STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
I’m with you on Murphy. He’s more personality than funny. I loved and revered him but if I’m honest his standup doesn’t hold up that well.
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Louis C.K…where does he rank as far as funniest stand-up comedians (or generally funny guy) of all time? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter eoMMan
- Start date
I’m with you on Murphy. He’s more personality than funny. I loved and revered him but if I’m honest his standup doesn’t hold up that well.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Off the top of my head...
Ricky Gervais, Wanda Sykes, Chris Rock, Louis CK, maybe Lewis Black and Michelle Wolf.
Weirdly don't know Bill Burr or Chappele's stuff.
Ricky Gervais, Wanda Sykes, Chris Rock, Louis CK, maybe Lewis Black and Michelle Wolf.
Weirdly don't know Bill Burr or Chappele's stuff.
rockaction
Footballguy
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Yeah, I think she's hysterical. Like consistently for decades -- way before it would be 'political' to like her.
rockaction
Footballguy
It wouldn't have to be political at all; it's just telling. We all knew Wanda's story before we even were privy to her story.
Wanda Sykes
massraider
Footballguy
This needs it's own separate thread
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Yeah, definitely odd misses. I've seen snippets of both but never watched Chappele's show (maybe an HBO thing?) or a full standup set from Burr.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Chappelle's Show was on Comedy Central.
facook
Footballguy
What was Tosh cancelled for? I honestly don't know. I'd guess for racial and sexist humor. Which is actually funny.
bigbottom
Footballguy
I know Tosh.0 was cancelled from the network. I’m guessing that is what he’s referencing.
I listen to a lot of stand-up albums on Spotify during my daily commute. His are hilarious.
ProstheticRGK
Footballguy
I vaguely remember he had a heckler (drunk or irate woman) who stood up during one of his shows and took offense to a bit he did- maybe rape? Whatever it was, he shot back at her and made a joke that was completely not PC, but hysterical. He took a lot of flak for it- then he decided to “retire”.
He would go so dark with his comedy, but no one made me laugh out loud as much as he did, watching his stand up. Just a brilliant comedic mind, with great timing.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
I've only seen part of CK's standup and it was years ago. I thought he was funny, but I didn't see enough to get into his groove.
I don't know many of the newer comics, so my favorites are older.
Pryor is a no-doubt #1 for me.
Carlin, Redd Foxx, & Cosby would be next in some order.
Robin Williams is up there, too - though I had to be in the right mood for him. Same with Sarah Silverman.
Newhart, Murphy, Joan Rivers, Rock, Lewis Black......
I don't know many of the newer comics, so my favorites are older.
Pryor is a no-doubt #1 for me.
Carlin, Redd Foxx, & Cosby would be next in some order.
Robin Williams is up there, too - though I had to be in the right mood for him. Same with Sarah Silverman.
Newhart, Murphy, Joan Rivers, Rock, Lewis Black......
pollardsvision
Footballguy
Agreed.
I think for a comedian generally it's harder to separate the personal stuff. Stand-up comedy is a very personal thing and you're telling personal stories.
It's quite different from an athlete or an actor (who is by definition playing someone else).
And CK's style makes it even harder to separate than other comics.
And man it sucks. His show and the work was so phenomenal. Before this I wouldn't argue with someone putting him in the top 3. But now it would be difficult to watch.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
How have we gone this far in thread with no mention of Norm?
kupcho1
Footballguy
This would probably be my list as well if you bounced Dice (hickory dickory dock; your "comedy" sucks ****) and replaced him with Rickles.
Also, never found LCK particularly funny.
I saw Tosh in November and it was a full crowd at a larger venue Segura did the same week (also packed crowd).
Tosh talked about his Tosh.0 ending and long story short, he still got paid for not having to do the show.
