Some of the best comedy out there...

[funkadelik]

It's all subjective, of course, but what are some of your favourite comedians/comedy shows/stand-up acts/etc.?

I'm a HUGE fan of Kids in the Hall. I find them and Monty Python to strike similar humour veins. Really bizarre nonsense that is actually pretty damn clever.

And Mitch Hedberg is my favourite stand-up comedian, though I'm not a big fan of stand-up.


Ok. Your turn!

 

[lane777]

Angel, Buffy, Seinfield, Last Action Hero, Back To The Future, Groundhog Day, Adventureland, Extract, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clue, Shaun Of The Dead, The Far Side, stand up comedy... so I guess deadpan, dry, or off the wall humor. Especially the latter, it being so rare... and rarely done well. I find movies/shows that aren't predominantly catagorized as comedy tend to be funnier than actual comedies, ironically. Maybe because the humor is less expected, it resembles that off the wall style I like.

 

[ZPowers]

Many of lane's picks are good, though I'd qualify Buffy and Angel as dramas that happen to be funny sometimes. In fact, some episodes of those shows are downright heart-wrenching.

Shows: Arrested Development, Community, Mr. Show With Bob and David, Archer, Freaks and Geeks, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Extras, Early Simpsons seasons, Louie, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It's Always Sunny Philadelphia, Flight of the Conchords, The Daily Show.

Movies: Life of Brian (is so much better than Holy Grail), In the Loop, Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz, Big Lebowski, Dr. Strangelove, maybe Knocked Up, The Royal Tenenbaums, Ghostbusters, The Room, Troll 2.

Comedians: Paul F Tompkins, Louis CK, George Carlin, Kyle Kinane, Bill Hicks, Mitch Hedberg, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Dave Chappelle, Zach Galifianakis, Jen Kirkman, Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll.

Podcasts: The Flop House, The Pod F Tompkast, The Bugle, Comedy Bang Bang, Doug Loves Movies, Never Not Funny, WTF with Marc Maron and The Nerdist, with all after the first three increasingly depending on the guest to be solid.

 

[Lady_X]

 

[Lady_X]

oh damn i didn't even read the op! haha sorry.

 

[lane777]

Many of lane's picks are good, though I'd qualify Buffy and Angel as dramas that happen to be funny sometimes. In fact, some episodes of those shows are downright heart-wrenching.

Yes, but I had to include them for lack of material

 

[chickpea]

i think the best humor is unintentional

but my favorite comedy tv shows: curb your enthusiasm, it's always sunny in philadelphia, parks and recreation, eastbound and down, chapelle's show, seinfeld, community, arrested development, golden girls and probably more but i just listed these from my facebook

 

[ZPowers]

Yes, but I had to include them for lack of material

No issue. Some episodes of those series are really, really funny from top to bottom (I just rewatched "The Zeppo", which is a classic and very funny episode), and almost every one has a least a few laugh lines (except stuff like "The Body" and maybe a few finales. But even "A Hole in the World," the saddest Angel episode IMO, has some funny moments at the beginning)

 

[funkadelik]

Life of Brian (is so much better than Holy Grail)

Yes! Absolutely. Why it isn't more popular than it is is beyond me.

 

[ZPowers]

Yes! Absolutely. Why it isn't more popular than it is is beyond me.

According to John Cleese, while Americans love Holy Grail, people in Britian find Life of Brian to be THE Monty Python film. Cleese (and myself) agree with the UK on this one.

Here's the quote:

AV Club Interviewer: Do you think The Life Of Brian is the best of the Monty Python films?

John Cleese: Yes, I do. And it's very interesting, because there's a big difference of opinion between the English and the Americans. The Americans all love The Holy Grail, and the English all love Life Of Brian, and I'm afraid on this one, I side with the English. I think that the first 45 or 50 minutes of Holy Grail is terrific. Really, really good. I'm very proud of it. But then I think in the middle, there's a scene with a three-headed giant that I think is always weaker than anything else. And I think that some of the sequences in the middle are not as strong. And then the ending—we sort of get away with the ending, but I don't think the ending is great. Whereas I do think that Life Of Brian—there's about two points when the story just sort of jumps the rails. The way Brian falls out of a house that's being searched by the centurions, and lands, and has to start pretending that he's delivering sermons, or prophecies—that's not done well. And I think there's one other one, but otherwise, as a story, it works much better than anything else the Pythons ever did. The jokes are terrific, and it's about something really important.