Louis CK

I learned what I needed to know about Rolling Stone "lists" when they ranked the Saturday Night Live cast members.

 

Louis should have Clarence Carter as an opening act.

 

There are people who think Bob Hope was funny? (Slowly backing up, feeling for the door knob behind my back with my left hand.)

 

He was a lot funnier than that Jellyneck clown.

 

The Rolling Stone list is not great.

It leaves a lot of important folks out, and tells you at the top it leaves a lot of important folks out. Talk about recency bias.

"No disrespect to the foundational figures who shaped the earliest incarnations, but this list tiptoes past some of the early craftsmen and focuses on the unique voices who have helped to push stand-up forward in more recent days."

50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time – Rolling Stone

 

Opinion | Louis C.K. and Men Who Think Justice Takes as Long as They Want It To

 

To cut to the chase, here is how it's going to work.

There are people -- and as much as I dislike labels, they are almost exclusively liberals -- who are never going to be satisfied by anything CK does about this. He could stay away for a decade, come back in the 11th year, and there are people who are going to say he hasn't done his penance.

 

It’s much harder to separate the “artist” from the “person” in standup comedy.

With actors, you can be much more a fan of characters than the actual people (like Verbal Kint over Kevin Spacey).

You don’t get that luxury in standup. Most great comedians are great because they’re genuine. That also means when they’re assholes, they’re genuinely assholes.

 

As true as this is or isn't, let's maybe get to Year One before we hypothesize Year Eleven.

Also, I'm not sure "liberal" v "conservative" are the essential categories here.

More like "men" v "women."

 

That is fucking stupid. Yeah, murdered him. Idiot.

 

I love Seinfeld and Chappelle. But their shows were infinitely funnier than any stand up they did.

CK is often referred to as the Comic's Comic ... He's funny.

Dangerfield, Winters, Williams ...

Bob Hope was hilarious. And hilarious for about 30 years. He was the gold standard until stand up became a thing.

I'm am not, and never have been a Lenny Bruce fan, his comedy was more swear words than actual jokes. He couldn't hold a candle to Murphy or Pryor.

I can't recall a single standout bit by CK ...Not a single joke that stands out. Or a defining moment - other than jerking off in front of captive women.

The other guys?
Pryor
Murphy
Carlin
Rock

And I would take Chappelle over CK for this century, based on what he did with Chappelle Show.