Been seeing a lot of Matt Rife and Paul Smith on my twitter feed recently and find them both hilarious, they riff off the crowd and I find that sort of off the cuff comedy much better than scripted comedy that is honed and practiced over a full tour.
Other Favourite Comedians
- Thread starter Big Andy
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One of my favourite sets this year, from Jeff Arcuri:
My favourite comedians atm are probably that guy and Sam Morrill
My favourite comedians atm are probably that guy and Sam Morrill
Sean Lock was the greatest ever for me, such a shame what happened to him. Still catch myself going watching his best moments compilations.
Andy Kaufman. Dylan Moran. Stewart Lee. Bill Bailey. Dennis Leary.
As you can probably tell, I wasn't born this century. But as said Moran put it, I really do try to stay with the times - I am home with downies.
As you can probably tell, I wasn't born this century. But as said Moran put it, I really do try to stay with the times - I am home with downies.
Stewart Lee
Frankie Boyle
David Earl/Brian Gittins
Tim Heidecker
Doug Stanhope
Jack Dee rarely disappoints
I got to see Gervais's Supernature and Humanity for the warm-up shows at the Leicester Square theatre, felt much fresher than the end products on Netflix, probably because they happened 1-2 years before they eventually came out. Wouldn't have him down as a favourite though. James Acaster's Repertoire is sensational but his other stuff hasn't grabbed me as much.
Frankie Boyle
David Earl/Brian Gittins
Tim Heidecker
Doug Stanhope
Jack Dee rarely disappoints
I got to see Gervais's Supernature and Humanity for the warm-up shows at the Leicester Square theatre, felt much fresher than the end products on Netflix, probably because they happened 1-2 years before they eventually came out. Wouldn't have him down as a favourite though. James Acaster's Repertoire is sensational but his other stuff hasn't grabbed me as much.
Kevin Bridges
These are two of the absolute worst. That Paul Smith is about as funny as haemorrhoids .
Love me some Jimeoin
Paul smith! Love him! Went and seen him couple week ago in Manchester. He’s so funny. Just make sure you don’t sit front row or your defo in one of his vids 
I was just about to give them both a watch. Waste of time?
I didn’t wanna be the first respondent and trashing OP’s choices, but I gotta agree
I do stand-up myself, and the last year the amount of women who bring up Matt Rife has skyrocketed, and his reels made me think he was half decent until a comedian buddy of mine sat me down to watch the first ten mins of tve red flag special.
He has a very specific demo, and it’s thirsty women. He’s not terrible terrible, but he’s definitely got far more profile than he ought to based off his material and skills.
IMO. Feel free to chalk it down to jealousy, obviously.
Tim Heidecker
That Matt Rife guy showed up in my feed a lot for a period, so I watched a few clips. It seemed to all be based around dating - there was absolutely nothing original or any clever observations. Maybe I just caught the wrong clips though.
James Acaster is my favourite by some distance, the 4 specials he did on Netflix are incredible and Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 is a masterpiece of comedy
Hans Teeuwen!
Stewart Lee
Doug Stanhope
Louis CK
Tom Segura
Doug Stanhope
Louis CK
Tom Segura
Stewart Lee in a league of his own for me.
Been huge enjoying Shane Gillis output over past few years too.
Been huge enjoying Shane Gillis output over past few years too.
Ari Shaffir - Jew, is the best stand up special of the last decade.
Indeed. No one else comes close to be honest.
This is why I didn’t bother to mention Lee in my post, I knew there’d be plenty of people bringing his name up.
Best one in the game for me, as well.
Best one in the game for me, as well.
Matt Rife has elite instagram game, i'll give him that
but every joke is something like, "ladies, you can have guy friends"... ***long pause***, "but it means you're ugly"
Stewart Lee is my favourite current stand-up. Bill Hicks all time. I quite like Alvin Kuai of the newer ones coming through
but every joke is something like, "ladies, you can have guy friends"... ***long pause***, "but it means you're ugly"
Stewart Lee is my favourite current stand-up. Bill Hicks all time. I quite like Alvin Kuai of the newer ones coming through
I saw the thread title and Seans name was the first that popped into my head.
Lock's stand up was famously shite.
I dont know why these two keep popping on my facebook feed.
He's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I really liked Norm Macdonald. I discovered him late, but will still rewatch some of his old bits once in a while. His delivery is everything.
I really like Bo Burnham, specifically his songs. The whole Inside special was great, with some particularly great songs. He's definitely one where you have to enjoy his culture takes to find him funny, and even then some of his work isn't maybe even supposed to be that funny. Like That Funny Feeling:
Also one of my favourites from Inside was Comedy. I could only find this one on YouTube, with duplicates to fool the copy protection system.
Here's an older song of his:
Come to think of it, maybe I'm into musical comedy, because I also really like Tim Minchin.
Also one of my favourites from Inside was Comedy. I could only find this one on YouTube, with duplicates to fool the copy protection system.
Here's an older song of his:
Come to think of it, maybe I'm into musical comedy, because I also really like Tim Minchin.
Dave Chapelle
Bill Burr
Stewart Lee
Dylan Moran
Bill Burr
Stewart Lee
Dylan Moran
Yeah. These two. Always been a fan of Stewart Lee. And Shane Gillis is great.
