Why are comedians not funny anymore..?

old hippy · 17-12-2013 01:54PM

thecatspjs wrote: »

Mitch Hedburg is still my favourite all time comedian, unfortunately he's not around anymore

Out of today's comedians, Dylan Moran is hilarious imo. David O' Doherty and Kevin Bridges too.

Can't stand Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Jo Brand, Sarah Millican. I have actually never found a female stand up comedian (comedienne?) funny.

It's a matter of tast, I find there's plenty of female comedians who make me laugh. They don't get exposure enough and of course, constantly being told women don't make good comedians may put others off but that's male dominated society for you.

Kudos for mentioning the great Mitch Hedberg

This is what my friend said to me; he said, "Guess what I like? Mashed potatoes." It's like,"Dude. you gotta give me time to guess. If you're gonna quiz me, you must insert a pause in there."

[*]I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
[/LIST]

I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work.

I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long.

I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside. Run, he's fuzzy, get out of here.

Bipolar Joe · 17-12-2013 01:55PM

krudler wrote: »

I hear he has a prosthetic foot, he rarely mentions it ever though so it's a really well kept secret.

It's brought up on every T.V show he appears on.

Eugene Mirman is good, I never hear him get brought up.

Bipolar Joe · 17-12-2013 01:56PM

old hippy wrote: »

It's a matter of tast, I find there's plenty of female comedians who make me laugh. They don't get exposure enough and of course, constantly being told women don't make good comedians may put others off but that's male dominated society for you.

Give it a rest, it's a thread about stand up comedy.

topper75 · 17-12-2013 01:57PM

Bambi wrote: »

I was gonna say is he "the unfunny australian c**t who thinks he's lemmy" and then he comes out to ace of spades in the clip :P

Turns out he used to be in mortal sin, another reason not to like him

Deadpan sarcasm is his one trick. Half the routine is always libtard political rants. Would go down well in Galway to blame the entire world's problems on UK/USA/Israel.

Andersonisgod · 17-12-2013 01:59PM

Sarah Silverman is an excellent comedienne.

preston johnny · 17-12-2013 02:01PM

She was only the prosthetic makers daughter but she wouldn't let me rubber tits.

Shiraz 4.99 · 17-12-2013 02:01PM

Jim Jefferies - Alcoholocaust 2010
Watch the first hour of this & your faith will be restored

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9bXXMprL4

old hippy · 17-12-2013 02:03PM

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Give it a rest, it's a thread about stand up comedy.

Yes, it is & I offered my opinion on female comedians who do stand up in a male dominated world. If you don't like it, feel free to ignore me

krudler · 17-12-2013 02:09PM

old hippy wrote: »

It's a matter of tast, I find there's plenty of female comedians who make me laugh. They don't get exposure enough and of course, constantly being told women don't make good comedians may put others off but that's male dominated society for you.

Kudos for mentioning the great Mitch Hedberg

This is what my friend said to me; he said, "Guess what I like? Mashed potatoes." It's like,"Dude. you gotta give me time to guess. If you're gonna quiz me, you must insert a pause in there."

[*]I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
[/LIST]
I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work.

I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long.

I think Bigfoot is blurry, that's the problem. It's not the photographer's fault. Bigfoot is blurry, and that's extra scary to me. There's a large, out-of-focus monster roaming the countryside. Run, he's fuzzy, get out of here.

Mitch was great. I usually prefer a routine instead of one liners but when they were as fantastic as his it can be forgiven. his nervousness on stage and laughing at his own sh1tty jokes just made him more endearing.

"I saw a wino eating some grapes, I was like dude you gotta wait.."

"My pants are holding up my belt and my belt is holding up my pants, who's the real hero down there?"

"some hotels don't have a 13th floor as it's considered unlucky, but people on the 14th floor c'mon you know what floor you're really on, if you dive out the window you will die earlier"

17-12-2013 02:10PM

Pablo Francisco is a good shout, his "ouch" show really made me laugh

Jim Jeffries "alcoholicaust" and " I swear to god" are the first two shows since Eddie Murphy's "raw" and "delirious" that I could watch on repeat over and over again

Seaaan123 · 17-12-2013 02:13PM

Norm macdonald. The man is brilliant. Watch his interviews on YouTube

Duggy747 · 17-12-2013 02:16PM

Sirsok wrote: »

Pablo Francisco is a good shout, his "ouch" show really made me laugh

The one before that in Irvine is brilliant, too.

