[gigster]

I'm going out on a limb and proclaiming the great W. C. Fields as our greatest comic Actor.

[jazusamo]

I was always partial to Jackie Gleason.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

John Cleese.

[Billthedrill]

Charlie Chaplin was awfully good. Tim Conway, Madeline Kahn, Gene Wilder, are names not mentioned often enough.

[dynachrome]

Groucho Marx

[aomagrat]

Buddy Hackett

[madison10]

Lucille Ball - me
Bob Hope - husband

[Buttons12]

Impossible to pick one.
But if you use the standard of the number of laughs, total, it’s probably Lucille Ball.

[Paladin2]

George Carlin.

[yarddog]

Not even close, Bob Hope. A lot of other good ones such as Jack Benny, but no one could touch Hope. He was also somewhat conservative.

[clearcarbon]

Cary Grant

[Migraine]

Jackie Gleason.

[jmacusa]

Lou Costello.

[madison10]

Carol Burnett.

[Doogle]

Bob Hope

[Covenantor]

Danny Kaye, comedian, comic actor, singer, etc.....

[x]

I'm going out on a limb and proclaiming the great W. C. Fields as our greatest comic Actor.

If you really wanted to go out on a limb, you'd say Bill Cosby.

_______________

And who do I have to say to win the Oldster Derby?

Fred Allen? Fanny Brice? Eddie Cantor? Bert Williams?

[be-baw]

Jackie Gleason.

[Tai_Chung]

Barack Obama.

Do you remember that one about “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”?

What a joke!

[stanne]

Lucy

[chajin]

Since you said “comic actor,” the answer is Buster Keaton, with Charles Chaplin a close second.

After movies became talkies, the spoken joke became as important as the acted joke, and comedians shifted accordingly. The top three would be, in no particular order, Groucho Marx, Robin Williams, and Steve Martin.