Current Events > Is Dave Chappelle the best comedian of all time?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It amuses me how people seem to think American comedians are the only good ones or the only ones worthy of being considered the best of all time.

KainFourteh posted...

It amuses me how people seem to think American comedians are the only good ones or the only ones worthy of being considered the best of all time.

Throw a name in the hat then
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voldothegr8 posted...

Throw a name in the hat then

This. I'd love to expand my horizons in literally my favorite field

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Copy_X_Mk_ll posted...

Burr has actual material, Hart has nothing besides being loud and making silly faces. Hes not funny.

not even the ostrich story? probably kevin's best joke/story.

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He is in that top tier. I don't think he sits atop of everyone though. Doug Stanhope, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock. All up there.
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I always had Carlin as my top.

And Patrice O'Neal is probably my goat, but he did a lot of radio shows and interviews which was where his best material came from. His actual stand-up was pretty good but I thought others did it better. But as far as just being a naturally funny person from interviews and appearances and the like there really wasn't anyone better. And I applaud whoever the hell has archived just about everything he ever did on YouTube for preserving it all
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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

Anyone putting Burr in the top 5 is nuts

This. What in the fuck is up with all the Bill Burr love? I would only consider him mildly funny here and there. His angry man shtick feels really inauthentic, even though it appears to be who he really is based on his interviews. I cant put my finger on what it is.

Tom Segura has me dead when I watch him. Every time he releases a new special you think theres no way he can top his last, yet so somehow he does. Just an absolute genius of a comic.

Greg Giraldo, Dave Chappelle and Louis CK (until his scandals) are also my personal favorites.

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Nah, Gallagher

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He is great but Im not sure about #1

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I think he's the best living comedian.

It's really hard to compare people cross generationally. I can't really say he's up there with Pryor, who is still to this day funny. Which is an insane feat for comedy that's decades old.

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a lot of ppl like Carlin, but I just dont find him that funny

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dj1200 posted...

a lot of ppl like Carlin, but I just dont find him that funny

I feel the same way about Bill Hicks. Like I agree with a lot that he has to say, but he's just not funny. He doesn't make me laugh.
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Are we talking strictly comedy? Like not stand up but only comedy? Because y'all are really sleeping on Lucille Ball.

If this is STRICTLY stand up, I would have no problem putting Dave at number 2 personally.

Carlin in the early 2000's was honestly not that good. His 70's stuff was pretty good and he was damn near untouchable in the 80's and early 90's.

Pryor's run is pretty much all high points. There's a reason he's number 1.

Dangerfield and Redd Foxx are criminally underrated to where it's insulting.

Chris Rock and Bill Burr are hilarious but they've had some duds.

Chappelle and Louis have yet to have a bad stand up set IMO.

Norm makes you work to enjoy his comedy. He might be number 1 for my personal funniest list.

Dave Attell might be the greatest dirty comic of all time.

I'm just rambling.

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^ What's your opinion on Stanhope, Rock, Murphy?
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Second only to Louis CK in my opinion

Lost_All_Senses posted...

This. I'd love to expand my horizons in literally my favorite field

Yumi Nagashima is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgkrzcAyYYQ

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WaterLink posted...

^ What's your opinion on Stanhope, Rock, Murphy?

Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy?

Rock is really funny and arguably perfected the angry-man stand up better than anyone before him. Well him and Lewis Black. His recent stuff is pretty meh but his 90's-00's work is 9/10 stuff.

Stanhope reminds me of Lenny Bruce for some reason. Just their whole......essence. Very nihilistic, very dark, but it comes from a good place if that makes any sense. He's still a step or two behind Attell but he's very good.

Eddie Murphy's stand up has not aged well in the slightest. Delirious was garbage when I rewatched it last year and Raw isn't that much better. His "classics" aren't very good either. Well except Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. His movie work from the 80's-90's range from mediocre to terrible. His SNL work was great though and he single handily saved that show from extinction.