Hot take:
Burr is overrated, imo. He has some funny bits (I love his story about him objecting to his girl bringing home a pitbull and he eventually loves the dog) but I find a lot of his stuff just yelling and not funny.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Glad someone mentioned him. Another that I didn't see in the early lists is Stephen Wright.
bigbottom
Footballguy
Love Bargatze. Should have had him on my list.
jvdesigns2002
Footballguy
If the question is—“is he a top 25 comedian” of all time—it’s hard to say no. Dude can sell out Madison Square Garden without an issue. There probably hasn’t been too many comedians in history that could sell out big arenas—so clearly he’s big time. Now for me personally— his comedy is not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t put him in my top 25. There is a nice comedy renaissance going on right now. I‘d personally rank guys like Andrew Schulz, Theo von, Andrew Santino, Shane Gillis..etc ahead of him. Mix some of the new comedians with some of the classic ones, and some of the former SNL ones—I don’t think he makes my top 25.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
Comedy is subjective but imo, there are not 25 people funnier than LCK.
Carlin
Dangerfield
Williams
Wright
Kennison
Pryor
Norm
Cosby
Rock
Newhart
Foxx
Hicks
Chappelle
Gervias
Martin
Rickles
Eddie
Greg Geraldo
Patrice
Burr
Gaffigan
Richard Jeni
Tosh
Seinfeld
Barr
Thats 25 and not all of them are better comedians than him.
Carlin
Dangerfield
Williams
Wright
Kennison
Pryor
Norm
Cosby
Rock
Newhart
Foxx
Hicks
Chappelle
Gervias
Martin
Rickles
Eddie
Greg Geraldo
Patrice
Burr
Gaffigan
Richard Jeni
Tosh
Seinfeld
Barr
Thats 25 and not all of them are better comedians than him.
Last edited:
ProstheticRGK
Footballguy
awesome! He still is doing shows? I heard he wasn’t touring, either.
jwb
Footballguy
Top 5 all-time for me.
Carlin, Kinison, Burr, Murphy, CK (and a ton of others at #6).
Carlin to me is the master, and went through several different stages, all of which resonated. I always liked his takes on language and words.
Kinison did not have a long career, and definitely relied on the screaming gimmick, but man, if you were there when he hit you never forgot it. His appearance on HBO's Young comedians special is legendary, and his first hour stand-up after that is all time for me, even if some of the gay stuff didn't age well.
Burr might be the best of the bunch over an entire hour, although I'm not liking his current act as much because I dislike "parent/kid" humor, and he's a somewhat-new parent so this is clearly resonating with him.
Murphy is one that I might prefer any one of ten people over these days, but again, in the early/mid-80's, starting with his legendary SNL characters, he was something else. Same thing with the bits on gays though - a little tough to take today although I did laugh at them in 80's.
CK is interesting - he always (oddly at the time) mixed in self-depreciating masturbation references, and now we know why. But some of his observations and bits just hit so hard.
Carlin, Kinison, Burr, Murphy, CK (and a ton of others at #6).
Carlin to me is the master, and went through several different stages, all of which resonated. I always liked his takes on language and words.
Kinison did not have a long career, and definitely relied on the screaming gimmick, but man, if you were there when he hit you never forgot it. His appearance on HBO's Young comedians special is legendary, and his first hour stand-up after that is all time for me, even if some of the gay stuff didn't age well.
Burr might be the best of the bunch over an entire hour, although I'm not liking his current act as much because I dislike "parent/kid" humor, and he's a somewhat-new parent so this is clearly resonating with him.
Murphy is one that I might prefer any one of ten people over these days, but again, in the early/mid-80's, starting with his legendary SNL characters, he was something else. Same thing with the bits on gays though - a little tough to take today although I did laugh at them in 80's.
CK is interesting - he always (oddly at the time) mixed in self-depreciating masturbation references, and now we know why. But some of his observations and bits just hit so hard.
Galileo
Footballguy
Here is a list from Rolling Stone put together in 2017. Some good old school names included there that haven't been mentioned yet. CK sits at #4 on this list. I wouldn't have him that high, but probably in the top 25. And, yes, the creep factor takes a little of the shine away for me.
Tosh has a small tour going on now, but no, he's not touring really that much. I think he has a spot in Vegas (Mirage maybe?) that he goes to more often.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
I am not a fan of this list to put it mildly.
Soootch
Footballguy
I love that people think this. He’s playing MSG tonight (sold out and streaming live) and has a special coming out. I saw him last month and he killed. He’s as funny as he’s ever been.
