Posted on 08/08/2016 3:24:30 PM PDT by gigster
Who do you think is historically our greatest actor and comedian?
Stan Laurel.
Amen to that! :)
Buster was great
Also the late Phil Hartman, was one of my favorites.
He was hillarious in “So I Married An Axe Murderer” as the Alcatraz Tour Guide.
Calliflower McPlugg
Only 2 comedians could literally have me rolling on the floor - Rodney Dangerfield and Steven Wright.
Different styles but one non-stop zinger after another.
Rodney on Carson - non-stop rapid fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLv7CG10B4
Steven Wright quotes:
“When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.”
“There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.”
“If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?”
“If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?”
“Why isn’t the word “phonetically” spelled with an “f”?”
“Support bacteria - they’re the only culture some people have.”
“What happens if you get scared half to death twice?”
“When I was a kid we had a sandbox. It was a quicksand box. I was an only child...eventually.”
“Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.”
“If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?”
“You can’t have everything ... where would you put it?”
“Can you buy an entire chess set in a pawn shop?”
Tim Conway on the Carol Burnette show. He was stuck on the rack of a dry cleaners. Kept going around and around they couldn’t stop it. Also Tim Conway doing that golf routine. Dorf I think is the name.
Tim Conways son has a radio show out of L.A. Kfi640 am. He is funny too. Sometimes has his dad on the show.
John Ritter was great. I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, and he did one episode where he played a robot named Ted who was wooing Buffy’s mom... it was great.
Pinging you, SMG fan. :)
Plus, I love the show Friends, and there’s one ep where there’s a lot of confusion (can’t remember which one) and Chandler says, “What would Jack and Chrissy do?” LOL!
Three’s Company was very funny.
I really wish my kids had the same exposure to the rich American culture of television that we all have. LOL!!!!
I think Bill Cosby should be stood up against a wall and shot.
On the other hand, I remember an album he did around 1970. Most of the stories were abut athletics and they were flat out funny. Partly because you could tell he had actually been there, and done that.
I saw Steven Wright live in the early 80s. His bit about the “boneless chicken farm” was hilarious.
Steve Martin as “The Great Flydini”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9xKU8eYCFk
(And he didn’t have to say one word)
Probably the best comic actor active these days is Roberto Benigni.
I agree with you about Buster, have you watched any Harold Lloyd?
My favorite silent comedian.
Blown away that it took until post 171 for someone to say Robin Williams as number 1. I have seen pretty much everyone else who was listed as tops, but nobody, and I mean nobody, could do it all the way Robin could. Slapstick, impressions, character acting, improv ... and all at lightening speed. Anyone can be funny if they have a funny script, but Robin could do it on the fly. Did you ever see him describe Golf? ROTFLOL and wetting my pants. (http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=robin+williams+describes+golf&view=detail&mid=8B2148BB83CD52FCD2488B2148BB83CD52FCD248&FORM=VIRE)
True, but for Williams and Martin I think they were funny to a lesser degree. I loved Steve Martin in the "man with two brains." I thought he was excellent as the Dentist in "Little Shop of Horrors", but the rest of his comedies, while funny, were not rolling on the floor funny, at least not to me.
I feel similarly regarding Robin Williams. Robin Williams was very funny in "Good Morning Vietnam", but I can't think of any other rolls by him that I thought significantly funny. I didn't care for "Mrs. Doubtfire."
Now I will say he also did quite a lot of good Drama, and he was a very gifted Actor/Comedienne, but I see most of his humor as being derived mostly from his schtick, and it was generally behavioral comedy that was his strength.
Irene Ryan, on the other hand, was just hilariously funny in nearly every episode. She had years of being funny, and a lot of the humor was probably derived from the character she played, and would likely also have been funny if a different actress had played it, but Irene Ryan just had that spark that made the role work fantastically.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.