The Remote Island

Video Weekend: Eight Great Standup Comics

Posted by Ben Kallen

 

One of the things TV does really well is to sponsor great comedy, and send it straight to your home. After all, not every town has its own comedy club -- and even if there is a local Chuckle Hut in your community, you usually have to sit through one or two lame, ancient or belligerent routines for every good one. TV, on the other hand, is full of comedians working at their best -- on Comedy Central, on HBO and on every late-night talk show, not to mention Comic Relief and Last Comic Standing.

We've selected footage from eight of the funniest comedians ever, performing at various times over the past 25 years. And we can pretty much guarantee that they'll make you laugh -- although the two-drink minimum is at your own discretion.

 

George Carlin on a Comic Relief benefit special in the '80s  




Jerry Seinfeld returns to standup on Late Show With David Letterman  




Richard Pryor on the '70s music show Midnight Special 




Sarah Silverman on Evening at the Improv in 1992  




Steve Martin performs "magic" on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show 


 

Mitch Hedberg on The Late Show 




Young Steven Wright on an unknown standup show 




Jim Gaffigan on Comedy Central
 



 

Image: Fox

Previously:
Comedy Central Finally Lets Go of TV Funhouse 
RIP: George Carlin 
Gentlemen, Sarah Silverman Is Single Again 

 


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About Ben Kallen

Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

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    Lindy Parker has worked as a ghostwriter, editor, dance instructor and a purveyor of dreams, one beer at a time. She loves Charles Dickens and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and also, straight-to-video releases with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It's possible she reads more teen fiction than she should. She hails from Los Angeles, her hometown and soul mate, but she lives in Brooklyn, the fling she'll never forget.

    Olivia Purnell left Ohio for sunny Los Angeles; then found that she couldn’t ignore New York City’s call, and brought herself to Brooklyn where she has worked with GenArt, BlackBook, the School of American Ballet, and finished an M.A. in Creative Writing from N.Y.U. She loves one-liners with sting and hates the stench of the subway in the summer. That said, she can’t get enough of either.

    Jake Kalish is a freelance journalist and humorist whose work has appeared in Details, Maxim, Stuff, New York Press, Spin, Blender, Men's Fitness, Poets and Writers, and Playboy, among other publications. He is also the author of Santa vs. Satan: The Official Compendium of Imaginary Fights.

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    Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

    Nicole Ankowski has lived in Ohio, Oakland, and on the high plains of South Dakota, but is now proud to call Brooklyn home. She wrote for alternative weekly papers in the first two states, and tried to learn Lakota in the last. (The vowels can be tricky.) She just earned her MFA in Creative Writing and has been published in Beeswax literary journal. She is unable to resist good writing or bad TV.

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