Fly Robin Fly
Posted: December 2nd, 2009 | Filed under: Pop Culture | 136 Comments »
The first of the pop culture posts … we start with Robin Williams.
I do not think Robin Williams has ever been especially funny. There. I said it. I’m not saying I’m right, but that’s how he has always struck me. Oh, sure, there have been moments when he has made me laugh — maybe on “Mork and Mindy” or his turn in “Good Morning Vietnam” or one of his genie scenes in “Aladdin” or his ridiculous Oscar-winning Boston accent in “Good Will Hunting” — but as a rule, his act has left me cold. The strange part about this is that I do not dislike Robin Williams … in fact I tend to like him quite a lot. I suspect he would be a fun guy to a game with. I respect the energy. And I would not argue with people who say he’s a comic genius — he probably is. It’s just when he’s doing his act, I don’t laugh much. I’m willing to admit it’s my own failing.
That said: I felt this acute sadness the other day when I saw Robin Williams on The View. I suppose I should have felt that acute sadness for myself because I was watching The View — this is the price you pay for being around family at the holidays. You find yourself watching television shows that you would normally not even give the courtesy .03 second pause when remote channel surfing.
The sound was somewhat down — especially for my family which usually has the television volume at glass-breaking volume — so I did not catch everything. But Williams apparently was on the show to promote his new movie “Old Dogs” where he and John Travolta star as former Hollywood stars who have completely lost their sense of direction. Or something. From what I can tell, the plot is pretty muddled. You know, whenever I see a movie that stars two people as famous as Robin Williams and John Travolta, I always think of the old Roger Ebert Gene Siskel* theory that it would be fun just to watch the two of them sit around a table and talk for an hour and a half. Instead, people spend tens of millions to give them an awful premise, locations, costumes, sets and terrible lines. Well, that’s Hollywood.
*I had always thought it was Ebert who said this … I know I’ve heard him say it. But several people have said it was originally Siskel’s, which is cool too. I always liked Siskel.
And — if you believe the critics — Old Dogs is probably the worst movie of the year. Ebert again — he writes the best negative reviews in the business. His two word summation of this movie — “stupefying dimwitted” — is probably the most concise punch to the face I’ve seen in a while. I like that just a bit better than the New York Times’ Stephen Holden’s summation — he calls it an “imbecilic, mean spirited farce.” Entertainment Weekly’s Lis Schwarzbaum’s “stinky endeavor” is a little bit less direct than the New York Post’s Kyle Smith’s “Old Dogs does to the screen what old dogs do to the carpet.” Anyway, you probably get the point.
Well, hey, the sign of success in Hollywood is being big enough to make a classically bad movie, and Robin Williams has made more than his share. But my point is that I was watching The View, and Williams was on, and the clip they showed was of Robin Williams golfing. It began with him hitting a golf ball into somebody’s groin, which is always killer comedy material. But in this case, that was only the beginning. The other golfers then went behind Robin Williams — you know, to be safe. But they were not safe! Ho ho! Williams stood over the ball, and — I know, you won’t believe this — he ended up hitting the ball BACKWARD into somebody’s groin! Oh man. Totally got me.
To be honest, what got me watch watching Robin Williams watch a clip of Robin Williams reduced to hitting golf balls into people’s groins. It had this feeling of a big time trial — Robin Williams on trial for having lost any comedic sense he once had. What say ye Robin Williams? Here is video proof that you — an Oscar winner, a comedy legend, a man who for years held the unofficial title as funniest man in the world* — are now starting in and promoting a movie where one of the BEST jokes (after all, this was the scene they picked to promote the movie) is the golf-ball-to-the-groin.
*I recently went to dinner with Michael Schur — Ken Tremendous of Fire Joe Morgan fame — and I don’t just say that to make you jealous (though you are, aren’t you?). No, one of the topics of discussion was how at any given time there is always one person who is widely considered the funniest person in the world (or America, anyway). This isn’t necessarily the person WE think is the funniest person in the world; I’ve already told you I don’t think Robin Williams is all that funny. It’s more like the national plus international consensus. We did not spend a lot of time on the dates (and I should say here that I added a few names that Michael might not agree with) but we generally think the funniest person in the world title has, at one time or another, been the following people.
– Richard Pryor
– George Carlin
– Chevy Chase
– John Belushi
– Eddie Murphy
– Robin Williams
– Billy Crystal
– Dana Carvey
– Mike Myers
– Jerry Seinfeld
– Jim Carrey
– Adam Sandler
– Jon Stewart
– Will Ferrell
– Tina Fey
I suppose you will come up with numerous other people — it does occur to me that Ben Stiller should be on the list too since (and this shocks me) he was featured in two of the biggest grossing comedies ever. One, of course, was “There’s Something About Mary.” The other is “Meet the Fockers.” I want you to think about that for a second. This is not “Meet the Parents,” which was actually reasonably funny. No. “Meet the Fockers,” the SECOND one, grossed almost $280 million. Sigh. And now he’s in those Museum movies which I think do huge business too. So maybe he should be on the list, but he is not because I don’t think he was ever quite viewed as the funniest person on earth and also “Meet the Fockers” is so thoroughly unfunny that I simply cannot allow that to count for anything.
Weird, I’m not a huge Ben Stiller fan but I do think he is about 250 times funnier than Adam Sandler. And yet I have Adam Sandler on the list. Which just goes to show you that if there was a Fire Joe Morgan for stupid pop culture analysis, this would get picked apart.
Anyway, watching Robin Williams watching his old self do golf/groin jokes in Old Dogs made me sad. It was hard to pinpoint why. I don’t know Robin Williams. I don’t think he has anything left to prove — if he wants to make millions doing goofy movies like this late in his career, that doesn’t seem unreasonable. And, like my mother loves to say, I’m sure he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
Still, I’m sure Robin Williams’ bank account was plenty funny before. And anyway, it’s not about money. I guess what made me sad was the possibility that Robin Williams was up there watching the clip of movie and grimacing because he knew just how bad it was and was thinking, “What happened to me? How did I end up here? Have I totally lost it? Am I Willie Mays falling down in the outfield? Am I Michael Jordan barely able to dunk?”
It’s the same feeling — now that I think of it — that I get watching The Jay Leno Show.
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Egregious oversights: Dave Chappelle and Pedro Martinez.
Circle me, Colbert
Steve Martin?
Agreed on Chappelle being an oversight. Not sure about Tina Fey’s inclusion, although she is funny – I just don’t see her having as much reach as the others on the list, but I am willing to admit I am wrong.
Of course the question to Joe is whether or not Jay Leno was ever funny. I would submit no. Watching Jay Leno has always been a sad experience.
