100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time

Stand-up comedy is very near and dear to my heart, so in anticipation of Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time, I came up with this list, in almost-alphabetical order.

Now this is about STAND-UP comedians, so chances are you won't see comic actors, improvs, comedy teams or troupes here (i.e. to my knowledge, Al Franken has never done stand-up). It also reflects my own personal tastes, which is why you won't see the Jay Lenos, Dennis Millers, Carrot Tops, or pretty much anyone who does "country" comedy or Def Jam.

Let me know if there's a STAND-UP you think I left off this list, and we'll see if we missed anybody starting Monday night.


Woody Allen
The Amazing Jonathan
Dave Attell
Richard Belzer
Jack Benny
Sandra Bernhard
Lewis Black
Elayne Boosler
Albert Brooks
Lenny Bruce
George Burns
Brett Butler
Louis C.K.
Drew Carey
Jim Carrey
Dana Carvey
George Carlin
Margaret Cho
Bill Cosby
Lenny Clarke
David Cross
Billy Crystal
John Caponera
Dave Chappelle
Rodney Dangerfield
Ellen DeGeneres
Phyllis Diller
Susie Essman
Pablo Francisco
Redd Foxx
Jim Gaffigan
Zach Galifianakis
Janeane Garofalo
Gilbert Gottfried
Judy Gold
Whoopi Goldberg
Bobcat Goldthwait
Dick Gregory
David Alan Grier
Kathy Griffin
Darrell Hammond
Bill Hicks
Bob Hope
Mitch Hedberg
Buddy Hackett
Dom Irrera
Eddie Izzard
Andy Kaufman
Laura Kightlinger
Sam Kinison
Robert Klein
Denis Leary
Carol Leifer
Wendy Liebman
David Letterman
Richard Lewis
George Lopez
Stephen Lynch
Norm McDonald
Bernie Mac
Kathleen Madigan
Bill Maher
Marc Maron
Jackie Mason
Steve Martin
Jay Mohr
Eddie Murphy
Rosie O'Donnell
Patton Oswalt
Emo Philips
Paula Poundstone
Freddie Prinze
Greg Proops
Richard Pryor
Brian Regan
Caroline Rhea
Chris Rock
Jeffrey Ross
Rita Rudner
Ray Romano
Don Rickles
Robert Schimmel
Jerry Seinfeld
Garry Shandling
Sarah Silverman
Jon Stewart
Wanda Sykes
Judy Tenuta
Lily Tomlin
Paul F. Tompkins
The Unknown Comic
Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
Damon Wayans
Robin Williams
Flip Wilson
Steven Wright
Henny Youngman

Paula Poundstone and Kathleen Madigan are there. That's all I need to see. :-)

:D

Rita on making a cake: "You mix flour and water and you get glue, then you add eggs and sugar and you get cake. Where does the glue go?"

Brett to a friend upset that her husband leaves the lid up: "When he starts hitting you and fucking your sister, call me back."

Same for Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner (2000 Year Old Man).

I always hated that guy.

Now, who are the ten best?
Here they are, ranked by MY preference:

1-George Carlin
2--Richard Pryor
3--Jim Carrey
4--Steve Martin
5--Andy Kaufman
6--Andrew Dice Clay (one you missed!)
7--Sam Kinison
8--Eddie Murphy
9--Jerry Seinfeld
10--Margaret Cho

The only time the guy made me laugh was in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, obviously because he had a script. I've heard his stage shows, and they're just not funny -- and the misogyny really attracted the lowest common denominator.

Oh, making fun of women can be funny - but you have to have a joke at the end. Dice never did.

And my guess is you've never seen Gottfried do stand-up, because he can be brilliant. Unfortunately, both he and Bobcat Goldthwait have a schtick that's attached to their public personas - which is what you're probably reacting to.

I searched the page and couldn't find his name. Why is he not included? :shrug:

even though Sahl was actually a "sit down" comic. A brilliant and caustic man.

He's hilarious, you must've missed that recent HBO special he done. He went after Bush while having great things to say about Clinton. I mean, he is better then half of those comics on that list. Especially Paul F. Tompkins.

Emo Phillips??? Come on! Get serious.

she is the best stand up working today (until Shandling returns to the stage)

:crazy: ok I guess.

He's been everywhere and everywhen at least a hundred times.

;-)

that Bill Hicks were still alive. No doubt he'd be providing plenty of dark humored shits and giggles regarding the current suicide mission to Iraq.