Wot comedians make you laugh?

[mashakos]

You know, there's more out there than Dave Chappelle doggedly repeating tired stereotypes.

but his stereotyping is so good!

[sabrage]

Agree with you there, the quality of any live daily comedy show will vary wildly anywhere in the world. My comment was a knee jerk reaction to the posted video because it was set up by the poster to be the best work from whoever that comedian was.

It's almost as if - and I hope you're sitting down for this one - other people have different opinions than you.

[Hypnotic Geese]

My comment was a knee jerk reaction to the posted video because it was set up by the poster to be the best work from whoever that comedian was.

I said it was my favourite, but I see how I could have come across as setting it up to be his best. It appeals to me on a very personal level so I don't expect everyone to be like me and enjoy it in the same way.

[tomeoftom]

So, in conclusion, mashakos once again brings a thread down by having terrible taste in just about everything.

[mashakos]

So, in conclusion, mashakos once again brings a thread down by having terrible taste in just about everything.

Liking Dave Chappelle is a sign of terrible taste?? Hipster.

[tomeoftom]

Liking Dave Chappelle is a sign of terrible taste?? Hipster.

I want to frame this.

[TheXand]

Jimmy Carr makes me smile.

[Nalano]

I like Dave Chappelle. I like Louis CK. I like Denis Leary. I like--

I like pretty much every comedian out today. I think it would be easier to list the comedians I don't like rather than the ones I do.

I don't like Jeff Dunham. I don't like Daniel Whitney. I don't like Leo Gallagher.

Bonus points if you can succinctly summarize why.

[Xercies]

Egh Jeff Dunham is terrible i watched one of his youtube clips and the joke was that chinese people spak funny and also maybe sometimes own chinese resturants. Wow comedy gold there! and no he is not doing it because hes ironic and saying it through a puppet to say some clever thing...

[sabrage]

Wow comedy gold there! and no he is not doing it because hes ironic and saying it through a puppet to say some clever thing...

He's doing it because he makes >$20 million a year.

[Nalano]

He's doing it because he makes >$20 million a year.

The NYTimes completely missed the point when they tried to understand why he was a) offensive and b) rich.

These are muddy waters indeed. Let’s see if we can clear them up by taking a look at a few specific Dunham bits. How would you rank these in order of funniness and/or offensiveness?

1. Jeff and Walter are talking about a Georgia Supreme Court ruling that suggested consensual sex between teachers and students as young as 16 might be legal. “You know what makes matters worse?” Walter says. “Since it’s Georgia, a lot of these 16-year-olds are still in third grade.”

2. In a holiday-season bit Jeff is looking on as Achmed the Dead Terrorist plays with a dreidel. “This is as athletic as Jews get,” Achmed says.

3. Jeff and Sweet Daddy drop in on some Civil War re-enactors. The bit ends with Sweet Daddy and his large, black bodyguards using automatic weapons to mow down the re-enactors and Mr. Dunham, who is dressed as Abraham Lincoln.

4. Achmed is visiting a synagogue whose members are mostly black. “You being colored — well, I know you had no choice in that,” he says to one of them. “But whatever made you turn Jew?”

5. Apropos of nothing, Walter notes that women in India often have a red dot on their forehead. “Maybe it lights up when the coffee’s ready,” he says.

6. Jeff and Sweet Daddy are discussing ancient Greece. Sweet Daddy goes into a lengthy, rather detailed explication of the use of dildos by the women of the time, accompanied by graphic images from ancient artworks that prove his point.

Some are funnier than others; each is certainly appalling to somebody. But here’s the thing: Though any of the above could be Jeff Dunham bits, only Nos. 3 and 5 really are.

No. 1 is actually from a recent Jay Leno monologue. No. 2 is from a new holiday special starring Lewis Black, a regular from “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and a favorite of the left-leaning crowd. No. 4 is from one of the most talked about “All in the Family” episodes of all time, from 1972, one in which Archie Bunker had Sammy Davis Jr. as a houseguest. (It ended with Davis’s kissing Archie on the cheek.) And No. 6 is from an installment of the documentary series “Ancient Civilizations” that was rerun on History the other night.

