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arts > comedy > comedians, comics, standups

 

20th - early 21st century > UK, USA

 

timeline in articles, pictures and podcasts

 

 

 

Cathy Burke    UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
kathy-burke

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/dec/04/
kathy-burke-interview-depression-menopause-podcast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Delaney    USA

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/
rob-delaney

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/oct/23/
rob-delaney-comedian-
we-have-a-new-capacity-for-pain-a-heart-that-works

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aida Rodriguez    USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/
style/aida-rodriguez.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W. Kamau Bell    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/06/
871520161/w-kamau-bell-on-the-role-of-comedy-during-crisis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ted Alexandro    USA

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/
arts/television/ted-alexandro-comedy-virus.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Seinfeld    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/02/
849383559/jerry-seinfeld-on-staying-home-at-my-dinner-table-
you-re-supposed-to-be-funny

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/
magazine/jerry-seinfeld-intends-to-die-standing-up.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/may/10/
jerry-seinfeld-personal-archives-comedy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cameron Esposito    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/29/
822776178/save-yourself-cameron-esposito-is-here-to-help-you-through-hard-times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marc Maron    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/
818915030/comedian-marc-maron-we-need-groupthink-empathy-during-covid-19-outbreak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramy Youssef    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/25/
735658229/comic-ramy-youssef-on-being-an-allah-carte-muslim-you-sit-in-contradictions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mohammed Amer / Mo Amer    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/23/
1118770031/mo-amer-netflix-series-refugee-experience

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/
arts/television/mohammed-amer-mo-netflix.html

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/20/
689926199/you-get-paid-for-doing-therapy-stand-up-comedians-on-anger

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/02/
672758694/comedian-mo-amer-takes-his-the-refugee-experience-to-netflix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Jeong    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/14/
694274007/in-his-return-to-stand-up-ken-jeong-tells-his-wife-you-complete-me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Hart    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/10/
683598263/kevin-hart-says-comedy-is-full-of-flawed-but-funny-people-himself-included

 

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/18/
482464988/actor-kevin-hart-on-comedy-central-intelligence-and-lessons-from-his-mom

 

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/16/
482003247/central-intelligence-places-kevin-hart-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louis C.K.    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/05/
682361470/opinion-louis-c-k-can-say-what-he-wants-but-at-least-be-funny

 

https://www.npr.org/2015/04/28/
402560343/louis-c-k-on-life-and-standup-i-live-in-service-for-my-kids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Negin Farsad    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/
774507041/comedian-negin-farsads-dogs-for-all-health-care-plan

 

https://www.npr.org/2017/03/24/
520942852/negin-farsad-can-humor-fight-prejudice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Cross    USA

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/
david-cross

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/sep/01/
david-cross-interview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roseanne Barr    USA

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/29/
615211939/abc-cancels-roseanne-after-abhorrent-twitter-rant-from-its-star

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2018/05/23/
613134598/roseanne-reboot-wraps-a-bait-and-switch-first-season

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romesh Ranganathan    UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/
romesh-ranganathan

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/
audiences-love-serious-comedy-make-people-laugh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben Eton    UK, Australia

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/sep/26/
ben-elton-return-to-standup-comedy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridget Everett    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/17/
544051613/cabaret-hurricane-bridget-everett-moves-to-the-big-screen-in-patti-cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Lopez    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/05/
541695884/george-lopez-reflects-on-the-wall-a-lifetime-of-comedy-and-jokes-about-trump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Williams    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/
539240567/comic-jessica-williams-on-the-daily-show-and-learning-to-never-be-average

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iliza Shlesinger    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/20/
520846327/in-confirmed-kills-iliza-shlesinger-cloaks-social-commentary-in-comic-rants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patton Oswalt    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/10/
519223604/patton-oswalt-explains-how-pop-culture-gets-grieving-all-wrong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cristela Alonzo    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/05/
518212330/from-mom-jokes-to-trump-era-racism-cristela-alonzo-aims-to-skewer-latino-stereot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Oliver    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/10/
514152562/john-oliver-on-facts-donald-trump-and-the-supreme-court-for-dogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aparna Nancherla    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/30/
755196201/aparna-nancherla-i-m-still-shy-even-as-a-stand-up-star

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/07/
501017521/comedian-aparna-nancherla-makes-light-of-the-heavy-stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tracey Ullman    UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/28/
499796182/british-comedian-tracey-ullman-brings-celebrity-impersonations-to-hbo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Gethard    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/06/
508380014/manic-and-depressed-i-didnt-like-who-i-was-says-comic-chris-gethard

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/10/24/
499135063/comic-chris-gethard-explains-how-depression-led-to-career-suicide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hari Karthikeya Kondabolu    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/16/
493616808/hari-kondabolu-says-his-mom-is-hilarious-and-not-because-of-her-accent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz  / Jeff Ross    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/13/
493688206/having-thick-skin-is-a-survival-technique-says-comic-jeff-ross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexandra "Ali" Wong / Ali Wong    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/02/
484163577/marriage-and-motherhood-are-a-source-of-power-says-comic-ali-wong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joanna Hausmann    VEN / USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/05/
469211567/a-comedian-rants-on-different-latino-cultures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hasan Minhaj    USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/28/
884327529/hasan-minhaj-on-police-brutality-covid-19-and-the-6th-season-of-patriot-act

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/01/
681469011/netflix-drops-hasan-minhaj-episode-in-saudi-arabia-at-governments-request

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/10/14/
448572486/daily-shows-hasan-minhaj-on-proms-immigrants-
and-white-folks-at-desi-weddings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simon Munnery

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/08/
edinburgh-standup-simon-munnery-on-alternative-comedy

 

 

 

 

impressionist > Rory Bremner

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/apr/18/
rory-bremner-review

 

 

 

 

prime-time comedy star > Ruby Wax

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/
ruby-wax

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/mar/22/
ruby-wax-civil-servants

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/27/
ruby-wax-interview-comedy

 

 

 

 

Tina Fey

America's queen of comedy

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
tina-fey 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/apr/18/
tina-fey-bossypants-autobiography-comedian

 

 

 

 

Eddie Izzard        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
eddie-izzard 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/mar/05/
eddie-izzard-locks-horns-landlords-chelsea-social-housing-estate

 

 

 

 

Jim Gaffigan        USA

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/24/
443070367/comic-jim-gaffigan-on-stand-up-faith-and-opening-for-the-pope

 

 

 

 

Liza Dye        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/
arts/subway-accident-is-fodder-for-liza-dyes-comedy-routine.html

 

 

 

 

