America, I am a huge fan of comedy. I’ve gone to a few live shows, but I have been watching comedy specials back when they were feature films.
I grew up with glimpses of the great comedians who would guest on variety shows. And then Showtime started, and you would see them guest, uncensored, on specials there.
In the 80’s (my youth), comedy exploded. Rodney Dangerfield had specials, MTV would have specials with unknown comics, Comics were now hosting the late night movies…they were everywhere. My spongelike mind just soaked it all up.
The best part of so much comedy, is you saw acts that were so very different. You might start off with Pauly Shore doing “The Weasel”, see ten minutes from Sam Kinison, and then top it off with Emo Phillips. All three different pacing, all three different styles, all three equally funny. (You might need to do some research to get some of Emo’s jokes)
When I cohosted “My Worst Holiday” (the funny years), you got the best of both worlds comedy wise. Mr Holiday was much like a Henny Youngman. He liked to come out with pat jokes, on a very rapid basis, and pepper the podcast throughout.
I preferred to sit back, wait for just the right opening, and let loose a knockout punch. Depending on the guest, you may not get one for a few shows. And honestly, though we had the stupid FaceBook Live (which I hated), if I could make Mr Holiday do a spit take, as far as I was concerned, it was a good podcast. You wouldn’t know because of the shit audio quality, but trust me, there were some dandy’s.
We had a guest once, who told us a crazy story (one of my favorites) about his trip to Italy, which had everything you want in a story. There was a scam artist, there was bloodshed, there was an ambulance. There was police. In the midst of it, there was a small detail, and I slid in my best line ever, which made Mr Holiday choke on his Scotch he was laughing so hard. (a mighty feat) The guest heard it, and just glossed right past it. He didn’t appreciate it, but I knew that in the big picture of life, I may not EVER come up with a funnier line.
So here are the comedians who shaped my humor. I’m not saying that I am near as funny as them, or have the skills that I could go on stage and be successful, but a little piece of them
Lenny Bruce
Now, I wasn’t alive for any of Lenny Bruce. I saw the Dustin Hoffman movie “Lenny”. I saw footage of him. I even bought his box set of cd’s, of him rambling mostly about how the system was after him (it truly was, but that was the times, and he was a pioneer) I even delved into his “party albums”. Was he a great comedian? No. He was a comedian that doesn’t wear well today. Very topical, to the point that I had to google some jokes, and I love history. But he was a pioneer. He was fearless. He got on stage, and he knew that he was probably going to leave in handcuffs, and he had zero cares. I don’t feel that if he had gone a different path, that we would even know who he was. I’m glad he didn’t. He opened the doors for many, many great comedians, and in that way, he was the most influential of them all.
Gilbert Gottfried
Here is a guy who has been doing standup since 1974. He first got onstage at 14, when his sisters took him to his first open mic, and he did impressions. He then groomed himself to be a “comedian’s comedian”. He has never been one to stay topical. The joke is he hasn’t changed his act in decades, but even watching on TV, you know when he shuffles onto the stage, squints his eyes, that the room is electric. He has “killed” his career twice. He’s lost a major contract over a Tsunami joke. He was the first to make a 9/11 joke, had the crowd boo him, so he then told an old, filthy joke, that turned into a movie (Aristocrats…find it and see it) Oddly, though known as a comedian you’d never want to take your children to see, he is used nonstop in cartoons and voiceover work. His podcast on old movies is one of my favorite. But when I think of him, I think of how he’s never cared if an audience liked him. He was there for the check, and also to tell jokes to himself. That allowed him to say whatever funny thing he wanted, and the audiences found him. I admit, for a guy who’s never really uncomfortable telling a joke, sometimes I’ll hear his stuff, and my skin gets itchy.
Dave Chapelle
I loved Dave Chapelle before “Half Baked”. I had seen him on specials. I had seen clips of him. Then the Chapelle show took off, and he just blew up. I always felt that he was never performing. I always felt that he got up on stage, and had a conversation with the audience for however long, and then got off stage, and continued the conversation. He’s smart. He’s topical, but not too topical. He not only makes fun of other races, and lifestyles, but he is so consistent, and cares so little, that he gets away with it. He’s just genuine, and the people who live those lives see that, and just the people who get offended by everything call him out. He just laughs about it, writes a bit about them, and moves on.
Redd Foxx
Redd Foxx was a “blue” comedian. His live shows were legendary. I have listened to every one of his albums, and if a young Redd was alive today, he could literally go out on tour, and kill with the same material. Was he dirty? Honestly, in today’s times, yes and no. He came across as much more filthy because he was huge in the 50’s thru 70’s. There are many stories of when he made “Sanford and Son”, of parents bringing kids to his show, expecting to see Fred Sanford…and got Redd Foxx. Everyone from the day has a Redd Foxx story. He loved women, cocaine, and a few drinks. You put one or all three in a story, and you get comedy gold.