I thought it was self-evident: It's the audience, stupid.

1) Jay Leno is a middle-brow late-night comic whose audience consists of the same middle Americans he's lampooning.

2) Lewis Black, who is Jewish, was speaking to Jon Stewart, who is Jewish, and both frequently resort to self-deprecating humor.

4) Archie Bunker was a character who was purposefully written as regressive and racist. The show was about bringing him around towards a more tolerant worldview.

6) is a fucking documentary.

Look at the audiences. Dave Chappelle's audience is always a mixed crowd. So is Gabriel Iglesias'. So indeed are most audiences for stand-up. But look at Jeff Dunham's: Suddenly you see a monolithic demographic of white mid-western conservatives.

So what's the difference? It's the difference between laughing at us and laughing at them. Most comedians' skits are "aren't we ridiculous? Let's take the edge off." Dunham's (or Larry the Cable Guy, or Carlos Mencia) is "look at these assholes." His entire career is based off of singling out otherness and hating it. He's offensive because there's a clear demarcation between his audience and his targets.

He's popular for that very reason. Watch enough comedians and you realize that it's very rare to have a comedian who's not liberal. After all, most observational humor - the staple of stand-up comedians - is social commentary wrapped in a deep swatch of satire. But observe how ridiculous society is for a living and you can't help but realize we're all in the same (shitty) situation, and ultimately of the same stock. As such, even insult comics are generally smart enough to bring the butt of the joke in on the joke: Lisa Lampanelli and Jeff Ross, to say nothing of the venerable Don Rickles, are, despite their acts, not at all mean-spirited. At the end of the day, it's quite clear that they and their targets are of the same (very inclusive) crowd.

Conversely, Dunham's audience don't want that. They're the ones who are turned off by most of the comedians out today - the vanguard of a worldview that dispels their own, and therefore a threat - and so they seek confirmation, and he gives it in spades. He created a dead Arab terrorist to capitalize on hatred of Muslims. He created a big-lipped Black pimp to capitalize on the hatred of a Black president. He created a talking Jalapeno to capitalize on the hatred of immigrants. He's a red-state entertainer, and because there's so very few of those, he gets to print his own money.

But like Fox News "experts," it's all blood money.

[sabrage]

He created a big-lipped Black pimp to capitalize on the hatred of a Black president.

Let's not give him too much credit here.

That wasn't exactly succinct, but spot-on Nalano.

[Nalano]

I didn't say he created the first Black caricature.

That wasn't exactly succinct, but spot-on Nalano.

The succinct part would be "It's the difference between laughing at us and laughing at them."

But since I answered my own challenge, I get to wax on. ;)

[tomeoftom]

Very well said, anyway.

[mashakos]

a bit sophomoric, but made me laugh

[Lambchops]

Warning: If you don't like strong language then don't watch!

[mashakos]

Bill Burr is pretty hilarious

[Jesus_Phish]

Warning: If you don't like strong language then don't watch!

Reggie D Hunter is brilliant. I went to see a Steve Hughes show one night here in Dublin, after the local (a lad from Ireland) talent finishes his little warm up set he says "we've a great show for you all tonight, but first ladies and gentlemen Reggie D Hunter!". The whole place erupted in cheering because he wasn't on the bill and nobody knew he was going to be there. He went on to do about a 40 minute show, then joined Steve later for another 20 minutes.

He's such an absolute gent too, spent the rest of the night just mingling with the crowd and giving everyone a chance to talk to him.

[Winged Nazgul]

First time watching Reginald D. Hunter and I'd have to agree about the brilliant part. Weird that he's never been on my comedy radar here in the US. Does he perform strictly in Europe?

[Jesus_Phish]

He gets a lot of air time on British shows. He's a regular on panel game shows like QI and 8 out of 10 Cats for sure. I don't know about the rest of Europe.