I have everything ever released by him and many books about him - when the last gulf war started his original gulf war material still bettered anything anyone else came up with! True genius! Dennis Leary had no material to steal once Hicks died - Journalist: "why did you give up smoking Bill?" Hicks: "to see if Dennis would!"
Lenny Bruce
Richard Pryor
Linda Smith
Tommy Cooper
Eric and Ernie
My final dead genius is Harold Lloyd who is not a stand up but was a comedy god.
Current greats:
Billy Connelly - my dad had tapes of his shows when he still did music too - his crucifixion routine still stands up.
Paul Merton - wish he'd do more than improv tours
Eddie Izzard - surreal genius
All the following I've seen in last year:
Ken Dodd (saw him twice six months apart last year - four hours plus each time and not much repeated (apart from his longer jokes - unbelievable!)
Stuart Lee - fantastic that he's having a renaissance!
Sean Lock - effortlessly brilliant
Jimmy Carr - so much better on stage than on tv
Russell Howard - even better than I expected
Al Murray - so good with a crowd and quick thinking
Lee Mack - didn't take to him at first but love him now!
Jason Manford - saw a warm up gig for his latest tour and he was exceptional
Reginald D Hunter - class act
Stewart Francis - great supporting Gervais and even better solo
Milton Johns - underrated genius
Dave Spikey - funnier than his former writing partner
Rich Hall - best import this side of Dexter
Ricky Gervais - I never expected his stand up to be as good as it is
Jo Caufield - best female comedian around
Steve Coogan - the all Partridge second half of his last tour was incredibly good - as was his final song
Frankie Boyle - I get to see in two weeks time! whoop whoop! Can't wait!
Peter Kay - can't take him seriously since Vic's "impression" on Shooting Stars and had better be bloody good next year as the tickets cost an arm and a leg!
And the most underwhelming stand up I've seen in a long time....
Michael McIntyre
Not a patch on the others listed not even Ricky Gervias who is not a natural stand up. McIntyre is bottom of the list of stand ups I've seen in last few years.
Off topic: Derren Brown live is incredible - watch his enigma show this Christmas on Channel 4
Bill Hicks
Jackie Mason
Bob Newhart
Rodney Dangerfield
Emo Phillips
Reginald D Hunter
Woody Allen
Lee Mack
Rich Hall
Tommy Cooper
Ken Dodd
Bob Monkhouse
Timothy Vine
Les Dawson
Victoria Wood
Jo Brand
Loads of others ... but these are ones I'd pick out for special mention.
Worst - Jim Davidson
I don't get Michael McIntyre either! I think he's a really nice fella ... he just isn't funny.
Love Lee Evans, anyone can relate to this guy and his actions that accompany his jokes are hilarious. He puts so much into his performance. Also love Jimmy Carrs dry one liners
I believe he has material he does live that would never make it onto TV :eek:
I saw Whitehall live in August, he wasn't that controversial at all, unless you call him listing the various ways he (claimed he) bullied Robert Pattinson at school controversial. Maybe Pattinson's mother might be upset, but that's about it.
Doug Stanhope? Stewart Lee? Either way, I'd rather go see anyone than put money in Leary's pocket. The man behind Operation Dumbo Drop.
You know you are absolutely right! He is a poor imitation of a solid gold comedian and I apologise profusely for even typing his name in the same list as Bill Hicks!:o
errrm I will replace him with someone completely different then, Dara O'Briain.:)
Current, restricted to people I've seen live (I've seen 50+ stand up shows this year alone):
Stewart Lee Brendon Burns
Adam Hills
Kevin Bridges
Milton Jones
Greg Davies
Edward Aczel
Saw Brendon Burns recently and he is fantastic. He must be one of the biggest secrets in comedy right now. Do yourselves a favour people and try and get hold of his Sober Not Clean DVD and catch him when he is near you.
My all time favourite is George Carlin who was better than Hicks in my opinion, and I always thought it unfair that he had noweher near the profile in this country as Bill. Although that said I do love Bill Hicks! Dara O'Brien is also very good, his audience interaction is second to none.
And my controversial opinion of the month is....
I can't stand Stewart Lee!! I saw him live and he's just not funny. He used to be funny; Fist of Fun was ace, but now he's just bitter and pretentious. He tries to be the British Bill Hicks, but Bill was funny and had genuine love for what he thought humanity was capable of. His anger came from the fact we were wasting our potential. Lee just sneers at his audience for not being as intelligent as he perceives himself to be, then rants about comedians that are more successful than him, His last show Vegetavle Stew was just awful. And he released an anotated book of his stand up routines which is just about the most pretentious thing a stand-up could do.
Comments
I have everything ever released by him and many books about him - when the last gulf war started his original gulf war material still bettered anything anyone else came up with! True genius! Dennis Leary had no material to steal once Hicks died - Journalist: "why did you give up smoking Bill?" Hicks: "to see if Dennis would!"