Richard Pryor
He’s Richard Pryor. From the whorehouses of Peoria IL, Mr. Pryor took his life experiences, mixed it up with drink and a mountain of cocaine, with so much talent that the entertainment industry might say they didn’t want Richard involved, but they all looked the other way when he’d disappear for a few days, and he was the biggest comedian of his time. (yes, that’s a run on sentence, but I couldn’t word it any other way better) He was the biggest stand up comedian of his era (sorry George Carlin). He made some hilarious movies (Stir Crazy), wrote others (Blazing Saddles) He also lit himself on fire because he couldn’t escape addiction, lived, and then did another comedy special about it. Genius doesn’t begin to describe him.
Emo Phillips
As a boy, Emo would do all the talk shows. He was an odd man, with a sing song, slow delivery, a page boy haircut (imagine the Cracker Jacks kid, or cousin Oliver) who would have long drawn out jokes, with punch lines that I sometimes understood, sometimes didn’t, who dressed like he was homeless. As I got older, I was able to look him up on the YouTube machine, and could truly appreciate just how funny he was. It took high school, some college, and life experience for me to understand 90% of his jokes, but I’m glad I revisited him.
Joe Rogan
He makes the list because he’s just a funny human being. I like his specials, but I truly love his podcast even more. We have similar hobbies, he often steers me in good directions, and also stopped my brains from turning to mush. I like his standup, I think that he attacks at different angles, and dismisses SJW’s with a single sentence (as a whole, not singled out) and makes millions doing it, and living the life he wants to live. Not all heroes wear capes.
Doug Stanhope
Now retired, as an interview, Doug Stanhope is amazing. He leads such an odd, open lifestyle, gives out his address, has huge Super Bowl parties, and even before retiring, picked and chose what he wanted to do, where he wanted to perform, all while doing a copious amount of drugs, and drinking pretty continuously. He amused himself by chasing people out of his shows with offensive material, would make bets with other comedians on how many he could chase…Yet the next show was always sold out. I picture a co headlining tour of him and Gilbert, where at the end of each night, there are 4 people left.
Lisa Lampanelli
At one point, she was the queen of comedy. Recently retired, she was known for being equally offensive for all groups, speaking her mind, but in my opinion, never in a mean way. She’d hammer stereotypes, attack them at different angles, multiple times, and had an almost 20 year career doing it. Believe it or not, she has degrees, and started her career as a journalist. She switched to comedy because she claims it was a pay raise. Just as fearless as any comedian on here, I feel she used her gender to talk about other races, that perhaps a white male could not. She also would joke about the LGBT community (I know they added letters, so go ahead), but also was a big supporter of them as well. A classic example of a comedian.
Roseanne Barr
When I first saw her bits, I couldn’t stand her. I was never a huge fan of her show. I felt her voice abrasive, her outbursts planned, and her show meh. Then I grew up, and listened to what she had to say. Then I realized that she was an intelligent, clever, self promoter who had many levels to her, that the public didn’t have access to. Later it came out that she suffered a head injury as a child, was bi polar, and that not only made her hilarious, but also wreaked havoc in her personal life. (It explains Tom Arnold anyway) Fun fact, she claims her personality changed after it, and Sam Kinison’s brother claimed the same thing about Sam, after he had a head injury, he changed into…well…the Sam Kinison we knew and loved. She’s been talking the last few years about touring again, and I think that will be huge. She’s suffered some fallout from the reboot of her show, and a few ambien comments that have since been proven that perhaps NBC jumped the gun a little. I admit, she might be a little right wing conspiracy kooky, but she’s still funny, she’s still very smart, and she also seems to have her life in order. I hope she tours again.
Bill Cosby
Look gang, I’m not denying what he did for decades, was reprehensible. As was everyone who looked the other way for decades, because he was a huge moneymaker, a big star, with perhaps the biggest sitcom of all time, and you know, when you are making millions, it’s rumors. Then he got old. His act of calling out young black comedians for not working clean got old. Him not bringing in millions got old. (Lets face it, I get $300 million in the bank, you’ll never hear from me again) You might get the occasional article on how rich I am, how great my life is, and that’s it. I’m sending them thru multiple servers, so you can’t even track me down. Back on point, if you can forget the fact that he drugged women for sex without their knowledge, when he could have easily afforded hookers to do that to, his albums back in the day were hilarious. You were familiar with the people he brought up through the Fat Albert cartoon, and the stories of Fat Albert and the gang were laugh out loud funny. His takes on life, though really tame and clean, were funny. He didn’t fall back on “White People” jokes, he was just naturally funny. I feel bad for the black culture, because they had this huge success story, and it all went bad.
I know. I didn’t include some of your favorites. It’s my list. You want to talk about your favorite comedian, leave a comment on Spoiler Country, or on the platforms I get around to sharing this. I highly encourage you to do so. I always like checking out people I may have missed, people I may have forgotten about, or even confirming why I don’t like people.
Exciting news, if you want to send me boob pictures or angry comments/messages of love. I promise to check it weekly…ish. Or, you can get on twitter @jaycanchu and see that I like to like pictures of naked women (they never point out how positive and supportive I am, just how many boobs I like) or on IG or SC. (that’s what the kids call it)
Take the time to check out the others on Spoiler Country. There’s the podcast that made this all possible, and then the website that you had to get on to read my article, that has so much more. You could spend your whole summer looking at my back catalog, or all the podcasts.
Keep Laughing
Mista J