Comedy Central's 100 greatest stand-ups 10+ years later

I definitely would bump Louis CK WAY up. I also think Rickles should be bumped up and, this may just be me, but I would find a way to get Seinfeld into the top 10. I know he isn't a favorite of a lot of people, but he is one of my favorite comics, so my OPINION is that he should be top 10 (maybe bump Roseanne and Cosby out for Seinfeld and Rickles).

People I would hope would be added to the list:

Bill Burr
Jim Gaffigan
Patton Oswalt
Jim Jefferies (if we go a little internationally)
Russell Peters
Gabriel Iglesias

I'd be ok with Gallagher, Garofalo, Kevin James and Howie Mandel getting the boot. James is more of a comedic actor than a comedian (his stand up isn't that great) and Mandel is great as a host of shows, but I never really got a lot of laughs out of his comedy appearances. Gallagher is a hack and Garofalo I never liked as a stand up, but can tolerate as an actress.

[QUOTE=Bird]I definitely would bump Louis CK WAY up. I also think Rickles should be bumped up and, this may just be me, but I would find a way to get Seinfeld into the top 10. I know he isn't a favorite of a lot of people, but he is one of my favorite comics, so my OPINION is that he should be top 10 (maybe bump Roseanne and Cosby out for Seinfeld and Rickles).

People I would hope would be added to the list:

Bill Burr
Jim Gaffigan
Patton Oswalt
Jim Jefferies (if we go a little internationally)
Russell Peters
Gabriel Iglesias

I'd be ok with Gallagher, Garofalo, Kevin James and Howie Mandel getting the boot. James is more of a comedic actor than a comedian (his stand up isn't that great) and Mandel is great as a host of shows, but I never really got a lot of laughs out of his comedy appearances. Gallagher is a hack and Garofalo I never liked as a stand up, but can tolerate as an actress.[/QUOTE]
Top performers who rocketed to success since this list was made (2004.)

Kevin Hart
Bill Burr
Katt Williams
Dane Cook
Russell Peters
Jim Gaffigan
Patton Oswalt
JB Smoove
Gabriel Iglesias
Mike Epps
Patrice O'Neal
Sarah Silverman
Chelsea Handler
Jim Norton
Larry The Cable Guy
Carlos Mencia


Than, these guys were pretty well known when the list was out, just didn't make the cut.

Conan O'Brien
David Spade
Tommy Davidson
Whoopi Goldberg
Kathy Griffin
Bob Saget
Arsenio Hall
Paul Mooney
Rita Rudner
Robin Harris
Susie Essman
Ron White
Steve Harvey
Pauly Shore
Jamie Foxx

[QUOTE=~primetime~]Cosby just recently did a stand up btw...a heckler yelled "YOU ARE A RAPIST!!!" in the middle of the show and had to be escorted out[/QUOTE]
He deserves off the list for not having a comeback.

I know this list is old so it's a little out of whack, the big one being Louis CK, who I'm a huge fan of, I just saw him in NY last week for the third time live, but I think even from a non-biased spot, you'd have to move him way up this list.


I am a huge Carlin fan as well. And Carlin is also something of a comedian's comedian. But I know lots of people who find Carlin a little dry and technical. The truth is he was more of a writer than a comedian, especially once he got out of the seventies and away from the character stuff.

I remember after he died I heard an interview with Garafallo. She said she had been invited to a rehearsal he did at MSG prior to a special. She said it was just her with twenty or so other people, mostly sound and lighting, tv production people, set guys. He got on stage and did his routine, according to her, beginning to end, including plays to imaginary audience members who weren't even there. She said it was one of the strangest things she'd ever seen. And then she saw the live show, and he makes a reference to a seat in the audience to a woman, and it was actually a man, but he had already decided to play to a woman in that spot. She said it was almost step for step the same performance as his rehearsal. And apparently that's how he did his thing. Which is why he comes off more as a writer. He writes great material, but it's all so linguistically sculpted, and the beats are so scripted, that he's not a guy who can play on stage. And that I think bothers some people.

[QUOTE=Bourne]To me, George Carlin just isn't funny. Granted I really haven't seen much, but listening to him comes off like reading 9gag - some interesting wordplay, some funny paradox thingies, stuff like that. Almost a different genre of standup.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly...like listing off all the banned curse words...I didn't find it very funny then, and I don't now either. He memorized a list a bad words and repeated them while making some words rhyme...it really isn't THAT impressive IMO, but for some reason that is a legendary moment in stand up history...and that is what a lot of his stuff was, memorizing tricky rants with rhymes and such.

