Comedy in decline
 

I remember the greats.

Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd in the silent era.
The Marx Brothers, the Ritz Brothers, and the Three Stooges in the pre-WWII era.
Milton Berle, Sid Ceaser, Jerry Lewis, Lucille Ball, Buddey Hackett, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, and most of the cast of the Carol Burnett Show.

Since the 1990's where are all the great comics. The ones who were 'out there' and were not afraid to look stupid. I'm not talking about Tim Allen, who plays a normal guy in absurd situations, I'm talking about flat-out foolishness.

Andy Kauffman could have been great if he hadn't died.
Jim Varney was good but never really took off.
Dudley Moore was great before he passed away.

The only significant body of work by living comics in movies and TV is by Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.

Where are all of the rest of the zany comedians?


Look at the cast of . It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and compare it with Scavenger Hunt (1979) and Rat Race (2001) .

The new comedies are cute but where are the real screwball comedies? When was the last time you laughed so hard at a movie that you got the hiccups or had to catch your breath?

I don't think I've seen a really funny movie since

My Favorite Year (1982) . Before that it was Arthur and 10.

Can anyone think of any truly hilarious, laugh-out-loud, wacky comedies made since 1990?

All the good wacky comedy these days is animated.

You are right, they are all dead. John Candy, Richard Pryor, John Belushi just to reel off three. I was literally depressed when I heard John Candy died.

And the farm systems have all dried up it seems. SNL is out of real talent and Mad TV sucks donkey wangers. And Canada isn't crankin' em out like they used to on SCTV (John Candy, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, the Mom from Home Alone and several others).

And Seinfeld retired even tho he was more interesting than funny.

But, there was only one Buster Keaton. Just unbelievable talent.

Sam kinison.And he was more cereberal than many of you might guess.

The last time I had trouble breathing in the movie theater was while watching <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0274166/">Johnny English</a>.

Of course, I don't really go for most of the people you listed. The Stooges annoy me, and Jim Carrey is sort of inane. Robin Williams is okay, given limited exposure and if you disregard certain films, and I'm not very familiar with many of the others.

So maybe it's like the fall of the Roman empire. You can argue that it happened, that it didn't happen, or that it was just a change of name and shift of location: Maybe the great comics of today just aren't doing slapstick. Maybe cynical sarcasm and <a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/">bitter mockery of current events</a> is the Great Comedy of today.

would transsexual count as zany?

eddie izzard makes me pee

Dave Chappelle!

Down here we get his half hour show once a week and It's easily the funniest skit comedy around.
One episode a fat white guy moved into a house full of every black stereotype imaginable. Cringeworthy but funny as hell.
I plan around it and, for me, that's really saying something

I respect and knowledge the greats that were mentioned in the opening post, but for me, my personal favorites are:

-Richard Pryor
-Bill Cosby (his stand up on HBO in 1984 that he based his show on made me HOWL!!)
-Flip Wilson (loved watching him do Geraldine)
-Redd Foxx
-Eddie Murphy (not as funny now as he was in his heyday, but I still like him)

More recent:
-The Wayans (all of them!)
-Cedric The Entertainer
-Steve Harvey
-D.L. Hughley (spelling??)
Dave Chappelle

I also like Jim Carey, Robin Williams ("Mork calling Orsen, come in Orsen!"), Gene Wilder...my goodness, just too many to mention!

Not a huge fan of the Three Stooges...I just don't see what's funny about being poked in the eye...that shit hurts!!!

Chris Rock does hilarious standup, but he seems to actively avoid good movies.

Janeane Garofalo is funny, but I haven't seen her do any stand up or movies in a while.

Margaret Cho is funny stand up usually, but it is inconsistently so to me.

I recently saw a Robin Williams HBO special (a year or so old) and it was hysterically funny. This guy has not lost his touch for stand up.

I wonder how Jim Carrey's new movie is going to be like. I mostly like his work, but there are exceptions.

I might take some flak for this, but damn I love George Carlin. Sure its dirty, bitter, and a little hateful, but I think the comments on society are amusing.

Not a huge fan of the Three Stooges...I just don't see what's funny about being poked in the eye...that shit hurts!!!

These guys are hilarious because they are THE originals. Their acts will never fade away, nor cease to be funny to me. Come on -- it doesn't get funnier than connecting the water line to the electrical conduits and having some poor chef go nuts as the lightbulbs fill with water, stove sprays him, etc.

Dane Cook!

His "Comedy Central Presents" performance made my stomach cramp I laughed so hard.


Margaret Cho makes me want to vomit though. She's the farthest thing from "wacky" I think I can imagine.

The acidy spit! I WANT THAT! Why not ME??

Now that guy is cerebral. He's got great writers or he's got the best comedy mind to come along in a while. Or both. the bit he did with everything looks better in slow motion, was completely out of left field.
For off the cuff, improvisation, Robin Williams gets my vote.