Daniel Kitson        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/
daniel-kitson

 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/mar/04/
daniel-kitson-stage-comedy-analogue

 

 

 

 

Alexei Sayle        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/jan/22/
alexei-sayle-still-full-hate

 

 

 

 

Ophira Eisenberg        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/arts/
advancing-a-new-form-of-comedy-storytelling.html

 

 

 

 

Tracy Morgan        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/
arts/tracy-morgan-at-carolines-comedy-club.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/
arts/television/02itzk.html

 

 

 

 

stand-up > Bridget Christie        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/06/
bridget-christie-comedy-review-edinburgh-festival-2014

 

 

 

 

stand-up > Paul Merton        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/may/16/
parl-merton-comedian-improvisation

 

 

 

 

standup > Stephen K Amos

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/oct/24/
stephen-k-amos-interview

 

 

 

 

comedian / satirist / stand-up > Stewart Lee

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
stewart-lee

 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/nov/10/
stewart-lee-live-comedy-review

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/apr/27/
royal-wedding-secret-kate-wills

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/dec/06/
stewart-lee-comedy-interview

 

 

 

 

satirist / stand-up comedian / stand-up comic

Bo Burnham        USA        2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/21/
comedy.usa

 

 

 

 

Humza Arshad        UK

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/europe/
a-british-comedian-takes-on-jihadists.html

 

 

 

 

Stephen Colbert        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/
stephen-colbert 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/nyregion/
at-al-smith-dinner-colbert-doesnt-spare-politicians.html

 

 

 

 

Billy Connolly        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
billyconnolly 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/22/
billy-connolly-my-family-values

 

 

 

 

Justin Lee Collins        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/09/
justin-lee-collins-guilty-harassing

 

 

 

 

Tim Minchin        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/tim-minchin 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/nov/06/
tim-minchin-mocking-god-in-texas

 

 

 

 

Paul Sinha        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/feb/25/
paul-sinha-review

 

 

 

 

Sandra Bernhard        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/23/
this-much-know-sandra-bernhard

 

 

 

 

Bill Bailey        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/bill-bailey 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/dec/18/
bill-bailey-stuart-jeffries-saturday-interview

 

 

 

 

Steve Carell        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/film/
stevecarell  

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/14/
steve-carell-despicable-me

 

 

 

 

Michael McIntyre        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/sep/16/
michael-mcintyre-comedy-roadshow

 

 

 

 

The 10 best comedians at Edinburgh        UK        2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jul/04/
ten-best-comedians-edinburgh-fringe

 

 

 

 

Frank Sidebottom creator Christopher Mark Sievey    1955-2010

 

Comedian and musician

whose bulbous-headed alter ego

had a string of hits in the 1980s and 90s

collapsed at home

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
frank-sidebottom

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jun/22/
frank-sidebottom-chris-sievey-obituary

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/jun/21/
frank-sidebottom-creator-chris-sievey-dies

 

 

 

 

Donald Glover

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/08/
donald-glover-childish-gambino-camp

 

 

 

 

Vic Reeves

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/09/
vic-reeves-eric-morecombe-drama

 

 

 

 

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/aug/21/
vic-reeves-bob-mortimer-interview

 

 

 

 

Josie Long        UK

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/
arts/television/sick-of-angry-comics-try-some-sweet-tempered-stand-up.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/26/
josie-long-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Imran Yusuf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/may/18/
imran-yusuf-standup-comedy-self-help

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/27/
audience-imran-yusuf-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Russell Kane

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/
russell-kane 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/aug/28/
russell-kane-fosters-comedy-edinburgh

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/26/
russell-kane-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Sarah Millican

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/sarah-millican

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/26/
sarah-millican-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Des Bishop

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/05/
des-bishop-review-edinburgh-festival-2014-standup-china-american

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/20/
des-bishop-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Alan Davies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/10/
alan-davies-liverpool-hillsborough-disaster

 

 

 

 

Greg Davies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/24/
greg-davies-review

 

 

 

 

Rich Fulcher

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/24/
rich-fulcher-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Robert White

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/23/
robert-white-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Hans Teeuwen

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/23/
hans-teeuwen-edinburgh-comedy-review

 

 

 

 

Stuart Goldsmith

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/22/
stuart-goldsmith-review

 

 

 

 

Al Murray

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/nov/28/
al-murray-in-germany-travel

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/aug/22/
al-murray-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Neil Hamburger

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/20/
neil-hamburger-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Coolidge

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/18/
jennifer-coolidge-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Monsters of the Deep 3D

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/19/
monsters-of-the-deep-3d-edinburgh-festival

 

 

 

 

Kevin Eldon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/18/
kevin-eldon-review

 

 

 

 

Penny Dreadfuls

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/17/
penny-dreadfuls-review

 

 

 

 

Storm Large

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/17/
storm-large-underbelly

 

 

 

 

Abandoman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/16/
abandoman-edinburgh-review

 

 

 

 

Andi Osho

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/15/
andi-osho-edinburgh-comedy-review

 

 

 

 

Jo Brand        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
jo-brand

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2017/nov/04/
jo-brands-speech-on-sexual-harassment-silences-all-male-panel-
on-have-i-got-news-for-you-video

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/may/15/
jo-brand-you-ask-the-questions-going-forward-comedy

 

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/13/
jo-brand-comedian-my-family-values

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/sep/21/
jo-brand-interview

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jun/01/
jo-brand-hay-festival-comedy

 

 

 

 

David Baddiel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/apr/22/
david-baddiel-south-park

 

 

 

 

Frankie Boyle

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/dec/01/
frankie-boyle-tramadol-nights

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/26/
frankie-boyle-channel-4-series

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/apr/09/
offensive-comedy-frankie-boyle

 

 

 

 

Russell Brand

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
russell-brand 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/sep/02/
russell-brand-needy-person-less-mad-now

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/oct/09/
russell-brand-birmingham-symphony-hall-review

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/11/
russell-brand-urges-less-methadone-clinics

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/apr/06/
russell-brand

 

 

 

 

Adam Buxton

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2010/mar/16/
6-music-adam-buxton-webchat

 

 

 

 

Frank Skinner

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/10/this-much-i-know-frank-skinner

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/apr/11/frank-skinner-interview-pope-benedict

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/01/frank-skinner-opinionated

 

 

 

 

Dylan Moran

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/nov/01/dylan-moran-review

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Carr

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/23/
jimmy-carr-untaxed-stockport-hecklers

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/nov/05/
jimmy-carr-paralympics-joke

 

 

 

 