[QUOTE=Thorpesaurous]I know this list is old so it's a little out of whack, the big one being Louis CK, who I'm a huge fan of, I just saw him in NY last week for the third time live, but I think even from a non-biased spot, you'd have to move him way up this list.


I am a huge Carlin fan as well. And Carlin is also something of a comedian's comedian. But I know lots of people who find Carlin a little dry and technical. The truth is he was more of a writer than a comedian, especially once he got out of the seventies and away from the character stuff.

I remember after he died I heard an interview with Garafallo. She said she had been invited to a rehearsal he did at MSG prior to a special. She said it was just her with twenty or so other people, mostly sound and lighting, tv production people, set guys. He got on stage and did his routine, according to her, beginning to end, including plays to imaginary audience members who weren't even there. She said it was one of the strangest things she'd ever seen. And then she saw the live show, and he makes a reference to a seat in the audience to a woman, and it was actually a man, but he had already decided to play to a woman in that spot. She said it was almost step for step the same performance as his rehearsal. And apparently that's how he did his thing. Which is why he comes off more as a writer. He writes great material, but it's all so linguistically sculpted, and the beats are so scripted, that he's not a guy who can play on stage. [B]And that I think bothers some people[/B].[/QUOTE]
Yes exactly, you worded my problem with Carlin well.

I'd still have him top-20 because he IS a stand up legend, but he isn't GOAT material at all IMO

[QUOTE=~primetime~]Exactly...like listing off all the banned curse words...I didn't find it very funny then, and I don't now either. He memorized a list a bad words and repeated them while making some words rhyme...it really isn't THAT impressive IMO, but for some reason that is a legendary moment in stand up history...and that is what a lot of his stuff was, memorizing tricky rants with rhymes and such.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, it's all incredibly well crafted, but some people just aren't as into that. And that's why he's such a comic's comic, because many of them have a higher appreciation for that incredibly refined work he does on his material. But it does come off as mechanical a bit. You'll see him do things like plow through applauses, because you can see he won't be comfortable if it screws up his pacing. Usually that's when you see him stutter or do the thing where he repeats the same line a bunch of times. It's like verbally running in place so he doesn't lose his momentum. Seinfeld is another guy who's incredibly scripted and crafted. But he does scripted moments that almost are designed to take a bit of the mechanical feel out of it. There's probably something to both of those guys being really bad actors too. Rock is more scripted than he feels, but not on either of their levels (and his acting is so so as well). Larry David starts pretty heavily scripted and then can devolve into more pliable rants. Louis however feels really natural. Like he's shuffling a deck of material and playing off of feel from the audience, even if that isn't necessarily true, it's just how it feels. Murphy felt incredibly natural, some of it from his ability to laugh at his own material.

Like I said, I love Carlin, but this type of thing isn't like an athletic endeavor, which is pretty subjective itself, but at least there's some data to look at, comedy is pretty much all subjective. But there are ticks and patterns you can find that may explain what seems like an unexplainable sense of just "I don't get why people like this".

[QUOTE=Thorpesaurous]Yeah, it's all incredibly well crafted, but some people just aren't as into that. And that's why he's such a comic's comic, because many of them have a higher appreciation for that incredibly refined work he does on his material. But it does come off as mechanical a bit. You'll see him do things like plow through applauses, because you can see he won't be comfortable if it screws up his pacing. Usually that's when you see him stutter or do the thing where he repeats the same line a bunch of times. It's like verbally running in place so he doesn't lose his momentum. Seinfeld is another guy who's incredibly scripted and crafted. But he does scripted moments that almost are designed to take a bit of the mechanical feel out of it. There's probably something to both of those guys being really bad actors too. Rock is more scripted than he feels, but not on either of their levels (and his acting is so so as well). Larry David starts pretty heavily scripted and then can devolve into more pliable rants. Louis however feels really natural. Like he's shuffling a deck of material and playing off of feel from the audience, even if that isn't necessarily true, it's just how it feels. Murphy felt incredibly natural, some of it from his ability to laugh at his own material.

Like I said, I love Carlin, but this type of thing isn't like an athletic endeavor, which is pretty subjective itself, but at least there's some data to look at, comedy is pretty much all subjective. But there are ticks and patterns you can find that may explain what seems like an unexplainable sense of just "I don't get why people like this".[/QUOTE]

I remember Louie talking about how he would better himself during that "Talking Funny" (or w/e its called) with Seinfeld, Rock, and Ricky Gervais and he said sometimes he would start shows with his best bit just to **** himself and make him rise to the occasion. Doing stuff like that probably has a lot to do with his natural feel for his material and an audience. Also, Louie just seems unusually comfortable with being vulnerable. You see it in his show, his stand-up, etc.