I think David Letterman would be a better comparison to Robin Williams.
Circle me, Dave Chappelle
Doesn’t Bill Cosby have to be on this list?
Joe,
Couldn’t you re-write this post to be:
I never thought Michael Jordan was all that great. I mean, I’m aware he had some big moments, but I just saw him play in a Washington Wizards game, and he flat out stunk.
I think you attributed Siskel’s test of, “Would you rather watch the movie or a 90-minute documentary of the actors having lunch?” to Ebert, though Ebert uses it all the time.
As far as Robin Williams goes, he’ll just grow a beard and give a hammy performance as a character with a lot of gravitas (see Awakenings, Good Will Hunting), and people will eat it up, forgetting atrocities like Flubber, Toys, Old Dogs, Insomnia, Man of the Year, License to Wed, etc…
Bob Newhart? (revealing my age here).
Yet another vote for Chappelle.
I just don’t get Ben Stiller’s appeal. His “everyman-getting-dumped-on” schtick that propelled “Meet the Parents” makes me want to vomit. And that’s the same character he plays in every movie in which he’s the star. I will give him credit for his “evil guy” in “Billy Madison” and “Dodgeball” but I really don’t think that character is too hard to pull off. What’s really frustrating is his ubiquity. You can’t watch cable without stumbling across Ben Stiller doing a bad impression of an actor.
Whew, thanks for letting me vent.
There was a good chunk of the late ’90’s, early ’00’s where Chris Rock was considered the funniest person in the world.
Chris Rock is a bigger omission than all mentioned in comments above.
Tina Fey, really?
Yes on Chappelle / yes on Siskel (not Ebert).
What’s sad about RW is: if he didn’t need the money or fame, why make such an obviously stupid movie?
(1) He thought it would be good? (Hard to imagine.)
(2) He actually does need the money? (That actually would be sad.)
(3) He doesn’t know what else to do with himself, a la MJ on the Wiz? (Mostly puzzling.)
I’d bet on #3 — being a big famous star is his job, and we all go through career lulls from time to time (RW frequently, I’d suggest). He’s just saying yes, going to work, and never considering the alternatives. Much praise, then, to Bill Murray for being choosier and improving his reputation.
I’ve never been a big fan of Robin Williams movies, but his stand up is hilarious. His live on Broadway from a couple years ago is great. I think he might have a new one coming up on HBO too.
Chris Rock? Mel Brooks?
Though if we’re talking who we personally think is the funniest person on earth, Eddie Izzard is the only person who has ever made me laugh so hard it caused me physical pain.
Robin Williams : Live on Broadway, his standup from 2002, is absolutely hilarious. I’m not a huge fan of his comedy, but he hit a grand slam in his last big show (he might have another coming up, who knows)
Just youtube the parts about the origins of golf. That’s good stuff right there.
Am I Joe Posnanski writing 1,200 words about Robin Williams sad state of affairs?
He needs the money. Just got a divorce. Expect bad RW movies for the next few years.
@Thomas–
Thomas, if the only Stiller movies you’ve seen are Meet The Parents or his small bit parts in Dodgeball or Billy Madison (what, are you going to break down his 5 second appearance in “Anchorman” now, too?) — you need to watch more Stiller. I think for the most part, he’s harmless, and most of these goofy roles he takes are favors for friends.
I love the Meet the Parents “schtick” (as you put it) because it puts viewers in the uncomfortable position of being in all these situations. It was so popular because everyone feels slighted, or wronged, or that their intentions are being misunderstood. It captured that paranoia perfectly. Like other film genres, this makes many people uncomfortable because it shines a light on their own personality weaknesses and insecurities. Meet the Fockers was terrible (lets throw Dustin Hoffman in there for no reason!), but Meet the Parents holds up very well.
Stiller hosted a very popular, underrated comedy show in the 90’s that featured a crew of talent and writers that are all very respected comedy people. He’s a talented writer and director as well — I’m not being ironic when I think Tropic Thunder was one of the best movies of last year. Even some of his 90’s movies he directed had some pathos that was missing in a lot of the Gen-X fare at the time.
I’d second Steve Martin and Bob Newhart.
I’m not sure Chappelle was widely popular enough to be considered the funniest man alive. I thought Chappelle was hilarious, but I would say the majority of my friends (during the height of his popularity) either were barely aware of him or his stuff struck them the wrong way. Obviously not representative of the entire population, but I just got the sense that his popularity was more among a certain demographic.
I remember reading an interview with Bob Newhart, who was the Funniest Person in the World in the early ’60s due to the strength of his stand-up routines and comedy albums. He described the first time he saw Bill Cosby on a talk show, and realized there was now a new Funniest Person in the World.
Bob and Bill might actually make the list twice–once in the ’60s for stand-up, and again in the ’70s and ’80s as TV personalities.
And yeah, Steve Martin has to be there in the mix somewhere.
Andrew “Dice” Clay. At least for 6 months or so would have to be on the list.
He’s British, but he’s hosting the Golden Globes and he’s been a mainstay for at least a few years — Ricky Gervais.
Well, I know everyone will load up their favorites, but how any list could exclude Peter Cook I cannot imagine. Do you really think anyone will be looking at these guys 15 years after their deaths?
Comedy is pretty short-lived, but oh my, these guys will all vanish as Buddy Hackett did.
Joe – how about an interview for the site w/ Fremulon’s Ken Tremendous?
I think if you pick any successful comedian, you can claim they were the funniest person on earth right at their peak. Kinison, Leary, Izzard, Parker/Stone, even Foxworthy… going back to the old days, Foxx, Griffith, Bruce. (And perhaps, specifically in the case of Griffith, deliberately spending years playing the straight man to someone who wasn’t all that funny has clouded people’s recognition of his own comedic talent.)
Then again, maybe it’s the Jeff Burroughs argument; sure, maybe he had the best season in baseball in 1974, but would anyone ever call him the best baseball player?
And then, of course, it all depends on one’s flavor. I mean, nobody’s hurt my sides more in the last decade than Bill Engvall and Ron White, but they seem to be lost in Comedy Central Hell and can’t get out, and they get dismissed by effete snobs who can’t get past accent to realize they aren’t making redneck jokes (Engvall’s really Suburbia and White is *totally* Vegas Lounge).
In the late 90s, I was working at ESPN. One day, I was speaking with a group of production assistants about 10-12 years younger than me. I started quoting something from Steve Martin’s “Let’s Get Small,” and they had never heard it. I explained it was from Steve Martin, and they all looked at me strangely. One of the them finally said, “Steve Martin did stand up?” That’s sad.