Ben Elton

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
ben-elton 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/27/
do-comedians-lose-their-edge

 

 

 

 

stand-up > Chris Rock

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/
chris-rock 

 

 

 

 

comics > Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/
peter-cook 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/03/
one-leg-too-few-peter-cook-dudley-moore-review

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/03/
one-leg-too-few-peter-cook-dudley-moore-review

 

 

 

 

Sarah Silverman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/mar/21/
sarah-silverman-jesus-is-magic

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/oct/11/
sarah-silverman-comedy

 

 

 

 

Jean Carroll        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/arts/03carroll.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricky Gervais    UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/

ricky-gervais

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/nov/04/ricky-gervais-lifes-too-short

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/oct/19/ricky-gervais-mong-twitter

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jan/19/ricky-gervais-us-rightwingers-golden-globes

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/feb/20/ricky-gervais-cartoon-hbo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ed Byrne on What a Man is Thinking

Live at the Apollo

BBC One    January 4, 2009

 

 

 

HD Preview: Ed Byrne on What a Man is Thinking - Live at the Apollo

Video        BBC One        January 04, 2009

 

The legendary Lenny Henry

hosts another evening of comedy from the Hammersmith Apollo,

and introduces special guests Andy Parsons and Ed Byrne.

 

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P87DS3aY4w&feature=channe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Lewis    USA    1947-2024

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Richard_Lewis_(comedian)

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/28/
1234646887/comedian-richard-lewis-curb-your-enthusiasm-dies

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2024/feb/28/
richard-lewis-a-life-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Tony (Anthony Lawrence) Allen    UK    1945-2023

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/dec/10/
tony-allen-obituary

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/dec/29/
banksy-pays-tribute-to-late-comedian-tony-allen-who-trained-dismaland-staff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul James O'Grady    UK    1955-2023

TV presenter and comedian

 

Born in Birkenhead in 1955,

O’Grady moved to London in his 20s

and worked as a social worker

for Camden council.

 

By 1978,

he was developing his drag act

Lily Savage in gay clubs,

basing the loud-mouthed single mother

and occasional sex worker

on female relatives.

 

O’Grady came

to mainstream attention in 1991

when he was nominated

for the Perrier award,

the UK’s most prestigious

comedy prize,

and began appearing on radio

and television as himself.

 

O’Grady retired Savage

– to “a convent in Brittany” –

in 2004.

 

During his career,

he hosted Bafta-winning talkshow

The Paul O’Grady Show,

Blankety Blank,

celebrity gameshow

Paul O’Grady’s Saturday Night Line Up

and the reboot of Blind Date,

taking over the reins

from the show’s long-running presenter

and his close friend Cilla Black,

who died in 2015.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/29/
paul-ogrady-presenter-and-comedian-dies-aged-67

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/
paul-o-grady

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2023/mar/29/
paul-ogrady-a-life-in-pictures

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/29/
paul-ogrady-presenter-and-comedian-dies-aged-67

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Michael Bird    UK    1936- 2022

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/28/
john-bird-actor-and-comedian-dies-aged-86

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louis Perry Anderson    USA    1953-2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/21/
1074731830/louie-anderson-has-died-at-68

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/30/
597268827/in-hey-mom-louie-anderson-has-a-laugh-with-his-leading-lady

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/02/
468868250/comic-louie-anderson-modeled-his-baskets-role-after-his-own-mom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morton Lyon Sahl    Canada, USA    1927-2021

 

 

 

 

In 1973 Mr. Sahl, left,

visited the New York radio talk-show host Don Imus,

one of many people who considered him an influence,

to promote his album "Sing a Song of Watergate.”

 

Photograph: Don Paulsen

Michael Ochs Archives,

via Getty Images

 

Mort Sahl,

Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up,

Dies at 94

A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy,

he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s

by addressing political and social issues.

NYT

October 26, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/
arts/television/mort-sahl-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A self-appointed warrior

against hypocrisy,

he revolutionized comedy

in the 1950s

by addressing politica

and social issues.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/
arts/television/mort-sahl-dead.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/
arts/television/mort-sahl-comedy-legacy.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/
arts/television/mort-sahl-dead.html

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/26/
709562400/mort-sahl-a-political-satirist-and-stand-up-comedy-pioneer-
has-died-at-94

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackie Mason    USA    1928-2021

 

 (born Yacov Moshe Hakohen Maza)

 

Stand-up comedian

(...)

who followed a path from rabbi

to borscht-belt comic

(...)

The sometimes controversial Mason

garnered national attention

for his quick-witted

observational humor,

which led to TV appearances

and several successful

one-man Broadway shows.

 

Mason used stories

from his orthodox Jewish background,

a thick Yiddish accent and wild gestures

to keep his audiences entertained

for decades.

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/25/
1020388684/comedian-jackie-mason-dies-at-93

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/25/
1020388684/comedian-jackie-mason-dies-at-93

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gerald Isaac Stiller    USA    1927-2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2020/may/11/
actor-and-comedian-jerry-stiller-a-life-in-pictures

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/11/
698175656/comedian-jerry-stiller-who-played-hot-headed-dad-on-seinfeld-dies-at-92

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/
arts/television/jerry-stiller-seinfeld-dead.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eddie Large    UK    1941-2020

 

 

 

 


Opportunity Knocks with Little and Large, 1975

 

Photograph: Fremantle Media/Red/Shutterstock

 

Eddie Large – a life in pictures

Large, from comedy duo Little and Large,

has died from coronavirus aged 78.

Here’s a look back at his career

G

Thu 2 Apr 2020    13.52 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2020/apr/02/
eddie-large-a-life-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eddie Large    UK    1941-2020

 

(born Edward McGinnis)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/02/
eddie-large-obituary

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2020/apr/02/
eddie-large-a-life-in-pictures

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/02/
eddie-large-big-man-british-tv-comedy-little-and-large

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Smith    USA    1958-2018

 

widely regarded

as the first openly gay comic

to perform on “The Tonight Show,”

and who went on to write fiction

and nonfiction books

full of heart and humor

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/
obituaries/bob-smith-dies-groundbreaking-gay-comedian.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/
obituaries/bob-smith-dies-groundbreaking-gay-comedian.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Hughes    IR / UK    1965-2017

 

Award-winning comedian

who was a key figure

in the evolution of modern standup

and reached a wide TV audience

on Never Mind the Buzzcocks

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/oct/16/
sean-hughes-obituary

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/oct/16/
sean-hughes-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelley Berman    USA    1925-2017

 

Shelley Berman ('s)

brittle persona

and anxiety-ridden observations

helped redefine stand-up comedy

in the late 1950s and early ’60s

 

(...)


