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Among more contemporary comedians, I still like the George Carlin of the trilogy FM & AM, Class Clown, and Occupation:Foole, and I'm still a fan of Seinfeld and Frasier.
I couldn't agree and disagree with your more. Carlin used language as a tool unlike any other comedian that's ever been. I'm not talking about using it to offend (although he did that too), but in the way that he almost sang his performances. His use of pause, inflection, the stringing together of words that just sounded "right"....all of them unpassed. Sometimes you hear talk about comedians being "in a groove" during a performance. Carlin was constantly in that groove from about 1970 to 2000. Then you throw in his body language and facial expressions and his ability to poke social issues with a stick to stir them up and you have what every serious comedian should try to be. The guy was an absolute genius.
Having said that, on the flip side, I absolutely can not stand Jerry Seinfeld. At all. I guess I just don't "get" his act. Observational comedy with a side order of neurosis? No thanks. And I think his show was extremely overrated.
I couldn't agree and disagree with your more. Carlin used language as a tool unlike any other comedian that's ever been. I'm not talking about using it to offend (although he did that too), but in the way that he almost sang his performances. His use of pause, inflection, the stringing together of words that just sounded "right"....all of them unpassed. Sometimes you hear talk about comedians being "in a groove" during a performance. Carlin was constantly in that groove from about 1970 to 2000. Then you throw in his body language and facial expressions and his ability to poke social issues with a stick to stir them up and you have what every serious comedian should try to be. The guy was an absolute genius.
He was an in-the-groove genius at least through 1979. I thought A Place for My Stuff was probably the last genuinely great comedy of his career. From that point forward he was mostly a carping grouse with axes (actual or imagined) to grind rather than a genuine social satirist with a genuine gift for finding the absurdities within the absurdities. I find very little if anything in his post-1980 work that endures as well or as truly funny as his work from 1966-79. (I inadvertently forgot to include Takeoffs and Put-ons, which had quite a bit more going for it than the original "Wonderful WINO" routine, as great as that routine was. Right there you knew he was going to be something unique.)
As for his use of pause, inflection, and phrasemaking, you can probably trace him back to Jack Benny and Goodman Ace (though Ace was never a standup), who were similarly adroit in those three techniques and whose disciples in that regard surely included Carlin, who was probably the only comedian since Benny and Ace who used the pause that effectively and could get as big a laugh with a pause as he did with his words. Carlin at his best had something else in common with Benny and Ace---his way of deadpanning a punch or setup line and his ability not to telegraph the joke. Shelley Berman had the same ability, though not as pronounced as Carlin had. I'd be surprised if Berman (especially Inside Shelley Berman and Outside Shelley Berman) wasn't another influence on Carlin.
As for his use of pause, inflection, and phrasemaking, you can probably trace him back to Jack Benny and Goodman Ace (though Ace was never a standup), who were similarly adroit in those three techniques and whose disciples in that regard surely included Carlin, who was probably the only comedian since Benny and Ace who used the pause that effectively and could get as big a laugh with a pause as he did with his words. Carlin at his best had something else in common with Benny and Ace---his way of deadpanning a punch or setup line and his ability not to telegraph the joke. Shelley Berman had the same ability, though not as pronounced as Carlin had. I'd be surprised if Berman (especially Inside Shelley Berman and Outside Shelley Berman) wasn't another influence on Carlin.
Yes, there's a lot of Jack Benny's technique that I think Carlin took and ran with (in a good way of course, comedians are no different then musicians, they are influenced and the truly great ones mold these influences into something original). I think one of Benny's greatest strengths was his ability to say something that the crowd might not have exactly caught the way it was intended and then to drive the point home with a facial expression. Carlin was also really good in that regard.
I have a soft spot for those late 80s to mid 90s HBO specials that Carlin did. None of it was really groundbreaking, mostly rehashed bits from before, but it turned on people like me, who were teenagers, to Carlin. I still watch them when I get a chance and still laugh my a** off. Anytime my wife mentions any of her "stuff", I let her know that "my stuff is stuff and her stuff is s***". I never fail to make myself laugh.
If you get a chance, and if you haven't seen it, there was the Carlin career retrospective that ran, I think, on HBO where he was basically interviewed by Jon Stewart and went through his influences. He talks there about his use of pause and inflection a bit.
Tracy Morgan had ONE funny movie and that was the remake of The Longest Yard. And even then he only had a small part so you didn't get tired of him. Tyler Perry has another terrible show, Meet the Browns. Jim Belushi... talent on a level of Tom Arnold.
Steve Harvey is coming back to TV on a game show, are the network execs on drugs or was he the absolute cheapest guy they could find( probably, I imagine he'd work for green room leftovers). Ben Stiller. Overrated, but not offensive in a lack of talent like these other guys.
That horrible red headed woman on that " Life on the D list" show, Kathy Griffith.
But the most inane show on TV, surpassing even " Meet The Duggars 19 and counting, that show about the little person doctor lady. WTF? As much I liked " Little People , Big World" and found it interesting, that show is just pointless.
For starters (PS I'm talking people who generally seem well liked, not just "I've heard of them"):
Whoopi Goldberg (although she was good in "Ghost")
Kathy Griffin
Will Farrell
Maggie Cho
Rosanne Barr
David Chapelle
That dork who walks around with a knit cap on and goofy smile and talks to people - how or why on Earth anyone would consider that even remotely amusing or anything other than idiotic I've no idea
Have you seen the movie, "Jumpin' Jack Flash"? It's a must see, and just might change your opinion of Whoopi.
I agree with the rest of your list 100%. Although, I did like Will in the skits he was in on SNL where he plays a yuppy wedding singer/husband.
The most untalented person EVER who people thought was funny: Yakov Smirnov. His shtick was making the same old soviet union jokes and then doing an Arnold Horshack( Welcome Back Kotter) laugh. "What a country! HEAHH HEAHHH HEAAHHH!" Rita Rudner was probably a close second.
Now Chris Rock is funny and insightful but when I saw him on SNL I kept thinking they have absolutely no idea what to do with this guy and he adds nothing to to the sketches. Bad writing can make a funny person be a bore to watch.
Hey Icy Tea, it's funny how different folks have different tastes. I thought Yakov Smirnoff was pretty funny back in the day. I like most of Rita Rudner's stuff too. I used to like Chris Rock a lot more than I do now. After I got used to his style and delivery, he became a bit stale. I suppose you can say that for every comedian, though.
The late Mitch Hedberg is one comedian who I thought was overrated. He had his moments, but his deadpan one-liners act wore itself out in no time.
Last edited by Fatty MacButter; 02-28-2010 at 10:04 AM..
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