By the way, this may be the funniest thing Martin ever wrote.
I find that I really like Robin Williams in some roles, particularly darker material like One Hour Photo and Insomnia. And I loved the first season of Mork and Mindy, as well as his mastery over the Fonz on Happy Days. But many of his performances are completely unwatchable for me. He’s either way too earnest (Patch Adams) or way too manic (most of his comedies).
I enjoy some of his standup, and there’s no doubt that he’s really talented, but his style wears me out. I guess Robin works better for me in a short talk show appearance, especially with a stiff host like Charlie Rose, rather than a 90-minute HBO special.
FWIW, I’ve often read that other comedians *despise* Robin Williams, claiming that he shamelessly steals material and passes it off as his own. I have no idea if it’s true, or is just jealousy, but those accusations have been out there for a while.
“Stuepifyingly dimwitted” is to “Old Dogs” as “S–t Sandwich” is to “Shark Sandwich”.
i do not accept the premise of this post, because i know that robin williams made this movie this year.
Joe – Robin Williams did “Flubber” many moons ago, so his pride must be gone as he apparently long ago swallowed it, and then either digested it and sh@t it out, or threw it up. I’m not sure that, in the comedic sense, he was technically alive during his stint on “The View,” let alone cognizant of his current position on the Funny Tree.
Letterman was probably the funniest man on earth around the time he switched networks. I’d replace Mike Myers on your with him, because Seinfeld hit his peak shortly after The Late Show started.
Stephen Colbert belongs on the list. He might still hold the title.
LARRY DAVID -
Rodney should be on the this.
Bill Hicks was a genius comic, but never in a mass-appeal kinda way.
Don Rickles kills me.
Not sure if anyone else has noticed, but a lot of actors have been sucked up by the Disney empire recently. They sign multi-movie contracts with Disney (for the $$$, no doubt) and are stuck making this kind of crap for a few years.
Thoughts?
I have a theory on movie trailers, and Old Dogs seems to be the perfect example. My theory is that movie trailers are only really effective for convincing you NOT to see a movie. There have been a lot of trailers that made a movie look great, but the movie was horrible (especially comedies). So a good trailer doesn’t really mean the movie will be good. But if they can’t make a movie look good in a trailer, you know it will be BAD.
heyyy, i liked insomnia.
Dane Cook probably should be on the more recent end of the list, though I have no idea why.
I agree with the Steve Martin posters. And I think Steve Martin suffers from the crappy movie syndrome way worse than Robin Williams. He’s been in comedies recently, and he’s been in good movies recently, but he hasn’t been in a comedy that is also a good movie in a long, long time. Arguably, since L.A. Story, which came out in 1991.
I can’t believe Chris Farley wasn’t listed on Joe’s list, or here in the comments! He clearly had a few great years there.
It’s funny too, my wife and I just had the Robin Williams argument. I always loved his dramatic acting, but never his comedy so much.
I’ve also never lied Mike Myers, or even Dana Carvey.
Whether you love or hate Ben Stiller his appearance as himself on the first episode of Ricky Gervais’ Extras is hysterical. It’s probably even funnier if you think he’s a bit of a douche.
All comedians have a short shelf life. Schticks get old quick and life changes so fast that socially or culturally relevant humor rarely has the same effect a couple of years later. There are always exceptions to that like Carlin and Hicks.
eddie izzard is the funniest person n the planet to me – no contest.
Bill Cosby not being on the list is bizarre while chevy chase, carvey, stewart and fey being on any list as the funniest anything is just as bizarre. Sure they are funny at times but surely come nowhere close to a title of funniest person in the US, much less the world.
Likewise, sandler and seinfeld and crystal were never given such a title by any pop culture source I ever heard. Funny yes, funniest, no.
Steve martin was funnier than of the 7 people I just disagreed about and even he was never called the funniest in the world.
Izzard and Cosby have been given that title – usually by their fans, if not by the critical media.
As I thought about all this, I realized that there are two different classifications of people on your list and mine joe – one is of people who can make you laugh doing standup and the other is one whose movies make you laugh. I don’t think carrey could ever make me laugh doing standup and I am not sure that Izzard’s or Williams comedic talent ever comes across via a movie as well as it does on stage in front of an audience.
After all, how funny is it for a person to talk out of their butt? Surely the fact that anyone on the planet can do that means it isn’t that big a sign of talent?
Or just a sign that I never got it, and that I could never allow myself to participate in so many truly stupid roles as carrey (and others) have done and – to be fair – whioch often come across as quite funny.
I guess I just don’t get it, but still no Cosby, no Izzard and too much chase, carvey, stewart and fey? Just seems wrong
Joe, love your writing, but I find it disturbing that you left three prominent African-American comics off this list. There is no way you can make that list without including Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle.
I agree that Tina Fey should be on the list. While I think she’s one of the funniest people on the list, I know that others disagree. But if you take Joe’s criteria — not that you’ll agree they are the funniest, but that there was a time when national plus international consensus was … well, if you missed her on SNL or 30 Rock, there was no missing her last year during the elections. On every magazine, and the gazillion youtube hits for her Sarah Palin… it kills me still.
other than that, uh yeah, Joe. Sheesh — Steve Martin.
And while I generally loathe most Robin Williams movies — his standup specials are reliably hysterical, and “World’s Greatest Dad” is excellent.
Bill Cosby
Dave Chappelle
Chris Rock
Steve Martin
Leslie Nielsen
Looking ahead, expecting big things from Louis C.K.
You know, Entertainment Weekly used to do the “Funniest Man of the Year” award, or some such thing, which lead to this Norm McDonald joke on Weekend Update:
“Well, Entertainment Weekly named 1995’s Funniest Man in the World. This year’s winner?? You guessed it…Frank Stalone.”
classic
Maybe it was just because I grew up when he was at his peak, but that list seems naked without Chris Farley in it.
Jeff, never use “naked” and “Chris Farley” in the same sentence.
The problem is that Hollywood doesn’t make very many funny movies, and certainly not funny movies with older men as protagonists. I’m sure Mr. Williams needs the income to live in the manner to which he has grown accustomed (a VERY different thing than “needs the money”). So his choices are 1) quit Hollywood, and seriously downsize his life, or 2) keep making terrible movies and living the good life. Who wouldn’t choose 2?
Chevy Chase = Jim Rice
For my money, Chris Rock has been and continues to be the funniest man in America.
