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Richard Jeni killed himself not that long ago, and I was a huge fan of his as he was just brilliantly funny. Watch some of his bits on YouTube if you are really into comedy.
Sam Kinison, killed in an auto accident, who screamed most of the time really wasn't all that funny. I counted the laughs per minute and they are few and far between.
Bill Hicks who died of pancreatic cancer 10 years ago and now people are proclaiming a genius is just angry...and boring to me. I don't think he's funny at all and just don't get where people say he is.
Is there another comic buff on this board that has an opinion on these 3 comedians? I would love to get someone else's take on these 3.
Richard Jeni killed himself not that long ago, and I was a huge fan of his as he was just brilliantly funny. Watch some of his bits on YouTube if you are really into comedy.
I was just thinking about Richard Jeni the other day. He was brilliant the couple times I saw him on HBO. Really a funny guy.
There is a memorial Elayne Boosler gave at his funeral (I'm guessing here) about Richard Jeni, and you can easily find it by putting her name and Richard Jeni's in your search bar. She says that he was brilliant and saw people like Carlos Mencia (who steals material: look at You Tube and you will see how bad he is) get further ahead. She wondered if this led to his depression.
As for me, I thought Jeni was a genius and one of the funniest people I ever saw. So clever, so relatable and a genius.
I like Kinison, if you listen to his material he was very smart, extremely witty, and a brilliant comic when ranting about current events, politics, and religion. Being a former baptist preacher, he was able to tie in a lot of religious references to his material which was taboo for many, but brilliant none the less.
I did not find Hicks funny at all. He bored me, and came off as a softer version of Kinison, but without the comedic edge, just an angry guy. I think some of his material would have been funnier if someone else was delivering the lines.
Another guy who I never thought was all that funny was Mitch Hedberg. I think he also got a lot more notoriety after dying, and was extremely overrated. He was doing Steven Wright's style of dry musings, while playing to the stoner crowd. You had to be high to laugh at his routine. Wright is way funnier.
I also think that kinison was way more than yelling - although the yelling and screaming led to his notoriety, his genius was in the wit and intelligence the guy had
i like steven wright, but also really like hedberg - liked him before he died as well
Hedberg got off 6 jokes a minute = 360 jokes in an hour. Now that really takes talent! I liked him and admire his work ethic, but he isn't so funny to me as Jeni. It was his ability to write that much funny--but fire them off one after another for an entire hour straight--that caused other comics to admire him so much. He really was bright. THAT is what has him in the comic's hall of fame somewhere.
Kinison got off some good ones, but his screaming got on my nerves. When he did say something funny, it was really funny for sure. I, personally, just think Sam Kinison was just likeable more than he was really funny.
I'm still working on why people liked Bill Hicks. His anger, his rudeness just doesn't sing with me. Maybe if I look at more of his stuff I will "get it." Right now, I just don't see it at all. I'll keep trying.
I do know he started at 15 in a Houston club (much like Sam Kinison did).
I remember Kinison well. On TV appearances (cable, so not much was censored) I thought he was pretty hilarious. Then I bought his LP at the time and didn't find it funny at all. His screaming and rambling literally masked what could have been funny content, and a co-worker who also bought the recording shared the very same opinion.
Today, I wouldn't find him funny at all, ever. Tastes change.
Richard Jeni was a favorite. I know depression can do terrible things to a person. His death was a tragedy. I thought Sam Kinison was hilarious. I grew up having to go to a church where the preacher sounded a lot like Kinison, which made the comic even funnier. I remember the name Bill Hicks, but not my opinion of his comedy. I looked him up and he died of pancreatic cancer at the very young age of 32.
I didn't know the first one offed himself-- IMO, totally unfunny.
Sam? Obnoxious and sad little fellow.
I don't remember the other one.
I prefer Pryor, Martin, and Cosby.
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