re: Best stand-up comedian of all time

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I tell you, with my doctor, I don’t get no respect. I told him, “I’ve swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills.” He told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.

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I'd like to chime in with a request for opinions from some of the older posters. Where did Steve Martin rank with his act? He was unbelievably huge as a stand up performer before he became more of a movie star.

People have talked about him being special and different as a performer but, in spite of reading one of his books about his progression as a comic, I really don't think I properly understand what he was all about 40 years ago.

Kyle Kinane

I'm not a big fan of guys like Pryor and Carlin. To me, Carlin is more annoying than funny.

I hate Leno but he was the best standup according to Norm Macdonald

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Doug Stanhope stands up and says "Hold on a sec, as his caddy let me put Bill Burr's golf ball on his tee and give him some advice on what club he should use."

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God, I love Doug Stanhope. You think Jeselnik is edgy? He gets to the edge and pulls out his binoculars to see Stanhope. Truly the heir to Bill Hicks on that extreme, does not give a frick political comedian (And I like Jeselnik, too). Stanhope's the kind of comedian who is so confident he will go five minutes without a laugh line, just because he knows he has you hooked.

To someone else's point, there are plenty of great female comics, I'm just not sure Schumer is one of them. Maria Bamford is a goddess. She is doing stuff that no one can touch (and if you wanna talk about confessional comedy, she's literally been institutionalized... she also did a special in her parent's living room with only her parents as the audience... it was almost too painful to watch on an Andy Kaufman level of awkward). Tig Notaro is now the cancer comic, but still, that Live set is great. Madigan is the best throwback comic to those Bortsch Belt style acts. Liza Schlesinger, while not my cup of tea, seems to be doing real well on the stadium/arena outsized comedy.

Also, since he hasn't been mentioned, Hari Kondabolu is one of the best political comics right now.

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Madigan

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Born with a male brain.

Carlin was ahead of his time.

Burr, Attell, Regan, CK, and MacDonald are my main faves.

But Steve Martin's 'Let's Get Small' album is an all-time favorite. He kills it in front of a club-sized audience, and he was never the same again after that...IMO, the bigger he got, the more his material suffered. But 'Let's Get Small' belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of comedy albums...

Robin Williams
Jerry Seinfeld

I've been on other boards about this.

Europeans love Bill Hicks.

Americans love Eddie Murphy.

I don't know what Europeans think about Chappelle or Bill Burr.