I will take the list back further than most people have:
Lucille Ball (need more females anyway)
Dick Van Dyke
Bob Hope (think 40s and 50s movies here, not the sad old man who did the All-American team every year as a special)
George Burns (again go back to Burns and Allen routines, not the old man who played God with John Denver)
Jerry Lewis (with a big assist from Dean Martin)
Abbott and Costello (yeah, two people not one, but still)
@19,
As I noted in my post above, Ben Stiller is unavoidable. I have seen more Stiller than the 3 movies I used as examples, I just didn’t think a 4-sentence quick comment warrented a list of everything I’ve seen with him in it.
I also said I gave him credit for those silly, goofy, evil-guy roles that he seems to do as almost cameos-in-character.
Obviously people enjoy that “Meet the Parents” humor (also employed in “Along Came Polly” — care to defend that one?), and they can relate to it; I get it. My point was that to me it is simply not funny mostly because Ben Stiller is not funny (much like Joe simply never found Robin Williams all that funny); but more than that, I found it downright insulting. How much bad shit can happen to a guy in one weekend? If you’re relying on people feeling humiliated for you as the basis for your comedy, you are not funny.
I have heard of his early ’90s MTV work and that it spawned some lasting entertainers and writers, but alas, have never seen it.
I agree with you, he’s mostly harmless. Mostly, my outburst was about 3 years too late (11 movies between ‘04-’06), and I hoped to see if anyone agreed with me that he was overexposed for someone who wasn’t funny if he had to carry a movie by himself.
I’d say that the writers of the Simpsons had a pretty good run in the mid-90s.
Also, in defense of Stiller (ugh), Tropic Thunder was brilliant, and that pretty much was all him. He wrote it, directed it and I believe helped produce it. A great cast, no doubt, but really funny stuff too.
Hell, if we’re goin’ old school, another inarguable pick is Will Rogers!
Didn’t take long for this thread to degrade into a “who is/isn’t funny” list of individual faves. The premise isn’t who kicks ass on your funny bone, or even who had a compacted run of hit movies, it’s who held the unofficial “#1 comedy person” crown at different stages of the American cultural timeline.
@scatterbrian – ha. i like the concept of marrying comedians to baseball players. is chevy chase = jim rice because they both seem ornery and their careers seemed to just fall off a cliff at some point? i don’t know…not sure that’s a perfect match…
Here’s a few:
Eddie Murphy = Ken Griffey Jr. – both started young and were preternaturally gifted. once they hit their 30’s, they just became frustratingly average.
Jerry Seinfeld = Derek Jeter – Great, teflon, but have received disproportionate credit for success given their supremely talented supporting cast.
Rrgo at #56, very good one. Also Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplain. And possibly Buster Keaton and Harry Lloyd.
Jonathan Winters, Groucho Marx, W. C. Fields.
For the last few years I’ve had a similar theory about Will Ferrell. He hasn’t made a movie I actually enjoyed since Anchorman, which came out nearly 7 years ago, and yet year after year he cranks out a bad comedy in which he plays essentially the same character only in a different setting(NASCAR, ABA, figure skating, etc.) The movies are terrible, the last one I actually watched was the figure skating one, and when I say I watched it, I actually mean it was on while I was flying cross country and I fell asleep during it. Yet, every time he does one of these movies he does a tremendous amount of in character promotion. The two things that jump to mind are the series of Miller Lite commercials for the ABA movie and an hour long interview, in character, on Larry King Live, for the NASCAR movie. These promotional bits are always very funny. For years I’ve been saying that he’d be better off just creating a character, doing the talk show circuit, doing a few endorsements, not bother actually making a crappy movie and then the following year do the same thing over again with a new character.
Got to vote for Steve Martin. Saw him way back when on his ‘Let’s Get Small’ tour at MU. I still laugh at the memory!
Got to agree with B(rilliant)W(riter) Joe, I never thought Robin Williams was funny. Back when I first saw him (Mork and Mindy) it was fairly obvious the guy was hopped up on goofballs.
As for Ben Stiller, I feel the guy is list worthy based solely on the great impersonation he does of Tom Cruise!
Have to go old school with Milton Berle and the grandfather of them all Mark Twain.
Woody Allen had some really great stand up stuff in the mid-60s. No one is complaining about the lack of women up there either. Probably Bob Hope and Jack Benny would have been up top in the 30s and 40s. Fred Allen too, everyone’s forgotten him.
I think this SandleryStillerborn stuff will NOT fade, I mean, you have no problem finding a crappy Jerry Lewis movie if you actually want to see it.
I won’t comment on the many people mentioned whom I not only don’t find funny but whom I find depressingly unfunny. (Ok, I can’t resist saying that not only don’t I think Stiller has any comic timing whatsoever, but I also think his movies are plagued by sloppy writing and a lack of comic structure. I hated “There’s Something About Mary” which after a few funny gags wandered aimlessly before thankfully ending.)
But I am sure at one time or another I said Robin Williams was the funniest comic in the world. When he launched into an apparent stream of consciousness routine caroming from Shakespeare to pop culture to politics to whatever, I was in hysterics because not only were the lines and delivery funny, but it all made a kind of crazy sense.
My sadness is that once he committed to movies, he went soft. His comedy lost its edge and like Don Rickles assuring us at the end of his set that he really was just kidding and loved his mother and everyone in the audience (gag, gag), he seemed to hope that we all liked him and his character and was a really earnest fellow.
I think he can be a talented actor, and in some movies has shown that side, but by and large, they are compromises when not out and out sentimental claptrap.
When Chapelle’s Show was still on Comedy Central, I’d say he was considered the funniest man in America. So he should be on the list.
I can’t wrap my head around Tina Fey being on the list, and some of that probably has to do with the fact that I don’t think she’s funny…at all. But also I’m not sure she has the reach that Chapelle did, or Carlin (who I miss, he was hilareous).
Finally, I’m sure Steve Martin has to fit in there somewhere.
Three Stooges?
Rodney Dangerfield?
I brought up this topic of conversation for no obvious reason the other day: best ever SNL castmember. Not the one who was the funniest person outside of SNL, best work within SNL. I think it boils down to Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Dana Carvey with plenty of classics (Belushi, Chase, Radner, etc.) just barely outside that bubble. Myers and Murphy both had brilliant careers outside SNL, and I suppose you could say Carvey did too, but he was someone who seemed to really excel in SNL (Bush Sr, church lady, Franz, Garth, etc.). Then of course there’s Will Ferrell. I’m not really sure how to compare him. He was someone who was just funny every time he did something, but didn’t have that many characters who seemed to exist outside of him (like Wayne, church lady, many of Radner’s, even Darryl Hannah’s Clinton). Alright, now I’m going to get to work, I promise.
Women who might have a claim to being the funniest person on earth at some point in time:
Lucille Ball
Carol Burnette
Roseanne Barr
Tina Fey
I never liked Roseanne but she did run the top comedy TV show for a while. My personal favorite funny woman is Rita Rudner.