Saw his stand-up after "Ouch" and he just nose-dived in quality which was a shame. Repeating his jokes daily on his Facebook page definitely doesn't do him favours.

Bipolar Joe · 17-12-2013 02:18PM

Seaaan123 wrote: »

Norm macdonald. The man is brilliant. Watch his interviews on YouTube

I love Norm! Listen to his podcast, it's hilarious.

krudler · 17-12-2013 02:18PM

Christopher Titus is a much underrated comedian, his two shows Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding and Love Is Evol are absolutely brilliant. You have to watch them in order as it's all stories of his home life and marriage and the relationship between his parents and his wife then ex wife by the second show. it's rare that jokes about domestic violence, alcoholism and schizophrenia can be guy bustingly funny but he manages it.

"I believe life is about balance. My mom was brilliant, yet manipulative. Beautiful, but had more voices in her head than the Wu-Tang Clan. Loves her kids, killed her last husband. I say "last husband" because you don't get another one after that."

(refering to his mother):
"Without her I don't exist. Without her, I wouldn't be doing this for a living. Without her, in four states it would still be legal to kill a man with a cappuccino machine. She touched a lot of lives."

"Fighting Dad's not a fight. Fighting dad is, (a la a game show announcer): "Hi, you've just instigated your own mugging! Come on down!"

Pyr0 · 17-12-2013 02:22PM

I'm really liking Sean Lock and Jon Richardson at the moment.

FouxDaFaFa · 17-12-2013 02:27PM

If you think there are no funny comedians any more you're looking in the wrong places.

The main problem has been the relatively recent phenomenon of panel shows featuring casts of comedians. It means that there are some standups with the sole goal of getting steady tv work, rather than being a standup comedian. In order to appeal to tv, they do safe material that will have mass appeal. They get famous and rich and young comedians aspire to be like them and copy the formula.

The reason there's a shortage of prominent female comedians stems from the "birth" of standup in LA in the 70s. In one of the main clubs, the women were segregated from the men on the main stage. So you had a choice of the main stage, where you might see Pryor or Williams, or going to the other stage to see female comedians you didn't know. People obviously chose the main stage and the vicious circle of the female comics not getting a chance to be seen continued. It also didn't help that back then, the way you "made it" was to get on the Johnny Carson show. Johnny disliked female comedians.

Because of this it became seen as a "male endeavour" and that legacy still exists today.

Check out Maria Bamford. She is one of the most talented comedians working today, male or female.

krudler · 17-12-2013 02:35PM

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

If you think there are no funny comedians any more you're looking in the wrong places.

The main problem has been the relatively recent phenomenon of panel shows featuring casts of comedians. It means that there are some standups with the sole goal of getting steady tv work, rather than being a standup comedian. In order to appeal to tv, they do safe material that will have mass appeal. They get famous and rich and young comedians aspire to be like them and copy the formula.

The reason there's a shortage of prominent female comedians stems from the "birth" of standup in LA in the 70s. In one of the main clubs, the women were segregated from the men on the main stage. So you had a choice of the main stage, where you might see Pryor or Williams, or going to the other stage to see female comedians you didn't know. People obviously chose the main stage and the vicious circle of the female comics not getting a chance to be seen continued. It also didn't help that back then, the way you "made it" was to get on the Johnny Carson show. Johnny disliked female comedians.

Because of this it became seen as a "male endeavour" and that legacy still exists today.

Check out Maria Bamford. She is one of the most talented comedians working today, male or female.

Bamford is very funny, oddball but really talented, can't stand Sarah Silverman though.

Toto Wolfcastle · 17-12-2013 02:37PM

krudler wrote: »

I hear he has a prosthetic foot, he rarely mentions it ever though so it's a really well kept secret.

Agricola wrote: »

Yeah hes always banging on about his prosthetic foot. He really uses it like a crutch..... :pac: (You can have that one Adam!)