He did something kind of brilliant, decided to distribute everything through his web site. His fans know where to find him and if everyone else thinks he’s “canceled”, cool, whatever. He put out a movie called Fourth of July with a bunch of no-name Boston theater actors, easily one of the best movies I saw last year.
I completely understand if people don’t connect with his comedy or are turned off by what he did. He’s always been hysterically funny to me and I’m glad he’s still out there working. I hope he does more movies or TV.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
Going to see Dave Atell next month. Looking forward to that.
Judge Smails
Footballguy
Saw him at the Comedy Cellar in NYC with my daughter. Took a picture with him outside the show. Cool guy. Quiet.
Louis CK will not age well in all time lists. He’s probably in that 25-50 tier now and will slip. Nowhere close to the all-time greats. I like many already cited and so many more than this guy (seems half his jokes are about masturbating which he obviously wasn’t making up). Doug Stanhope is brilliant as an example. Definitely dark and twisted, but brilliant. Towers over this guy.
Judge Smails
Footballguy
That is such a terrible ranking. Louis CK at #4 and Joan Rivers at #6 is all you need to know
jvdesigns2002
Footballguy
While I wouldn’t have Joan Rivers anywhere near 6–she was low key hysterical. If you asked most comedians about her—they would almost unanimously concede that she was a beast comedically. I think that a lot of people are surprised to see her on lists like this because most people viewed her as being a general “Television Personality” more than they considered her as being a true comedian.
jvdesigns2002
Footballguy
man—I remember seeing him perform live when I was in college and he had that super late night show where he’d basically get smash drunk every episode. He was amazingly funny. My understanding is that he’s either sober or has really cut back on his drinking since then. I‘d be curious to hear your feedback on how his comedy is nowadays. Would love it if you would update this post after you see him.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
I think his more recent stuff is much better than prior. Say the last 5-10 years.
Honestly the stuff since he was "cancelled" is his best yet
Desert_Power
Footballguy
Never really liked that show is his stand-up mostly the same shtick?
Desert_Power
Footballguy
The one time I saw Louis CK live several years back it was part of a show with a bunch of different comics. I found him and Aziz underwhelming while Hannibal Buress was hilarious. Liked his show (Louie) and standup I've seen in the past, but haven't watched anything of his since the news came out.
Tick
Footballguy
It seems like a lot of standup doesn't hold up. Part could be our ages - everyone here is 48, so we saw Delirious and Bad in junior high; part is likely societal changes/progress; part is just that we can't rewind and make it the first time we hear a joke again.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
Some of it that SHOULDNT hold up for those reasons get funnier by the year for me. Example Sam Kinnison.
I can't even imagine how much material some of the older/passed on guys would have with today's WOKE nonsense. Sam, Rodney, Hicks, Carlin. I have a feeling those guys would not hold back, and if anything double down even more than Chapelle has.
Navin Johnson
Footballguy
Great list. I'd add Patrice O'Neal
bigbottom
Footballguy
Definitely a similar delivery and extremely irreverent material.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Love Stanhope. Someone said earlier in the thread that a lot of comedians are messed up people. Stanhope acknowledges this and makes it part of his act, which is one reason I like him so much. Frankly I'm surprised he's still alive given all the crazy **** he's done.
jvdesigns2002
Footballguy
agree on Patrice. Off of the top of my head—for me personally—I’d add Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Norm MacDonald, and even Mitch Hedberg. Mitch‘s comedy probably wasn’t for everybody—but I just found his delivery and simplicity to be very unique and brilliant for the dynamic he was portraying.
Judge Smails
Footballguy
Mitch was hilarious
rockaction
Footballguy
Louis C.K. is garbage.
Hey Lou booooooooo!
Hey Lou booooooooo!
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I never sat down and ranked comedians, but if we’re talking all time, I don’t think it’s so odd not to have him in the Top 25. I’m not sure I would, but do find him funny.
I have no problem separating the artist from the art - but do under that’s a bit harder to do when it’s just a guy on stage telling his “stories”. With that said if he had a new Netflix special, I’d likely watch it.
rockaction
Footballguy
You know what, Dinsy? I'm sorry. I was being a jerk. That wasn't called for. I even think I was wrong in the substantive element of it. Please forgive my being an *******.
Captain Cranks
Footballguy
Yeah, no.
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