OT- just watched Being Eddie

[GemParty]

Who’s your Mount Rushmore of comedians?

 

[jleves]

Carlin, Williams, Steve Martin, Dangerfield

 

[Get a Job]

I predict everyone will agree on Carlin and fight about the other 3.

 

[TheHorde]

Chappelle

 

[superjohn]

Stand-Ups- Don Rickles, Dave Chappelle, Rodney Dangerfield, Louis C.K.

 

[temery]

It's not easy to compare Hope/Rickles/Dangerfield's generation with the Pryor/Carlin or the Chapelle/Burr generation.

I've been watching some of the little known standup comedians like Brad Upton, Matt Rife, and Andy Huggins. Really good stuff.

There's also a big difference between standup and tv/movie personalities. Bob Newhart is one of my favorites on tv, but I doubt I would have liked his standup bits. Same for Jim Carey, ...

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Carlin, Chappelle, Mitch Hedberg and Bill Hicks

 

[ctchamps]

George Carlin, Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield

 

[JakeTheDog]

I've been watching some of the little known standup comedians like Brad Upton, Matt Rife, and Andy Huggins. Really good stuff.

Say what you want about Matt Rife(l’m not a fan) but he isn’t little known. His 2024 tour was the second highest grossing comedy tour that year. Not sure if he toured in 2025.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Jerry Seinfeld is the only one on mine that hasn't been mentioned yet. It seemed that every comedian shifted to observational every day humor once he started to dominate. Plus, his success off the stage, especially in the American lexicon is unmatched.

 

[Punkbo]

Might not be the Mount Rushmore, but my personal favorites are Murphy, early Carlin, Maniscalco and Steven Wright.

 

[Captbluefin]

Rickey’s, Chapelle, Eddie, Rodney

 

[temery]

Just thought of another: Jim Jeffries. Not as good recently, but his first few standup bits were awesome.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Crowd work comedy is becoming more mainstream (or at least I'm just noticing it a lot more) - matt rife probably being the most notable recently

Comment above about Rife reminded me of when I sent my friends a note about this really catchy "new" (to me) reggaeton song....they told me to look at the song on YouTube and it had over 1 billion views... apparently Despacito was a pretty popular song

 

[huskyjawz]

Who’s your Mount Rushmore of com

Do you recommend the Eddie documentary?

 

[Get a Job]

Bo Burnham has done some pretty impressive things. He kind of transcends the "stand-up comedian" label though.

 

[GemParty]

Do you recommend the Eddie documentary?

Yes. Enjoyed it

 

[Huskybass]

Jerry Seinfeld is the only one on mine that hasn't been mentioned yet. It seemed that every comedian shifted to observational every day humor once he started to dominate. Plus, his success off the stage, especially in the American lexicon is unmatched.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[nwhoopfan]

.they told me to look at the song on YouTube and it had over 1 billion views... apparently Despacito was a pretty popular song

I think it was over 8 billion last time I checked. AFAIK the most viewed song on you tube ever.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Holy crap, we got an 8893 like!!!

 

[storrsroars]

I don't have one. The easy answer is to name the four guys who were foundational in developing comedy as an art. My picks there would be Bruce (who influenced Carlin and Pryor among others), Carlin, Pryor, and probably Seinfeld or Cosby.

The list of comedians who've reliably made me laugh is huge and cover as disparate territories as Dangerfield, Attell, Madigan, Pinette, and Patrice.

It would probably easier for me to create a Mt Rushmore of the most overrated comedians of the 21st century: Iglesias, Hart, Maniscalco, and Iliza Schlesinger (could've said Schumer, but she's been a joke for awhile now).

And yeah, @temery - Brad Upton is pretty damned funny. A bunch of those guys who we rarely see on TV because they're off making bank on cruise ships really have mastered delivery, timing, and how to structure a tight set.

I will add that "Elephant In the Room" is the absolute greatest comedy special of all time. And Patrice was dead eight months later.