Comedians who were not assholes

Don Rickles

Victoria Wood

WEHT? His career went nowhere fast.

Steve Martin and Martin Short.

Mark Williams

Kathy Burke

Michael Palin

Graeme Garden

Bill Oddie

Tim Brooke-Taylor

Terry Jones

Joan Rivers was a notoriously nice person in real life, entirely different from her stage persona.

John Pinette (RIP)

How about Ross Williams? I adore him. Please tell me he’s not an asshole.

Bob Saggot

Mathews I mean ^^

Mitch Hedberg

John Mulaney seems too nice for his own good.

But I sense he also has an inner angry, bitter queen.

Bob Newhart

Paula Poundstone

Paula Poundstone?! Are you serious?

In October 2001, she was charged with felony child endangerment in connection with driving while intoxicated with children in the car. She was also charged with three counts of lewd acts upon a girl younger than 14.

So she’s a drunk pedophile. Sounds like an asshole to me.

George Carlin

Steve Martin is so obviously an asshole that I cannot believe anyone would say otherwise.

R18 so was Joan Rivers, but the gay community seems to be delusional about her.

The charges of lewd acts were dropped, R16. There's never been any evidence she was a pedo.

Jack Benny

R18 He is a supposedly very nasty. I live on UWS and years ago would often run into Robin Williams at a coffee shop on 70th st. He was quiet, polite and everyone loved him.

R20, they were dropped when she pled guilty to a reduced charge via plea bargain of inflicting injury on a child and child endangerment. WTF?

R20 I'm not going to look it up, . But I seem to remember that one of her angry kids (foster?) made up the whole thing and single handedly ruined Paulas career.

Poundstone pleaded guilty to one count of inflicting damage on a child, and no contest to child endangerment. It's on Wikipedia, look it up and stop lying about it.

She was driving all her kids while drunk so that's what the felony child endangerment charge was about. The records are sealed and all we know is that there was an accusation of "inappropriate touching" and the charges based on that were all dropped.

If she was raping her own kids, the DA wouldn't have dropped those charges just because she agreed to plead guilty on something lesser.

Was Joan Rivers pro-gay back in the 80s?

She was. Very much so, actually.

[quote]The defense tried to show that whatever had transpired between the 12-year-old and Paula Poundstone, it was never intended to be a sexual act. That was critical, because in California, intent must be proven in order to prosecute anyone for sexual abuse.

[quote]"I can tell you that the district attorney's office conducted a thorough and complete investigation, and they made the decision to dismiss those three charges and replace them with one misdemeanor count of injury to a child," says Cron.

[quote]Poundstone says to spare her children and herself further trauma and the publicity of a trial, she pleaded no contest to one felony count of child endangerment for driving the kids when she was drunk. And in exchange for the D.A. dropping the three felony counts of lewd conduct, she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor for inflicting injury on a 12-year-old child. Again, no one's giving details about that injury, except to say "inappropriate," though not sexual, physical contact did occur.

[quote]"After the re-evaluation of the facts, we believe the appropriate charge was the physical infliction of pain and mental suffering, rather than the sexual abuse acts," says Satriano.

[quote]So no sexual acts occurred? "She did not plead guilty to a sexual crime," says Satriano.

[quote]..."Well, I didn't do anything sexual, and I didn't hit anybody," says Poundstone. "You know what happened is so colossally stupid that it's you know, probably more embarrassing than anything else. But I don't want to say anything that's going to get the judge mad. You know, I'm on probation for five years."

Rick Moranis

Tim Meadows

[quote] It's on Wikipedia, look it up and stop lying about it.

Who are you accusing of lying? No one said anything contrary to what you posted, that she oled guilty to the lesser charges.

R20, let’s forget the pedophilia charges for now, she drove drunk with her kids in the car, FFS. That alone makes her an asshole.

R31, "no contest" is not the same as "guilty."

That’s the same thing my dogs said about my year of full time drinking, R32.

George Carlin was known for his work with young mothers.

R15 you can't prove that.

No contest is, for all intents and purposes a guilty plea. It’s saying no lo contendre to the charge; you have sufficient evidence to support my guilt so I will not contest it. It carries the same penalties and consequences of pleading guilty.

If I accused you of murder and you had nothing to do with it, would you plead no contest, or fight it tooth and nail with every fiber of your being?

I think Tig Notaro is only an asshole to people who deserve it, otherwise if you’re a cool person she’s cool with you too.

Mike Birbiglia seems like the nicest guy in the world, which probably means he’s the worst ever behind the scenes.

