Patton Oswalt is one of the best comedians around right now, Jim Gaffigan is the only "clean" comedian I really enjoy, sure he talks about pretty much the same shit on his stand up routines (being fat and lazy mostly) but something about the way the dude delivers jokes kills me. Katt Williams is another personal favorite of mine. Doug Stanhope isn't bad either assuming you're into the really dark cynical stuff.

Only Carlin is real.

Check me off for the "Hicks wasn't very funny" crowd too, although that's not to say he lacks value.

Gaffigan, mostly old Black, Steve Hughes from Nazxul et al.

Non-standup: Bad News, the British Spinal Tap. Cheech and Chong had good bits on record, before the movies (see: Trippin' in Court). Old Daffy Duck. NewsRadio, probably the best of the very short list of elite American sitcoms. Python, Spaceballs, Loaded Weapon. Almost forgot Caddyshack. There's lots of comedy out there, it's a sacred thing.

It's the other way round for me. I like Carlin as a social commentator but not so much as a comedian. Listening to him I find myself nodding more than laughing, though I rarely laugh anyway. Hicks doesn't seem to have that much material, though he was young when he died he repeated and reused a lot.

If we're not sticking to stand-up, favorites would be the Monty Python team or going contemporary, Dom Joly.

Patrice O'Neal was a killer, man. Had had some of the best pacing of any comedian. Lightening fast on his feet, too.

For those of you who enjoy a more off-the-cuff rambling, philosophical style I'd highly recommend Lenny Bruce. He's got a couple legendary albums on youtube in full (Live at Carnegie Hall and Live at Berkeley). I would highly recommend checking out the latter. Not a lot of huge laughs, but a very intelligent man with some witty observations and one of the most loosely formatted acts I've ever heard. It's really inspiring for those of us who would love to do comedy but aren't really the "Punchline move on, punchline move on" types.

Pretty much the entirety of his set is based around social commentary and observations so if you aren't down to hear a LOT of references to the 60s you may not want to apply. There weren't a lot of gut busters in this one for me but his bit about them trying to teach Lyndon B. Johnson how to say "Negro" had me literally in tears. "They didn't let him speak for 6 months man!"

Ross Noble is in my town very soon, but it was a choice between Ross Noble tickets or Steve Hughes tickets, and Ross Noble isn't likely to appreciate my SadEx shirt
He's over nearly every year, I'll get him next time. He's a funny fucker.



'IS THAT CAKE?!'