Who's the best comedian you've seen live?

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Well it's almost universally agreed upon that the first season was fairly ordinary. It came into its own in season two and has been close to stellar ever since.
 
There are some great stand up shows on netflix right now (watch Bill Burr, You People Are All the Same, if you haven't already. The Norm MacDonald special is really funny too).
But please avoid the Demetri Martin special. Jesus Christ is it unfunny. The worst part of all is the audience was so obviously coached before the show to laugh extra hard. They crack up and clap for some moderately amusing shit.
 
There are some great stand up shows on netflix right now (watch Bill Burr, You People Are All the Same, if you haven't already. The Norm MacDonald special is really funny too).
But please avoid the Demetri Martin special. Jesus Christ is it unfunny. The worst part of all is the audience was so obviously coached before the show to laugh extra hard. They crack up and clap for some moderately amusing shit.

I just recently watched all 3 of the Bill Burr specials on Netflix. All were enjoyable.
 
But please avoid the Demetri Martin special. Jesus Christ is it unfunny. The worst part of all is the audience was so obviously coached before the show to laugh extra hard. They crack up and clap for some moderately amusing shit.

I think I watched part of that. I shut it off about 10 minutes in wondering how the hell I use to think he was funny.
 
Bill Burr, You People Are All the Same.

Started well with the white people and lotion bit, but it would probably be funnier if he had a vocabulary. I almost wanted to go back and count how many times he said "it's like the thing, right?" Use your words, man. And anything that may have been funny about the entire getting punched by the girlfriend bit was sapped out by "the defribulator." Akin to listening to George Bush talk about "nucular weapons," and I instantly felt dumber upon hearing the joke.
 
Tim Minchin. Unless you're religious and sensitive about it, then you'll think he's dreadfully offensive.

I'm not a big fan of musical comedy, but he is very good.

He got his start at the Butterfly Club, which has relocated to the city and is a really nice small venue.

Heading to The Shelf tomorrow night - three hours of hilarious, edgy, unpredictable comedy for $30, Melbourne's best comedy night.
 
I've always wondered what he's like live... His stand-up bits on Seinfeld were never really that funny taken on their own.

Over the course of 2 hours, his life observations and insights are funny as a whole. Watch his DVD "I'm Telling You For The Last Time" to get a better idea.
 
I've always wondered what he's like live... His stand-up bits on Seinfeld were never really that funny taken on their own.

Jerry is funnier taken over a whole 2 hour period where he builds upon his material. Watch the DVD "I'm Telling You For The Last Time" to see what I mean.
 
I got the chance to see Sam Kinison in 1990. He performed at the Nassau Coliseum. He was touring to support his Leader of the Banned album. They put a curtain down the middle of the place. There were only a few thousand people there. His big segment was calling a dude's ex girlfriend/wife, reminding her how much of a cheating/using whore she was and then having the dude tell her off in the most profane way. He performed some songs as well. He had some dude who looked like a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix perform too. Howard Stern also showed up. He and Sam were in the middle of feuding with Andrew "Dice" Clay and had some fun things to say about him.


Several months later in the Fall of 1990, I went and saw Andrew "Dice" Clay at the Coliseum as well. This was when Dice was white hot. The place was sold out. The crowd, as you would expect, was pretty rowdy. Someone threw an M80 from the upper level and it exploded in mid air over the crowd. My most vivid memory were the lines in the bathroom. There were mostly men at the show so the lines in the mens room were so long that guys were lining up to piss in the sink. Ahh, the memories. :wink:
 
I've always wondered what he's like live... His stand-up bits on Seinfeld were never really that funny taken on their own.

I used to feel the same way re: the bits on the show, but I saw him at Caesars years ago and it was fantastic.
 
Seinfeld is too clean for my taste. But Kinison and Dice Clay don't do it for me either
 
Seinfeld is too clean for my taste. But Kinison and Dice Clay don't do it for me either


It sucked that Sam died early in his comedy career. He was on the verge of evolving as a comedian. Dice was content with his nursery rhymes and jokes about women. By the time I was 20 or so, I was no longer a fan of his act.
 
It sucked that Sam died early in his comedy career. He was on the verge of evolving as a comedian. Dice was content with his nursery rhymes and jokes about women. By the time I was 20 or so, I was no longer a fan of his act.

That's pretty much my problem with Dice too. When you put on a show and 3/4 of the audience finishes the punch lines it unison, it's time to do something different.
Maybe I've just never given Kinison a chance, but it always just seemed like a lot of yelling and little more. I get that he kinda changed the way stand up comedy was done, but sometimes the ones at the forefront of the shifts aren't necessarily the best at doing it. Any Kinison stuff you can post to change my mind?
 
Well something I could recommend for you would be his first HBO special which I think was from 1986. It features material from his first album, Louder Than Hell. That album was arguably his best.
 
What do people think of anti-comedy? Comedy where the humour comes from the staged awkwardness, awful jokes, intentional mishaps, flubbed audience interaction, etc. I've become a huge fan of it. My two favourite exponents of it at the moment, Sam Simmons and Lessons With Luis (both Australian) are putting on vital, creative shows all the time.
 
Anti-Comedy is probably closer to Andy Kauffman than Steven Wright. Wright just had a different style. He never pissed off the audience.
 
What do people think of anti-comedy? Comedy where the humour comes from the staged awkwardness, awful jokes, intentional mishaps, flubbed audience interaction, etc. I've become a huge fan of it. My two favourite exponents of it at the moment, Sam Simmons and Lessons With Luis (both Australian) are putting on vital, creative shows all the time.

I enjoy this type of thing. I find some non knock knock jokes to be hilarious

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz who?
Desi Arnaz Jr

Knock Knock
Who's there?
JFK
JFK who?
JFK jr

They're so fucking terrible that they make me laugh
 
What Cobbler was describing reminded me of Steven Wright, that was what I meant.

Obviously for anti-comedy in general, Andy Kaufman is definitely up there...probably the best example.
 
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