Funniest stand up comedy you've seen

Curly Watts

Martin Laurence' stand up is brilliant imo

RonMexico

I remember seeing Billy Connolly in U.L. in Limerick a few years ago. He walked onstage and the first thing out of his mouth was - "Limerick, it's good to be back. It's not quite the ****hole it used to be.":D

Saw Tommy Tiernan about 6-7 years ago and he was also hilarious.

Bill Bailey has some great shows. Love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98xNx87hRbU

Rich Hall is good, love his Otis Lee Crenshaw routine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p4oQXIWmiU

Also Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks


Tim Minchen is a twat though.

strobe

Richard Pryor: He can do really tame family friendly stuff that has you in stitches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWWgCvvITUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6IQgR4ehJY

and two minutes later go into heavy adult stuff about hardcore drug use, the mafia, racism and sex and still be just as clever, funny and insightful as with the softer stuff. Just a fucking legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu-MKSmVT7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN1y9ZlOPf4

Shryke

Dylan Moran,
Bill Bailey,
Dara O' Briein,
Bill Hicks,
Stewart Lee,
Richard Pryor,
and Jimmy Carr all do it for me.
Sean Lock is good but better suited to panel shows. The same for Frankie Boyle.

One comedian I really really dislike is Michael Mcintyre..

Great bit that Stewart Lee did on Frankie Boyle (who I don't mind at all):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft2TXXuQrTo

And a classic bit of Dylan Moran:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNKoH84ioz0

cruiser178

krudler wrote: »

cant believe I forgot Mitch Hedberg, insanely funny guy, such a pity he died so young.

sample jokes "so my pants are holding up my belt, but my belt is holding up my pants, so whos the real hero down there?"

"I saw a wino eating some grapes and I was like "dude, you gotta wait"

ah just youtube him, brilliant stuff.

just did, very good.

pragmatic1

Peetrik wrote: »

Are you from the US yourself? Some of the cultural differances from Ireland or the UK might not travel well and vice versa of course. A lot of the US comedians are fantastic but TBH I regularly find some US comedians to be a little... obvious.

No I'm Irish. I find a lot of UK and Irish comedians too tame and afraid to be un -Pc.

krudler

Patton Oswalt too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDCjIjsZp_Y

dagdha

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

Anybody who thinks that Eddie Murphy's Raw and Delirious shows were the best (both awesome, I agree) should check out Richard Pryor. The likes of Murphy and Chris Rock wouldn't ever claim to even be as good as him. He pretty much gave birth to that kind of comedy.

His ability to tell stories about the grimmest things that happened to him - growing up in a whorehouse, setting himself on fire after trying to freebase cocaine whilst spilling rum on himself, shooting up his girlfriend's car, having a heart attack - in such a humourous and candid way was nothing short of amazing.

He was also a great actor on stage which greatly added to his Live shows. He'd play out dialogue between multiple characters, giving them clearly defined personalities and voices in a way that most comedians could only aspire to. Absolute genius. Can't help but feel that his work has been diluted a bit by so many people playing the magpie with his work but he was a revolutionary in the comedy world.

Other great comedians I would advise everyone to check out are Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin. Very funny and very clever.

+1
I remember watching The Original Kings Of Comedy a good few years back and I thought it was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I then watched a couple of Richard Pryors shows a few years later and pretty much every joke in The Original Kings Of Comedy was one of Richard Pryors or a rip off of one that he had done about 20 years previously. Richard Pryor was one of the funniest comedians ever and his shows were hilarious.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Its a toss up between George Carlin and Mitch Hedberg for me. They had contrasting styles and brands of humour and they both were brilliant.

ricero

I'm shocked kevin bridges has not been mentioned yet he's my favorite at the moment. I also love eddie murphy and peter kay. I detest lee Evans

frag420

For me it has to be

JimJeffries,
Steve Hughes,
Bill Hicks,
Richard Prior,

krudler

Dave Chappelle is awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4mM1id6wA

Ciderswigger

+1 for Ross Noble. I think he is legendary. You never know what you're gonna get.

Saw Ardal O'H a few years ago and was bitterly disappointed with him. He was dire. Pity.

krudler

ricero wrote: »

I'm shocked kevin bridges has not been mentioned yet he's my favorite at the moment. I also love eddie murphy and peter kay. I detest lee Evans

Peter Kay needs to stop rehashing the same jokes, didnt he release two dvds with near identical routines? he's safe comedy your mam would watch, nowt wrong with that, he has his audience, just plays it too safe all the time.