With the standard of best comedy show who gets credit for Cheers? Kelsey Grammer? Tim Allen might should be there with Home Improvement and Ray Ramono of Everybody Loves Raymond. But please no Charlie Sheen for 2.5 Men. Groening for Simpsons, the South Park guys also. Maybe Dennis Miller, Jeff Foxworthy, or Jerry Clower have claims too.
I don’t know if Monty Python/John Cleese ever was really #1 but they were with me for a while.
I second the Bob Newhart nomination. His stand up is great.
How about authors other than Twain? Douglas Adams or Scott Adams from Dilbert or Gary Larson or Bill Waterson or Berk Breathed or John Irving or Dave Barry or PJ O’Rourke, or Bill Simmons?
Agree on Cosby and Martin. One thing a lot of people are ignoring, however, is that some of the suggestions are based more on personal taste than on general consensus.
I mean, I’d be happy if someone like Louis C.K. or Sarah Silverman or Ricky Gervais had the title, but I know they don’t resonate with (or aren’t even known by) a lot of people out there, so they aren’t apt to climb to the top of their field.
Of course, like most anything else, comedy seems to have become more divided in recent years, some due to their inherent politicizing nature. David Cross will be rejected by half the country as being too liberal or elitist while the briefly-ubiquitous Frank Caliendo will be shot down by the other half for being too lowest-common-denominator.
So long as names like Dane Cook, Larry the Cable Guy and Carlos Mencia never make the list, I’ll be happy.
Oh, and Joe, I know you’ve heard people mention this before and didn’t think much of it, but Stiller’s best work is DEFINITELY the mostly forgotten “Ben Stiller Show.” Stiller, Garafaolo (sp?), Andy Dick, Bob Odenkirk, occasional David Cross sightings, all unestablished and hungry. It’s really great stuff.
@Owen – If I had to watch an SNL highlight reel, I’m taking Eddie Murphy first and Phil Hartman 2nd. I’d watch Carvey’s. I wouldn’t touch Will Ferrell’s or Mike Myers’. Best non-cast member’s SNL reel = Tom Hanks. Man he had some funny skits…
Robin Williams was in a very funny movie recently – “World’s Greatest Dad.” Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. I know that combination may sound noxious to many, but it’s quite intelligent, biting and funny, and Williams is surprisingly understated yet still funny. Good stuff.
Soupy Sales ?
Part two of my post, since I’m pretty opinionated about comedy and didn’t want to write an unreadable 5,000 word comment…
I was also never a huge Robin Williams fan, but I still found his descent into schlocky family fare kind of tragic.
Having said that, virtually all comedians suffer a decline after a while. Comedy tends to tap into the cultural zeitgeist and is fueled (overtly or not) by anger. As guys like Williams, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy et al age, they either lose track of what’s funny or just cease caring to keep making money and remain in the public eye. I hate saying that, since I was a huge Steve Martin fan as a kid, but I can’t recall the last movie he made that I wanted to see. It’s all just garbage now.
To those recommending the Simpsons, Cheers, South Park and the like: I don’t know that ensemble shows really qualify here. For Cheers, is there one person who really MADE the show? Ted Danson was ostensibly the lead, but the show relied so strongly on the characters and their interactions that no one member was seen above the others. Seinfeld was different – the show was named after the guy, and the other characters, crucial as they were, mostly just orbited around Jerry.
The Simpsons and South Park…yeah, they have driving creative forces, but when they work behind the scenes as Groening and Parker/Stone did, I don’t thnk they’re given the mainstream exposure that would earn them a “funniest person” crown.
This is like one of those Onion.com response threads where everybody lists everything they can think of.
To repeat the premise:
“…at any given time there is always one person who is widely considered the funniest person in the world (or America, anyway). This isn’t necessarily the person WE think is the funniest person in the world; I’ve already told you I don’t think Robin Williams is all that funny. It’s more like the national plus international consensus.”
We’ve further broken that down into more categories, each of which is always occupied by someone: Family-Friendly White Guy, Slightly Dangerous White Guy, Black Guy and Woman. We believe they are all currently occupied by Wayans brothers.
No one has mentioned Andy Kaufman, but there was a (too) short time during the seventies when he revolutionized the comedy world. He didn’t do stand up, he didn’t tell jokes, he didn’t make bad movies, but he was the funniest person in the world.
Robin Williams was great in “The World According to Garp”, a huge book and movie at the time.
Now, you kids get off my lawn.
Bill Murray is my all-time favorite comedic actor. I don’t know if he ever a #1 guy, but his performances in Ghostbusters is my all-time favorite.
newhart – just look at his record sales.
martin and cosby need to be on that list, even if I found cosby a tad repetitive
carol burnette hosted a variety show for how many years, or lucille ball (those old movies with her in them before the smoking, booze and age took over are worth watching)
Chiming on on the Funniest person thing:
Lewis Black?
If I had to guess some futures for this list:
Kristin Wiig
Daniel Tosh
Bill Heder
Justin Timberlake/Peyton Manning (they go together as funniest non-comediens) Love when they host SNL.
A man getting hit in the groin by a groin is hilarious as it works on so many levels. It’s especially good when it happens to either Hans Moleman or George C. Scott.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/20927/the-simpsons-man-getting-hit-by-football
Not a huge Robin fan, but even I loved Mrs. Doubtfire. Even you had to respect that.
I threw out Jim Rice basically because he and Chase were never as good as people thought they were. More of a riff on the HOF voting than on their career arcs, though I do like the Griffey/Murphy and Seinfeld/Jeter analogies.
Really I just questioned Chase’s inclusion. His SNL run was somewhat short, and he only made a few really funny movies with horrible sequels. Even in Caddyshack he was like the fourth funniest guy.
As for the assertion that people who don’t like the Blue Collar crap must be “effete snobs who can’t get past accent to realize they aren’t making redneck jokes” it really has nothing to do with accents. It more about the fact that they aren’t all that funny. Using the word “effete” when calling someone a snob? Now that’s funny.
Doesn’t Redd Foxx belong on this list?
And is Seth Rogen the new Ben Stiller?
Sam Kinison, anyone?
Here’s a vote for Steve Carell.
Robin Williams is funny, but his act and movies, at best, might stop me from changing the channel.
DAVE CHAPPELLE!!! No question Chappelle was the general consensus “Funniest Man in the World” and unlike a few on your list he absolutely deserved it. Obviously, that’s my subjective take, but I’m somewhat of a comedic snob so fvck the dissenters on that issue. (Classy, I know.)
