Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups

[Youth N Asia 0]

Comedians I just don't like:

 

30. Garry Shandling

37. Martin Lawrence

44. Joan Rivers

45. Richard Lewis

62. Eddie Griffin

64. Richard Belzer

77. Paul Reiser

88. Paula Poundstone

94. David Alan Grier

97. Sandra Bernhard

99. Janeane Garofalo

 

These people never seem to make me laugh, and often just bother me.

 

Pryor had to be #1. Carlin is just too hit and miss for me. And while I like Redd Foxx, I don't care for his standup. Tons of dirty material, but I just don't find it too funny.

 

And I'm shocked Cho didn't make the list. I thought they loved her over on that channel.

[Guest NCJ]

I can understand and even like most of this list, but the things I disagree with I really disagree with. First of all Eddie Murphy number ten is a complete disgrace. He has been the most influential stand up performer of the last 25 years. Delirious was without a doubt the greatest stand up routine that I have ever seen. The only thing I can really think of is this is based more an a comic's entire career of standup rather than just the quality of performance. In that case I can kind of understand it because Murphy didn't get alot of time to do stand up. He was signed by the time he was 21. Even then I find it hard to justify Roseann being higher than him.

 

Other gripes include Bernie Mac being so low, no Steve Harvey, no Paul Mooney, ad it seemed to me some of these names are just on the list because they are famous. Not because of the quality of their stand up work.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I also say Delirious is the greatest standup piece ever.

 

And if you're counting length of career you have to leave Freddie Prinze off of the list. He died at 22 I believe.

 

And personally I would have placed Bill Cosby higher. At least above Woody Allen

[2GOLD 0]

36. Jim Carrey

 

 

What? Carrey himself admits he pretty much sucked as a stand-up. Why the hell is he so high when even he didn't think he was funny as a stand-up?

 

I like Jim as an actor, but his stand-up is unbearable.

 

Also, Leno is WAY too high.

[Guest NCJ]

I also say Delirious is the greatest standup piece ever.

 

And if you're counting length of career you have to leave Freddie Prinze off of the list. He died at 22 I believe.

 

And personally I would have placed Bill Cosby higher. At least above Woody Allen

I have never seen Cosby do standup, but I have heard that he was absolutely hilarious. I don't understand the lack of Margaret Cho either, and honestly Tommy Davidson, while not a good actor, is a very funny stand up comedian. I didn't understand how he din't make top 100 and David Allen Greer did.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

How did Wanda Sykes get no.70, let alone get on this list?

[Guest netslob]

63. Jackie Mason

 

this alone is proof positve this list is bullshit...Jackie should at the VERY LEAST be in the top 20...at least.

 

and my guess is the Pryor thing is out of pity...he was(is) great, but not nearly as much so as most of the people behind him, Carlin especially.

 

oh,and Howie Mandel at #82 is pure bullshit.

[Guest Banders Kennany]

Is it bullshit that Howie is that high or that low? I like Howie a lot, I think he should have been higher. I am surprised there is no Mitch Hedburg here, but I think Cho sucks. Roseanne I have never seen do standup, but I can safely say any place is too high a place for that terrible lady. David Alan Grier? LOL at that trash.

[Guest netslob]

Howie should've been higher...he's always been one of my personal favorites, so i'm somewhat biased, but still.

[River City Rocker 0]

I'm just happy to see Bill Hicks ranked WAY above Denis Leary.

 

-Ben

[Guest Choken One]

Howie is under rated as can be and is one of the very few tolerable things Leno does on his show.

 

I like Leno as a standup but not as a talk show hosts, the jokes seem forced.

 

How is Pryor being #1 out of pity? He was ALWAYS revered as the greatest comedian of all time.

 

Even though Carlin is #1 in my book.

 

I enjoyed the show they had with it, putting 5 fairly unknown but still funny comedians on the show was better then VH1 style countdown shows.

[Mole 0]

Seinfeld should be higher.

[Hektik 0]

74. Paul Rodriguez

Why the hell is Paul Rodriguez so low? Why are Wanda Sykes and Cedric are ahead him? Rodriguez is top 30 material, but it seems the top 30 is reservered for stand ups who became actors.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Anyone else think Lenny Bruce is vastly overrated? Not bad mind you, but from what I've seen he's not deserving to be in the Top 3.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Yeah, as far as "funny" Bruce was "ehh"...but he was the first major standup to just say the vulgar things

[Mole 0]

Sinbad is actually 65 and Cedric the Entertainer is 78.

[razazteca 0]

I enjoyed the show they had with it, putting 5 fairly unknown but still funny comedians on the show was better then VH1 style countdown shows.

I agree that anything is better than having people look at a 5 second clip and make a "funny" sound byte for it. At least at the restuarant the comedians could get drunk and make some comment that is not fed to them thru a teleprompter.

[godthedog 0]

Anyone else think Lenny Bruce is vastly overrated? Not bad mind you, but from what I've seen he's not deserving to be in the Top 3.

there are guys who are more "ha ha" funny, but he was fascinating to watch. the way his mind worked, even watching him ramble off the top of his head from topic to topic is totally absorbing. also VERY pointed and thought-provoking, doing more or less the things bill hicks did 30 years later (just not as confrontational).

[Guest Dids]

My thoughts.

