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Questions and Answers
Who is known for their deadpan absurdity and blending of the confessional with their cracked outlook on things?
Who was a trailblazer for women comedians, addressing sex head-on at a time when it was taboo and financing her own comedy special when no network would support her?
Who was a charming neurotic who burrowed into his looks and failure with women, and was working on a new act before he passed away in 2016?
Who was a crusader for racial equality and broke down walls between black and white culture, making way for Richard Pryor?
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Who transformed stand-up into an outlaw occupation, matching the rhythms and vernacular of jazz with feverish smarts and a filthy imagination, and pushed past fear to pursue his truth in the moment?
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Who was a technical master who challenges fans to reimagine issues they might otherwise take for granted with his thoughts on race, relationships, and politics?
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Who was a legendary stand-up comedian who went through an evolution in his life and work, slipping effortlessly from puerile to provocative, discussing topics such as police brutality and getting a monkey's penis in your ear?
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Who was a hippie sage, M.I.T.-level linguist, First Amendment activist, and undisputed champion gadfly of stand-up who crafted brainy polemics that poked and prodded listeners out of their socially complicit comfort zones?
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Who is known for their deadpan absurdity and blending the confessional with their outlook on things?
Signup and view all the answers
Who was a trailblazer for women comedians, addressing sex head-on at a time when it was taboo and financing her own comedy special when no network would support her?
Signup and view all the answers
Who is a champion of nerd culture and is one of comedy's best image constructors?
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Who was a comic avenging angel who spewed venom about societal issues and had an eloquent, emphatic fury?
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Who was a hippie sage, M.I.T.-level linguist, First Amendment activist, and undisputed champion gadfly of stand-up who crafted brainy polemics that poked and prodded listeners out of their socially complicit comfort zones?
Signup and view all the answers
Who was a giddy Glaswegian who is the master of the wee winding yarn and has been battling Parkinson's?
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Who transformed stand-up into an outlaw occupation, matching the rhythms and vernacular of jazz with feverish smarts and a filthy imagination, and pushed past fear to pursue his truth in the moment?
Signup and view all the answers
Who was a veteran comedian who projected street smarts and confessional intimacy on stage, making audiences feel like they're getting the real deal?
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Study Notes
The 50 Best Stand-Up Comedians of All Time
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Stand-up comedy is a relatively new art form, only about a century old, that grew out of minstrelsy and vaudeville.
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This list focuses on the unique voices who have pushed stand-up forward in recent days, weighing artistic merit, technical proficiency, sense of timing, quality of written material, delivery, and degree of influence.
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The 50 stand-ups on this list embody what we expect of modern-day comedians: someone who can wake us up to the weird, wonderful possibilities of the world around us, impel us to think differently about our own lives, and make us howl like blithering idiots.
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The list includes a mix of veteran comedians who have been in the game for decades, as well as younger comics who have emerged more recently.
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Some of the best stand-up comedians are still alive, while others have passed away but left a lasting legacy in the industry.
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The list includes comedians from diverse backgrounds, including women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
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The comedians on the list have different styles and approaches to comedy, ranging from one-liner artists to political satirists to observational humorists.
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Wanda Sykes is a veteran comedian who projects street smarts and confessional intimacy on stage, making audiences feel like they're getting the real deal.
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Aziz Ansari started with simple pop culture routines but has since moved on to tackle more mature themes like relationships, technology, and immigration, while still maintaining his hyped-up comedy style.
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Margaret Cho is a sex-positive feminist and LGBT activist who is candid about her preoccupations, including periods, colonics, and being a "dick widow."
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Elayne Boosler was a trailblazer for women comedians, addressing sex head-on at a time when it was taboo and financing her own comedy special when no network would support her.
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Bernie Mac spoke directly to black audiences and had a peculiarly magnetic delivery, solidifying his place as a big, braggadocious comic in the industry.
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Garry Shandling was a charming neurotic who burrowed into his looks and failure with women, and was working on a new act before he passed away in 2016.12 Legendary Stand-Up Comedians and Their Impact on Comedy
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Tig Notaro is known for her deadpan absurdity and her ability to blend the confessional with her cracked outlook on things.
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Patton Oswalt is a champion of nerd culture and is one of comedy's best image constructors.
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Janeane Garofalo engages her crowd as though they're all close friends wrangling with big issues and the latest Kardashian kerfuffle.
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Patrice O'Neal's comedy prods members of the crowd to expose some underbelly of desire or prejudice.
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Sarah Silverman pushes irony to its breaking point, touching on issues ranging from anal sex to the Holocaust.
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Woody Allen channeled his obsessions and neuroses into intellectually wonky one-liners.
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Dick Gregory has been at the forefront of the fight for civil rights in his comedy and in life.