Lenny Bruce
Richard Pryor
Linda Smith
Tommy Cooper
Eric and Ernie
My final dead genius is Harold Lloyd who is not a stand up but was a comedy god.
Current greats:
Billy Connelly - my dad had tapes of his shows when he still did music too - his crucifixion routine still stands up.
Paul Merton - wish he'd do more than improv tours
Eddie Izzard - surreal genius
All the following I've seen in last year:
Ken Dodd (saw him twice six months apart last year - four hours plus each time and not much repeated (apart from his longer jokes - unbelievable!)
Stuart Lee - fantastic that he's having a renaissance!
Sean Lock - effortlessly brilliant
Jimmy Carr - so much better on stage than on tv
Russell Howard - even better than I expected
Al Murray - so good with a crowd and quick thinking
Lee Mack - didn't take to him at first but love him now!
Jason Manford - saw a warm up gig for his latest tour and he was exceptional
Reginald D Hunter - class act
Stewart Francis - great supporting Gervais and even better solo
Milton Johns - underrated genius
Dave Spikey - funnier than his former writing partner
Rich Hall - best import this side of Dexter
Ricky Gervais - I never expected his stand up to be as good as it is
Jo Caufield - best female comedian around
Steve Coogan - the all Partridge second half of his last tour was incredibly good - as was his final song
Frankie Boyle - I get to see in two weeks time! whoop whoop! Can't wait!
Peter Kay - can't take him seriously since Vic's "impression" on Shooting Stars and had better be bloody good next year as the tickets cost an arm and a leg!
And the most underwhelming stand up I've seen in a long time....
Michael McIntyre
Not a patch on the others listed not even Ricky Gervias who is not a natural stand up. McIntyre is bottom of the list of stand ups I've seen in last few years.
Off topic: Derren Brown live is incredible - watch his enigma show this Christmas on Channel 4
Do tell?
Jackie Mason
Bob Newhart
Rodney Dangerfield
Emo Phillips
Reginald D Hunter
Woody Allen
Lee Mack
Rich Hall
Tommy Cooper
Ken Dodd
Bob Monkhouse
Timothy Vine
Les Dawson
Victoria Wood
Jo Brand
Loads of others ... but these are ones I'd pick out for special mention.
Worst - Jim Davidson
I don't get Michael McIntyre either! I think he's a really nice fella ... he just isn't funny.
John Stewart
That list is missing the very funny John Oliver
tommy cooper
greg davies
steve royle
jack dee
peter kay
jason manford
vic n bob but only when they on shooting stars
He lives near me. I bump into him alot. A very nice man he is too.
Oh Yeah he is funny
Jim Davidson
Roy Chubby Brown
The 3 best funny men to have ever lived.
Do they do irony?:D
Joan Rivers - her standup is very rude and hilarious
Bill Hicks
Denis Leary (who copies Bill Hicks every move but now poor Bill is gone he's all we've got):mad:
Eddie Izzard
Dave Allen
Robin Williams (yes I know he's mostly known for acting but his early standups were fab)
Eddie Murphy
and errr Russell Brand:o (I lurves him)
I saw Whitehall live in August, he wasn't that controversial at all, unless you call him listing the various ways he (claimed he) bullied Robert Pattinson at school controversial. Maybe Pattinson's mother might be upset, but that's about it.
Doug Stanhope? Stewart Lee? Either way, I'd rather go see anyone than put money in Leary's pocket. The man behind Operation Dumbo Drop.
You know you are absolutely right! He is a poor imitation of a solid gold comedian and I apologise profusely for even typing his name in the same list as Bill Hicks!:o
errrm I will replace him with someone completely different then, Dara O'Briain.:)
Mike Reid
Tom O'Connor
Duggie Brown
All could tell cutting edge gags.
Frankie Boyle really is just a small child throwing a temper tantrum compared to Sadowitz.
Jason Manford: bloody hell, talk about 'from hero to zero' :eek:
American: Bill Hicks, Steven Wright
British: Stewart Lee, Daniel Kitson
Saw Brendon Burns recently and he is fantastic. He must be one of the biggest secrets in comedy right now. Do yourselves a favour people and try and get hold of his Sober Not Clean DVD and catch him when he is near you.
2.Russell Brand
3.Michael McIntyre
2.george carlin
3.steven wright
And my controversial opinion of the month is....
I can't stand Stewart Lee!! I saw him live and he's just not funny. He used to be funny; Fist of Fun was ace, but now he's just bitter and pretentious. He tries to be the British Bill Hicks, but Bill was funny and had genuine love for what he thought humanity was capable of. His anger came from the fact we were wasting our potential. Lee just sneers at his audience for not being as intelligent as he perceives himself to be, then rants about comedians that are more successful than him, His last show Vegetavle Stew was just awful. And he released an anotated book of his stand up routines which is just about the most pretentious thing a stand-up could do.
Alan Carr
Jimmy Carr
John Bishop
Russell Brand.