Stewart Lee I find hit and miss, his "I'm so superior" brand of comedy is grating at times, comedians who poke fun at themselves can win over an audience better than one who tells them they're stupid all the time.

Comedians I hate though:
Maeve Higgins, like a black hole of comedy
Jason Byrne, picking on the audience is the sign of a weak comedian
Neil Delamare, boring.
Frankie Boyle (well hate is a strong word, I just dont find his actual standup funny, he's funnier on panel shows)

Duggy747

Richard Pryor & Eddie Murphy's stuff are up there as my favourites.

Pablo Francisco is funny too. His first 2 DVDs are brilliant and are up on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixToQbFc53A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6lq41i3Mk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vja0QH9tTUo

ToddyDoody

Has to be jimmy carr.. Pure evil

krudler

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Has to be jimmy carr.. Pure evil

dont you mean the guy who writes his jokes is pure evil

ricero

krudler wrote: »

ricero wrote: »

I'm shocked kevin bridges has not been mentioned yet he's my favorite at the moment. I also love eddie murphy and peter kay. I detest lee Evans

Peter Kay needs to stop rehashing the same jokes, didnt he release two dvds with near identical routines? he's safe comedy your mam would watch, nowt wrong with that, he has his audience, just plays it too safe all the time.

Stewart Lee I find hit and miss, his "I'm so superior" brand of comedy is grating at times, comedians who poke fun at themselves can win over an audience better than one who tells them they're stupid all the time.

Comedians I hate though:
Maeve Higgins, like a black hole of comedy
Jason Byrne, picking on the audience is the sign of a weak comedian
Neil Delamare, boring.
Frankie Boyle (well hate is a strong word, I just dont find his actual standup funny, he's funnier on panel shows)

True about kay but back his prime he was unstoppable just pure comedy for all ages that is brilliant. I do agree he needs to change his routine up sharpish. That's why I like kevin bridges he's a bit like peter kay but can go over the top when he wants unlike kay

Fluorescence

I really don't like the comedy of people like Jimmy Carr or Steward Francis - their routines are pretty much entirely comprised of 1-liner jokes. I find it quite jarring.

I agree with Krudler that Stewart Lee can be hit and miss. Sometimes he takes far too long to get to the point, and not enough funnies in between.

ascanbe

Have a bit of love-hate relationship with stand-up comedy.
If in the mood for it i find it great; if not i kind of find most of depressing and annoying.
Anyway. that's obviously irrelevant..
Most of the stand-up that's blown me away and that i can watch at any time is american.
Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, at his best, Dave Chappelle, as mentioned by others.
Billy Connolly, moving away from america, in his prime, was incredible.
The bits of Lenny Bruce, american again, i've seen is great and Bill Hicks who was somewhat derivative of him, was, at his best, also great.
Some Joan Rivers i've seen is brilliant.
Of more modern stuff, like some of Dylan Moran's and Stewart Lee's stuff.
And recently saw a Lee Mack show on tv; for pure entertainment, he's great. Great performer.
To be topical, Frank Carson could tell a gag..
There's more; they're just the ones that come to mind at this moment.
Oh, and Bob Monkhouse probably had the best pure 'stand-up comedian' joke ever written:
'People used to laugh at me when i said i wanted to be a comedian: they're not laughing now..'.

Darius.Tr

krudler wrote: »

I think Dane Cook's problem was he got too big, his show at Madison Square Garden is hard to listen to due to amount of women screaming at him the whole way through it, he's a rock star comedian, he's very fratboy humour but does have some very funny bits.

Yea, his older acts were much better. I dont really like his new stuff...
This has to be one of my favourites of Dane Cook:

a bit long but worth the watch

K-9

Serious lack of Dave Allen on this thread as well!

ascanbe

K-9 wrote: »

Serious lack of Dave Allen on this thread as well!

Great point!
Knew i was missing some greats; can't believe i forget him though.
He was incredible.
And stylish as f*ck.

Jess16

K-9

ascanbe wrote: »

Great point!
Knew i was missing some greats; can't believe i forget him though.
He was incredible.
And stylish as f*ck.

Forgot about Bob Monkhouse. Bit old fashioned but he was supposed to have a serious amount of one liners written down at his home!

Dave Allen was probably the forerunner to the many talented Irish comics in the 90's.

Reminds me of an Irish Ronnie Corbett, it wasn't so much his stuff was that brilliant, it was the telling of the story!

Lee Mack is very dry, the interaction between him and David Mitchell on Would I lie to you is very good, polar opposites, makes the show.

K-9

Oh and Ian Hislop. Must be 20 years now and outlasted Bremner as the best political satirist for decades.

