The Funniest American Stand-Up Comedy

Pete Holmes: Nice Try, the Devil!
      2013 | USA | Laughs: 0.3 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.4
      

I decided to try out a set by Peter Holmes based on a friend's recommendation of two of his skits (Subway and Magic), neither of which worked for me. Well, neither did the show, which I quit a quarter of the way in as the camera panned across the ecstatic faces of Pete's young and beautiful yuppie audience. To me the humor was bland and dull, but hey, we're all different so you might find it smart and subtle. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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Robin Williams: Off the Wall
      1978 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 (Just Awful) | imdb: 8.1
      

Very loud, very frantic, very unfunny. I know everyone's supposed to love Robin Williams, but to me this set is garbage. The man's utter lack of sense of timing could be a side-effect of the coke—it's no coincidence that the shot of Robin walking to the stage shows him rubbing his nose. Maybe this indigestible material was always meant to be performed to drunks or people on drugs. For me stand-up comedy works when the comedian manages to create some degree of empathy or rapport with the audience. It's hard to have any empathy when the comedian is behaving like a crazed monkey. (Last viewed: November 2018)

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A Steven Wright Special
      1985 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 | imdb: 8.6
      

Eight years after first trying out Steven Wright, I decided to give him a second chance, this time with a show from twenty years earlier than the first. The set a series of unconnected one- or two-liners delivered in a deadpan tone. The audience was in stitches, but I had barely cracked a smile after fifteen minutes, so I had to kill the tape. Why the audience laughed is beyond me. Perhaps it was the alcohol. More likely, some kind of mass hypnosis. (Last viewed: August 2018)

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Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers
      2017 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.0
      

As far as I can tell, Brian has lost whatever he once had. First off, he seems to be out of topics: the set begins with a weak segment about the scoring system of the game of tennis, and soon moves on to a discussion of various uninteresting aspects of American sports. Second, none of it is remotely funny. Perhaps Brian is confused by the contemporaneous political situation in the Trump United States and doesn't know his place as a comic in that sad place. To me, this unfunny show was a pathetic window into a decaying society. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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Rodney's Act
      2004 | USA | Laughs: 0.1 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.0
      

I've never been a fan of Rodney's in the movies but thought I'd give this highly-rated show of his a try. I want to like the guy—he looks like he would know how to make you laugh—but his brand of humor falls flat on me. It's a string of fast-paced one-liners which seems to draw laughs from the crowd, perhaps because it's mildly offensive for its time, perhaps because they're drunk. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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Mitch Hedberg: Comedy Central Presents
      1999 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.6
      

Apart from his beautiful long hair and MTV / Los Angeles look, I'm not sure what qualifies this guy to be on my screen. He might be at home in a sitcom, but he should not be on a stage trying to make people laugh. The fake southern accent makes it worse. Apparently Mitch had a cult following, which usually means that a movie or performance is so awful that some people love it. Not me. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Joe Rogan: Live from the Belly of the Beast
      2001 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.4
      

For the fourth show of Joe's that I watched, I thought I'd go back to the first tape that I could find to see if I could discern a trend, having found his 2009 show Talking Monkeys in Space far inferior to his 2016 set Triggered and the 2018 special Strange Times.

The trend was firmly confirmed. This was shortly before 9/11, there was a president in the White House who hadn't been elected and had already shown his moronic character, but the best Joe could come up with was some gutter humor and Adam Sandler voices.

He was clearly a bright guy even at the time, perhaps sharper than he is now judging by the pace of his delivery, and I bet he is embarrassed with this show now. But he doesn't need to be: no one has to watch it.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Daniel Tosh: Completely Serious
      2007 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.7
      wikipedia

If you're a young professional from Los Angeles, this set might make you laugh. But if you've lived outside that box, you'll want to skip this boring act. (Last viewed: May 2013)

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David Spade: Take the Hit
      1998 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.6
      

The one thing I liked about the show is that after five minutes, I was certain I didn't want to watch it. A couple "skip forwards" to make sure, and that was the best fifty minutes I never wasted. (Last viewed: December 2012)

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Joe Rogan: Rocky Mountain High
      2014 | USA | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 7.5
      

I was surprised at how awful this show was. On previous attempts to watch Joe's shows he'd often managed to make me smile or chuckle, but this was gutter humor almost from start to finish. When this barrage of filth finally let up, Joe closed the show with weak material cashing in on his audience's presumed prejudice against certain alternative groups.

This man really needs to reduce his doses of protein powder or whatever he takes to make his body bigger and his brain smaller. It's a real shame, as he's a bright guy with the potential to apply his intelligence if he ever came across a meaningful fact. I'd be happy to hear his insights if he ever grew up.

One thing that surprised me was the consistent imdb ratings of Joe's shows given their wide discrepancy in quality. I came up with a hypothesis, but it makes me sad. Could it be that Joe is so much smarter than his fans that they can't tell the difference? As long as he keeps dedicating most of his stage time to bodily functions and the female anatomy, they seem to be happy.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Bill Hicks: Relentless
      1992 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.7
      wikipedia

Really slow-paced show filmed at a comedy festival in Montreal. I didn't laugh once. At the beginning, Bill spends quite a bit of time on the Gulf War, which had recently ended. That kind of time-stamped material rarely ages well. I was surprised by how much material was the same as in his show from three years earlier, Sane Man. No wonder Bill looked so bored. I gave up after 35 minutes, and I didn't feel guilty. (Last viewed: January 2013)

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Jackie Mason: The World According to Me
      1988 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.7
      

In the first half of the show, Jackie Mason covers themes such as dating, searching for the "real me" and Ronald Reagan. One of his comic devices is to tell you that he can't stand jokes about Poles (or Italians) then immediately proceed to tell you one, a trick that is often funnier than the joke itself. Some of the material may not be acceptable to modern ears, but it can all be chalked up to the uncivilized ways of the previous century. The bulk of the show is really about Jews and Gentiles, and I don't think I've ever seen a stand-up comedian exploit that theme so thoroughly. Maybe Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David walked that landscape? Jackie Mason owned it, and for me that made the set worth watching, even though I never really laughed. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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Jimmy O. Yang: Good Deal
      2020 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.2
      

I was well disposed but had to give up after five minutes. Just awful. (Last viewed: May 2020)

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