Mr. Berman,

one of the first comedians

to have as much success

on records as in person

or on television,

was in the vanguard

of a movement that transformed

the comedy monologue

from a rapid-fire string of gags

to something more subtle,

more thoughtful

and more personal.

 

The comedians

of the preceding generation,

Gerald Nachman wrote

in “Seriously Funny:

The Rebel Comedians

of the 1950s and 1960s”

(2003),

were “one-liner salesmen”

for whom “a joke was a cheap

and reusable commodity,

easily bought and sold,

not a worldview

or a political stance.”

 

 

Comedians like Mr. Berman,

Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce

had a different approach.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/
obituaries/shelley-berman-dead-comedian.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/
obituaries/shelley-berman-dead-comedian.html

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/01/
547974050/comic-shelley-berman-dies-at-92

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Lewis    USA    1926-2017

 

comedian and filmmaker

who was adored by many,

disdained by others,

but unquestionably

a defining figure

of American entertainment

in the 20th century

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/
movies/jerry-lewis-dead-celebrated-comedian-and-filmmaker.html

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/01/
jerry-lewis-martin-scorsese-king-comedy-nutty-professor

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/
movies/jerry-lewis-dead-celebrated-comedian-and-filmmaker.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/
arts/jerry-lewis-critic-comedians-influence.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/
watching/jerry-lewis-movies-best.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Claxton Gregory    USA    1932-2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don Rickles    USA    1926-2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/06/
341894518/comedian-don-rickles-merciless-merchant-of-venom-dies-at-90

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Irwin Corey    USA    1914-2017

 

 (born Irwin Eli Cohen)

 

cunningly befuddled comedian

who spent more than 70 years

perfecting his portrayal

 of “the world’s foremost authority,”

 

(...)
 

 

Although he inhabited

other characters

in stage and film roles,

Mr. Corey was best known

as his alter ego, the professor

of some unspecified discipline

who could foment clouds

of inspired nonsense.

 

Dressed in his trademark outfit

— black swallowtail coat,

string tie and sneakers —

with his hair marching

in several directions at once,

Mr. Corey was a caricature

of every windbag

who ever emptied his lungs.

 

He was also taking aim

at everyone who

did not share his unrepentant

leftist’s view of the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/
arts/irwin-corey-comedian-and-foremost-authority-dies-at-102.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/
arts/irwin-corey-comedian-and-foremost-authority-
dies-at-102.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria Wood    UK    2016

 

One of the great British comedians

and all-round entertainers

of her generation

who wrote dramas, sketches

and popular sitcoms

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/20/victoria-wood-obituary

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/victoria-wood

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2016/apr/20/
victoria-wood-a-life-in-pictures

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/apr/20/
victoria-wood-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garry Emmanuel Shandling    USA    1949-2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

comedian who deftly

walked a tightrope

between comic fiction

and show-business reality

on two critically

praised cable shows

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/arts/television/garry-shandling-dies.html

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/25/
471795179/how-heartbreak-helped-garry-shandling-find-his-comedic-voice

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/
arts/television/garry-shandling-dies.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/
arts/television/no-flipping-remembering-garry-shandling.html

 

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2016/mar/24/
garry-shandling-comedy-sitcom-legacy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joan Rivers    USA    1933-2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Rossi    USA    1932-2014

 

 (born Joseph Charles Michael Tafarella)

 

suave crooner who rose to fame

as the straight man to Marty Allen

in one of the most successful

comedy teams of the 1960s

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/
arts/steve-rossi-straight-man-of-comedy-duo-allen-and-rossi-dies-at-82.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/
arts/steve-rossi-straight-man-of-comedy-duo-allen-and-rossi-dies-at-82.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Michael Mayall    UK    1958-2014

 

actor, comedian and writer

whose work on “The Young Ones”

and other television series

helped define alternative comedy

in Britain in the 1980s

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/arts/rik-mayall-british-alternative-comic-dies-at-56.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/
rik-mayall

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/
arts/rik-mayall-british-alternative-comic-dies-at-56.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2014/jun/09/
rik-mayall-alternative-comedy-changed-uk-standup

 

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jun/09/
rik-mayall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sidney Caesar    USA    1922-2014

 

comedic force of nature

who became one of television’s

first stars in the early 1950s

and influenced generations

of comedians and comedy writers

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/
opinion/cavett-he-came-he-saw-he-conquered-hilariously.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/
arts/television/sid-caesar-comic-who-blazed-tv-trail-dies-at-91.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Paul Pinette    USA    1964-2014

 

stand-up comic

whose Falstaffian figure

provided him with no shortage

of subject matter

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/
arts/john-pinette-a-stand-up-comic-dies-at-50.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Fortune    UK    1939-2013

 

distinguished member

of the Oxbridge generation

of brainy comedians

who turned British entertainment

inside out in the early 1960s,

along with his friend,

college contemporary

and writing partner, John Bird,

as well as Peter Cook,

Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett,

David Frost, Eleanor Bron

and John Wells.

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/dec/31/
john-fortune

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felix Dexter    Saint Kitts, Caribbean / UK    1961-2013

 

He was a genius

at creating memorable characters

– earnest African students,

Christian fundamentalists,

streetwise dudes, posh lawyers

who were whiter

than the whitest white man,

he nailed them all brilliantly

and had an enviable ear for dialogue.

 

He was also a real gentleman,

tall, charismatic and worldlywise.

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/oct/21/
felix-dexter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melvyn Kenneth Smith / Mel Smith    UK    1952-2013

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/
mel-smith

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/
arts/television/mel-smith-tv-actor-director-and-producer-dies-at-60.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jul/20/
mel-smith-death-griff-rhys-jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas James Davis    USA    1952-2012

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/
arts/television/tom-davis-saturday-night-live-comedy-writer-dies-at-59.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Lee Murrin    USA    1939-2012

 

performance artist

whose frenetic shows

fashioned kooky narratives

out of found objects

and homemade masks

and made him

a longtime favorite

in the downtown

avant-garde arts scene

in New York

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/
theater/tom-murrin-performance-artist-a-k-a-alien-comic-dies-at-73.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Carson    Ireland    1926-2012

 

The catchphrase of Frank Carson

was "It's the way I tell 'em".

 

The Belfast-born comedian

(...)

had an ingenuous,

robust and manically

assertive way with a gag,

but could sometimes

be almost uniquely insensitive

to the possible effect

on other people.

