Who is your favorite comedian?

Richard Pryor. Period.

I used to like George Carlin a lot, but towards the end he was so angry and bitter that he wasn't funny any more.

Pinnette.

I admit to loving Margaret Cho.

Alan Zweibel.

Sarah Silverman, the bedwetter herself.

Johnny McGovern

Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, Kathleen Madigan

Burr, Madigan, Larry David

Rodney Dangerfield in his heyday (1970s-early 1980s). Still pull up his old appearances on Johnny Carson.

Bob Newhart and the late great Victoria Wood.

Lisa Lampanelli could be funny, albeit not everybody's style.

All-time--Richard Pryor

Current--Bill Burr

Gaining Traction--John Mulaney

Louie Anderson

Bob Saget, the filthy bastard!

Chris Rock

Stephen Wright

Rodney Dangerfield

Judy Tenuta

Don Rickles

Joan Rivers

Nina Conti

Dave Chappelle Chris Rock David Spade Dave Attell

Another vote for Lisa Lampanelli.

Fluffy, Buddy Hackett, George Carlin, John Mulaney is growing on me, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Jim Gaffigan, Kathleen Madigan

Joan Rivers

Patton Oswalt, John Mulaney

Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan

Chappelle, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Joan Rivers, Tom Segura, Louis CK

Maria Bamford. John Mulaney. Jim Gaffigan. Hannibal Buress.

Chapelle and Zach Galifinakis -- back in the day.

Nate Bargatze is wonderful too, if you don't know him, check him out. He's got a very relaxed, low-key, wide-eyed observational humor, and no cussing. I adore him.

Kathleen Madigan is an absolute stitch. Brilliantly funny woman!

Eddie Izzard

Dave Chappelle, old school Eddie Murphy, old school Kathy Griffin

Richard Pryor, Mitch Hedberg, Doug Stanhope, Bill Hicks

Bill Burr, Katt Williams-when he's functional, Ali Siddiq, Charlie Murphy, John Mulaney

Anthony Jeselnik

Kathy Griffin, Michelle Wolf

Rita Rudner

Catherine O'Hara is consistently, reliably, genius. Wanda Sykes. And I think Tig Notaro has some of the best delivery I've seen. Eddie Izzard. Gene Wilder.

R33 When did Catherine do stand up, that’s fascinating I would like to see it?

Wanda Sykes. I find her very funny but, more importantly, her comedy doesn't have the undercurrent of meanness and neediness that many other comedians have.

Chris Rock

Rodney Dangerfield

George Carlin

Tig Notaro

John Mulaney

Tig Notaro, Wanda Sykes

Kathleen Madigan is hysterical—she's a great storyteller, not just a joke writer. Hilarious stuff. She's not in the orbit of the Comedy Store cult though so she doesn't get as much attention as she should. I suspect she is a closeted lesbian, and she is also clearly an alcoholic, but God bless her. I also like Margaret Cho, and Joan Rivers has always gotten a laugh out of me as well. A more obscure one: Jessa Reed, who I actually saw perform live, was excellent (also a great storyteller with some of the craziest stories you could imagine about being an ex-meth addict).

Oddly, there are quite a few other comedians who I like as conversationalists, but I don't necessarily like their stand-up: Annie Lederman, Brody Stevens (RIP), and Esther Povitsky are a few examples—all very funny, genuinely weird personalities, but their stand-up doesn't make me laugh as frequently as the others I mentioned above. I listen to Annie's podcast regularly because I find her sense of humor absurd and amusing; same with Esther and Brody, who had a podcast together that was truly batshit.

Agree with all those choosing Tig on here, if ever there a joke that deserves the Pulitzer it’s her long format one about Taylor Dayne.

Margaret Cho fan, is it true she never washes her hair? How is that possible? She must reek.

A few years back, Margaret was on one of those wife swap shows, she told the husband she was living with for a week, "I never wash my hair". Sounds damn nasty. Personal hygiene is very important. I guess it didn't matter to the husband she was living with, since they weren't sleeping together.

Victoria Wood

Tommy Johnagin

Another vote for Kathleen Madigan. Have seen her live several times over the years. My face hurt from laughing.

I love stand-up comedy, and for me to cite just a couple would be criminal.

My favorites would be Bill Burr & Anthony Jesselnik.

Jessica Kirson is starting to grow on me.