Jimoslimos

K-9 wrote: »

Oh and Ian Hislop. Must be 20 years now and outlasted Bremner as the best political satirist for decades.

Hislop is good, but struggles to keep his obvious Tory bias in check at times.

John Doe1

Demetri Martin!

K-9

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Hislop is good, but struggles to keep his obvious Tory bias in check at times.

But well able to take the piss out of them too. I think a lot of is with 13 years of Labour he came across as that, the accent and public school background and all that, but he's very cynical of the Tories as well.

Give him another term of Tory Government and I'd say he'd go a large way to addressing what is oft a viewer bias! He's a bit of a political cynic and probably sharper for it, because it is the Tories in Government.

I was an avid viewer during the Major days, the scandal stuff just wrote itself in them days!

dave3004

Eddie Murphy, Richie Pryor, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay.

These are my favs. A lot of the comedians named in this thread are mere amateurs.

Best live stand-up I've seen was Eddie Izzard by a distance.

Cool_CM

Jimmy Carr
Steve Hughes
David O'Doherty
Jason Rouse*

*very NSFW and definitely not for the easily offended

chasm

I love stand up comedy, used to watch a lot of it on the TV as a kid growing up in the UK, it seemed to fall out of favour for a while but it seems to have made a comeback big time again.

It's hard to pick my favourites but here's a few

Dave Allen - i think a lot of his stuff is still relevent today, some great videos on youtube, the bank one about loans and queues lol
Ben Elton
Jasper Carrott
Jack Dee
Billy Connolly
Jason Manford
Rhod Gilbert
John Bishop
and probably not a popular choice but he used to make me laugh, roy chubby brown.

holystungun9

Going to chip in here and sidetrack things a little....I don't have TV or DVDs so Youtube is my source of content. Lately I have been really enjoying Frankie Boyle, Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr etc etc. but I have rediscovered 'Whose line is it anyway?', the American one with Drew Carey and Ryan Styles. Just look for the 'best of' and you will see some of the funniest improv comedy going.

flyswatter

Thought Bernard Manning was hilarious. "Two old maids on a beach, streaker ran past, one had a stroke, the other couldn't reach".

tfitzgerald

Two of the best i have seen are billy Connolly and Jimmy Carr .Its a few years now but one of the best Irish guys I saw was Niall Toibin he was priceless

Benicetomonty

Have to give Izzard a mention too-seen him live twice and wasnt blown away tbh but Glorious and Dress to Kill had me in tears laughing

Cavehill Red

Best stand-up ever was Sam Kinison. Very influential on Bill Hicks and many others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GXPd0fnpKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN7ehccspao

I'm a big fan of Hicks, Carlin and Dave Allen too.

leviathon

My all time favourite has to be Emo Phillips, one of the most underrated comedians out there I think,has the weirdest deliveries of any comedian, but razor sharp. Gutted I missed him in 2010, found out a bloody week later he was playing. Well worth checking him out.

DaDartle

two 'clean' comedians worth a mention are Seinfeld and Brian Regan.


The latter talking about the instructions on Pop tarts box is pretty funny and the bit about the television editor of fishing programs is classic.

He's one of those guys that makes you laugh just looking at him.

pearliefan

Some of the stand up Jim Carrey has done is fantastic!! It's the facial expressions...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIvGLOJPels

miketv

I don't think Doug Stanhope got a mention yet.:o

Shenshen

Jim Jeffreys, hand down.

John the baptist

Again, some that haven't been mentioned yet, Brendon Burns is a vulgar bastid but he's good with it.

Daniel Kitson did the best live show i've been at though i've heard since he can be hit and miss..

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Ardal O'Hanlon and Frankie Boyle.

Ardal was a surprise, my face was sore from laughing!

Also Robin Williams is absolutely unreal.

Louis C.K. or Stanhope

staengus

Shenshen wrote: »

Jim Jeffreys, hand down.

Just in case you didn't know:
Sunday 26th February at 1:15am on ComedyCtralX

Howard the Duck

Mitch Hedberg is my favourite comedian still listen to his albums on my ipod.
Also like Stewart Lee, David O'Doherty, Dom Irrera.

amovingstatue

The story of Mr. P.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwWUAPnMB2Y

cruiser178

Stephen K Amos, well worth a look on youtube, very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY-z1IZIGVQ

DEFTLEFTHAND

Howard the Duck wrote: »

Mitch Hedberg is my favourite comedian still listen to his albums on my ipod.
Also like Stewart Lee, David O'Doherty, Dom Irrera.

I still listen to Mitch all the time as well, I love his style and delivery, I can listen to his sets over and over again and still be in tears laughing.