 

Bill Hicks is still too low.

 

Mitch Hedberg blows. He's Steven Wright without the delivery. Wright is the only guy who can do those two line jokes and make me laugh.

 

Leno was way to fucking high as in "he was on the list at all".

 

Props to whoever mentioned that Brian Regan was slept on.

 

Norm McDonald was way too fucking low. This is a guy who's stand-up bits won one of their "stand-ups of the year" like 10 years ago. He's an amazing stand up preformer who was ruined by sitcoms and SNL.

 

That said, lists are dumb.

[Ted the Poster 0]

My thoughts.

 

Bill Hicks is still too low.

 

Mitch Hedberg blows.  He's Steven Wright without the delivery.  Wright is the only guy who can do those two line jokes and make me laugh.

 

Leno was way to fucking high as in "he was on the list at all".

 

Props to whoever mentioned that Brian Regan was slept on.

 

Norm McDonald was way too fucking low.  This is a guy who's stand-up bits won one of their "stand-ups of the year" like 10 years ago.  He's an amazing stand up preformer who was ruined by sitcoms and SNL.

 

That said, lists are dumb.

Biggie Sized said exactly what I was going to say. I also think they should do a Top 50 Newcomers show, and although it would no doubt contain most of their Comedy Central Presents people, some of them would deserve a spot.

[Guest Redhawk]

Robin Harris should have made the list. In interviews with D.L. Hughley and a lot of Black comedians, I've heard them list Robin as one of their influences.

[Dangerous A 0]

Chris Rock is good, but not at 5. He is more like a high teens, low twenties guy. Maybe a 10 at his highest. No way in hell he should outrank Eddie Murphy. Eventually, Dave Chapelle will overtake Rock.

[Nighthawk 0]

I don't know, man. Chappelle is good but made his name in other ventures. It's not like he was obscure before, but he was never very popular based on stand up. One of the funniest things I can recall him doing is ridiculous over the top stand up in Nutty Professor, in fact about the only part of that movie I liked. He might want to try doing some characters like Pryor.

He has made good movies though, which Rock has not.

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

I think a lot of the icons, like Hope, Berle and Burns should have been a lot higher. They basically invented stand up comedy as we know it today.

 

Jonathan Winters should be higher. He had one of the quickest and sharpest minds I've ever seen. Robin Williams basically stole his act, just made it more manic.

 

Woody Allen is a bit high, but I've seen stand up bits that he did on Ed Sullivan and such and he had good material if not the best material.

 

I'm suprised that Cosby wasn't in the top three. Carlin and Pryor I believe are interchangeable at number one and they basically represent the two main types of stand up style. Either observational or personal, and Pryor actully did a little of both.

 

And what's with the Margaret Cho love, she sucks monkey dick in hell.

 

I've seen Gallagher live twice and he's very funny. The first time I saw him he did three hours by himself and had the crowd enthralled. The fruit smashing was like the last ten minutes if that. One of the few things that Dave Chapelle has done on his show that I hated was the Black Gallagher bit, because Gallagher is nothing like the image people have of him.

 

A lot of people appear to be on the list simply because of their association with Comedy Central or having achieved greater fame outside of standup, like Carrey and Romano who is way too high. A lot of people look to have been rewarded for the success they achieved outside of the stand up realm.

 

Judy Gold, the female on the show, was very annoying and unfunny on the special. She was always interrupting everyone else and sucking up to the special guests. She agreed with most everyone and didn't say much of anything new.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Ranked too high (overrated): Chris Rock, Roseanne, Ellen Degeneres, Ray Ramano, DL Hughley, Dom Irrera, Wanda Sykes.

 

Ranked too low (underrated): Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Jon Winters, Bill Hicks, Kinison, Redd Foxx, and I'd be tempted to put both Bobcat and Howie Mandel a little higher.

 

Also, where's Saget? Just because he was horrible on Full House and AMHV doesn't mean that he wasn't funny ... I've seen some Saget that was laugh out loud funny.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Agreed on Sagat. I remember watching a special saying "I don't want to see this shit. I hate Full House." And I was just laughing my ass off the whole time.

[Guest netslob]

Also, where's Saget? Just because he was horrible on Full House and AMHV doesn't mean that he wasn't funny ... I've seen some Saget that was laugh out loud funny.

same here, people give him a bad rap because of his "family-oriented" work, but his stand-up is hysterical. and DIRTY. yes, Bob Saget can do dirty humor, quite well in fact.

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

I remember a Rodney Dangerfield tribut show he did where Sagat said that Rodney was the only person he ever met that could use cock as as an adverb. After first meeting him, he looked him straight in the eye and said "Boy, you don't know cock!"

[Guest NCJ]

A little off topic, but to this day one of the funiest things I have ever seen is Bob Sagget in Half Baked going "I sucked dick for crack have you ever sucked dick for weed" I have never seen any of Sagget's stand up so I will definately have to check it out.

[Skywarp! 0]

Izzard should have been higher.

 

Why is Cedric the Entertainer on there at all? What does he DO? I would go even as far as to say they should cut him out of the list, move everyone up a notch, then stick one of the comedians this thread named but was omitted at 100. Even if it was Carrot Top. Carrot might have made me laugh once. I doubt it, though. All I know is, I've never laughed at Cedric in my whole life.