But there are a lot of new people whom I had been watching on Comedy Central's improv series that used to be on Friday nights - and a number of them have been pretty amusing. Matthew Broussard is one who comes to mind.

Chris Hardwick, Daniels Tosh, Wanda Sykes & Hasan Minhaj have done really funny stand-up.

John Mulaney was always just ok with me - until I saw him on Colbert about a week or so ago where he came across as really likeable (and weirdly sexy). So I may have to re-think him.

Richard Pryor was insanely funny. His routine about his freaking heart attack was the funniest thing I've ever heard. I miss him.

I saw Bill Hicks live in Houston in the late 80s. He had a routine about how annoying it was to visit his parents and for them to expect him to follow their routine. "Our house, Bill." He had his revenge planned, though. The next time they visited him, he planned to have them up all night. laying out rails of coke for them on the coffee table. And if they tried to sneak off to go to bed, he'd berate them with "C'mon, they're still drinking in Louisiana!" I still say that when people try to quit the party early. No one has any idea what I'm talking about, but I'm remembering Bill Hicks, who actually had funny drug humor, e.g., his routine about the police pulling over his friend's car while he was tripping on acid. I'll find it on

Dave Chapelle. Richard Pryor George Carlin Eddie Murphy Katt Williams Patrice O'Neal

I'm going to look up Tig Notaro, I've heard a lot about her.

George Carlin, Margaret Cho, Joan ("When my water broke, the dog drowned") Rivers.

Bob Hope

R40, I don't know much about Margaret Cho but I assume from what you say she's a member of the "No [sham]Poo Movement". It's not about personal hygiene lapses.

Current comic would be Kathleen Madigan hands down. All time would be Rickles or Dangerfield.

So many of you mentioned Kathleen Madigan that I decided to check out one of her specials on Netflix. I couldn't last more than a minute and a half.

Her audience seemed to be nothing but fat Midwestern fraus and their even fatter husbands and there was some ludicrously twee "song" about Madigan shortly appearing onstage. It was cringe-inducing and I immediately switched it off and tried to find something that wouldn't be an assault on my senses.

Is she the sort of performer flyover fraus find funny?

Rodney Dangerfield on Johnny Carson

Sinbad

Madigan seems like a woman who's been in the game a long time. She comes out with that constant pained smile on her face and tells kinda predictable stuff. Mildly feminist not very original humor. She's a midwestern Elayne Boosler. There's nothing inventive or new there or she wouldn't still be in clubs for longer than I've been alive. Rita Rudner, on the other hand had a very quirky delivery and some oddly observational humor. A nice deadpan jewish princess stepford wife style. She makes even mundane material seem a bit funny.

Wanda Sykes has you on her side, she's not great with jokes or stories. She's just very likeable and angry enough. But if you've seen her once - you wouldn't drag your friends back to see her again.

I used to find Wendy Leiberman hysterical. But no one else did. Comedy is too personal to rate, unless they're a complete loser like George Lopez or Michael Richards.

Anthony Jeselnik is funny. As is Natasha Leggero. They really shouldn't be, but they sometimes are.

Bill Hicks

Gilda Radner

Pee Wee Herman

[quote] Margaret Cho fan, is it true she never washes her hair?

R40, I can say with all honesty that I've never once in my life wondered about Margaret Cho's hair.

I’ve known Kathleen Madigan was a lesbian for decades. Open secret. Kind of like we all knew about Ellen eons before she came out. I haven’t been paying attention. Is she’s still in the closet?

I wonder why so many female comics are lesbians?

Ernie Kovacs. Cass Daley.

Janey Godley, of course.

Bill Burr (until he got married and had a kid), Chris Rock, Brian Regan

R60 Yes finally a vote for Brian Regan! He's outrageous without being gross or dirty or anything. Just outrageously funny and totally true observational humor.

You guys, Maria Bamford!?! Hello???

Moshe Kasher and also Natasha Leggero.

Stewart Lee

Rhod Gilbert

Joan Rivers

Eddie Murphy back in his prime.

John Mulaney, Kathleen Madigan, and Anthony Jeselnik in that order

Kitty Flanagan

Nick Cody

Dave Thornton

There are a few people who can always get me to laugh. Eddie Murphy was a genius back in the day and also in his recent comeback hosting on SNL. And I really love Ricky Gervais--he is brilliant when he hosts the Golden Globes (not sooo much the last time) and he has a laugh that is incredibly contagious. He's a terrific actor actually (I love his show After Life, that he writes, directs and stars in). I was off him for a while but with his recent show, am a huge fan again.

