Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean
Mike finding old Pryor stuff reminds my of what Robin Williams said the other night on Leno. He is doing stand up again an trying material out in small clubs unannounced before his big show in LV. A significant portion of the audience either doesn't know who he is or says... You are that guy in that movie, right...
The 70s-80s were the golden age of comedy. Today we have Dat Fan (Phan?) one liners about his ethnicity winning him last comic standing.  |
If your example of the 70's and 80's being standup's "golden age" is Robin Williams... well, then you're right. The 70's and 80's were the golden age of standup
for people with no sense of humor.
Face it, Robin Williams is funny the same way watching crackheads fight over a cheeseburger is funny, or the way watching a schizo argue with themselves is funny. Richard Pryor was pretty decent, but he's not all that removed from whoever that guy doing ethnic one-liners is that you mentioned. George Carlin was also decent, but not any funnier than say Jerry Seinfeld plus swearing.
And don't forget... Gallagher. Fucking Gallagher
defined standup in that era. Gallagher makes Larry the Cable Guy look like a comedy god.
My point: the 70's and 80's weren't any better than today. Today is just different. Back then, you *had* to sell out big shows to make money... and you could because there wasn't the competition, there weren't so many acts. But today, we've got Comedy Central, and every other comedian gets a shot at their own show. I bet most of today's decent comedians could have been just as huge in the 70's and 80's if they went back in time. Hell, several are: Chris Rock, Lewis Black, Dave Chappelle just to name a few off the top of my head. They're as big in standup as Richard Pryor and Robin Williams were, *and* they did it in the modern climate of comedians being a dime a dozen.