All of you have been given a harsh gift. It’s the same gift the graduating class of 1917, and 1938, and 1968 and now you guys got – the chance to enter adulthood when the world teeters on the rim of the sphincter of oblivion. You’re jumping into the deep end. You have no choice but to be exceptional. Patton Oswalt addresses the class of 2008 at his old high school.
posted on Jul 10, 2008 - View this thread

The original Emo. Wikipedia states that much of Emo Philips' standup comedy "stems from the use of paraprosdokians and garden path sentences." And, while there are plenty of quotes to support this, it doesn't quite do justice to the man who wrote the best God joke ever--it's in the way he delivers these lines. Experience true Emo here, through these links which I like to call, "Audio and Video Clips from Emo Philips' Website."
posted on Jun 29, 2008 - View this thread

Billy At 65: I owe it all to Glasgow. But Glasgow and Scots in general owe Billy Connolly for all the laughs at our own expense...Tourism, Economy, Music, Religion, Sport, Social life, Education, Language, Cuisine, History, Transport and Sex. (Rampant YouTubery: All links potentially offensive and NSFW)
posted on Dec 3, 2007 - View this thread

Zach Galifianakis Live at The Purple Onion His NSFW Magnum Opus
Google Video (scammed offa Netflix) 1 hour, 1 minute.
Hate his drunken belching voice? Try You Bring Me Joy, It's Not About Love, or Can't Tell Me Nothing. Hate him still? You may be a preschooler.
posted on Nov 12, 2007 - View this thread

A recording of stand-up comedian Daniel Kitson's Edinburgh show from 2004, about dancing and other things. (4-part audio (click next), can also download from the podcast feed on this page, has rude words so possibly NSFW, funny)
posted on Jul 12, 2007 - View this thread

Fans of the late & much missed comic Mitch Hedberg might enjoy the stand up routine of Daily Show correspondent Demetri Martin: Some Jokes, Some More Jokes, Other Jokes & These Jokes.
posted on May 28, 2007 - View this thread

Leno, Other Comics Sue Over Joke Books Quote books have been legal and established as fair use, but the lawsuit claims that Ms. Brown sent representatives to comedy clubs to record comedians' routines to copy the jokes into print. Judy defends her fair use rights on Amazon's page for a previous book.
posted on Dec 1, 2006 - View this thread

Lost in translation. British Comedian Stewart Lee explores comedy in Germany and finds it stymied by the peculiarities of language and sentence construction. Mark Liberman at Language Log disagrees. And an extended essay by Josh Schonwald explores in greater depth how the German comedy scene is transitioning (PDF) from the more traditional kabernett to a burgeoning stand-up comedy scene, which is characterized by one observer as being in "the Bob Hope phase of comedy."
posted on May 26, 2006 - View this thread

Dave Allen drank whiskey and smoked cigarettes while telling jokes about sex and the church from his swivel chair on BBC2 in the early 70's. Some called him the "Irish Lenny Bruce" and he was a major influence on England's alternative stand comedy scene. He passed away this week and is fondly remembered by Eddie Izzard and other current British comedians.
posted on Mar 11, 2005 - View this thread

Cake or Death? The spectacularly funny British comic Eddie Izzard, currently on Broadway in A Day In The Death of Joe Egg has revamped his web site (warning: irritating flash animation & audio), and annouced that he is coming on tour, starting Down Under and continuing throughout Canada & The U.S. For those NY mefites, check out Joe Egg while you can, it is depressing but simultaneously funny, and anyone who hasn't seen Eddie either live or on HBO, do yourself a favor and catch a show, it's good stuff.
posted on May 27, 2003 - View this thread

Welcome to The dullest weblog in the world. Just as Steve Wright is a genius, so too is this weblog. Be sure to check out the sometimes copious commenting for more comedy gold. If you like it, there's a club you could join.
posted on Apr 8, 2003 - View this thread

Give It Up For The Axis Of Evil Tour Ahmed Ahmed travels a lot. Just the other day, says the heavily bearded Egyptian, he was at the airport. An older couple waiting for a flight came over and asked him where he was headed. "I told them, 'I have a one-way ticket to Paradise,' " he says. Pause for laughter. Yup, he says, airports are tough for him right now. They are for everyone, he adds. Nobody likes having to get there an extra hour early or being delayed by all the extra security. But just to make sure, he says, "I get there a month and a half early."
posted on Feb 21, 2003 - View this thread

Laughter capital of the world? "Declining audiences, dull material, complacent comics: a crisis is looming ....London suddenly appears to be in the grip of a recession for the first time since the alternative comedy boom took off at the beginning of the 1980s." From a nation exporting Bill Bailey(live in NYC this week) ,Eddie Izzard, Ali G, can this really be happening? (BTW I always thought Canada tried to lay a claim to this crown?)
posted on Dec 16, 2002 - View this thread

Funny women: Prompted by the Paula Poundstone thread, I decided to start a new conversation. Perhaps you've not been exposed to some of the amazingly funny women out there. The linked site is run by some friends of mine in New York.
posted on Jun 28, 2001 - View this thread

Tonight, I found a bevy of Bill Hicks mp3s. God, he was hilarious. He was more a truth-teller than a comedian. Luckily, there's still people out there that dig him too, including the great site at BillHicks.com. Among the many cool things at that site is a huge archive of audio clips of his standup and interviews.
posted on Nov 19, 1999 - View this thread