Except for the roofies and the raping maybe Cosby?

R38, were you here for the Tig horrors that were prior to the cancer nightmares, but after the Tig shills?

Cosby was photographed literally attacking a crew member on his set, he had the guy in a headlock.

George Carlin was an asshole. My aunt was a waitress and said he was unpleasant. She did not know who he was when she waited on him. Martin Short could be a nasty piece of work.

[quote]No contest is, for all intents and purposes a guilty plea

No contest is not the same as a guilty plea.

You've been moving goalposts all over the place with this. First you said Poundstone was a pedo based on the charges. You're told the charges were dropped, which you said was only because of a plea bargain, which isn't true, the article above quotes the DA saying otherwise and shows that what she was originally charged with wasn't appropriate because there was no sexual context to the endangerment.

Then you said she plead guilty to a charge she actually plead no contest to, and you won't even admit you're wrong on that, you're trying to say they're the same plea when they're not.

If you have any proof of Paula being an asshole while out touring or making appearances, say so, otherwise just cut it the fuck out already.

Brent Butt

Rodney Dangerfield

Steve Martin is 100% an asshole.

Not sure about Marty short but I read his book and the amount of name-dropping was cringe. So many mentions of vacations with celebrities. Even name dropping in the context of his poor wife dying - weird focus on what celebrities came over with food and which celebrities helped with the funeral. Maybe the publisher told him to add that shit but I wasn’t expecting it and left a bad taste in my mouth. That being said, he really seemed to adore his wife.

[quote] Terry Jones

Nah, he was an asshole. Embarrassed his wife by claiming they had an open marriage (open marriage for him, not her) and after years of “open marriage” he cut her loose & married a young student after impregnating her.

Are we talking stand up comedians or people who do comedy?

Rodney Dangerfield lived with a man.

Wow a debate about Paula Poundstone. Only on The DL.

How does she make a living these days?

The great, short lived series I’m Dying Up Here really captured how fucked up most comedians are.

If once in his life he did standup, Joe Namath: Not an AH. Also not an AH and from limited observation: Steve Martin

R50 She seems to be a perpetual guest on that NPR quiz show, but how much can she be making from that. I do think she has a great voice for radio.

R52, Teri Garr may have forgiven him, but I’ve read his fiction efforts and that’s an asshole.

Gilda Radnor seems the type to eat her pain, and throw it up, before hurting others.

I remember Adam Carola and Dr. Drew complaining about Rodney Dangerfield being their worst guest and that's when I knew they were both assholes.

Never heard anyone else say anything about Rodney that wasn't complimentary.

Robin Williams was supposedly very nice. Most people I’ve heard with casual run-ins say he was nice and fun.

[quote] Then you said she plead guilty to a charge she actually plead no contest to

Oh, dear x2!

Teri Garr was asked what Gene Wilder (husband of Gilda Radner) was like and unhesitatingly answered “An asshole.”

Gilda, Martin Short, Michael Palin

Milton Berle was all cock, no asshole.

Judy Tenuta

Julia Brown, I don’t remember if she’s the downtown one or not, seems like she’d be fun and nice in person.

The Smothers brother. Not Dick. The other guy.

R18 As much as I like him in film, Steve Martin's assholery is legendary, which is just unfortunate.

R45 Jackée has said Dangerfield was a wonderful to her, but to everyone else on the set of "Ladybugs".

*AND to everyone else on the set of "Ladybugs".

It seems Scott Thompson, & the rest of the cast of "The Kids In The Hall" were, and are still nice guys.

R68 Eh, that’s Canadians for ya.

Comedians are generally acknowledged to be assholes. I've met Tom Green and Kevin Smith (if you consider them "comedians" as opposed to comic actors or whatever), and both were warm, funny, and unassholish.

I've met Lily Tomlin four times, and each time she was warm, funny and wonderful.

[quote]I've met Tom Green and Kevin Smith (if you consider them "comedians" as opposed to comic actors or whatever), and both were warm, funny, and unassholish.

Tom Green was a guest host on [italic]Canada's Drag Race[/italic] last year, and he seemed to be having a blast.

I never hear negative gossip about Bob Newhart.

R72 Tom Green was also quite sexy in person. He smelled good.

Never heard a bad word about Steve Martin.

Bill Murray, on the other hand, has had many asshole encounters, especially with female actors,

[quote] Martin Short.

And his lovely wife, Nancy.

Rosie O’Donnell

Was Bill Hicks an asshole?

A relative had a mildly unpleasant encounter with Steve Martin once, but I can’t tell the exact story because you never know who’s reading. Suffice it to say my relative was put in his place and we in the family teased him about it for years.