Going back--Joan Rivers was always brilliantly funny to me. I used to love Larry David, but I didn't like the latest season of Curb all that much. Carlin. Lenny Bruce. Nichols and May (showing my age). Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner (The 2000-year-old Man). ("In your 2000 years, did you ever know Joan of Arc? Joan of Arc, you kidding? I went wid her, dummy. She always used to say, "I gotta save France." I used to say, "I gotta wash up." Save France, wash up. Her in her way, me in mine."

r62 I'm hanging my head in shame for forgetting to list her. And I'm mentally ill, too.

Yeah, you showed your age R69. And some refined funny taste. I really wasn't around for many of them but the last of Joan Rivers and I love Gervais and Larry David. Gay men (I am) should stop qualifying all the time the one song or film or performance or sheep they didn't enjoy of the things they loved. Just say what you like. It's okay. We have this need to classify too much. Don't remove the joy from your fucks.

Anyway, here is Elaine May being a bit too clever R69. And funny as fuck.

John Mulaney, Guy Branum, Bill Burr, Dave Chapelle

OMG, can’t believe I forgot to mention Wanda Sykes! She’s been so good for so long, I guess I take her for granted.

Sebastian Maniscalco

R52 Kathleen's sense of humor is very midwestern, and a lot of the stories she tells in her standup have to do with growing up in the midwest. I am the complete opposite of a flyover frau—gay man, late 20s, raised on the west coast by progressive parents—and I still find her very funny. Her comedy is not shocking or crude, but she is great at spinning a story in the funniest way possible.

R70 She just came out with a new album, "Weakness Is The Brand." Really wonderful.

R2 funny I thought Carlin got better and better as he get older. His last couple of specials were the best.

I’ll also always love Steve Martin. He just very much has “my kind of humor.” Even in his paycheck roles he plays the uptight whitey role to perfection — so I really have no complaints.

Although I live on the east coast, I am from Kansas City, MO. Kathleen Madigan speaks the language of my childhood and it cracks me the hell up. The only difference is I'm a Jewish only-child, and she's Irish Catholic one of nine. That particular stuff is still funny to me, regardless, and really more Bostonian to me than midwestern.

Maria Bamford. I’ve never seen anyone like her. Brilliant, vulnerable, talented voice artist.

I loved 💔 Robin Williams.

Tyler Perry as Madea.

Bernie Mac

The Cast of Seinfeld

I drive a lot and listen to comedians in the car all the time. You can type their name into Pandora and create a station. Plays 3 to 5 minute clips at a time of similar comedians. That’s how I discovered Madigan and Regan.

Robin Williams was up and down for me, but when he was on fire it was incredible. His broadcasts in Good Morning Vietnam (ad libbed, no less) are some of the funniest moments ever captured on film.

Kyle Kinane is pretty funny. He has a whole schpiel about sitting next to someone on a plane who was eating homemade pancakes out of a bag, that had me rolling.

George Carlin (how I would have loved to hear his take on all these new bullshit words and terms that have sprung up since his death), old school Eddie Murphy (despite his ignorance about AIDS), Kathy Griffin when she still was an outsider looking in, Margaret Cho before her routines became overly political.

Going to check out Kathleen Madigan, thanks to this thread.

Henny Youngman was playing at the Concord Resort in the Catskills some decades ago when my brother in law encountered him in the bar after his act. My brother in law convinced Henny to call his mother in law, my mother, and tell her jokes at 2 am in the morning., Then about 5 years later, he ran into Henny again, and Henny again called to take my mother, please.

Chris Rock during the 90s and early 2000s; Chris Tucker; Kathy Griffin; Billy Crystal; Roseanne before she became whatever the heck she is now; Whoopi Goldberg from the 80s to mid 90s; and Martin Lawrence

Billy Connolly. The only comic who can reliably make me laugh out loud alone in my living-room. And so good-natured, which is not something you can often say about a comedian.

People may be too young to remember but Richard Pryor's stand up in the 70s and Eddie Murphy's stand up in the 80s were incomparable, just explosively funny. Pryor preaching or doing his wino and Murphy's riff on Italians were devastating, never laughed so hard in my life.

