Comedians you just don't get

[Rooster Cogburn]

Normally when the racist jokes start pouring out, I just roll my eyes and move on. Despite being so racist himself, I think Dave Chapelle actually manages to do his racist comedy properly. Most comedians simply point out stereotypes: "there it is, observe". Chapelle is greater than them because he points out stereotypes in the context of a joke. In each Chapelle sketch, there is something that is funny outside of the context of racial stereotypes. Stereotypes enhance the joke, but are not the extent of it.

I'd start listing comedians I hate, but they've been covered. So many bad ones out there.

 

[FrankDux]

I agree about Dane Cook, the more I listen to him, the less funny he gets. I'm not really sure what it is that kind of dulls his impact on me, but it's certainly dulled and I really don't find him funny anymore at all. No funnier than any of my friends sitting around talking about the same things...observational humor.

 

[r4ndom]

Sarah Silverman - A pair of eyebrows attached to a small brain that spews supposed "shock" jokes.

When compared to real funnymen, like Eddie Izzard, George Carlin or even Michael McIntyre (check him out if you havent seen him) her efforts go far beyond "feeble" and into what can only be described as "pathetic" territory.

EDIT :

Russel Brand - there's something just unbelievably irritating about him.

Totally, totally agree. It's almost as if he finds himself extremely funny, and is waiting for us to realise it too. But he's not funny. It's like listening to the kid you hated in school showing off.

 

[JBarracudaL]

Dane Cook and Larry the Cable Guy have never been that funny to me.

Them, and Carlos Mencia.

I'm not extremely picky when it comes to comedians, however, I find myself annoyed terribly when subjected to these enormous twats.

 

[freakyHippo]

At the risk of sounding sexist, female comedians.

I've yet to see one who is truly funny, though if i was to take a bets it possible Jessica Stevenson and Sarah Silverman would be decent (though i've never seen the first do stand up, and never seen the second). I mean, Joan Rivers, if she was paid to annoy me for an hour would do a good job. Stuff like Smack the Pony or that new one on Channel 4, Beehive are appallingly unfunny.

Nothing that is in the league of Noble, Connolly or back in the day Izzard.

Nina Conti, Sarah Milligan, Linda Smith. They are all hilarious and i'd advise you check them out. (as an aside read a book called 'The Naked Jape' by Lucy Greaves. A very interesting book about why we laugh. It has a section on the percieved notion of why men are funnier than women. Very intersting indeed).

Comedians i don't rate included:

Jimmy Carr
Ricky Gervaise
Dara O'Brein (although this is because he's such a dick on Mock the Week, his material is pretty decent but i can't bring myself to laugh at him because he such a giant dick)
Jerry Sadowitz
Peter Kay (just Reminiscing isn't comedy)
Racist comics in the style of (and including) Bernard Manning
Richard Herring

 

[speedcoreXdandy]

Ricky Gervais - His TV shows were decent, but his stand up is just "ooh look at me im edgy".
Jimmy Carr - I don't know why but I just hate him, some of his stand up isnt too bad but he's just a completely dickwad.
Alan Carr - Men this gay make me want to be sick.
Michael Macintyre - He is just incapable of making me laugh, I want to punch him but I'm not quite sure why.

 

[Clairaudient]

Mitch Hedberg, BEFORE you crucify me for saying this understand that i do GET and LIKE Mitchs stuff i am just curious. Would he still be such a great Comedian if he didn't die? what would have happaned? thats what i don't get.

RA- Oh.. *puts the cross away*.

In my opinion, I think he would still be considered funny. I mean, when I initially watched his comedy, I didn't know he was dead. I found it very funny. I read that he had died some time after my intial encounter and I don't think that changed my opinion at all.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Meh I "get" all comedians and shows, just find a lot of them not that funny personally.

Which brings me to the point that most people are just listing off stuff they don't like, rather than comedians they don't "get".