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/feb/23/
frank-carson-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Frye    USA    1934-2011

 

 (born David Shapiro)

 

his wicked send-ups

of political figures like

Lyndon B. Johnson,

Hubert H. Humphrey

and, above all,

Richard M. Nixon,

made him one

of the most popular comedians

in the United States

in the late 1960s

and early 1970s

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/
arts/29frye.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Callas    USA    1927-2011

 

    (born Charles Callias)

 

rubber-faced comedian

who cavorted on television

and the nightclub circuit

in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s,

often punctuating punch lines

with sound effects emanating

from his motormouth

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/
arts/television/29callas.html 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/
arts/television/29callas.html 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norman Wisden    USA    1915-2010

 

An elfin man of doleful mien,

Mr. Wisdom was often described

as the rightful heir

to Charlie Chaplin.

 

For six decades he reigned

as one of Britain’s

most celebrated comics,

appearing in nearly 20 films

and many television shows

as well as in live performances.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/
arts/06wisdom.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Schimmel    USA    1950-2010

 

comedian who specialized

in taboo-breaking humor

of the sexual

and scatological variety

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/
arts/television/05schimmel.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/
arts/television/05schimmel.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danny La Rue    Ireland, UK    1927-2009

 

Legendary British drag act /

cabaret entertainer

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jun/01/
drag-queen-danny-la-rue-dies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Carlin    USA    1937-2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
George_Carlin

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/20/
1225740561/opinion-george-carlin-wasnt-predictable-unlike-ai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Pryor    USA    1940-2005

 

 

 

 

Pryor’s comedy

was alive to the hurt and humiliations of everyday police abuse.

 

Photograph: Bettmann,

via Getty Images

 

How Richard Pryor Changed the Way Comedy Sees Police Brutality

His best-selling albums reflected a lived-in experience that comedy,

going back to silent films, had often taken up and just as often dismissed.

NYT

June 17, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/
arts/richard-pryor-police-brutality.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Richard_Pryor

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/
arts/richard-pryor-police-brutality.html

 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/11/
richard-pryor-great-meltdown-racist-hollywood-bowl

 

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/11/
richard-pryor-standup-influence-lives-on-russell-brand

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/apr/04/
richard-pryor-live-concert-dvd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rodney Dangerfield    USA    1921-2004

 

http://movies.nytimes.com/person/
16827/Rodney-Dangerfield/biography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morecambe and Wise    UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2019/nov/08/
eric-morecambe-rarely-seen-photos-of-the-comedy-legend

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2009/oct/12/
eric-morecambe-ernie-wise-letter

 

 

Ernest Wiseman    1925-1999

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Wise

 

 

John Eric Bartholomew    1926-1984

known by his stage name

Eric Morecambe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Morecambe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lenny Bruce    USA    1925-1966

 

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lenny_Bruce

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/
arts/lenny-bruce-comedy.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/us/
al-bendich-defender-of-howl-and-lenny-bruces-comedy-is-dead-at-85.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/11/
archives/lenny-with-dustin-hoffman-is-one-fourth-brilliant.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corpus of news articles > Comedy

 

 

 

Tom Murrin,

Alien Comic

Performance Artist,

Dies at 73

 

March 14, 2012

The New York Times

By BRUCE WEBER

 

Tom Murrin, a performance artist whose frenetic shows fashioned kooky narratives out of found objects and homemade masks and made him a longtime favorite in the downtown avant-garde arts scene in New York, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 73.

The cause was cancer, said his wife, Patricia Sullivan.

Mr. Murrin, whose stage names were Tom Trash and, later, the Alien Comic, was a playwright and an avant-garde impresario as well as a performer of his own shows, which he was apt to put on almost anywhere — on the street, in music clubs and on stages that included landmarks of experimental theater in New York like La MaMa, Dixon Place and P.S. 122.

For years he put on monthly celebrations of the full moon, in which he and other artists thanked the moon goddess he called Luna Macaroona for shining good fortune upon the world.

A native Californian and former lawyer in Los Angeles, Mr. Murrin came to New York in the 1960s and wrote several plays — some with sexually suggestive titles — that were presented at La MaMa in its early years.

In the 1970s he lived for a time in Paris, where he began acting in plays, and then moved to Seattle, where he turned to performing full time. As part of a dance and theater company, Para-Troupe, he began creating shows for himself and other performers and developing what became his signature technique: telling absurdist tales at rapid-fire pace and illustrating them with quick costume and mask changes. A performance, he said, consisted of anything someone wanted to do “with purpose and style.”

The shows were often determined by the detritus he picked up on the street; hence the early stage name Tom Trash. A broken umbrella might become an antenna to listen in on another world. A dish drainer might suggest a prison cell. He made masks and other types of headgear — some elaborate, some consisting of simple, suggestive drawings on cardboard — and whipped them on and off with breathless abandon in performances.

During the mid-1970s Mr. Murrin traveled around the world and performed, often on the street, in Japan, the Philippines, India, Greece, France and Scotland. By the end of the decade he had returned to New York and taken his streetwise, antic storytelling to nightclubs, appearing as a kind of punk-rock stand-up comedian at CBGB, the Pyramid Club and the Mudd Club, as well as at Irving Plaza, opening for rock bands, including X, Pere Ubu, the Stranglers and James Brown.

In an interview in 2008, he described his work as “like a show and tell.”

“I’m talking about the political scene of the day,” he explained. “I’m talking about the weather, I’m talking about a dream I had, I’m talking about breaking up with a girlfriend, I’m talking about whatever I feel like talking about, but I’m making the props and the visuals fit along with it in some way, and then changing the visual as fast as I can.”

He continued: “When I was on the street, that’s what I learned to do. You’re going to do a street show, you want to get out there, you want to put it down, you want to do it, you want to get a crowd, you want to pass the hat and get paid and then get out of there before the cops or someone else says, ‘You’ve been here too long.’ ”

Thomas Lee Murrin was born on Feb. 8, 1939, in Los Angeles, where his father, Ms. Sullivan said, was an aide to Howard Hughes. He graduated from the University of Southern California law school and worked in private practice in Beverly Hills before moving to New York, where he continued his law studies at New York University. At the same time, he was writing plays for the alternative theater scene that became known as Off Off Broadway.

In later years, as an éminence grise among performance artists, Mr. Murrin wrote regularly about alternative theater for the magazine Paper and supported performers who, like him, inhabited the theatrical fringe.

His full-moon extravaganzas were often produced with four artists he encouraged — Jo Andres, Mimi Goese, Lucy Sexton and Annie Iobst (together they were known as the Full Moon Crew) — and those shows, along with holiday variety shows he presented at La MaMa, helped push along the careers of troupes like Blue Man Group and the Five Lesbian Brothers and of artists like Holly Hughes, Lisa Kron, Ethyl Eichelberger, and David and Amy Sedaris.