And if anyone needs my Top 5:

1. Norm MacDonald
2. Maria Bamford
3. Redd Foxx
4. Dave Chappelle
5. Dave Attell/Rodney Dangerfield/Richard Pryor

The top 4 is pretty interchangeable though.

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Kajagogo posted...

Yumi Nagashima is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgkrzcAyYYQ

Ok that was pretty funny. I'm going to find some more of her stuff.

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Bill Burr and Norm Macdonald are tied for first imo
Then after that it's probably Chapelle. Though I'm probably forgetting someone

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definitely one of my favorites next to George Carlin, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock, Lewis Black and Bill Burr.

i totally wish chris rock was still in his prime since i would love to see him do his magic with today's hot topics.

as it stands dave chappelle is the only one who has really stood the test of time.

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A topic like I kinda feel has to be trolling. I'm not sure I'd even put Chappelle in the top 50, although he still has a lot of career ahead of him whereas a lot of greats are dead (including some who were taken waaaaaaaaaaaay before their time, like Patrice O'Neal)

Reis posted...

he isn't even as good as eddie murphy or richard pyror

Yeah, although that's also a high bar. Personally, I wouldn't even put Chappelle ahead of Chris Rock. (Granted, later career Eddie Murphy kinda went to shit where he was doing stuff like Pluto Nash and the Doolittle films.)

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WaterLink posted...

I feel the same way about Bill Hicks. Like I agree with a lot that he has to say, but he's just not funny. He doesn't make me laugh.

That's the thing though, Carlin isn't supposed to make you laugh throughout the entire show. He provokes you to think for yourself, to not be conformist, to judge society and their rules, especially those that make those very same rules.

And every now and then there's a swear word or a funny anecdote so that you remember that you're watching a comedy special.

That's the power he had.

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Carlin is

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Kajagogo posted...

Yumi Nagashima is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgkrzcAyYYQ

Her delivery seems lousy. I'm not sure whether or not she can be funny, since it might just be clips from a few bad sets (or stand-up might not be her thing. Not all comedians can do stand-up well, even if they're funny in other formats.)

HagenEx posted...

That's the thing though, Carlin isn't supposed to make you laugh throughout the entire show. He provokes you to think for yourself, to not be conformist, to judge society and their rules, especially those that make those very same rules.

And every now and then there's a swear word or a funny anecdote so that you remember that you're watching a comedy special.

That's the power he had.

Then you're basically arguing he's not a comedian and thereby shouldn't be up for consideration. After all, philosophers will toss a joke or two into their lectures (although I guess it's weird indirectly comparing Carlin, a man without a full high school education, to a philosopher)

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For my money, Eddie Murphy was the best of all-time

That guy Jo Koi is pretty good too.

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He's an excellent comedian, but at the very least I'd have to put Pryor, Carlin, Rickles, and MacDonald above him, and possibly a few more.

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voldothegr8 posted...

Throw a name in the hat then

Dylan Moran
Ricky Gervais
Russell Howard
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Jimmy Carr

And easily one of the best of all time, Lee Evans.

KainFourteh posted...

Dylan Moran
Ricky Gervais
Russell Howard
Eddie Izzard
Bill Bailey
Jimmy Carr

And easily one of the best of all time, Lee Evans.

I think people here have a dislike for Ricky. I personally like him. Jimmy Carr is alright from what I seen, maybe a lil too proper and fast talking for me. But that's obviously a personal bias and speaks nothing about him.

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IMO yes, but other people will feel otherwise.

I see a lot of Carlin thrown around, but I just couldn't get into it.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

IMO yes, but other people will feel otherwise.

I see a lot of Carlin thrown around, but I just couldn't get into it.

The thing about Carlin is that while I'm not a Carlin fan, I can understand him being in top 5 or top 10 lists so I don't bat much of an eye when I see somebody who believes he's the best comedian of all time. Chappelle is so far out of left field that I start by wondering if the person is either joking or under the influence of... something.

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