[QUOTE=Jailblazers7]I remember Louie talking about how he would better himself during that "Talking Funny" (or w/e its called) with Seinfeld, Rock, and Ricky Gervais and he said sometimes he would start shows with his best bit just to **** himself and make him rise to the occasion. Doing stuff like that probably has a lot to do with his natural feel for his material and an audience. Also, Louie just seems unusually comfortable with being vulnerable. You see it in his show, his stand-up, etc.[/QUOTE]


You really do. The vulnerability is really part of his character. He's also started using the laughing at his own material trick as a means of bailing out when he's gotten as much out of something as he's going to get.

I did just see him at MSG on Wednesday. Then my buddy saw him in California, in LA at the old Lakers Forum, which is now apparently been turned into one of the best live indoor concert venues in the country. He saw him last night, and this morning we were comparing notes a bit, and I was a bit surprised at how much spot on it sounded. Right down to some of the beats. Some of the material was big and made sense to duplicate. But he did open with a bit on accents, and the Boston accent in particular, that felt more local to the Northeast. And then he closed with a bit about the NY subways. Some of the local color that's there, and like ten minutes on watching rats ****, which I know he can get to because he is a New Yorker now, and was a Bostonian, but it all felt a little locally cued up at the Garden, but my buddy made it sound spot on at his show in LA too.

We both agreed that he was great, but not quite as refined when we both saw him just weeks before he recorded his last special (the one with the "Of Course! ... But Maybe ... , bit"). It was a bit more crass than I expected, although that doesn't bother me, it just felt that way off the cuff. And it didn't quite flow as well. But you're talking about a few almost off the cuff concerts he's doing before he starts work on the show again, as opposed to a national tour's worth of material he had designed for a TV special.

[QUOTE=~primetime~]Yes exactly, you worded my problem with Carlin well.

I'd still have him top-20 because he IS a stand up legend, but he isn't GOAT material at all IMO[/QUOTE]

No. Your problem with old Geroge is the same reason why you think Olive Garden is great italian fare. Unrefined texas hee-haw and no amount of money will ever change that :cheers:

[QUOTE=Thorpesaurous]You really do. The vulnerability is really part of his character. He's also started using the laughing at his own material trick as a means of bailing out when he's gotten as much out of something as he's going to get.

I did just see him at MSG on Wednesday. Then my buddy saw him in California, in LA at the old Lakers Forum, which is now apparently been turned into one of the best live indoor concert venues in the country. He saw him last night, and this morning we were comparing notes a bit, and I was a bit surprised at how much spot on it sounded. Right down to some of the beats. Some of the material was big and made sense to duplicate. But he did open with a bit on accents, and the Boston accent in particular, that felt more local to the Northeast. And then he closed with a bit about the NY subways. Some of the local color that's there, and like ten minutes on watching rats ****, which I know he can get to because he is a New Yorker now, and was a Bostonian, but it all felt a little locally cued up at the Garden, but my buddy made it sound spot on at his show in LA too.

We both agreed that he was great, but not quite as refined when we both saw him just weeks before he recorded his last special (the one with the "Of Course! ... But Maybe ... , bit"). It was a bit more crass than I expected, although that doesn't bother me, it just felt that way off the cuff. And it didn't quite flow as well. But you're talking about a few almost off the cuff concerts he's doing before he starts work on the show again, as opposed to a national tour's worth of material he had designed for a TV special.[/QUOTE]
How do you feel about CKs work up until the time this list was made, 2004 and before? He hadn't yet had his breakthrough specials. Basically he was appearing on shows like MTV Half Hour Comedy, Premium Blend, Late Friday, ect. Was #98 a good spot for a pre-fame CK?

[QUOTE=Stempel, HERB]No. Your problem with old Geroge is the same reason why you think Olive Garden is great italian fare. Unrefined texas hee-haw and no amount of money will ever change that :cheers:[/QUOTE]
oh so now I think OG is 'great Italian fare' :oldlol:

you forgot to work in "anti semitic"...the real reason I don't find Carlin that funny

Another major omission, David Steinberg.

No David Cross? Easily the most talented comedian. He is not a punch line comedian, but his stories build up to an LOL everytime.

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2UwPyxlewg"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2UwPyxlewg[/URL]