Funniest stand up comedy you've seen

frag420 · 24-02-2012 02:23AM

For me it has to be

JimJeffries,
Steve Hughes,
Bill Hicks,
Richard Prior,

krudler · 24-02-2012 02:26AM

Dave Chappelle is awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4mM1id6wA

Ciderswigger · 24-02-2012 02:30AM

+1 for Ross Noble. I think he is legendary. You never know what you're gonna get.

Saw Ardal O'H a few years ago and was bitterly disappointed with him. He was dire. Pity.

krudler · 24-02-2012 02:32AM

ricero wrote: »

I'm shocked kevin bridges has not been mentioned yet he's my favorite at the moment. I also love eddie murphy and peter kay. I detest lee Evans

Peter Kay needs to stop rehashing the same jokes, didnt he release two dvds with near identical routines? he's safe comedy your mam would watch, nowt wrong with that, he has his audience, just plays it too safe all the time.

Stewart Lee I find hit and miss, his "I'm so superior" brand of comedy is grating at times, comedians who poke fun at themselves can win over an audience better than one who tells them they're stupid all the time.

Comedians I hate though:
Maeve Higgins, like a black hole of comedy
Jason Byrne, picking on the audience is the sign of a weak comedian
Neil Delamare, boring.
Frankie Boyle (well hate is a strong word, I just dont find his actual standup funny, he's funnier on panel shows)

Duggy747 · 24-02-2012 02:34AM

Richard Pryor & Eddie Murphy's stuff are up there as my favourites.

Pablo Francisco is funny too. His first 2 DVDs are brilliant and are up on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixToQbFc53A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6lq41i3Mk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vja0QH9tTUo

ToddyDoody · 24-02-2012 02:35AM

Has to be jimmy carr.. Pure evil

krudler · 24-02-2012 02:37AM

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Has to be jimmy carr.. Pure evil

dont you mean the guy who writes his jokes is pure evil

ricero · 24-02-2012 02:41AM

krudler wrote: »

ricero wrote: »

I'm shocked kevin bridges has not been mentioned yet he's my favorite at the moment. I also love eddie murphy and peter kay. I detest lee Evans

Peter Kay needs to stop rehashing the same jokes, didnt he release two dvds with near identical routines? he's safe comedy your mam would watch, nowt wrong with that, he has his audience, just plays it too safe all the time.

Stewart Lee I find hit and miss, his "I'm so superior" brand of comedy is grating at times, comedians who poke fun at themselves can win over an audience better than one who tells them they're stupid all the time.

Comedians I hate though:
Maeve Higgins, like a black hole of comedy
Jason Byrne, picking on the audience is the sign of a weak comedian
Neil Delamare, boring.
Frankie Boyle (well hate is a strong word, I just dont find his actual standup funny, he's funnier on panel shows)

True about kay but back his prime he was unstoppable just pure comedy for all ages that is brilliant. I do agree he needs to change his routine up sharpish. That's why I like kevin bridges he's a bit like peter kay but can go over the top when he wants unlike kay

Fluorescence · 24-02-2012 02:42AM

I really don't like the comedy of people like Jimmy Carr or Steward Francis - their routines are pretty much entirely comprised of 1-liner jokes. I find it quite jarring.

I agree with Krudler that Stewart Lee can be hit and miss. Sometimes he takes far too long to get to the point, and not enough funnies in between.

ascanbe · 24-02-2012 02:47AM

Have a bit of love-hate relationship with stand-up comedy.
If in the mood for it i find it great; if not i kind of find most of depressing and annoying.
Anyway. that's obviously irrelevant..
Most of the stand-up that's blown me away and that i can watch at any time is american.
Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, at his best, Dave Chappelle, as mentioned by others.
Billy Connolly, moving away from america, in his prime, was incredible.
The bits of Lenny Bruce, american again, i've seen is great and Bill Hicks who was somewhat derivative of him, was, at his best, also great.
Some Joan Rivers i've seen is brilliant.
Of more modern stuff, like some of Dylan Moran's and Stewart Lee's stuff.
And recently saw a Lee Mack show on tv; for pure entertainment, he's great. Great performer.
To be topical, Frank Carson could tell a gag..
There's more; they're just the ones that come to mind at this moment.
Oh, and Bob Monkhouse probably had the best pure 'stand-up comedian' joke ever written:
'People used to laugh at me when i said i wanted to be a comedian: they're not laughing now..'.

Darius.Tr · 24-02-2012 02:51AM

krudler wrote: »

I think Dane Cook's problem was he got too big, his show at Madison Square Garden is hard to listen to due to amount of women screaming at him the whole way through it, he's a rock star comedian, he's very fratboy humour but does have some very funny bits.

Yea, his older acts were much better. I dont really like his new stuff...
This has to be one of my favourites of Dane Cook:

a bit long but worth the watch

K-9 · 24-02-2012 02:56AM

Serious lack of Dave Allen on this thread as well!

ascanbe · 24-02-2012 03:09AM

K-9 wrote: »

Serious lack of Dave Allen on this thread as well!

