The Stand Up Comedy Thread

Hey everybody! You know what the Arts sub-forum doesn't have? A worthy thread full of stand-up comedy! Feel free to post whatever it is you find funny. In the meantime, here's a couple stand ups that you might enjoy!

Here's someone I just discovered recently, John Mulaney, who's like 30 but sounds like he's 18. WARNING (for the little kiddies lurking at TWC): Contains some intermittent swear words that you can barely notice.



Here's one of Jon Stewart's classic stand-up routines from 2005 (again, WARNING, a few swear words here and there):

Im not a big fan of stand up comedy, even if i like a few stuff. And to put in bluntly stand up was mostly an american thing for along long time. Now is much more mainstream on alot of countries, but isnt the most vulgar stuff you find arround, outside US.

However if i had to name my bigest favorite comedy shows, i have to say The fawlty towers, is number one for me... then you have all stuff Monty phython related.
The office the British and american version are simply awesome.

Then there are stuff on my own country as well.

I could name seinfield just to be more on topic though.

Although Seinfeld has basically exhausted his routine, in his day the brand of observational comedy he did was really damn funny (with his show helped by Larry David's much more misanthropic, cynical approach to the script). And his material was also never "vulgar" as you allude to with other comedians.

I've been to two different stand-up comedy shows, and both were fantastic. I think you just need to give it a try, if you have access to a decent show and comedian.

For instance, check out Jim Gaffigan and Patton Oswalt; both are very witty and very funny.

Of course, there is always the king of stand-up comedy for me and the wittiest of them all, the man of the hour George Carlin:



Warning: Lot's of swear words! What do you expect? It's George Carlin.

Originally Posted by Roma_Victrix

Of course, there is always the king of stand-up comedy for me and the wittiest of them all, the man of the hour George Carlin:

We can close the thread now. None, and I mean none, comes even close to him. It's not just the jokes (and they all are of the highest quality), it's his acting on the scene as well.

Oswald is witty but not funny to me. In fact, all those new stand-up comedians look inferior to my eye. Trying too hard or too lazy and their jokes aren't that funny either. Can they match a generation before them (Louis CK, Chris Rock, etc)? I don't see it. But I'm an old geezer, so...

BTW, Ricky Gervais is great as well.

http://youtu.be/F-JFPePh6yM

Luis CK is one of my favs

Agreed! Louis CK rules. He's certainly one of the best stand-up comedians around right now.

Back in the day, however, if it wasn't George Carlin, I would probably go for Bill Hicks. He was so underrated even in his own time.



WARNING: Yet more swear words, but that's to be expected at this point, right?

And his material was also never "vulgar" as you allude to with other comedians.

I didnt mean that, i mean stand up isnt as frequent or very well knowned outside of US or anglo saxon sphere. I mean name one stand up comedian outside of the anglo saxon world?

In my country for example, exists stand up comedy, but isnt very popular to be honest.
The skecth comedy is mostly the big thing, as well theatrical stuff, traditionaly anyway.
And ironicaly i was mentioning Senfield the sitcom, not senfield the stand up comedian allthough they kinda are the same thing, even if not quite imho, ( i enjoyed much more the tv show back in the day) to be honest.

Erhm I wouldnt say it was mostly an american thing, in the Netherlands it's been around for a very long time. Thing is it tends to be in the native language, so its not something broadcasted elsewhere.
Though in the Netherlands its known as Cabaret and often includes some singing, a bit of dancing or even a set, a costume and helpers. It's more elaborate than just someone telling jokes on a stage.


One of my favorites is Hans Teeuwen, if this damn site would actually allow imbedding youtube videos I would, so I'll go with a link instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg
Hans Teeuwen is known for mocking and insulting pretty much anything there is, not with the goal of really tearing it down or such but more to point out how rediculous some ideologies are.
Often he just tends to mock all religions equally. In this video he was asked by muslim women to explain himself about why he insults people and all that, and he's handling it like a boss!

As for comedy in the broader sense, the Marx Brothers are unbeatable. They didn't need to write a show to be funny, they simply where able to find fun in practicly anything.
Very talented too.
Groucho didnt only have his quick wit, but was also a good singer, could play the guitar, was quite acrobatic even in his fourties, wrote quite some funny books as well and found succes on radio, television, movies and theatre.
Harpo taught himself to play the harp, improvised practicly his entire role since the script usually said "harpo does something funny", and has done lots of practical jokes through his life.
Chico was a very talented piano player and notorious ladies man. His incredible confidence and charm is what brought him and his brothers succes, he played cards with the right people.
Supposedly Zeppo was funnier than all of them, but due to being the youngest wasnt allowed to create his own persona but he was able to fill in for his brothers if they where sick. He became a succesfull inventor and agent after he stopped appearing in movies.

