Elite standup comedy thread

Learning that every time Bill Hader’s Stefon broke character in SNL was due to this guy sneaking new lines onto the teleprompter was a very holy shit moment for me.

I know this will probably come as a surprise to nobody, but that new Chapelle thing is great. Would barely even call it standup comedy - at one point he’s like “this isn’t funny at all” - but powerful and important. Still mad at the dude for his anti-trans garbage, but this feels historic.

Lol. I don't know about historic, but it's very good. I never ever watch cable news but during the early stages of these protests I was watching CNN because there was no other way to get live coverage of the events happening all over the country. I was watching live when Don Lemon started begging American celebrities to please take a stand and come to the aid of the young demonstrators. He started calling them out by name. He literally said, "I want to know where Tyler Perry is right now." It was the funniest and most depressing shit ever because he was simultaneously ignoring the insights being offered by one of the co-chairs of the Poor People's Campaign, who Don Lemon was supposed to be interviewing at the time. I think I might have already made a post about this in another thread.

Anyways, I am glad that Chappelle specifically pushed back against that toxic idea. We don't need celebrities right now. I do not give a fuck what Oprah or Beyonce thinks right now. Or Jane Fonda. Or even Spike Lee. They are besides the point. The difference between Chappelle and other celebrities is that he is not enamored by the spotlight of public adulation. He has literally just walked away from all of it before, which gives him a credibility that very few other public figures in this country have. It's good to have someone in that unique position who is willing to speak truth to power, but it is even more important to have someone like him recognize their position in the backseat of the car as cheerleaders of social justice and not as the engine itself.

Okay, but where is Ja, though?

That was maybe the only funny part of the entire set but it fucking killed.

Theres's plenty of good stuff in this interview...  but if you scroll to the 56 minute point, I think Norm is onto something...   re. "smiling" vs "gut busting comedy," Norm gets to something very real. Bob Hope vs Carlin or Pryor or whatever...
Planes Trains and Automobiles is pure joy. I don't even know, but I'm into this.

Eric Andre >>> Dave Chappelle

I can't stand the Eric Andre shtick. I recently re-watched the first classic Richard Pryor special from the early 80s. The shit is untouchable. The last twenty minutes when he is talking about his struggles with addiction is remarkably touching. The fact that he was willing to make himself that vulnerable, especially as a prominent black celebrity in the United States of America literally as the country is ramping up Nancy Reagan's War on Drugs, is truly awe-inspiring to me. Obviously a very complicated person who I think also physically abused several women in his life and would probably (and perhaps justifiably) just have been tossed in the garbage bin by our current pop culture climate, but I can't help feeling that it would have been a terrible shame.

What does Richard Pryor have to do with Eric Andre being better then Dave Chappelle?

Second City is being sold to a Private Equity company.

i've been watching shit tons of old comedy from the 80s and 90s on youtube. rodney had that club where he introduced so many greats.

who are some great comics out there today?

Nick wrote:Second City is being sold to a Private Equity company.

Nothing is sacred. We live in a profane world.

I may have already posted this video before (although I couldn't find it anywhere in this thread) but it is worth re-posting. That phone conversation with Angela Merkel. The first time I watched this video I almost passed out. Is this a good representation of mainstream Scottish humor? If so, I am moving to Glasgow.

Norm

https://deadline.com/2021/09/norm-macdonald-dead-obituary-comedian-saturday-night-live-weekend-update-anchor-was-61-1234833212/

Oh no

Damn, he was one of the funniest people I’ve ever seen.

He got the boot from Weekend Update because he was being too mean to OJ! So many of his appearances - SNL, Letterman - just incredible stuff.

A dark day, my brothers.

I bet he talked to Billy Joe Shaver about it. And I wish more than anything that I could’ve been a fly on the wall for those talks.

This was like losing a family member. I talked to my brother for like an hour tonight… it’s …
He
He gave
It is hard to articulate, but his brilliance is now somehow even more brilliant in retrospect?
He knew what he was doing, and I love the way he did it.

Ned Braden wrote:

Theres's plenty of good stuff in this interview...  but if you scroll to the 56 minute point, I think Norm is onto something...   re. "smiling" vs "gut busting comedy," Norm gets to something very real. Bob Hope vs Carlin or Pryor or whatever...
Planes Trains and Automobiles is pure joy. I don't even know, but I'm into this.

This holds up so very well.
“Everybody has cancer.”

God dammit now I can’t find the full interview Norm did with Cortney thorne smith and fuck these algorithms


Edit - broken into 2 parts:
https://youtu.be/VdmXd1QaOgg

https://youtu.be/bKmadR4Ye54

ooooweee...

The norm bit about Lee Majors is such an all timer.