Here at The Comedy Nerds compound, we’ve been snug in our beds, with vision of sugar plums dancing in various parts of our bodies, including, but not limited to, our heads. But have we got a show for you this week. We discuss the decade in stand up comedy. Learn Dustin’s ten comics that had the most impact in the last ten years. He’s pretty convincing. I’d write more, but I’m not going to lie to you, I got a warm cup of eggnog calling my name, so I’m going to leave it there and let you just listen and hear it for yourself.
Plus, find out the year we made contact (hint: It’s coming up real soon). Find out why Dustin can’t keep track of which facts he learned from unicorns. And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Dustin & Dan,
I wonder why David Cross isn’t on this list. If you’re talking about the “rat pack” phenomenon and not including him, I wonder what the value of this list is. Foremost, I’ll say I agree with almost every pick on this list. There’s not a lot of stand-up coming through New Orleans, but pretty much all mentioned on your list showed up at some point in the twenty-aughts (including Ellen). I think it’s interesting to point out that Cross became a bigger stand-up presence post-Mr. Show, and really introduced a lot of people to the L.A. counterculture comedy that claims Silverman, Posehn, Oswalt, and Tompkins as alums. Bob Odenkirk, on the other hand, went on to do more behind the scenes with his writing and directing. I was just wondering if you considered him for the list, and if so, why he didn’t make the cut. I’d put him before Larry the Cable Guy, even though Larry sold more albums. I feel like David Cross, with his inclusion in GTA San Andreas, Adult Swim, Comedy Central, and movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I’m Not Here opened more people to stand-up and, unlike Larry, allowed for more people to discover other comedians. Larry, on the other hand, became his own phenomenon and really benefited from the marketability of a catchphrase that, if you were doing Blue Collar Comedy jokes that weren’t his particular catchphrase, you didn’t receive the same kind of inclusion. Ron White, for example, is the better comedian/storyteller/stage presence, but didn’t have the “might be a redneck if…” “here’s your sign” “get-r-done” thing that made them so popular.
Also, Louis C.K. as #1 is dead on for me too. Just as Larry David replaced his former partner Jerry Seinfeld, I feel like Louis C.K. replaced his former partner Chris Rock. And I’d also say that without his tragic appearance on The View, Lucky Louie would have been allowed a second season to find its stride. I wince too when watching it, but you get the sense that it would have gone in the right direction given time. Maybe that’s just me, I don’t know.
Thanks guys for doing what you do.
Ah man, not you got me feelin’ all bad about not putting David Cross on the list. I totally considered him. He’s one of my favorite comedians of all time and you are right he did give us a bunch of other people on the list, but I felt like he did most of that before 2000. True a lot of his comedy albums did come out in the 2000′s, but I could help but feel he put more of his effort to acting then stand-up in the last 10 years. (Although his 1/2 effort at stand-up is better than most people’s 100% effort.) But I could have totally been sold to put him on the list. I probably should have put him on the list. I was really fighting the urge to only put people who I was big fans of. I wanted the list to be more objective (yes I am aware that is impossible then choosing a list of comedians but I was being optimistic and wide-eyed at the time which is super rare for me, so please go with it for a minute) so I probably left some favorites off that shouldn’t have to appear fair.
As for the Ron White thing. You are right the others benefited from catch phrases but Ron also suffered from a lack of material. If you listen to all of his specials and appearances on the Blue Collar stuff he really only has like an hour and half of material and just kept changing the order. The other guys at least keep throwing new stuff at you. I guess it’s easier to write a joke when you already know the punchline his “here’s your sigh.”
What happened on The View? I don’t think I ever heard anything about that or at least I am blanking on it right now.
Thanks so much for comment. Glad to hear from you.
Dustin
my list in no particular order
zach galfianakis
dane cook
mike birbiglia
mitch hedberg
katt williams
demetri martin
sarah silverman
jim gaffigan
larry the cable guy
Louis CK
honorable mention nick swardson
There’s no doubt that dane cook was the rock star comedian of the decade, but I really feel that hedberg was the truest rock star comedian of all time, he had a huge following, he looked like a rock star, and he lived the rock star life style which lead his demise. I put Katt Williams, he wouldn’t be in my personal top ten but he really did make a big strictly stand up, main stream splash. He was this decade’s Chris Rock, not necessarily because he was black but the for the most part the same demographic that liked Chris Rock in his prime are behind Katt Williams. (Not saying that he’s better then Chris Rock). I put Jim Gaffigan just because he did what very few comics can do, bridge the gap between generations. My dad’s favorite comedians would be Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Dunham. My favorites would be Zach Galfianakis and Demetri Martin. We don’t like each others favorites but we both love Jim Gaffigan. That is a huge feat in itself. These are just my opinions.
Good list. This is a bit predictable coming from me, but I disagreed with you when you said (Dan aaid it, but Dustin agreed as though it were obviously true) “[When you think of] Stand-up comedy, you think of an album, you think of pure audio and obviously he’s not. you couldn’t just listen to an album by Demetri Martin, you need the visuals.” And I disagree with this, mostly because he did in fact put out a CD “These Are Jokes” in 2006 which, aside from being constantly listened to by me when I started doing stand-up, also went gold this past May. I think it holds up pretty well on its own.
I also want to suggest people check out Stewart Lee, just since he’s one of my favorite comedians but fairly unknown in the states.
Dustin,
Louis C.K. made the regrettable decision to appear on The View to promote Lucky Louie and Barbara Walter had “a biiiiig problem” with him, his humor, and the show. Mainly, this was due to cursing and a little girl. But Louie handled this incredibly well and became even more heroic in my eyes. It takes a lot for someone who has a certain sensibility to defend that sensibility to a group of pecking hens on national television.
I hear your point on Ron White. Laziness, I think plays into why so little of his material is new. He addresses this, often the same way, by talking about his wife from money.
Kathleen Madigan? What? Nobody lists her? Come on, she rocks!!!
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