In addition to Ms. Sullivan, whom he married in 2001, Mr. Mullin is survived by a sister, Patricia Jedynak.

Tom Murrin, Alien Comic Performance Artist, Dies at 73,
NYT, 14.3.2012,
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/
theater/tom-murrin-performance-artist-a-k-a-alien-comic-dies-at-73.html

 

 

 

 

 

Arab-Muslim Comedy

Finding Voice After 9/11

 

March 14, 2012
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The comedian who made his name on the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" made one thing clear when he opened a recent set at Michigan State University: "Tonight, it's not Islam 101."

For every joke Dean Obeidallah made about his Arabic heritage or Muslim faith, there were others about student loans, Asian-American basketball phenom Jeremy Lin, the presidential race and full-body scans at airports.

The last topic might seem like fertile ground for a Muslim comic, but the punch line goes to another time-honored funny topic: male anatomy.

"They're looking at my image on the monitor," he said. "All I can think of is, 'please don't laugh, please don't laugh.'"

Arab-Muslim stand-up comedy is flourishing more than a decade after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. While comics like Obeidallah, Ahmed Ahmed and Amer Zahr differ on approach — and there are disagreements among some— they're all trying to do more than just lampoon themselves or their people for easy laughs.

"I think our own community pushed us a little bit. They were tired of hearing jokes about ... having problems at the airport. ... They wanted a more nuanced approach to comedy," Obeidallah said during a multi-city swing through Michigan.

"You want to be dynamic. The same act, it's boring. People will not come back to see you a second or third time."

For example, he drew big laughs for a joke about the U.S. media's current obsession with Lin: "He's a testament to all of us. If you work hard, believe in yourself and graduate from Harvard, anything can happen." Later, he poked fun at many Americans' blissful ignorance of the world beyond its borders: "We don't know much about other countries. ... We're busy— we have to keep up with the Kardashians. That takes up a lot of time."

Muslim and Arab humor didn't begin with 9/11, but it marks an important turning point for the way many Muslims looked at themselves as Americans and how they joked about it with others, said Mucahit Bilici, an assistant professor of sociology at New York's John Jay College.

"The discrimination, prejudices and stereotypes from which other Muslims suffer are a godsend for the Muslim comedian," Bilici wrote in a chapter he contributed to the book "Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend."

Obeidallah, 42, a New Yorker who started in comedy a few years before 9/11 while working as a lawyer, said most U.S. Arabs — himself included — "just thought they were white people" before 9/11. He said some in society thought differently afterward.

"Our comedy reflected that abrupt realization that our world has changed around us, even though we had nothing to do with 9/11," said Obeidallah, who is of Palestinian and Sicilian ancestry and said he has embraced the Islamic side of his heritage in recent years as a tribute to his late father.

"People began to treat me differently after 9/11, even friends. Not in a bad way, but more were asking me questions about Arabs, and they never asked me questions before about that topic. So I started to talk about that in my comedy."

Obeidallah, who calls himself a "political comedian" and envisions entering politics, said he has seen the rise of Arab and Muslim comics since 9/11 through his work with the Arab American Comedy Festival. He said it was a small pool in the early years but the New York festival has added nights and turned people away.

Amer Zahr, also originally a lawyer, began stand-up shortly after the attacks. The 34-year-old of Palestinian heritage grew up in the Philadelphia area in a Christian-Muslim household. He was in his first year of law school in 2002 at University of Michigan when a group of Arab comedians including Obeidallah came to campus.

"At that point the shows were so small, so (someone asked), 'Is there anybody who wants to get on stage to ... fill some time?'" he said. Now he tours internationally and lives in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn and performs March 9 at the Arab American National Museum.

"I told a couple stories about my Dad, and everyone loved it," he said. "So I thought, 'OK, this is kind of cool.'"

Zahr said his evolution since 9/11 hasn't been about going beyond culture and religion so much as refining it: moving past "my Dad says funny things" and "we smell like garlic" to talking about the New York Police Department's surveillance of Muslims and his encounters with Israeli soldiers.

"In the beginning it was just, 'Let me be very vanilla. We're in the spotlight and people want to hear about us,'" he said. "Later on, I was getting into really making people think twice ... about how they feel about us."

Ahmed Ahmed, 41, a comic and actor who launched what would become the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, was born in Egypt and moved to southern California shortly after birth. He found a champion fairly early on in Mitzi Shore, who ran the influential The Comedy Store in Hollywood. He recalls some prescient conversations with Shore.

"Before 9/11 I had been doing comedy for about 7 years and the year before 9/11 was when Mitzi hired me," Ahmed said. "She had an epiphany that there would be a war between America and the Middle East. ... She said, 'Arab comics are going to be necessary in the world to break down misconceptions and stereotypes.'"

Ahmed said Shore told him she wanted him to open her club's show four days after 9/11. He resisted, but she told him, "You need to go up there and get it out of the way — you'll know what to do."

He obeyed and set about entertaining "a very somber" audience of about 40 people. He asked for a moment of silence for the victims and families, then: "For the record my name is Ahmed Ahmed, and I had nothing to do with it. I'm just saying that so nobody follows me out to the car after the show."

"We sort of broke the chain of hesitation of what was OK, what was not OK to speak about," he said.

Over the decade, he saw Arab comics "come out of the woodwork," which he considers a mixed blessing. Ahmed said it "started becoming watered-down and competitive," and "ugliness" emerged within the growing community of comics.

Some are "using religion as a platform for recognition," says Ahmed, who had a strict Muslim upbringing and considers himself one "on my good days." He said he has had disagreements with a few other Arab comics, including Obeidallah.

Of course, disputes among comedians are nothing new. Bill Cosby has berated other black comics for using the N-word. He twice turned down the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor before accepting it in 2009 because he said he was disgusted with that and other profanity thrown around by performers honoring Richard Pryor, the award's first recipient in 1998.

If that's progress, it's the kind Ahmed could do without — or find much humor in.

"It's disappointing when it's Arab or Muslim comedians ... because we're such a new sort of novelty," he said. "You would think that one would wait for several years until we've had a real voice as a comedy community."