I mean, their movies where fun, but as far as I understand their stage performances where 10 times better even since they often adlibbed and improvised.
And after reading their books, it seems they may have done crazier things in their actual lives than in the movies.

When a movies executive kept them waiting in his office for hours repeatedly, they decided to get some potatoes, stripped down naked and where roasting potatoes in the big fireplace when the executive returned.
When playing a murder game, Harpo wrote "youre ded" on the toiletpaper in the ladies rest room when he was the murderer. For hours everyone looked for the body but couldnt find her. Since it was the algonquin gang which is mostly writers, they knew straight away it was him due to his misspelling. The lady who was the victim took the time to think about her new book and was a very good sport.
One time at an airport, Groucho filled in under occupation "smuggler" and chaos ensued.
One time when Chico's wife caught him with another woman he said "I wasn't kissing her, I was whispering in her mouth."
After an escape artist ruined a stage performance of Harpo and Harpo was asked to help him because his wife wasnt available, Harpo tied the guy up with knots he couldnt undo. The escape artist had to be dragged off stage to get his robes cutt loose.

Amy Schumer is a more recent comic that I get a kick out of. Warning naughty words blah blah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym33QVE-Of4

You will either absolutely love him or not find him funny at all and really hate him.
Personally i love him. Its all opinion though.

Erhm I wouldnt say it was mostly an american thing, in the Netherlands it's been around for a very long time. Thing is it tends to be in the native language, so its not something broadcasted elsewhere.
Though in the Netherlands its known as Cabaret and often includes some singing, a bit of dancing or even a set, a costume and helpers. It's more elaborate than just someone telling jokes on a stage.

I know what cabaret is, indeed it isnt a new thing, but its not the same as Stand up comedy at all. Allthough i belive alot of shows of this sort have adopted stand up for quite a while now. Im not saying is a recent thing now, but it was 15 or 20 years ago in Europe.
Omid Djalili is also funny.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I used to like alot this guy though years ago.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

By the way guys, to embed youtube vids quote my earlier post and you will see the easy way to do it.
The code in the middle is the part after the = in a youtube address

Dylan Moran is a personal favorite. Also enjoy Stewart Lee Quite a bit.

Bo Burnham is shockingly good and he's only like 23 or something. The best I've seen since Louis CK for sure. He's sooooo smart, you have to watch his routine a few times to get all of the jokes. I might even rank him as high as George Carlin or Bill Hicks, we'll see whan he has more than 2 routines anyway, stop what you're doing and watch this or live with regret for the rest of your life and beyond:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejc5zic4q2A

Mitch Hedberg is one of the most underratted stand ups, possibly of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC5fYlFpxmo

Everyone knows Ricky Gervais, Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey etc: they're great too, but I wanted to highlight the lesser known.

Mitch Hedberg was the greatest of all time.

He could be gut bustingly hilarious without insulting anyone (even himself) or even cursing (although he obviously did curse in most of his routines, the ones he didn't curse in were just as funny).

Now that's freaking talent.

Such a shame he left us so early, though. Mitch had so much potential and an endless amount of material to charm us with. RIP.

I used to love otto and george and Patrice O'neal. Specially their appearances on the Opie and Anthony show. Pure comedy gold. such a shame that theyre both dead.

Wait...WTF? Patrice O'Neal is ing dead? (...checking Wikipedia...) ...since late 2011?!

Damn. I didn't even know that. Then again, I was living nearly incommunicado for two years in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan as a US Peace Corps volunteer, so that would explain a bit.

Originally Posted by Roma_Victrix

Wait...WTF? Patrice O'Neal is ing dead? (...checking Wikipedia...) ...since late 2011?!

Damn. I didn't even know that. Then again, I was living nearly incommunicado for two years in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan as a US Peace Corps volunteer, so that would explain a bit.

Ya man I didnt know till I came back to america either. They both were regulars on the OnA show. If you ever want to hear Patrice at his best check out their show with him on it. Side note where in kyrgyzstan where you?

Louis CK is amazing, but I haven't seen any recent stuff of his. People say he got bitter post-breakup or something, dunno. Any links?