Great point!
Knew i was missing some greats; can't believe i forget him though.
He was incredible.
And stylish as f*ck.

Jess16 · 24-02-2012 03:14AM

K-9 · 24-02-2012 03:40AM

ascanbe wrote: »

Great point!
Knew i was missing some greats; can't believe i forget him though.
He was incredible.
And stylish as f*ck.

Forgot about Bob Monkhouse. Bit old fashioned but he was supposed to have a serious amount of one liners written down at his home!

Dave Allen was probably the forerunner to the many talented Irish comics in the 90's.

Reminds me of an Irish Ronnie Corbett, it wasn't so much his stuff was that brilliant, it was the telling of the story!

Lee Mack is very dry, the interaction between him and David Mitchell on Would I lie to you is very good, polar opposites, makes the show.

K-9 · 24-02-2012 03:43AM

Oh and Ian Hislop. Must be 20 years now and outlasted Bremner as the best political satirist for decades.

Jimoslimos · 24-02-2012 03:47AM

K-9 wrote: »

Oh and Ian Hislop. Must be 20 years now and outlasted Bremner as the best political satirist for decades.

Hislop is good, but struggles to keep his obvious Tory bias in check at times.

John Doe1 · 24-02-2012 04:07AM

Demetri Martin!

K-9 · 24-02-2012 04:07AM

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Hislop is good, but struggles to keep his obvious Tory bias in check at times.

But well able to take the piss out of them too. I think a lot of is with 13 years of Labour he came across as that, the accent and public school background and all that, but he's very cynical of the Tories as well.

Give him another term of Tory Government and I'd say he'd go a large way to addressing what is oft a viewer bias! He's a bit of a political cynic and probably sharper for it, because it is the Tories in Government.

I was an avid viewer during the Major days, the scandal stuff just wrote itself in them days!

dave3004 · 24-02-2012 04:16AM

Eddie Murphy, Richie Pryor, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay.

These are my favs. A lot of the comedians named in this thread are mere amateurs.

Best live stand-up I've seen was Eddie Izzard by a distance.

Cool_CM · 24-02-2012 04:21AM

Jimmy Carr
Steve Hughes
David O'Doherty
Jason Rouse*

*very NSFW and definitely not for the easily offended

chasm · 24-02-2012 04:45AM

I love stand up comedy, used to watch a lot of it on the TV as a kid growing up in the UK, it seemed to fall out of favour for a while but it seems to have made a comeback big time again.

It's hard to pick my favourites but here's a few

Dave Allen - i think a lot of his stuff is still relevent today, some great videos on youtube, the bank one about loans and queues lol
Ben Elton
Jasper Carrott
Jack Dee
Billy Connolly
Jason Manford
Rhod Gilbert
John Bishop
and probably not a popular choice but he used to make me laugh, roy chubby brown.

holystungun9 · 24-02-2012 09:41AM

Going to chip in here and sidetrack things a little....I don't have TV or DVDs so Youtube is my source of content. Lately I have been really enjoying Frankie Boyle, Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr etc etc. but I have rediscovered 'Whose line is it anyway?', the American one with Drew Carey and Ryan Styles. Just look for the 'best of' and you will see some of the funniest improv comedy going.

flyswatter · 24-02-2012 09:42AM

Thought Bernard Manning was hilarious. "Two old maids on a beach, streaker ran past, one had a stroke, the other couldn't reach".

tfitzgerald · 24-02-2012 09:46AM

Two of the best i have seen are billy Connolly and Jimmy Carr .Its a few years now but one of the best Irish guys I saw was Niall Toibin he was priceless

Benicetomonty · 24-02-2012 09:55AM

Have to give Izzard a mention too-seen him live twice and wasnt blown away tbh but Glorious and Dress to Kill had me in tears laughing

Cavehill Red · 24-02-2012 10:19AM

Best stand-up ever was Sam Kinison. Very influential on Bill Hicks and many others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GXPd0fnpKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN7ehccspao

I'm a big fan of Hicks, Carlin and Dave Allen too.

leviathon · 24-02-2012 10:29AM

My all time favourite has to be Emo Phillips, one of the most underrated comedians out there I think,has the weirdest deliveries of any comedian, but razor sharp. Gutted I missed him in 2010, found out a bloody week later he was playing. Well worth checking him out.

DaDartle · 24-02-2012 10:49AM

two 'clean' comedians worth a mention are Seinfeld and Brian Regan.

The latter talking about the instructions on Pop tarts box is pretty funny and the bit about the television editor of fishing programs is classic.

He's one of those guys that makes you laugh just looking at him.

pearliefan · 24-02-2012 10:56AM

Some of the stand up Jim Carrey has done is fantastic!! It's the facial expressions...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIvGLOJPels

Funniest stand up comedy you've seen

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