___

Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub

Arab-Muslim Comedy Finding Voice After 9/11, NYT, 14.3.2012,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/03/14/us/
    AP-US-Arab-Muslim-Comedy.html

 

 

 

 

 

Patrice O’Neal,

Boisterous Comedian,

Dies at 41

 

November 29, 2011

The New York Times

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

 

Patrice O’Neal, a stand-up comedian who boisterously took on controversial topics like race, AIDS and his own struggle with diabetes, died on Tuesday. He was 41 and lived in New Jersey.

He died in a hospital in the New York City area from complications of a stroke he suffered on Oct. 19, his agent, Matt Frost, said.

“See, I’ve got to lose weight now to stay alive, and that’s not enough motivation for me,” Mr. O’Neal said in one of his television specials on Comedy Central.

At 6-foot-4 and about 300 pounds, Mr. O’Neal commanded the stage with not only his bulk but also his penchant for flashy clothing and chains, and his confrontational style. He was loud and unpredictable, frequently veering away from prepared material with a curse-laden segue.

Mr. O’Neal’s reputation for brash honesty led many to call him a comic’s comic. He could alienate audiences and celebrities alike, both of whom he mocked relentlessly.

He was quick to dismiss his detractors. “Liars don’t like me,” he told Punchline magazine, which covers the comedy world. “They don’t want to be given anything straight.”

He did not spare himself: his size and his diabetes were often incorporated into his act.

Mr. O’Neal had a career most comedians would envy. He had stand-up specials on HBO as well as Comedy Central and appeared on television comedies like Michael Hurwitz’s lauded “Arrested Development,” NBC’s version of “The Office” and Dave Chappelle’s hit Comedy Central sketch series, “Chappelle’s Show.” He also performed regularly on the “Opie & Anthony” satellite radio show.

Mr. O’Neal appeared in a handful of movies, including the Spike Lee drama “The 25th Hour” (2002), released a stand-up album and DVD, “Elephant in the Room” (2011), and was co-host of the short-lived Comedy Central show “Shorties Watchin’ Shorties,” which featured the voices of comedians like Dane Cook, Denis Leary and Greg Giraldo riffing as animated babies.

His last widely viewed performance was at the Comedy Central roast of the actor Charlie Sheen in September. “I respect Charlie Sheen, I do,” Mr. O’Neal said, then added, “Not his body of work.”

During his set he likened Mike Tyson to Muhammad Ali, not because they were boxers but because both became acceptable to white people. And he advised Steve-O, a recovering drug addict and a star of MTV’s “Jackass,” to relapse.

Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O’Neal (he was named after the Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, and his last name has often been spelled Oneal) was born on Dec. 7, 1969, in Boston. He began performing at open mikes there, and by the late 1990s he was working clubs in Los Angeles and New York.

He landed a guest appearance on the MTV comedy “Apt. 2F” in 1997 and worked briefly as a writer for World Wrestling Entertainment before he had his first stand-up special on Comedy Central and was seen on the short-lived sketch series “The Colin Quinn Show.”

 

Mr. O’Neal is survived by his wife, Vondecarlo;

a stepdaughter, Aymilyon;

a sister, Zinder; and his mother, Georgia.

Patrice O’Neal, Boisterous Comedian, Dies at 41,
NYT,
29.11.2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/
arts/patrice-oneal-boisterous-comedian-dies-at-41.html

 

 

 

 

 

George Carlin, 71,

Irreverent Standup Comedian,

Is Dead

 

June 24, 2008

The New York Times

By MEL WATKINS

 

George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.

The cause of death was heart failure. Mr. Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, went into the hospital on Sunday afternoon after complaining of heart trouble. The comedian had worked last weekend at The Orleans in Las Vegas.

Recently, Mr. Carlin was named the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was to receive the award at the Kennedy Center in November. “In his lengthy career as a comedian, writer, and actor, George Carlin has not only made us laugh, but he makes us think,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Kennedy Center chairman. “His influence on the next generation of comics has been far-reaching.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Jack Burns, who performed with Mr. Carlin in the 1960’s as one half of a comedy duo, said “He was a genius and I will miss him dearly.”

Mr. Carlin began his standup comedy act in the late 1950s and made his first television solo guest appearance on “The Merv Griffin Show” in 1965. At that time, he was primarily known for his clever wordplay and reminiscences of his Irish working-class upbringing in New York.

But from the outset there were indications of an anti-establishment edge to his comedy. Initially, it surfaced in the witty patter of a host of offbeat characters like the wacky sportscaster Biff Barf and the hippy-dippy weatherman Al Sleet. “The weather was dominated by a large Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican high. Tonight’s forecast . . . dark, continued mostly dark tonight turning to widely scattered light in the morning.”

Mr. Carlin released his first comedy album, “Take-Offs and Put-Ons,” to rave reviews in 1967. He also dabbled in acting, winning a recurring part as Marlo Thomas’ theatrical agent in the sitcom “That Girl” (1966-67) and a supporting role in the movie “With Six You Get Egg-Roll,” released in 1968.

By the end of the decade, he was one of America’s best known comedians. He made more than 80 major television appearances during that time, including the Ed Sullivan Show and Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show; he was also regularly featured at major nightclubs in New York and Las Vegas.

That early success and celebrity, however, was as dinky and hollow as a gratuitous pratfall to Mr. Carlin. “I was entertaining the fathers and the mothers of the people I sympathized with, and in some cases associated with, and whose point of view I shared,” he recalled later, as quoted in the book “Going Too Far” by Tony Hendra, which was published in 1987. “I was a traitor, in so many words. I was living a lie.”

In 1970, Mr. Carlin discarded his suit, tie, and clean-cut image as well as the relatively conventional material that had catapulted him to the top. Mr. Carlin reinvented himself, emerging with a beard, long hair, jeans and a routine that, according to one critic, was steeped in “drugs and bawdy language.” There was an immediate backlash. The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas terminated his three-year contract, and, months later, he was advised to leave town when an angry mob threatened him at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. Afterward, he temporarily abandoned the nightclub circuit and began appearing at coffee houses, folk clubs and colleges where he found a younger, hipper audience that was more attuned to both his new image and his material.

By 1972, when he released his second album, “FM & AM,” his star was again on the rise. The album, which won a Grammy Award as best comedy recording, combined older material on the “AM” side with bolder, more acerbic routines on the “FM” side. Among the more controversial cuts was a routine euphemistically entitled “Shoot,” in which Mr. Carlin explored the etymology and common usage of the popular idiom for excrement. The bit was part of the comic’s longer routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” which appeared on his third album “Class Clown,” also released in 1972.

“There are some words you can say part of the time. Most of the time ‘ass’ is all right on television,” Mr. Carlin noted in his introduction to the then controversial monologue. “You can say, well, ‘You’ve made a perfect ass of yourself tonight.’ You can use ass in a religious sense, if you happen to be the redeemer riding into town on one — perfectly all right.”