@81 You’re correct. Tosh is on his way. I think most comedians are anywhere from OK to intolerably boring, uncreative, and/or unfunny and riffing with my hungover friends beats most stand-up on Comedy Central. (Just watch the promos. Absolutely vomitous.) Tosh slays ‘um. He’s 99.44% pure gold.
I long for the day Peyton Manning retires for two reasons: 1) So the Colts can immediately become a 5-11 team; and 2) So Manning’s movie career can begin.
Was Jerry Seinfeld really ever considered the funniest person in America? Growing up in the 90’s, his show was obviously the biggest pop culture phenomenon outside of Michael Jordan, but I thought it was universally agreed that Jerry was at best the 3rd funniest person on it, behind Jason Alexander and Michael Richards (or at least his character was way less funny than George and Kramer.)
Also, it’s been mentioned a few times in the comments, but not including Chris Farley and Chris Rock on your list makes it less credible than a Hall of Fame without Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.
Funniest in the World?
Let’s include other parts of the world:
Benny Hill
Stephen Chow
What!!!! Not one mention of one of, if not the
funniest man ever: Jonathon Winters!
Robin Williams inspiration… the show where Williams and Winters were on together improving against each other was the all time funniest moment. Does anyone know what show this was? I need a copy!
I don’t know if he has the universal appeal as the others, but that might be WHY he’s famous in the first place (and why he got kicked off Weekend Update), but: Norm MacDonald, now and forever. Amen.
The funniest person alive is Norm MacDonald, followed by Ricky Gervais.
And Chris Rock was definitely considered the funniest person on Earth.
My favorite Ebert review ever was for the movie Freddy Got Fingered:
“This movie doesn’t scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn’t the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn’t below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.”
I saw the first 10-15 minutes, and I can’t say I disagree with him.
Other nominees who inexplicably haven’t been mentioned yet in this finely-honed, rigorous discussion:
Harpo Marx
Shelley Berman
The Unknown Comic
Dorf
Quickdraw McGraw
Aristophanes
A ham sandwich
I’ve got to jump to the end and throw a nod to Dave Chappelle for the list. Chris Rock too.
@78 – I was just about to post that Bill Murray seems like he should be on the list. He had a run in the early to mid-’80s that included Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters, plus SNL…I was too young to remember it, but I’ve gotten the impression that it was a toss-up between him and Steve Martin for Funniest Man in the World (going by Joe’s definition of general consensus, not personal taste. Though both are/were hilarious.).
If you polled a bunch of my high school friends, here’s what they would have said:
1. Dane Cook
…
…
…
…
…
… (demonstrating how superior Dane Cook apparently was)
2. Steve Carell
3. Will Ferrell
I would have been the Keizo Konishi of this poll that didn’t submit a 1st place vote for Cook, however.
Andy Samberg. Yes, after Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box he was unquestionably the funniest man on the planet.
Steve Martin should be at the top of the list. He was insanely popular for several years. Don Rickles, Milton Berle, Chris Farley, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and Steven Colbert also belong.
[...] is the original post: Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Fly Robin Fly By admin | category: ebert reviews | tags: best-negative, bit-better, business, face, [...]
From the list of commenter suggestions, it seems that Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby and (possibly) Steve Martin simply pre-date the onset of this list. Newhart and Cosby would be the two names on the list before Pryor. Maybe Martin would supplant Chase as I suspect he may have been more popular and this could have been a mere oversight.
Also, I don’t know how much broad mainstream appeal Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle had. Under the construct of the exercise, I think their racially charged schtick may have turned off too much of white America, and I suspect that far too many Americans would not know who either one of them are.
As for Stiller, he did write and direct Zoolander and Tropic Thunder, both of which are hilarious.
To the Will Ferrell hater, Step Brothers was hilarious and succeeds most upon repeat viewings. If you watch Step Brothers using a lens in which you are viewing both Reilly and Ferrell’s characters as ten year olds (which is conceptually what they’re doing) in grown up bodies, it is uproarious.
I also don’t know that Tina Fey would widely be considered the funniest person in America, and the case for her relies almost entirely upon a sitcom that routinely gets terrible ratings.
Robin Williams’ HBO special if freaking hilarious Joe! Check it out! The bit about how Scottish people invented golf is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. Other than that show… he’s lame.
Cosby – reasonably entertaining observational humor overshadowed by holier-than-thou pontificating about the state of African-America whilst having made his bones hosting an embarrassingly stereotypical cartoon about black kids.
In 1996 I watched a 90 minute comedy special called Bring The Pain. I have never laughed anything close to that hard in my life before or since. I’ve spoken to many, many people who saw that Rock special and nearly ever person felt the same way. There is NO doubt that for a period of a couple of years following that special that Chris Rock was considered the funniest person alive, using Joe’s criteria. And unlike most of the names on the list, he probably was.
If I had to watch someone for 30 years it’d be Carlin; so few comedians manage to stay relevant for more than a decade – George was about as funny the day he died as he’d been at any other point in his career.
You better believe I’m jealous, Joe.
Several commenters have said it, but I’ll make the comment I always make on this site in discussions of this type.
People are really not distinguishing between just throwing out their favorites and really thinking about the comedians who have held the “title.”
The title, nebulous though it may be, is based on a vague but widespread notion that a given person is the funniest person in the world at a given time. There does always seem to be someone riding on top like that. As Joe said, this is not about who you might think has ACTUALLY been the funniest person in the world. It’s about who has held the title.
To that point, the suggestions of Chris Farley are absurd. Preposterous. Such a consensus simply never existed for him.
As for the man generating the most arguments from commenters, Dave Chappelle…I think he is actually the antithesis of the funniest man in the world. Far from being universally acknowleged as such, he has both legions of devoted fans who swear by him, and just as many people who either don’t get him, or actively dislike him, or both. No way did he have the type of consensus necessary to be the title holder.
I think Chris Rock did hold it though. After his first HBO special, he was absolutely in that spot.
Of Joe’s list, I think Adam Sandler, Tina Fey and Chevy Chase never really had that type of consensus acclaim. Possibly Mike Myers also. Everyone else probably does belong.
Joe,
Jay Leno was never funny.
Robin Williams standup was awesome in the 70s and early 80s. Reality What a Concept shaped my adolescent mind and sense of humor. Mad genius.
Most everything else has sucked. Good Morning Vietnam wasn’t terrible. Survivors?
Re: Bill Cosby
After Thanksgiving dinner, my family and our friends sat down and watched “Bill Cosby- Himself”. I’ve seen it maybe 8-10 times, and it still makes me fall out of my chair laughing. His bit on going to the dentist is classic. If you haven’t seen it, look up “Bill Cosby- Dentists” on YouTube. Pure genius.
