I feel the need to stab/shoot Ed Byrne. His voice vandalises my insides! Frankie Boyle is filthy but a ledge. Micky Flanagan has his moments. In my humble opinion, Dylan Moran is funniest of them all!
It funny (#pun) but I find some of the names listed above are good for the panel show / one liners environment, but for me do not stand up (#pun2) to an hour or so routine.
Best examples of this for me are Jon Richardson and John Bishop (think his stand-up is awful).
The best stand-up’s for me are as follows;
Eddie Murphy (Raw and Delirious are still funny!!)
Richard Pryor
Billy Connolly
Jim Jeffries
Chris Rock
Ricky Gervais (not mentioned yet on this thread…???)
Micky Flanagan
Dislike
Frankie Boyle (undoubtedly funny, loved the early MTW stuff, but jokes about the disabled etc go way beyond the grey that comedians thread so carefully!)
Ed Byrne (just really un-funny. Would be a total unknown were he not DoB’s best mate)
Also, maybe for the Good TV thread, but I only recently flew through Comedian’s in Cars, Getting Coffee (Jerry Seinfeld).
Really entertaining cross between talk-show / comedy documentary. Format is good and allows for some really interesting insights into what made the comedians tick.
Kevin James does a very funny routine of women picking out what greeting card to buy in a shop. Versus a man doing it. It’s about 7 minutes long and is all mime. You can guess which one is 6 mins 45 seconds & which one is 15 seconds.
Never saw any of their standup. I was going back through the comedy I grew up with and my Da used to always have the Billy, Freddy and Dave Allen on all the time. Then as I was in my teens my brother introduced me to Roy Brown who I used to remember crying laughing at. So, I have my reasons
A lot of what Mickey Flanagan does I find quite funny. Some brilliant anecdotes from when he was “a player” in the early 80’s as weel as moving to “posh Essex” from the East End once he got married.
Freddie Starr was brilliant.
Dunno who Denis Carlin is but George Carlin is/was one of the greats.
Tommy Cooper always one of many people’s favourites. Les Dawson had his moments.
Two of the funniest shows I ever saw (both at the Cat Laughs) were Greg Proops, and The Nualas.
The outright funniest show I ever saw was Jon Kenny in The Oarhouse restaurant in Howth. Two and a half hours without a break, I ran out of sides and tears.
Btw IMHO the Oar House is the best restraunt in H, albeit I haven’t made it there in about two to three years
Great post, @5AliveOh. Jon Kenny and Pat Shortt, altbough not stand-up, were/are brilliant live performers.
Les Dawson on the mother-in-law and playing the piano… Top notch.
Joan Rivers, she was sharp as hell and far more daring than most edgy comics.
Dylan Moran is fantastic at constructing longer sstory like pieces.
Tig Notaro does some great stuff and the set she did just after being diagnosed with cancer is brilliant.
Eddie Izzard, for my money the best stand up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another stand up who can put together a routine as intelligently as he does.
JK does stand-up Beeko, it’s a story-telling style but nonetheless. PS has come close to top level with some of his series and film roles but hasn’t quite hit the mark yet.