Bumping the thread as I’ve just recently watched James Acaster’s Repertoire and Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, which are both comedy masterpieces. He is thus added to my list of favourites, which also includes:
- Bo Burnham (what, Make Happy and Inside are all outstanding, can’t pick between them)
- John Mulaney (Kid Gorgeous and The Comeback Kid are probably the most hilarious classic standup specials I’ve seen, though I was underwhelmed by his recent post-sobriety show Baby J)
- Mike Birbiglia (particularly The New One and The Old Man and the Pool, which just debuted on Netflix. He’s a storytelling genius)
- I also thought Rothaniel by Jerrod Carmichael was something quite special but I’d have to see more of him to include him.
- Special mentions for Tig Notaro, Ali Wong and Taylor Tomlinson.
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Bo Burmham
Anthony Jeselnik
Tom Segura
Bill Burr
Matt Rife
Andrew Schultz
Jimmy Carr
Christina Pazsitsky
Big Jay Oakerson
Anthony Jeselnik
Tom Segura
Bill Burr
Matt Rife
Andrew Schultz
Jimmy Carr
Christina Pazsitsky
Big Jay Oakerson
Stewart Lee
Daniel Kitson
Simon Munnery
Daniel Kitson
Simon Munnery
I saw Sebastian Maniscalco this summer. Superb stuff. I see he's just announced a new tour
Those Acaster specials are excellent. He's up there with Stewart Lee for me.
Bill Hicks is my all time favourite but I grew up watching early Eddie Murphy, Richard Prior and Tommy Cooper so they're the ones I hold as special. My Dad was a huge comedy fan so we were always watching some stand up.
Modern comics, Ricky Gervais and Sean Lock god rest his soul.
Modern comics, Ricky Gervais and Sean Lock god rest his soul.
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I like Carl Barron, simple but relatable comedy for the average joe
Outside of the standup arena Matt Berry is a long time favourite of mine
Outside of the standup arena Matt Berry is a long time favourite of mine
I got about 2 minutes into that Paul Smith video and couldn't go on. Yikes.
Favourite off the top of my head:
Stewart Lee
James Acaster
Hannibal Buress
Nate Bargatze
Bill Burr (earlier specials are better, he's leaning into the cancel culture thing quite heavily lately)
Sebastian Maniscalco (his latest was a bit weak, but big fan of the others)
John Mulaney
I've only seen 1 of his specials but really liked Judah Friedlander's one on netflix
Colin Quinn is great too, though his specials may be closer to one man shows than stand up, as he's often just telling one single story.
Todd Barry has the best crowd work special I've seen. But his regular specials are great too.
Favourite off the top of my head:
Stewart Lee
James Acaster
Hannibal Buress
Nate Bargatze
Bill Burr (earlier specials are better, he's leaning into the cancel culture thing quite heavily lately)
Sebastian Maniscalco (his latest was a bit weak, but big fan of the others)
John Mulaney
I've only seen 1 of his specials but really liked Judah Friedlander's one on netflix
Colin Quinn is great too, though his specials may be closer to one man shows than stand up, as he's often just telling one single story.
Todd Barry has the best crowd work special I've seen. But his regular specials are great too.
Agreed, though I liked Baby J, it wasn't particularly funny until towards the end. Though given the subject of it, its perhaps hard to make it funny. Still a bit underwhelming compared to his earlier stuff. It also made me like him a little bit less as he comes across as a bit of a dickhead throughout. The earlier work redeems him though. His bit about telling computers that you're not a robot is probably one of my favourite bits of standup of all time.
They’re not standup comics per say (well one of them was before he grew too seismically big for that small shit) but my two favourite ‘funny men’ have always been Jim Carrey and Conan O Brian.
Carrey and his films were a big part of my childhood - the man is just lightning in a bottle personified, electric in everything he does and surprisingly good in his more serious phase as a public speaker as well. Conan was also someone I used to love watching in my teens and I have stopped since really. He’s been a talk show host for most of his career so has had to balance humour with letting guests shine and bringing together a varied show but at the heart of it he’s just a naturally funny but also again a very insightful human being in general - which is amplified by his podcasts.
Carrey and his films were a big part of my childhood - the man is just lightning in a bottle personified, electric in everything he does and surprisingly good in his more serious phase as a public speaker as well. Conan was also someone I used to love watching in my teens and I have stopped since really. He’s been a talk show host for most of his career so has had to balance humour with letting guests shine and bringing together a varied show but at the heart of it he’s just a naturally funny but also again a very insightful human being in general - which is amplified by his podcasts.
Agree with that. Found it strangely braggy and self-involved, like you could almost sense he felt he was a little bit cool for having been able to stomach so many drugs (and hide it), or when he was impressed with how many famous comedians he knew who came to his intervention. Disappointed me a little as he seemed so likeable in his earlier shows. Also thought the comedy was just less original with more predictable punchlines.
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Not in any particular order,
Bo Burnham
Ricky Gervais
Stewart Lee
Paul Chowdhry
Simon Amstell
Sarah Silverman
Joe Lycett
Matthew Holness
Are ones that I would pay to see live.
I think most comedy is pretty weak these days though.
Bo Burnham
Ricky Gervais
Stewart Lee
Paul Chowdhry
Simon Amstell
Sarah Silverman
Joe Lycett
Matthew Holness
Are ones that I would pay to see live.
I think most comedy is pretty weak these days though.
Ah I really enjoyed Baby J, I love Mulaney.
Almost as good as his stand up are his appearances on Seth Myers, those two just bounce of one another so well.