Based on influence over other comedians (i.e. who they watched, who they emulated, what material they stole), here are my nominations. These are not necessarily the biggest stars of their era in terms of commercial success, but ones whose effect on comedy was particularly large.
1960: Bob Newhart. The Bing Crosby of comedy; that is, a pioneer in the use of records in the art form. The Button-Down Mind… in many ways shaped the work of most of the rest of the people on this list.
Early 1960s: Bill Cosby and Lenny Bruce. The clean guy and the dirty guy. Cosby’s influence and effect may not be fully understood divorced from the struggle for civil rights. His persona was revolutionary for smashing stereotypes; years later, comics like Jeff Foxworthy and Ray Romano still tap into his delivery with success. Bruce’s material was a million miles away (and has not dated nearly as well), but shaped an angry style evident in the work of George Carlin, Sam Kinison, Rosanne Barr, Bill Hicks, Richard Lewis, and the list goes on.
Mid-1960s: Woody Allen. Between the records and his early films, an update of the surrealism Groucho Marx and S.J. Perelman perfected a generation earlier. Jon Lovitz was far from alone in memorizing Allen’s stand-up records; you can still hear traces of that act in comics ranging from Chris Rock to Jon Stewart.
Around 1970: George Carlin. Looking back, the written material didn’t change as much when he grew his hair as it would 20 years later when he made his act angrier (and arguably better), but he popularized the hippie counterculture in American comedy before anyone else did.
Early 1970s: Albert Brooks. Lorne Michaels attempted to make him the permanent host of Saturday Night Live in 1975 for a reason. Most comedians using irony over the past 35 years owe him a debt, from the entire SCTV cast to Jerry Seinfeld. Larry David is unimaginable without the persona Brooks used in Real Life.
Mid 1970s: Richard Pryor. By 1978, he had honed the autobiographical style that reinvented the standup genre forever and had broken through into movies. You can see elements of his work in everyone from Robin Williams to Dave Chappelle; at times (the segments on Africa and his freebase addiction in the Sunset Strip film), his work was so personalized as to be untouchable.
Late 1970s: Steve Martin. Martin became the first comic to sell out stadia as a headliner; his deliberately silly act influenced dozens of comics over the next decade, very few of whom had the wit he possessed.
Early 1980s: Bill Murray. After leaving SNL, he became the toast of Hollywood, to the point that Dustin Hoffman cajoled him into playing the roommate part in “Tootsie.”
Mid-1980s: Eddie Murphy. The Elvis of standup. As big in 1984 as Martin was in 1978. Spawned a billion imitators, and as Chris Rock once said “without Eddie Murphy, there is no Chris Rock.”
Late-1980s: Jerry Seinfeld. I say this not as a fan, but his form of observational humor (influenced by George Carlin, but with the “what’s the deal with that?” schtick) became ubiquitous before he became a sitcom star.
Early-1990s: Roseanne Barr. She brought back blue-collar themes to stand up, not only becoming the biggest female standup comedian of all time, but also paved the way for the stardom of comics ranging from Bernie Mac to Larry the Cable Guy. That the act translated successfully to a sitcom certainly did not hurt.
Mid-1990s: Chris Rock. After dropping out of sight for a couple years after the commercial failure of CB4, Rock came back with the astonishing “Bring the Pain” special. It left his contemporaries in awe and 13 years later, many still try to live up to it. The HBO show in its wake was a hothouse for some of the best comedians of the past decade, among them Wanda Sykes and Louis C.K. So popular and respected, that MTV Films decided to release and promote “Pootie Tang,” one of the most deliberately opaque comedies ever made.
Late-1990s: Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The most talked about comedy performers after South Park almost immediately became Comedy Central’s most popular show upon its debut. Popularized the satirical comedy musical. Still very successful, but the period between 1997 and 2001 was when most comedians paid attention to what they were doing. Marked the beginning of Comedy Central really growing careers rather than simply being a repository of reruns. Speaking of that network….
Around 2000: Jon Stewart. He was a star in the 1990s, and the ratings of The Daily Show immediately went up when he became host. “Indecision 2000” made him the godfather of a comedy machine that made mainstream stars out of Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Lewis Black, and John Hodgeman, among others.
Early-2000s: Ricky Gervais. Probably few Americans even knew what he looked like in 2002, but the moment The Office aired on the BBC was when he became a great influence on how comedy is written and performed to this day.
Mid-2000s: Dave Chappelle. At his peak (2004), his bits were quoted by college students throughout the nation, even in the whitest, most rural areas you can imagine. Much of his work was nostalgic (bringing Charlie Murphy and Paul Mooney in), but he fused standup to sketch comedy in a new way, one since imitated by many with less impact.
Late-2000s: Stephen Colbert. Possibly the most successful fusing of irony and political humor to date, a theatrical style of comedy he’s done for twenty years (going back to Second City), that is now widely quoted and imitated.
This list would not be the consensus of the masses, but seems consistent with what I hear from talking to people working in the field. Perhaps a discussion of the candidates with Ken Tremendous would be a suitable subject for a blog post.
Joe, if you don’t like Robin Williams, watch the episode of “Inside The Actors Studio” where he was a guest, and then check back with me.
Steve Martin must be on the list. Not only was he influential for his standup comedy in the 70s – the time when he could arguably have been the world’s funniest comic – but people forget that he was a writer on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which influenced so many comics.
Have to cast votes for Steve Wright, a hilarious dead-pan comedian (but a bit brainy) and Christopher Lloyd, who played Reverend Jim on “Taxi” and Doc Brown in the “Back to the Future Movies.”
Bill C. @ 107 – you say a consensus never existed for Farley or Sandler, but I’m wondering who you think was the consensus “funniest person in the world” from around 1994-1997? Farley was mega-huge (in more ways than one) during the “Van Down By a River”/”Tommy Boy”/”Black Sheep” years. If Farley wasn’t on top, then Sandler from Billy Madison through around Big Daddy probably was. Unless I’m forgetting someone – maybe Jim Carey, although his peak really ended around ‘95, and Chris Rock peaked around ‘98-’99, leaving that 3 year window I’m talking about.
I guess this would probably be an easier discussion if we had the results of the Comedy Writers Association of America MVC balloting for the last 70 years, along with old standby statistics like Sellout-Bomb record, laughs, Heckler Routine Average, and an idea of which comics really knew when to show up with the clutch bon mot at the right time.
But then someone would certainly start bringing in advanced metrics like laughs per joke and VORC and SAR and start trying to tell us that judging funny by how many people tune in isn’t as important as the overall quality of the laughs they provide, and we’d have a war on our hands.
