The ten most overrated stand up comedians of all time...

[!! Anorak]

See, somehow he goes from being funny, above, to smug, not that funny, and self satisfied:

[DJ Enerate]

Comedians are all overrated. I get a better laugh reading stories from posters on sites like this.

[One_Tycoon]

1. George Carlin



Carlin doesn't tell jokes - he preaches viewpoints. This would be okay, were it not for the fact that he looks like the kind of guy who would get an erection in a crèche.

So you pay to see someone to make you laugh, and, yes, think, but instead you've got a guy who looks like he sniffs the knicker drawer at a kindergarten getting on his pulpit about some progressive-yet-sill-reactionary bullshit that would have the average BS Lounge member think was inspired. The success of Carlin comes down to the stupidity of your average Fat Yank, whereby his smugly pointing out something that is blindingly obvious can be seen as "eye opening material":


"You ever notice that when you take a shit, it comes out of your ass? And then you have to wipe it afterwards, otherwise you get shit in your pants?"


"Fuck yeeeeeeeeeeeah, George! That's hilarious! I'd never freakin' thought of that before!"


One of my least-favourite (favorite, Fat Yanks) routines of his that he did was that knee-jerk one he performed called "My Buddy Beercules":



"You ever notice that we've grown up spoon-fed and pussyish in this country these days? That if you went into a Bar Mitzvah and asked for a pork sandwich people would be so soft and entitled they'd take offence? This is what's happened to bring this country down, people. These days we're forced to refer to Beercules as "of the persuasion of a derogatory term for a vagina". That's just pure corporate speak, invented by the CIA to stop us wondering why there's poverty in Baltimore. That's right, folks. Seriously, just consider all the syllables there... "of the persuasion of a derogatory term for a vagina". Who talks like that? Only the companies who control all the money and tell us what we can and can't say, that's right, folks. We all know that Beercules is a ****."


He's a comic genius... if you're easily impressed and easily pleased.

Spot on....George Carlin was an overrated and cynical drinker and druggie who made a living feeding his cynical attitude and weak ego he disguised as misanthropic humor to middle class liberals and leftists who wanted to laugh about capitalism, war and government and other aspects of human nature they couldn't grasp.

[DeadLikeMe]

Mitch Hedburg...come at me bros

[!! Anorak]

Spot on....George Carlin was an overrated and cynical drinker and druggie who made a living feeding his cynical attitude and weak ego he disguised as misanthropic humor to middle class liberals and leftists who wanted to laugh about capitalism, war and government and other aspects of human nature they couldn't grasp.

I did watch some of his earlier stuff after recommendations in this thread, and it was better, but there's something so smug about the guy.

I honestly think Wlad and that accent of his would be a better stand up. Remember his head to head with David Haye? "The flashhhy flashhhh."

[!! Anorak]

9. Stewart Lee



Now, I hate to say this. Stewart Lee is the only comedian I've ever paid money to see. There are others I WOULD, but I'm not made of money.

I think he's a pretty funny guy, and his entire act is pretty much based around going into dead laugh areas, then deconstructing why his act is turning crap, and deliberately distancing the audience. He refers, mid-act, to his own routine as wilfully employing the notion of Brechtian alienation... this isn't a guy just standing there doing dick gags.

But for all his qualities, he's got a new series on the BBC right now, and it's getting so phoned in and as lazy as fuck that a recent episode ended with a word-for-word reprisal of a routine he'd done back in 2012. This is okay if it's just a couple of minutes, but when the guy's entire act is based around going on too long (his toying with repetition and purposeful irritation part of his comedic arsenal) then it's too much. Particularly as the niche audience he attracts would doubtless know the routine off by heart anyway.

There's also something a little reactionary about his comedy lately, too. He's left-wing, which is cool, because so am I, but now he seems to be like the worst of the left, whereby he has a reaction against anything that doesn't match his viewpoint as blind as those on the right. Witness his defence of Islam, which omits that Islam might have some ideologies that he wouldn't like, combined with the fact that he was more than happy to take the piss out of Hinduism last series.

This probably means nothing to a high % of posters, as he's a very UK-only comedian. But what really palls is his fans, who flock every YouTube video to say that you "don't get it" if you think one of his routines is crap. That anyone who possibly disagrees that he isn't the greatest living comedian today is "thick".

I do like the guy. As I said, I bought tickets. But he's starting to get as lazy as fuck lately, and his fans aren't doing him any favours (favors, Fat Yanks) by not calling him on it.

Here's probably my least favourite (favorite, Fat Yanks) routine he did, "Beercules":



"You've all seen that Beercules, haven't you? You know, that Beercules. That Beercules we have these days. We've all seen him. Well, the other day I heard that he was out for a drink with some friends, and a dwarf - this is true - offered him out for a fight.

Now, I'm not quite sure how this happened, but what I'll do is laugh at my own joke for a bit, then spend ten minutes imitating the sound of Beercules shitting his pants, and my fans will label that 'groundbreaking'.

You see, people are watching me saying this, and going 'I don't get it. You're talking about this Beercules and how he crapped his pants over a dwarf, then not telling us what happened next.'

Well, what happened next was that his own sister used his head as a bottle bank and he cried and called the police over it. Now. You may be thinking 'that's a different story, Stu'. But I haven't changed the set up. No. Change is actually an ever-present constant, which, if you'd bothered to read Heraclitus of Ephesus before you'd come tonight, you'd be aware of."

[The Noose]

I was disappointed he repeated an old routine in that last episode. And the constant analysing of the audiences reaction and 'mock the week' references. Getting a bit old.
Yet i did love his Islamaphobia "jokes". About how angry people get when you dont join in with the hatred of muslims.

[!! Anorak]

I was disappointed he repeated an old routine in that last episode. And the constant analysing of the audiences reaction and 'mock the week' references. Getting a bit old.
Yet i did love his Islamaphobia "jokes". About how angry people get when you dont join in with the hatred of muslims.

This is the thing, he needs to move on now. Where, I don't know. I actually get irritated when he talks to the audience "at home", because I'd rather hear material than him doing that every two minutes. I know he's not a "gag man", but don't be so lazy, you ****.