There's a very short list of comedians who effectively commented on the state of human affairs while making us laugh, and Richard Pryor is near the top (along with - I'd argue - Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, and George Carlin). The man made his mistakes, and some terrible movies, but in his heyday he couldn't be topped. He was, along with Carlin and Steve Martin, my introduction to the world of stand-up comedy in the late '70s, and even though poor health kept him from doing much of anything for the last 20 years, those old routines are still pretty damn funny.
Few of the great ones are left, since it appears the life of a stand-up comedian is fraught with the constant threat of drug overdose and cancer (although even three heart attacks haven't been enough to fell Carlin). Is there somebody currently performing who might be remembered as fondly in 20 years? Looking at the current crop, I'm not optimistic, but what do you think?
And anyone mentioning Larry the Cable Guy or Dane Cook will be banned with extreme prejudice.
Lewis Black, sure, I'll give you that one.
Pound for pound, though, you HAVE to go with Brian Regan.
So funny, I couldn't stop laughing and went into labor.
I'll never forget hearing Pryor's album "Craps" for the first time. It was outrageous. It was hysterical. And it showed that Lenny Bruce had finally gotten a worthy successor.
Listen to Pryor's early, angry stuff. It is amazing.
1. Whoopi Goldberg
2. Roseanne
3. Tracey Ullman
Let's hear it for the women who, contrary to Jerry Lewis's lamebrained opinion, are very funny!
Stephen Wright?
To Ms. Baby-J, which sounds less unseemly than "B-Jane":
While I'm all about "Girl Power" (as evidenced by Spice World movie poster tattoo that covers my entire back), I can't see Goldberg, The-Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Barr, and Ullman going down in the history books.
Whoopi is now sanitized for the kiddies--not that there's anything wrong with the noble arts of voice artistry or child entertainment, but...; furthermore, she gets by now on playing "Whoopi Goldberg." If The Gong Show was still on, she'd be first in line for Jaye P. Morgan's chair.
Roseanne lost any credibility she had when she transformed from mouthy, earthy hausfrau into cosmetically-altered plasticine nightmare who just wanted--NAY, DEMANDED!--to be loved. Who'da thunk that Roseanne's greatest contribution to the arts would be Tom Arnold, a giant amongst men?
And while the Human Race owes Ullman for The Simpsons, she's got too-much-quirk-and-not-enough-bite to attain long-term resonance.
To better celebrate those Ladies of Laughter, those Frails of the Funnybone, and those Cupcakes of the Cut-Ups, methinks that you would have been better served going with the likes of Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, La Wanda Page, Phyllis Diller, and Madame (who carried that no-good parasite Wayland Flowers).
Your Buddy in Broads, Birds, and Bimbos,
TTTWLAM
And say what you will about the creeping nightmare spawned from the unholy synthesis of "blue collar" and "comedy," but Ron White deserves some serious attention.
That guy is a scream.
Another vote for Lewis Black.
Well, Jon Stewart was doing stand up before he became The Daily Show Guy. Does that count?
Otherwise, Lewis Black (or as my Spawn refers to him "The Cranky Man.")
i totally forgot about lewis black. he makes me laugh so hard it's painful.
1. Lewis Black (no question)
2. Jim Norton (will probably remembered more for fondling than fondly)
3. Bill Burr (keep an eye out for this guy)
4. Dave Attell (consistent "oh did he just say that?")
5. Stephen Lynch (ok, nowhere near Pryor level of history-making, but dammit, he's hilarious)
I'd say either Eddie Izzard or Patton Oswalt in terms of making me laugh. (Oswalt's routine on Stella'Doro Breakfast Cookies is a thing of beauty.)
There's also Margaret Cho--her first special about having to lose weight to play herself in a TV show is great.
Ah what the hell, Thing, call me BJ. Tracey Ullman is one of the greatest character comics to ever tread the boards. Her outstanding characterizations include a Middle Eastern male cab driver; a nancie flight attendant; a washed-up, earth mother lounge singer; a rabidly competitive, ferociously feminist lawyer; and a blousy, gossipy make-up artist. There are many other characters that topple from her fecund imagination. She effortlessly inhabits these characters, male and female, portraying them as real, endearingly quirky people. She encourages the audience to laugh at her creations, but she never does, a rare trait among comics. As one of her characters, Ruby Romaine says, "If she'd been a man, she'd a really been something."
Before Roseanne lumbered onto the stage, filling it with her sarcastic presence, housewives weren't even a blip on the comedic radar screen. Her humorously whining observations about being an overworked, under-thanked, unpaid, societal schlepp were a clarion call for housewives everywhere. Of course, her humor usually doesn't resonate with men because the world of the housewife remains invisible and completely unimportant to them, like most aspects of women's lives.
Whoopie Goldberg is a sharp, insightful, incisive, irreverent, topical, charismatic, fearless comic. She has the chops. Her back to Broadway HBO special showcases her intelligent, needling humor. And she does it without relying on scatology to make her points.
I'd have to go with Lewis Black as well. Even though I don;t agree with his political philosophy, he makes it so funny you can't help but laugh. He makes my commute enjoyable when he comes on the comedy channel.
sarah silverman, maybe? eddie izzard? i'm trying to think of edgy comics here. come to think of it, silverman probably not so much.