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That Robin Williams bit about how the Scots invented golf is seriously funny. You can find it on youtube.
Sadly, he’s made a bunch of mediocre movies…
At least someone mentioned Bill Hicks. I find it sad more people dont know of this guy.
I realize this is mostly an American thing, but has no one mentioned John Cleese yet? Or Rowan Atkinson while I’m at it. Different worlds, I know, but they must have had their moments of being #1 at some point, yes?
I think my personal list is something like: Pryor, Murphy, Eddie Izzard, Cleese, Gervais, Carell. Something like that. Kristen Wiig is one main character in a movie explosion from making the list.
Roger Ebert deserves a post of his own so that we can all post our favorite lines from him. Here’s mine re: North.
“I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.”
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940722/REVIEWS/407220302/1023
I agree with the Kristen Wiig nominations. She’s brilliant.
Steve Coogan.
I would also put Albert Brooks on any funniest person list.
“if there was a Fire Joe Morgan for stupid pop culture analysis, this would get picked apart.”
Someone should start http://firejoeposnanski.com/ so they can do just that.
Never were Adam Sandler, Dana Carvey or Billy Crystal considered the funniest person in the world. They have had successful careers, but were always eclipsed by better, funnier comedians of their time. Carvey by Myers, Sandler by Chris Rock, Crystal by practically everyone. THe most egregious omimission here is Steve Martin, a true comic genius who dominated the late 70s and early 80s comedy scene.
Who again thinks Robin Williams is a comic genius?
I don’t think Carvey, Stewart, and Fey were ever generally considered the funniest people in the world. Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Chris Rock, and possibly Steve Carell were. These are not necessarily my personal opinions, but what the average American was thinking at a given time.
Sacha Baron Cohen has to be in the list too, I’m afraid.
Hey, Joe. Check out Robin on Charlie Rose. Good interview. None of us are as funny at 60 as we were at 30. Life isn’t easy, even for someone as talented as RW. Your take on him is pretty lame, perhaps a little naive.
That list is definitely “funniest person in America”. Calling it a world list is an insult to the rest of the world.
I know Americans call all their national sporting champions “world champions” — but the rest of the world can let that slide. Just another area we’ve got to indulge the Yanks in. No biggie.
This is different, though. It’s a cultural thing. Some American humour travels; plenty does not.
I’m a genuine oldtimer and grew up on British radio humour; the best of it The Goon Show — fifty years later I still run into people who can quote huge chunks of it. Its TV equivalent came a decade or so later with Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Then in the eighties and nineties came Fawlty Towers and Blackadder. And from Australia in recent times we’ve had Kath And Kim.
Nothing produced by American TV comes within a bull’s roar of those four.
My guess is, though, that Americans would react to them about the same way they react to cricket — they’ve heard of it, some of them, but just don’t get it.
And, of course, I’m culturally biased.
Hard to believe, all these names and no one has yet mentioned Sid Caesar, who was clearly the consensus funniest man in the world in the mid-50’s. And Ernie Kovacs?
My opinion is that this whole thing is being looked at in way too narrow a focus. Many of the names being bandied about are more personal favorites, than actual contenders, at any time, to “funniest person on the planet”.
For example, Bill Hicks: brilliant comedian, scathing societal insight in a truly funny way. But, honestly he was a niche guy all the way. No sit com, no movies, no books…
And, perhaps that is the tragic flaw in the “funniest person alive” argument is that a ‘comic’s comic’ like Bill Hicks is never appreciated in his time, whereas Chris Farley is celebrated for basically being a fat guy that fell down a lot.
Graphite: Monty Python is very popular over here, at least amongst people I know. Maybe not as popular today as it was 30 years ago, but that’s a generational thing, not a cultural one. Also, Flying Circus isn’t as well known as “Quest for the Holy Grail” or “Life of Brian,” but that’s probably b/c it’s much easier to find the latter movies on DVD than an old, foreign TV show.
I can’t necessarily say that Fawlty Towers is popular, though it was on American TV for a while when I was younger (early/mid 90’s), and I thought it was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever watched. The episode with the Germans might be the funniest episode of any TV show, ever. John Cleese is a genius.
Chris M . . . That’s heartening. I’ve seen the televised version of the Flying Circus show at the Los Angeles Bowl (or something similar), so I knew they had a presence in the States but I understood it to be very much a niche market following.
The first series of Blackadder, where Atkinson plays him as a scheming dimwit in a spoof of Shakespearean tragedies and historical plays, is pure genius; the next three, where Blackadder is the clever guy, are still good but more formulaic. Ben Elton was brought in as scriptwriter and let his politics get in the way.
Best comedy to reach our shores over the past ten years has been Australian. A series of movies that kicked off with Strictly Ballroom reached its peak with the laconic, laid-back The Castle, while TV had the sublime Kath And Kim. I am definitely biased there, though, as I lived in Melbourne for seven years and recognised the characters.
Kath And Kim has been optioned by an American company. How it will transfer, I don’t know but have grave fears that it will be butchered.
English TV comedy has been in decline for years, with one glorious exception — Ricky Gervais’ Extras. I couldn’t cotton on to The Office (and we get both versions in New Zealand), but Extras is as good as any television series ever made.
The reason people like Robin Williams are considered funny is because the general population as a whole isn’t funny, and thinks watching someone get hit in the nuts is comedic gold. Every time.
My all-time list of famous funny people. In no particular order:
1. Bob Hope
2. Johnny Carson
3. Bill Cosby
4. Steve Carrell
5. Jerry Seinfeld
Recent: Ray Romano, Dave Chappelle, Kevin James. Weird Al Yankovic, anyone?
Less recent: Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Steve Martin (okay, he’s my number one all time stand up turned movie actor, but he hasn’t been very funny in recent years), Johnny Carson, Jerry Lewis (with or without Dean Martin).
And for historians only: Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx (with or without his brothers), Tom Lehrer, W.C. Fields, Mae West.
We’re talking solos, right? Sadly, I release Monty Python. Laurel and Hardy don’t make the list, nor do the Three Stooges. Mel Brooks has almost always been collaborative, with Carl Reiner or in making movies. Do we find a place for Neil Simon or Woody Allen? They are best known for writing funny stuff for others, or at least not wholly for themselves.
But I have to return to Steve Martin and Bill Cosby, who have been fixtures on screen for so long that people forget how huge they were as standup acts.
[...] we’re here, let’s look at the career of Chevy Chase. Here’s someone who, by most accounts, was once considered the funniest man in America. Let’s see: I’ve only seen him in [...]