I now work part time at my local arts theatre and as such get a few free tickets to various things a month. Most of which I redeem to attend the 'Comedy Cafe' sessions that are held every few weeks. I was having a conversation with some of the ushers in the staff canteen about stand up, and they were all of the view that it is a dead and/or dying art form - which I was horrified about. The UK/International circuit has some of the best comics on it for years people like Bailey, Moran, Byrne, Bloom, Vine to name but a few.

I was just wondering if anyone else agrees with the people I work with on the fact that it's on it's way out?

Wingfoot

I dunno. It sometimes seems like its prime has passed, but it still is going stong (Though not as strongly as it used to)

I love stand-up. Some of those on Comedy Central Presents are very good. There is one guy in particular that I saw only once but his act was hilarious. He was paranoid about the keebler elf and such. It has been several years now and I still haven't seen his act again.

One day I watched some movie then my sister got the remote and went to see what was on during it....turns out he was :-(

He got this family (3-4 out of 5) into stand up comedy.


Anyway....BET had a few people with good jokes but overall wasn't as good as CCP.


Went to a comedy club here in the city. All but one or two were funny. One of them saw that nobody was laughing so just ended early. Felt bad for them, takes guts to stand up there. It also is difficult to come up with material that hasn't already been used.

I know the act you are talking about!!

I actually heard in on "Shorties watching Shorties". I'll try to find it if I can.

I can recognize his name and face. I even found it in a search on Comedy Central's website but I'm on 56k and well....it isn't exactly known for being of strong quality.

Please try and find the name I'd be interested to know.

I'm going to watch some of The Fringe performances at the Edinburgh Festival under the guise of the arts centre I work at. They said if you can make it, I should go and try and find some halfway decent (and cheap) comics willing to come do our venue. Fortunately, my neighbours recently moved to a certain Scottish city, and are more than happy to put me up for the few days in the year were living space in Edinburgh is like gold dust.

Wingfoot

Anyone here know about "Stephen Lynch"? Quite funny. He's been around for a while, I saw him on Friday Night Standup a few months back, but forgot his name.

Anyways, he does his whole acts in songs, so if you can see his CD around, pick it up.

I've seen him on one or two programs, some of his lyrivcs are very cool. I love lyrical comedy, it's hard to do, but it can make jokes that wouldn't otherwise be funny, hillarious.

Wingfoot

I like Dennis Leary, Lewis Black, and Jim Gaffigan.

Lewis Black is indeed great. Leary, of course, is someone whom I follow with great interest.

I'd also have to put in that some of Dennis Miller's early stuff is pretty good. Carlin can be good for short bursts, but I feel he gets annoying after a while. Of course, a good Richard Pylor is always good.

For newer, I really like Dave Chappelle. He has a chance of doing really really good. If you don't have it, I'd recommend "Killing them Softly"

And, of course, I am a huge fan of the late Mitch Headburg. Seriously folks, try to pick up some of his stuff, he was a great comidian (toured with Stephen Lynch for a while I think)

For less known comidians, I'll say Greg Geraldo. He is the host of Friday Night Stand Up, and as far as I can tell only has the 30 min. comedy central presents. Ron White is a bit more popular and pretty good (the only one from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour that I actually like). And I saw a show by Patrice O'Neil on Comedy Central that was great.

What about you all?

Come on people, DANE COOK!

If you're looking for intellectual humor, this isn't the guy to go for, but in terms of slapstick, he's the best.

He did a Comedy Central Presents stand up called "Dangerous If Swallowed" and then his new CD, "Retaliation", came out recently.

I got Harmful if Swallowed the other day (per your suggestion)

I dunno. Some parts cracked me up, others did nothing at all to me. I wouldn't really rate him very high on my personal list. I dunno, it just seems kinda not funny to me. But I wouldn't say I don't like him, he is far above quite a few people, just not at on my top. I'd give him a 6/10.

It's hard for me to judge comedy.

Dennis Leary seems like a crack-up. Watched Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and even Richard Pryor stand-up filmings. It's better live, to be sure. There have been a couple of comedians that I'd seen at the "Funny Bone" in Arlington, TX. The funniest was a guy that was a guest video jockey.

The unfunniest comedy is those lamers that try to make cracks between and about the Planet's Funniest Animals. Matt was bearable, the rest are sooo weak. Chapelle seems okay, but not really a tickler for me. I like stoic comedy... but not to the point of what the Brits do or like. If they can't deliver a line dead-pan, I have a problem in not laughing with them.

There are probably 3 people in the world that I couldn't drive cross-country with in the passenger seat... Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Robin Williams.

I don't really consider people like that guy to be stand up comidians. They are show hosts. And if they do do stand up, well, lets just say that I don't often advocate the ending of another human's life but.......

Hehehe. Ah... the power of the remote. Not near as effective as your thought-of advocacy. But it comes close enough to gain satisifaction that you can say "that's over and done"!

Going to a comedy club I hope is always an option at least for a night out. Who wants limited choices?

I got very interested in Stand Up Comedy when I was around 14. I don't think it's a dieing art form. I've been thinking about going into it when I get older. I have Dane Cook, Mitch Hedberg, Lewis Black, and David Cross's albums, but there are tons more that I like.
I honestly kind of feel like it's coming back in a way, there have been tons of comedians that have become very popular recently, and others that have been around for a while and are recently acheiving fame. It's something I really look forward to trying to do myself in the future.

There are just some comics I can't stand. Not even dislike, just can't stand.

Anyone else have a few they could list? At the top of my list would be Sarah Silvermann and Larry the Cable Guy. Dane Cook is somewhere on that list, too.

I don't think stand up is a dying art form, the style has changes of course but there are many mainstream comics still out there who are succesful and a large underground circuit.

I do love stand up though, probably one of the best evening you can have is going out to watch stand up. Next tuesday i'm going to see jimmy carr in cambridge. Other comics i like are Richard Pryor, Russell brand, Alan carr, harry hill, PETER KAY! of course, who doesn't. Oh and eddie izzard has got to be my favourite

In response to deltas question, I dislike Jim davidson and Chris rock the most probably. I was also quite dissapointed by Ricky Gervais stand up. Some of it was ok but i expected more.