I love Debra Wilson (MAD TV) and Key & Peele.

Also the late Mitch Hedberg.

Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin. My Mom (now deceased) also loved both of them and it brought us closer together. I'll always be grateful for that.

Steve Martin, Don Rickles, Mad TV crew, and last but not least, Monty Python.

I appreciate reading about these other comedians. I didn't know of them and will have to check them out.

I just saw Knives Out. The did a good job, made me laugh several times. I completely forgot we have a pandemic, fyi.

Steve Allen and not just as a comic but everything else under the sun. George and Gracie. Phyllis Diller. Tracey Ullman. Sarah Silverman. Martha Raye.

Alec Mapa

My current discovery is Julio Torres. His mind is very twisted, but in a humorous way.

Definitely Kathleen Madigan. I saw her recently on an episode of Comics Unleashed-her humor was more racy than midwestern house frau. I saw maria bamford live; she was brilliant.

Mark Normand. He just put out an hour-long show on YouTube:

It said I really don't like any of the comedians now. It's all the ones from the past. Pryor, Red Foxx, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, Eddie Murphy.

John Mulaney: "I think I was supposed to be gay."

[quote][R40], I don't know much about Margaret Cho but I assume from what you say she's a member of the "No [sham]Poo Movement". It's not about personal hygiene lapses.

No, Margaret specifically said, "I don't wash my hair" which translates to, not even washing her hair with plain water. On the wife swap TV show, her hair did look greasy and stringy. I could smell it through the screen! Why are some people so gross? I guess this ties in with arrogance and entitlement, same with rich people who don't bathe regularly. Sting supposedly reeks.

Hair must be washed regularly with some type of soap or shampoo, the oils the scalp emits, especially in hot climates, polluted cities and especially if you work out, must be cleansed. We all sweat, who doesn't wash their hair, at least a few times a week? Scalp odor is nasty!

I can understand people not wanting to use harsh shampoos, but to not wash your scalp and hair is absurd and disgusting.

Plain water isn't much help on a smelly dirty greasy scalp.

Joan Rivers. Here she is a few months b4 her death.

Sebastian Maniscalco Is my favorite standup but Bill Murray is my favorite comedy actor.

I love Daniel Sloss, a young Scottish standup.

Jimmy Carr -As rude and crude as it gets! :)

Stephen Wright

Judy Tenuta

David Brenner

Eldergays, tell me about Lenny Bruce. Was he as funny as he was controversial(for the time)?

Sam Morril. Too bad he's straight.

Limmy.

US: Gilbert Gottfried

UK: Sean Lock

Wanda Sykes.

Redd Foxx

Wanda Sykes.

I was just going toy say Wanda Sykes, but R111 beat me to it by 3 minutes. Her material is great; she's good at ad libbing, and I love her hilarious tone of voice when she acts incredulous.

Russell Peters

Steven Wright

Robert Klein

Chris Rock

Robin Williams

113 posts and no one has mentioned Mad-TV's Michael McDonald or Mo Collins?

Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, George Carlin, older Kathy Griffin, Patton Oswalt, Frankie Boyle

Wanda Sykes.

LOVED Wanda on Julia Louis-Dreyfus series, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Wanda was much funnier than Julia. Julia's character was so grating and way too stupid. Clark Gregg and Hamish Linklater were great. Julia was the weakest link.

Because despite what the sour queens on DL say, R57, lesbians are the funniest.

Debra Wilson from MadTV was excellent, besides being great at celebrity parodies, her Whitney Houston was amazing, she could also sing, dance and was also an actress, I saw her in a few films. I always wondered why she wasn't picked for SNL.

Whitney Screw Up the Classics.

Colin Kane.

Greg Giraldo. RIP

Dave Chappelle

John Mulaney. The only comedian I've ever liked except for Lenny Bruce.

Joe Machi is unique and clever and funny looking but cute but strange

Tom Cruise

Lynne Koplitz

Yesteryear: Rodney Dangerfield

Gabe Kaplan

David Brenner

George Carlin

Johnny Carson

Joan Rivers

More recent: Chris Rock

John Mulaney

Dave Chapelle

Amy Sedaris

Drag queen : The late Charles Pierce

I'm not sure about truly laugh out loud, but I think probably Wanda Sykes makes me laugh the most.

Joe Lycett