Who was/is the funniest person to ever walk the planet?

[Mr. Ected]

I can't help but think of contemporary comedians, including Jon Stewart, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, etc.

But when it came to pure innovation, my hat's off to the inimitable Ernie Kovacs.

[blue neen]

1. That's a tough question, but Dave Chappelle really makes me laugh.

I wish his show was still on Comedy Central. The Rick James and Prince bits are classic. :)

[guitar man]

7. Fuck Yo Couch!!

:rofl:

[WinkyDink]

51. Hey, baby! Go home!

[mitchum]

2. Although I revere Tennessee Williams, that is a hilarious parody from Kovacs

Kovacs is certainly a contender...along with Voltaire, Mark Twain, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Richard Pryor, and Michael O'Donoghue

[Initech]

3. I always have to side with George Carlin and Bill Hicks.

Their albums are like my Bible.

[ohiosmith]

4. :

[The Midway Rebel]

9. +1 for WC...My dad was the funniest. R.I.P.

He was the life of the party. So sad, yet so funny. He was the best story teller. Died at age 59...just a few years ago. My parents were divorced and shared custody when I was very young. I'd stay with dad on the weekends and I'd come home giggling all week because of his antics. Mom thought I was loosing my mind but she knew what a card dad was.

Drank hisself to death too...just like his idol...William Caulfield.

"Go away boy, you bother me."

[AlecBGreen]

5. easy :)

Bill Murray. He's leaves me in stitches, every time. The delivery, the dry wit, the energy, he's got it all.

"This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You're hypocrites, all of you!"

[MrScorpio]

6. Rodney!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMVvTl83gWg

[Flaxbee]

8. Peter Sellers had certain expressions and a sense of the absurd that

just were incredible. The Party, Being There, Dr. Strangelove and of course the Pink Panther movies...

Mark Twain, George Carlin, and the late writer John Mortimer who created Rumpole, one of my favorite people of all time.

[Staph]

10. Groucho!

In the 1950s Groucho was invited to take a tour of the New York Stock Exchange. While in the observation booth, he grabbed the public address system handset and began singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Upon hearing silence coming from the trading floor, he walked into view, was given a loud cheer by the traders, and shouted, "Gentlemen, in 1929 I lost eight hundred thousand dollars on this floor, and I intend to get my money's worth!" For fifteen minutes, he sang, danced, told jokes, and all this time, the Wall Street stock ticker was running blank.

More Groucho quotes:

All people are born alike - except Republicans and Democrats.

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.

I'm not feeling very well - I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course.

My favorite poem is the one that starts 'Thirty days hath September' because it actually tells you something.

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.

Whoever named it necking was a poor judge of anatomy.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.

[abq e streeter]

11. Tough call ; John Belushi, Lucille Ball, Chaplin...and for a natural born comic genius, Curly

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. Kovacs is vastly underrated

He was also a fine actor. If you get a chance, check out a movie called "Our Man in Havana." He co-stars with Alec Guinness. He's a Cuban police officer in Bautista's Havana, and he's brilliant.

[A HERETIC I AM]

13. The character of Percy Dovetonsils was way ahead of his time.

Kovacks was funny, but for funny characters from a single actor, it's hard to beat the late, great British comedian Dick Emery.

Here's one if his classic sketches from his BBC show from the 1970's - "The Milkman". It has many of the characters he made famous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY59eQSdQu8

If you aren't familiar with him, I highly recommend watching a few of the clips you'll find on that YouTube link. He's hilarious.

[ohiosmith]

14. Oh, I almost forgot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w

[hayu_lol]

15. There are so many who are long gone...

Red Skelton and Victor Borge for two.

[GoCubsGo]

16. Yep, and the only other that comes close is Stephen Colbert, IMHO

That's based on my "I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants" scale. There are lots of really funny people out there, but nobody makes me laugh so hard I'm in tears as often as Mr. Colbert. He's a lunatic (in a good way.) So was Ernie Kovacs. How I wish he was still around.