 

[Reversal]

Carlos mencia and pretty much every other comedian that uses racial differences as their entire comedy act. George lopez too. I also hate larry the cable guy and jeff foxworthy. They're only famous because rednecks love their jokes and there are a ton of rednecks. Jeff Dunham is also incredibly unfunny. Wow I'm going to tell jokes about my puppet's personalities now while I'm really just talking to myself. I'M HILARIOUS! I just really don't understand all their humor, it just never makes me laugh at all. Oh yeah, Sarah Silverman too, by being disgusting you're somehow funny? I don't understand why everyone thinks that's hilarious. Dane cook, don't get me started at how unfunny that guy is. If there was a vortex that sucked all the joy and laughter from the world, it would be Dane cook.

 

[kapzer]

Lee Evans. I really don't understand what;s so funny...he's just like a loose tap thats running around like a headless chicken.
Sarah Silverman - chav.
Peter Kay.

 

[wewontdie11]

Already been said a million gazillion times but Dane Cook. I watched one of his stand up shows and I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the "comedy" aspect of it was. He just ran around on the stage, unnecessarily screaming his still very tedious anecdotes, interspersed with random animal noises and swearing. It was like watching a child with ADD after you fed them 50 blue Smarties, that just learned the meaning of the f word.

Peter Kay is another person who uses observational humour like Dane Cook in his routines. The first time I saw his stand up on DVD I laughed my ass off. Then I bought his next DVD and there was a whole one joke different from the last tour he did. Then I saw his next tour on TV and there were a massive 2 jokes different! The man obviously can't be bothered to write new material or lacks the comic prowess to do it in the first place, as he did have 2 co-writers on his first stand up show anyway. I despise him now because he just recycles all his material and releases it with a new DVD box cover.

 

[Phillosophic]

Ricky Gervais - cocky, arrogant, over the top and over the line without ever once being funny. To this day, I believe he wasn't acting in The Office (which is overrated in my opinion) - he just IS david Brent.

Russel Brand - there's something just unbelievably irritating about him.

Also Dane Cook... no. Just no.

Thankyou, I thought it was just me. Gervais is a smug, aqrrogant ass & Russel Brand just reminds me of a 18th century Cockney pick-pocket. I never liked Harry Enfield or any kind of spoof movie starring Lesley Nielsen.

 

[laikenf]

Carlos Mencia, Adam Sandler and Gorge Lopez are very dull to me.

 

[Roberticvs]

As a guy who just got into stand-up, I can tell you that it's hard work getting up there in front of those lights and making people laugh. You can be a funny character, or you can be witty, but if you don't have timing, you're going to fall flat. I've seen guys and gals make the place roar saying the dumbest shit ever.

Good discussion going on here.

I don't care for Dave Chappelle's stand-up, and his sketch comedy is either hilarious, or completely unfunny to me. That's me, though. Not every witty reference and cultural observation is relevant to everyone.

Does anyone know the name of that comedian who was on with Ralphie Mays on Comedy Central about a month or two ago? He was balding, white, and had a routine about racism; "Get outta the pool!"

 

[Jobz]

Carlos Mencia - He tells awful, unfunny jokes. Then Assumes anyone who doesn't laugh at them doesn't get them and must be retarded, or a "Dee dee dee" as he so eloquently puts it.

Not being sexist here, but I don't find most female stand up comedians to be very funny. There are a few who I like (Maria Bamford especially) but most of the time I find their jokes dull.

 

[xitel]

I just don't think Jerry Seinfeld is funny. What the hell is his appeal?

Thank you. I never found him funny at all.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Can anyone explain the unusually large amount of black comedians who show up on comedy central presents and all they do are jokes about the differences in whites and blacks?

Beat me too it.
What he said.

They are all ripping off Richard Pryor. That's basically all there is to that. If you even try to play a Richard Pryor album today it will sound cliche, tired and unfunny because so many people have beaten his material into the ground. Richard Pryor essentially created the "black comic" archetype that so many others have used and that very few have innovated upon.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Larry the Cable Guy makes me feel... Sad for America.

 

[mkb07a]

SNIP
That being said, I can't say that I don't enjoy Sarah Silverman, but to paraphrase my friend said "She's not afraid to go there," Which I can admire, being one of those people myself. However there are a bunch of jokes on her stand-up shows and on her show that either fly over my head or are repungnant.

Thank you. I can't stand Sarah Silverman, because I've yet to understand why someone saying such rubbish as her has a television show that some idiots actually watch. Christ, I'd forgotten all about her. I freaking hate Sarah Silverman.