The material seems innocuous by today’s standards, but it caused an uproar when broadcast on the New York radio station WBAI in the early ‘70s. The station was censured and fined by the FCC. And in 1978, their ruling was supported by the Supreme Court, which Time magazine reported, “upheld an FCC ban on ‘offensive material’ during hours when children are in the audience.” Mr. Carlin refused to drop the bit and was arrested several times after reciting it on stage.

By the mid-’70s, like his comic predecessor Lenny Bruce and the fast-rising Richard Pryor, Mr. Carlin had emerged as a cultural renegade. In addition to his irreverent jests about religion and politics, he openly talked about the use of drugs, including acid and peyote, and said that he kicked cocaine not for moral or legal reasons but after he found “far more pain in the deal than pleasure.” But the edgier, more biting comedy he developed during this period, along with his candid admission of drug use, cemented his reputation as the “comic voice of the counterculture.”

Mr. Carlin released a half dozen comedy albums during the ‘70s, including the million-record sellers “Class Clown,” “Occupation: Foole” (1973) and “An Evening With Wally Lando” (1975). He was chosen to host the first episode of the late-night comedy show “Saturday Night Live” in 1975. And two years later, he found the perfect platform for his brand of acerbic, cerebral, sometimes off-color standup humor in the fledgling, less restricted world of cable television. By 1977, when his first HBO comedy special, “George Carlin at USC” was aired, he was recognized as one of the era’s most influential comedians. He also become a best-selling author of books that expanded on his comedy routines, including “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?,” which was published by Hyperion in 2004.

He was “a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy,” the actor Ben Stiller told The Associated Press. “He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats.”
 


Pursuing a Dream

Mr. Carlin was born in New York City in 1937. “I grew up in New York wanting to be like those funny men in the movies and on the radio,” he said. “My grandfather, mother and father were gifted verbally, and my mother passed that along to me. She always made sure I was conscious of language and words.”

He quit high school to join the Air Force in the mid-’50s and, while stationed in Shreveport, La., worked as a radio disc jockey. Discharged in 1957, he set out to pursue his boyhood dream of becoming an actor and comic. He moved to Boston where he met and teamed up with Jack Burns, a newscaster and comedian. The team worked on radio stations in Boston, Fort Worth, and Los Angeles, and performed in clubs throughout the country during the late ‘50s.

After attracting the attention of the comedian Mort Sahl, who dubbed them “a duo of hip wits,” they appeared as guests on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar. Still, the Carlin-Burns team was only moderately successful, and, in 1960, Mr. Carlin struck out on his own.

During a career that spanned five decades, he emerged as one of the most durable, productive and versatile comedians of his era. He evolved from Jerry Seinfeld-like whimsy and a buttoned-down decorum in the ‘60s to counterculture icon in the ‘70s. By the ‘80s, he was known as a scathing social critic who could artfully wring laughs from a list of oxymorons that ranged from “jumbo shrimp” to “military intelligence.” And in the 1990s and into the 21st century the balding but still pony-tailed comic prowled the stage — eyes ablaze and bristling with intensity — as the circuit’s most splenetic curmudgeon.

During his live 1996 HBO special, “Back in Town,” he raged over the shallowness of the ‘90s “me first” culture — mocking the infatuation with camcorders, hyphenated names, sneakers with lights on them, and lambasting white guys over 10 years old who wear their baseball hats backwards. Baby boomers, “who went from ‘do your thing’ to ‘just say no’ ...from cocaine to Rogaine,” and pro life advocates (“How come when it’s us it’s an abortion, and when it’s a chicken it’s an omelet?”), were some of his prime targets. In the years following his 1977 cable debut, Mr. Carlin was nominated for a half dozen Grammy awards and received CableAces awards for best stand-up comedy special for “George Carlin: Doin’ It Again (1990) and “George Carlin: Jammin’ “ (1992). He also won his second Grammy for the album “Jammin” in 1994.
 


Personal Struggles

During the course of his career, Mr. Carlin overcame numerous personal trials. His early arrests for obscenity (all of which were dismissed) and struggle to overcome his self-described “heavy drug use” were the most publicized. But in the ‘80s he also weathered serious tax problems, a heart attack and two open heart surgeries.

In December 2004 he entered a rehabilitation center to address his addictions to Vicodin and red wine. Mr. Carlin had a well-chronicled cocaine problem in his 30s, and though he was able to taper his cocaine use on his own, he said, he continued to abuse alcohol and also became addicted to Vicodin. He entered rehab at the end of that year, then took two months off before continuing his comedy tours.

“Standup is the centerpiece of my life, my business, my art, my survival and my way of being,” Mr. Carlin once told an interviewer. “This is my art, to interpret the world.” But, while it always took center stage in his career, Mr. Carlin did not restrict himself to the comedy stage. He frequently indulged his childhood fantasy of becoming a movie star. Among his later credits were supporting parts in “Car Wash” (1976), “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), “The Prince of Tides” (1991), and “Dogma” (1999).

His 1997 book, “Brain Droppings,” became an instant best seller. And among several continuing TV roles, he starred in the Fox sitcom “The George Carlin Show,” which aired for one season. “That was an experiment on my part to see if there might be a way I could fit into the corporate entertainment structure,” he said after the show was canceled in 1994. “And I don’t,” he added.

Despite the longevity of his career and his problematic personal life, Mr. Carlin remained one of the most original and productive comedians in show business. “It’s his lifelong affection for language and passion for truth that continue to fuel his performances,” a critic observed of the comedian when he was in his mid-60s. And Chris Albrecht, an HBO executive, said, “He is as prolific a comedian as I have witnessed.”

Mr. Carlin is survived by his wife, Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law, Bob McCall, brother, Patrick Carlin and sister-in-law, Marlene Carlin. His first wife, Brenda Hosbrook, died in 1997.

Although some criticized parts of his later work as too contentious, Mr. Carlin defended the material, insisting that his comedy had always been driven by an intolerance for the shortcomings of humanity and society. “Scratch any cynic,” he said, “and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

Still, when pushed to explain the pessimism and overt spleen that had crept into his act, he quickly reaffirmed the zeal that inspired his lists of complaints and grievances. “I don’t have pet peeves,” he said, correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he added, “I have major, psychotic hatreds.”



Anahad O’Connor contributed reporting.

George Carlin, 71, Irreverent Standup Comedian, Is Dead,
NYT,
23.6.2008,
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/
arts/24carlin.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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