Who is your or has been your favorite Comedian?

Vanity | June 24th, 2010 | TaraP

[TaraP]

Just a fun question, to see who your favorite comedian might be, past or current?

I would say mine is Flip Wilson, especially when he did *Geraldine*

Here is one of his funny ones he did with Joe Namath http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-355kMZxUN4

They just don't make *em* like this anymore!

[Erasmus]

Rip Taylor--don't make me explain, the dude just makes me laugh hard.

Rip Taylor:

"What do you get when you cross and elephant with a rhino?

Elifino!"

[beaversmom]

I don’t think I had ever seen Dave Allen. Funny stuff.

[60Gunner]

Red Skelton will always be my fave because he was hilarious without being crass or obscene.

[onona]

BOB MARLEY (from upta camp Maine !)

[Kirkwood]

Gee. You ask a lot of questions. It was a long time ago, and I gave up comedy writing to stick with medicine. So I don’t know any jokes, other than the ones about his wife and his not getting respect. Wrote some screenplays as well, but we never found anyone intelligent enough to bankroll them. Plus Rodney had health problems for quite some time, so he slowed down. Spent a lot of time puttering around at home. Still found time for the Tonight Show. I think he still holds the record for number of appearances.

He was always nice to me and his wife was super nice too. His lawyers - eh, not so much. LOL. If you crossed the line by stealing material, you would hear from his lawyers. But if you respected him, he would go out of his way to help you. He liked helping me, so I figure he was the same for others.

I would write jokes to make myself laugh. I could never tell jokes, but writing came easy when I was younger. Always carried around a notepad and kept notes of ideas all day, then use that for inspiration. Eventually something would click. You write 20 in a week and throw away 19. At least I would throw away a lot that I felt weren’t so good.

I noticed that FR is used by some writers to get jokes for talk radio. So if you read something funny here, it will probably be used by a writer or comedian the following day. All my writing was before FR ever existed, but if I were writing now, I would use it for material. Some funny stuff here.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

No doubt in my twisted mind that WC Fields tops the field.
He could make you laugh just by picking up a pool cue.

Other favorite comedians/comediennes are Steve Allen (especially his skits with Charlie Weaver!), Phyllis Diller, Eve Arden (of Our Miss Brooks, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason and Jonathon Winters.

Special honors go to Lenny Bruce. Lost in all the controversy about his revolutionary subject matter is the fact that he was, and still is, downright funny. And Mort Sahl, whose political lampoons kept him mostly out of the public eye.
Finally, I have to mention Oscar Levant, concert pianist and companion of George Gershwin. He ad libbed more great one-liners than anyone except Yogi Berra:

"There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
"I was kicked out of the mental hospital for disturbing the other patients."
"I'm going to memorize you face and throw my head away!"
"I am no more humble than my talents require."
"Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember."
"Underneath this flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character."
"The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too."

Yogi Berra, on low attendance at baseball games: "Well, if the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how you gonna stop them?"

[Erasmus]

There are a couple of "modern" comedians that make me laugh when all they do is walk out on stage. I know "something" will happen. It's a twinkle in their eye and I am on the inside joke with them.They all are mischievous class clowns who you know will always top the teacher no matter how many times they've been sent to the principal's office.

Sounds like a description of Andy Kaufman, who is somewhere on my list.

[21twelve]

Brian Regan!! Thanks for reminding me. My kids love him and play his clips on youtube. He IS really funny for all ages. Lots of kids stuff. But it is done in a way that the kids enjoy it, and the adults can recall what their youth was like so they enjoy it too.

Baseball! Where to put you - right field. Right Field!! YAY!! Right Field. Sno - Cones. Win or lose - Sno Cones! I think the best comedians are the ones who look at the quirks of everyday, normal life that their entire audience can relate to.

I enjoyed Louie Anderson (RIP). But looking at some youtube clips just now, they don’t seem that funny. Perhaps just a bad batch.

[Recovering_Democrat]

I almost always laughed at Richard Jeni.

[Erasmus]

Another Oscar Levant anecdote.

Appearing on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, Johnny mentioned Zsa Zsa Gabor in passing.

Levant interjected, "Ah Zsa Zsa. Social work, among the rich."

[Darkwolf377]

This is why comedy is so particular—it’s the corniness and badness of his jokes that make me laugh. He tells a corny joke, hardly anyone responds, he freezes and shouts “CAN’T YOU HEAR ME????” and it’s hilarious.

[rahbert]

Bill Engvall
Larry the Cable Guy
Bob Hope

[Othniel]

You can find a lot of his stuff on Youtube, and probably the public library. Some of his best work (imo) was with Sybil Seely, who starred with him in "The Scarecrow," "One Week," and "The Boat." She was, however, almost as tall as he was, so the studio opted for someone smaller. "The General" and "7 Chances" are my favorite full-length.

Yeah, I can't watch House because I think of Wooster as well!

[william clark]

Welcome to the world of Buster Keaton fans. Have you seen “The Playhouse” yet? Much is made of his technical achievement in putting nine split-screen images of himself in the frame at once, but the jaw-dropping moment for me was when I saw him do the ape routine.

Also worth tracking down is the outstanding 3-part documentary, “Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow”

And fellow Keaton fans take note. If you aren’t already aware of it, Kino is about to release the Educational shorts, as well as a 2-disc special edition of Steamboat Bill Jr. that includes a second version of the film composed entirely of alternate takes.

Also, I’ll add my praise for Fry & Laurie and Jeeves & Wooster.

[BobP]

I miss Bob Hope. I really liked Dangerfield, Rickles and Steve Allen. And for slapstick the Three Stooges. They still make my sides ache after watching them!

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[grame]

I grew up on Red Skelton and Carol Burnett.

[grame]

this makes me laugh! We had an 8th grade math teacher who had the worst, and I mean worst bad breath in the entire world. Everyone always wanted to put a bottle of scope in her draw when she wasn't watching. And I'm sure it wasn't just the students.

There was also an English teacher who's ‘girls’ were rather large, which wasn't a bad thing but her ‘holster’ must not have fit properly and she was adjusting those straps 20 times a day.

thanks for the chuckle.

[mirkwood]

[Wilum]

Red Skelton
The Stooges
Bob Hope
Bill Cosby

AND the complete cast of MAD, MAD, MAD, World

[this is my country]

I loved that video when it came out.