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Robert Klein's first album, Child of the '50s (1973), was about the Eisenhower era in all its prosperity and paranoia.
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Redd Foxx was a crusader for racial equality and his breaking down walls between black and white culture made way for Richard Pryor.
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Rodney Dangerfield played the disrespected-to-the-max role to a tee, throwing out self-deprecating bombs one after the other.
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Eddie Murphy saw stand-up comedy transformed into a rock-star art and his stratospherically confident persona strutted, preened and doused the audience in sex.
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Eddie Izzard makes intelligent comedy, U.K. division, entirely accessible and his monologue spills downstream, swirling from eddy to eddy as he examines humankind's achievements, patterns and foibles.
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Jonathan Winters could use his imagination, voice, and the elastic mask of his face to create solo vignettes with well-defined characters and exchanges with actual punchlines.12 Legendary Stand-Up Comedians and their Impact on Comedy
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Kevin Hart is a comedian who is willing to be confused, doubtful and hurt, and he has five specials and is a movie star.
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Bill Burr's comedy begins with outrageous premises, but he is a master of making sense of things and winning over hostile crowds.
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Billy Connolly is a giddy Glaswegian who is the master of the wee winding yarn and has been battling Parkinson's.
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Steven Wright is the undisputed king of the deadpan one-liner and a great minimalist joke writer.
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Andy Kaufman created anti-comedy and stripped down and remade stand-up in his image, inspiring many others.
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Bill Hicks was a comic avenging angel who spewed venom about societal issues and had an eloquent, emphatic fury.
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Robin Williams' routines made his audiences' heads spin with his micro-impressions, free associations, and countless riffs.
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Steve Martin's giddy irony and wild-and-crazy guy persona made him a high-water mark for sweet, wacky, playful absurdity.
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Mort Sahl brought a new informality to weighty issues and was the most valuable political voice since Will Rogers.
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Dave Chappelle talks race, celebrity, and politics in an incisive and ferocious way and delights in keeping the audience on the hook.
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Bill Cosby advanced the art of stand-up with his long-winded yarns about his childhood, marriage, and fatherhood and was the uncontroversial champ of Sixties/Seventies stand-up.
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Jerry Seinfeld dissects the minutiae of Western life in an offhanded way that seems almost thoughtless and encourages audiences to see things in macro.
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Joan Rivers built her own addition to the boys' club with her dishy invocation "Can we talk?" and was a workhorse, survivor, and hero to many younger comics who followed her lead.
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Chris Rock is a technical master who challenges fans to reimagine issues they might otherwise take for granted with his thoughts on race, relationships, and politics.
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Louis C. K. turned a guy slinging dick jokes and absurdist one-liners into a guy slinging rigorously honest stories about his life and those closest to him and challenged himself to deliver on an unprecedented scale.
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Lenny Bruce transformed stand-up into an outlaw occupation, matching the rhythms and vernacular of jazz with feverish smarts and a filthy imagination, and pushed past fear to pursue his truth in the moment.
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George Carlin was a hippie sage, M.I.T.-level linguist, First Amendment activist, and undisputed champion gadfly of stand-up who crafted brainy polemics that poked and prodded listeners out of their socially complicit comfort zones.The Evolution of Richard Pryor: A Stand-Up Comedy Legend
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Richard Pryor was a legendary stand-up comedian who went through an evolution in his life and work.
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Pryor's childhood experiences with scary and colorful personalities shaped the basis of his early act.
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He worked through a clean-cut Cosby phase before finding cocaine and eventually breaking out of a staid Vegas lounge act.
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Pryor became the outspoken, unfettered spirit that turned stand-up on its ear.
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His acme was caught on tape in specials including Live in Concert and Live on the Sunset Strip, where he was untouchable.
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Pryor slipped effortlessly from puerile to provocative, discussing topics such as police brutality and getting a monkey's penis in your ear.
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He was both swaggering and vulnerable, boastful and confessional, superheroic and all-too-ordinary.
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Pryor put everything he was on display, even his darkest moments, which were fodder for his high-wire comedy.
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His personal life was a mess, but onstage, he was fluid, versatile, and hypnotic.
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Pryor's defense of free speech and contempt for those who would abuse words led to legendary bits including the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television."
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If George Carlin is the brain and conscience of comedy, Pryor is its guts and heart.
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Pryor is referred to as the "Picasso of our profession" by no less than Jerry Seinfeld, and it's unlikely he will ever be topped.
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Description
Think you know the best stand-up comedians of all time? Test your knowledge with this quiz that covers the legendary comics who have made us laugh, think, and feel over the past century. From Richard Pryor to Louis C.K., this quiz will challenge your memory and show you how stand-up comedy has evolved over time. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a casual observer, this quiz is sure to entertain and enlighten. So, let's get started and see if you can name
