The Bore Thread of Stand Up Comedy: Taste the Funny

[Human Snorenado]

So, I think we need one of these.  Y'all motherfuckers like catch-all threads so I'm giving us one for this topic.

Specifically though, I'm starting this because I saw Doug Stanhope live tonight.  Oh. My. Gawd.  This guy has no shame and is completely fucking fearless.  His first ten minutes were about how he rented the Chyna porn video at a hotel so he could jerk off and then sleep for a couple hours before a set.  He kind of meanders because he drinks throughout his set but it really works for him.  Just an incredible hour and a half of a completely balls out performance.  If you ever get a chance, do yourself a favor and see this motherfucker.  For reals.

You may now post your links and favorite comedians and shit.

[Himu]

I'm worried he's going to die early because of his drinking. btw i'm soooooo jelly.

[Eel O'Brian]

Brian Regan
Jake Johannsen
Norm MacDonald
Richard Pryor
Redd Foxx (his standup act was seriously filthy)
Dana Gould
Bob Newhart
Bob and Ray
Ernie Kovacs (not so much a standup, but Letterman owes most of his TV career to him)
Pre-Cosby show Bill Cosby

[Mandark]

Bob Newhart
Bob and Ray
Pre-Cosby show Bill Cosby

I remember listening to my grandparents' records of these, along with Rodney Dangerfield and the 2000 Year Old Men bit with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

Also, pre-movie career Woody Allen:

[Great Rumbler]

About the only time I ever really listen to stand up comedians is on family trips, so that means lots of Bill Cosby and Jerry Clower.

[Human Snorenado]

Woody Allen's stand-up is some of the most criminally underrated shit ever.

Obviously, I'm a really big Bill Hicks fan too.

[Mandark]

Woody Allen also wrote humor pieces for the New Yorker around the same time.  It's really good and worth grabbing the collection.  There's a diary of a revolutionary that seems to be the basis for Bananas and a correspondence between two chess-by-mail players who disagree on whether someone took two moves in a row and wind up playing parallel games while getting more and more passive-aggressive.

[Verdigris Murder]

Cool OP OP, you have good taste. I've followed Stanhope since his The Man Show thing, he's excellent. Other comedians not so much, and I really don't find black/Muslim/lesbian/female comedians to be any good as a general rule.

Also Bill Hicks' stuff hasn't aged very well.

[Spurgeon]

I enjoy most of the names listed so far, but Norm is my absolute favorite. I can't explain it, maybe it's all in the delivery.

[DCharlieJP]

Specifically though, I'm starting this because I saw Doug Stanhope live tonight.  Oh. My. Gawd.  This guy has no shame and is completely fucking fearless. 

I've been pimping Stanhope for a couple of years now - he's brilliant.

Frankie Boyle is fantastic too and, similarly to Stanhope, doesn't really care about offending anyone
Sean Locke is pretty awesome too