms to women above all other things, i bow to the master who has broken down virtually every leading lady he's had) of a leading man and sweetness of the boy next door. But he's had no one to ask "why" for him. That's the writer's job - the asking of why, the giving of reasons. As you said, Carrey's the horse, where's the jockey?

ETA: perfect example - Neil Brennan & Dave Chappelle, who should be blowing the 21st Century AWAY! Chappelle had the fire, Brennan the context....BOOM.....explosive, vital HUMAN comedy, far beyond the realm either individual imagined. Apart, Brennan (a decent comic before they teamed up) is a bum, Dave a lost child.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't know if he's the best actor, but in terms of # of laughs, I'll go with Will Ferrell

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BobbyLayne
The 25 Greatest Films of the 21st Century So Far
2 3 4
Replies
155
Views
6K
El Floppo
El Floppo
GregR
Greg's Useless Trivia #50 - 100 questions (75 greatest hits, 25 new)
Replies
19
Views
2K
GregR
GregR
timschochet
timdraft #4: Movie Category Draft
108 109 110
Replies
5K
Views
87K
BobbyLayne
BobbyLayne

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top