[4] No doubt. It's funny trying to come up with a list of people who are almost universally thought of as funny. Not that you have to love all their work, but that everyone would say "funny guy" (or gal, as the case may be). Even with something so incredibly subjective, there are a few names almost no one argues with.
So subjective. Adam Sandler: mostly not funny. Jim Carey: funny. Jerry Seinfeld doesn't make me laugh. Bill Cosby does. Richard Lewis doesn't make me laugh. David Brenner does. Don Imus: not funny. Howard Stern: funny. Dan Ackroyd: not funny. John Belushi: funny.
[6] Dan Aykroyd *was* funny, long ago. Go back to some of that character stuff he did on SNL - E. Buzz Miller and the guy mauled by a bear. I think almost everyone from those early 70s Chicago & Toronto Second City casts is/was pretty damn funny.
I like Lewis and Seinfeld, too, but neither is one of my all-time faves and yeah, I get more chuckles from ol' David Brenner.
But let's not turn this into the Matt & Alex agree and argue about comics thread. (Here's a hint - we both love Albert Brooks).
Ha! Mort Sahl. Smart, clever but not funny. Lenny Bruce. Crazy but funny. Dick Gregory, smart. Not funny. Richard Pryor. Insane and funny. Jonathan Winters. Also, insane but doesn't make me laugh. Bob Newhart. Straight but funny.
Mort Sahl is funny, but not gut laugh funny. A clever, witty guy. Agreed about the others save Winters, who I find occasionally gut-bustingly funny (some old Jack Paar stuff I saw killed me).
Steve Martin - funny, whether he's being smart or crazy. Bob & Ray - dry, weird and funny. Bob Hope - funny until he wasn't. Don Rickles - funny.
I saw Seinfeld at Rascals in South Orange, way before the show Seinfeld. I could not stop laughing, crying. One of those laughs where your stomach hurts for days. Girl I was with was nodding out. That was are last date.
One other comic did that to me.....but on a DVD viewing. Eddie Izzard. I actually fell of the sofa. I actually cried. That dude is seriously funny-ass funny.
What's funny changes moment to moment. It's a thoroughly Zen concept. Or it might be the most un-Zen thing ever. Not sure.
True. But a whoopie cushion always makes me smile.
Jack Benny. That guy was funny.
Mel Brooks: funny.
[4] No doubt. It's funny trying to come up with a list of people who are almost universally thought of as funny. Not that you have to love all their work, but that everyone would say "funny guy" (or gal, as the case may be). Even with something so incredibly subjective, there are a few names almost no one argues with.
So subjective. Adam Sandler: mostly not funny. Jim Carey: funny. Jerry Seinfeld doesn't make me laugh. Bill Cosby does. Richard Lewis doesn't make me laugh. David Brenner does. Don Imus: not funny. Howard Stern: funny. Dan Ackroyd: not funny. John Belushi: funny.
[6] Dan Aykroyd *was* funny, long ago. Go back to some of that character stuff he did on SNL - E. Buzz Miller and the guy mauled by a bear. I think almost everyone from those early 70s Chicago & Toronto Second City casts is/was pretty damn funny.
I like Lewis and Seinfeld, too, but neither is one of my all-time faves and yeah, I get more chuckles from ol' David Brenner.
But let's not turn this into the Matt & Alex agree and argue about comics thread. (Here's a hint - we both love Albert Brooks).
Ha! Mort Sahl. Smart, clever but not funny. Lenny Bruce. Crazy but funny. Dick Gregory, smart. Not funny. Richard Pryor. Insane and funny. Jonathan Winters. Also, insane but doesn't make me laugh. Bob Newhart. Straight but funny.
Mort Sahl is funny, but not gut laugh funny. A clever, witty guy. Agreed about the others save Winters, who I find occasionally gut-bustingly funny (some old Jack Paar stuff I saw killed me).
Steve Martin - funny, whether he's being smart or crazy. Bob & Ray - dry, weird and funny. Bob Hope - funny until he wasn't. Don Rickles - funny.
Funniest hour of my life.
Rodney Dangerfield Live.
My guess is I was hysterical for about 55 minutes of it.
[10] Rodney was indeed a funny funny man. Man, would he kill on the Carson show.
[11] I used to love Dome DeLouise and Burt Reynolds on The Tonight Show. Hysterical, but I have no idea why it was funny.
[11] Carson was the PERFECT match with Rodney.
Ben Stiller: not funny. George Costanza: funny!
I saw Seinfeld at Rascals in South Orange, way before the show Seinfeld. I could not stop laughing, crying. One of those laughs where your stomach hurts for days. Girl I was with was nodding out. That was are last date.
One other comic did that to me.....but on a DVD viewing. Eddie Izzard. I actually fell of the sofa. I actually cried. That dude is seriously funny-ass funny.
{1}Interesting article in today's NYT about female comedians. Johnny Carson, the gate keeper to who was funny didn't like bawdy women comics.
What's funny does change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/arts/television/female-comedians-are-confidently-breaking-taste-taboos.html?_r=1&ref=arts
[14] Izzard is great. Hilarious stuff. I like Gervais, too, speaking of current British comics. Gervais' gay animals bit is just great.
[13] It's true - Carson was really adept at helping a good comic seem even funnier when they were on his sofa.
Larry David - funny as hell
Larry the cable guy - unfunny as hell