Ran into Flip Wilson at a restaurant when I was a little kid. He seemed like a nice man.

This is supposed to be pointless bitchery, but there is an older comedian who has better hair than Mark Maron who used to do the whole depression bit - can’t think of his name (Lewis?) and that’s not the point.

In a roundtable interview, he was commenting about a dinner party where somebody mentioned he was quiet and nothing like he was on stage. His point was that he couldn’t really respond without putting on an act or acting like a dick.

That’s why I can’t go by fan reporting on comedians. We’re expecting to throw a quarter in and make the monkey dance.

Elayne Boosler

Nipsey Russell

I like George Carlin, but he seems like he might have been difficult to be around.

Joan Rivers' politics aside, seems like she may have been a nice, polite woman.

Martin Short is a complete asshole. If you walk up to him, he'll be nice in a superficial way, because he thinks he's a legend, and legends need to be nice to their public. Outside of that, he is only interested in the company of famous people.

Will Ferrell is super nice, though.

R68 I adore the Kids In The Hall. Their material only gets funnier and more sharply astute with time. They do seem lovely men, too.

Aren’t they getting a Netflix deal? That’s what I heard.

Seattle has a feral Will Ferrell in Pioneer Square who demands sandwiches from me, R84. He’s much nicer than the lady who refuses to wear anything beneath her pants but owns ALL of Alaskan Way. Bitch spits when she yells at me.

Speaking of Canada, the Trailer Park Boys cast seem to be sweet decent fellas.

R83 My brother was the manager for the coffee shop at Caesar’s Palace during Joan River’s residency in the big room. His office was right next her dressing room and she would always stop by and chat at his office door going back and forth. He found her lovely and unpretentiousness and she was warm and welcoming when I was visiting and he had me watch her show and meet afterward.

“ anything beneath her pants” should be “Anything beneath her shirt”. It’s a Donald Duck situation that makes it look like she has Nipsy Russell in a scissor lock.

R51 Clark Duke & Michael Angarano killed in that. Shame it didn’t get more seasons.

Just found out on looking it up that Jim Carrey was the creator. I had no idea.

Wanda Sykes seems very cool.

R90 The show was based on a non fiction book of the same title which chronicled comedians in the 70s and their battles with Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore and her refusal to pay them. The book detailed Mitzi's rivalry with another comedy club owner Budd Friedman. There were stories of drug use, comedians who were mentally ill, and how broke comedians often stole food and items from The Comedy Store.

How did Paula Poundstone get her hands on kids? She was an alcoholic; how was she allowed to adopt children? Bought them, I guess.

"Teri Garr was asked what Gene Wilder (husband of Gilda Radner) was like and unhesitatingly answered “An asshole.”

It's highly possible she was joking when she called the beloved Gene Wilder "an asshole." If not, then maybe she was pissed that he ended their affair. They had one while making "Young Frankenstein."

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were both nice men.

Joan Rivers was just like Judge Judy - working a cunt persona while "on" but a compassionate, decent human being in real life.

A close friend would go to Joan Rivers for Thanksgiving - he says she was lovely.

Met Kathy Griffin. Like her.

DL favorite Pauly Shore.

Lisa Lampanelli

Conan is the nicest guy you'll meet.

R81 I think you’re thinking of Richard Lewis.

Gilda Radnor

Robin Williams

Lily Tomlin

My daughter played video games with Robin Williams online and did not know it until she received in the mail one day a very expensive video game console from Scotland. Weeks before its arrival, she shared with her anonymous online gaming friend that she would love to have this console, but couldn’t afford it. A couple of weeks later, it arrived in the mail from the UK. You may know that Robin loved playing, he even named his daughter Zelda after the legendary video game character. My daughter has Aspergers and no friends where we live. Yet she counted Robin as one of her many online friends. He was as Non asshole as you could get.

Brian Regan.

I hope.

Even though he doesn't do comedy anymore and focuses solely on political punditry, Sam Seder is a very friendly, down-to-earth guy.

Some say Janeane Garofalo is nice too, but I've never met her.

About John Mulaney; yes, the good guy, white bread thing is his Shtick.

But check out his “Off Camera” interview. Also some of his Larry King interviews. He can get quite pointed and bitchy at times.

Bitchy is actually how I prefer him.

Chris Farley.

Robin Williams was a notorious joke thief. He would steal routines word for word.

I had a longish chat with Richard Lewis years ago and he was absolutely wonderful.

Phyllis Diller.