That's the thing, I was expecting him to go on and on about it but he didn't. Not in his latest DVD anyway. I really really dislike comedians who only talk about one thing (like Andi Osho) but he barely mentioned it.

nullzero · 17-12-2013 02:43PM

Alan Carr; "vajazzle"! Cue laughs."where's me washboard? How queer"

Shapey Fiend · 17-12-2013 02:52PM

My favourite female comedian is probably still Joan Rivers. She's on the E Network and still a loose cannon. No ****s given.

cletus van damme · 17-12-2013 02:52PM

Knex. wrote: »

To take three of the bigger names in comedy right now even, Bill Burr (who I saw last week in Vicar St, guy is a genius), Louis CK, and Jim Jefferies - go watch them and then come back to us and let us know if you still despair for the art.

I am old - I only know 2 of them.
Jim Jefferies DVD was given to me - wasn't funny at all.

I did see jack dee (amonst others) before and he was really good.

BlimpyBoy · 17-12-2013 03:08PM

Bill Burr is brilliant.

He was playing a show in Philadelphia where the last two comedians before him were booed offstage by a crowd who were drinking most of the day.

He spends his entire 12 minute set destroying the crowd. It's not his cleverest stuff but it is spectacular.

Fussgangerzone · 17-12-2013 03:12PM

FouxDaFaFa wrote: »

It means that there are some standups with the sole goal of getting steady tv work, rather than being a standup comedian. In order to appeal to tv, they do safe material that will have mass appeal. They get famous and rich and young comedians aspire to be like them and copy the formula.

My mate was at a party and was introduced to someone who, they were told was a stand-up. Looking for common ground, he started talking about Bill Hicks. Yer man had no idea who he was...

Tig Notaro is a good female comedian. She was the first comic that Louis CK distributed work by, after himself, if that tickles your interest.

Or you could watch this, which I really enjoy:

Howard Juneau · 17-12-2013 08:52PM

krudler wrote: »

I hear he has a prosthetic foot, he rarely mentions it ever though so it's a really well kept secret.

He was in a local bar during the Rose of Tralee & was playing pool, house rules state you have to have 1 foot on the floor stretching for a shot, he couldn't, so whipped off the prosthetic, left it on the floor & made the shot.

17-12-2013 09:20PM

3 pages in and no-one's mentioned Milton Jones yet? Tsk tsk. Any time he's on Mock the Week he steals the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNWJddY-T_A

Also big fan of Dylan Moran, Dara O'Briain and Bill Bailey.

Too Tough To Die · 17-12-2013 09:28PM

Bill Burr is the only stand up i have enjoyed in the last few years. He speaks a lot of truth too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DYje57V_BY

Bipolar Joe · 17-12-2013 10:29PM

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

My mate was at a party and was introduced to someone who, they were told was a stand-up. Looking for common ground, he started talking about Bill Hicks. Yer man had no idea who he was...

That's because Bill Hicks wasn't a comedian, he was a conspiracy nut with a microphone he liked shouting into.

fyfe79 · 17-12-2013 10:44PM

fussyonion wrote: »

I'm one of those people who loves comedy but rarely laughs out loud. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy it but it's rare for something to really make me howl.

Same here, for me a Canadian lad called Mike Wilmot did it for me. Was absolutely in stitches for his show which is unusual. He's got a perfect dry deadpan delivery which really works.

krudler · 17-12-2013 10:51PM

BlimpyBoy wrote: »

Bill Burr is brilliant.

He was playing a show in Philadelphia where the last two comedians before him were booed offstage by a crowd who were drinking most of the day.

He spends his entire 12 minute set destroying the crowd. It's not his cleverest stuff but it is spectacular.

That is amazing, he just craps on the city for the entire vid and wins them over lol

blade1 · 17-12-2013 10:55PM

hidinginthebush wrote: »

John bishop really annoys me. Years back on the panel he was that scouse lad who's a b-rate comedian, that everyone gives polite laughs to. Now he's selling out the o2 and presents every fucking thing on English TV. Just don't get him..

Yeah, John Bishop is about as funny as Des Bishop!

Why are comedians not funny anymore..?

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