[joeybee12]

17. Lucy...

...no one else comes close.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. meh.

There's a reason why all her later shows stunk.

[Kaleva]

18. This is highly offensive to those who cannot walk.

j/k!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. I don't have a dog in this fight. But...

Since we're seeing so many old school classic faces, I thought I'd rise in defense of the new.

[Alexander]

21. George Carlin.

[SoxFan]

22. George Carlin

John Cleese is up there, too.

[mix]

23. Richard Pryor

[lunatica]

24. Oldies - Red Skelton, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway

Tim Conway made me laugh more and harder than anyone! His old man character tripping and falling in slow motion over a wrinkle in the rug or falling down stairs would make my side feel like it was splitting.

[kayakjohnny]

25. For me, it's Stan Laurel.

Of all the people I've ever seen, that guy always did it for me.

It wasn't so much the slapstick, as it was the face.

To this day, those expressions knock me on my ass.

Especially the scenes where he's laughing hysterically.

And there were several of those.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFAKQL_4388&feature=related

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. John Cleese, Billy Connolly.

Both of them have had me in hysterics.

[hyphenate]

27. Mark Twain eom

[hayu_lol]

28. Shame on me...

forgot fellow alumni Carol Burnett. What a hilarious career she had.

Trivia: She was editor of the school paper and wanted to be a housewife.(Annual) Still very active in the alumni assoc. Hollywood High School

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

29. Buster Keaton

and he did it without words

[peacefreak]

30. Jonathan Winters,

Lucy, James Thurber, George Carlin, and when I look around I think God has a pretty wicked sense of humor.

[Demoiselle]

31. I couldn't begin to choose the funniest writer/comedian ever...but

the two actors who make me start to giggle the moment they appear are
Alan Arkin and Madelyn Kahn. They don't have to do anything, say anything. I swear they use thought control to start me laughing...
(I know she's no longer with us...and I miss her terribly.)

[stanwyck]

38. I share your choices.

Madeline Kahn was luminous. And Alan Arkin. OMG. "The In-Laws" with Peter Falk. Plus, "Little Miss Sunshine". Thanks for mentioning both of them.

[Dr Morbius]

32. It's a tie: Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

Bill Shakespeare is a close third.

In my mind, film comedy changed forever (for the funnier) with the release of Blazing Saddles. But before that, when Reiner and Brooks were at the height of their powers, they were together the funniest act I've ever seen or heard.

[valerief]

33. Edward Everett Horton. nt

[applegrove]

34. Don't know him. I would say Robin Williams or Johnny Carson. Hopefully both at the same time.

[Gabi Hayes]

35. stephen hawking

[kwassa]

36. Steven Wright

I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the funeral in one car.

I had some eyeglasses. I was walking down the street when suddenly the prescription ran out.

I had to stop driving my car for a while... the tires got dizzy.

I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it.

I have the world's largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world... perhaps you've seen it.

I installed a skylight in my apartment... the people who live above me are furious!

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

I invented the cordless extension cord.

I like to reminisce with people I don't know.

I live on a one-way street that's also a dead end. I'm not sure how I got there.

I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.

I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.

I replaced the headlights in my car with strobe lights, so it looks like I'm the only one moving.

I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking," but I don't have that much time.

I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a second.

Steven Wright

[bif]

37. Richard Pryor at his best

His stand-up stuff is pee-in-your-pants, can't-catch-your-breath funny.

[stanwyck]

39. Jack Lemmon.

(Honorable Mention to Steve Martin in The Jerk).

[RandomThoughts]

40. I like this guy.

Rodney Dangerfield.



We'er an American Band.

Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yOayjt2tGs

[KT2000]

41. Chris Rock

always cracks me up.

[grasswire]

42. Harvey Korman was pretty funny too.

And what about Don Knotts?

Maybe we should have separate categories for those that write their own stuff and those who depend on writers.

[RandomThoughts]

43. People have said that about me.

I think I write my own stuff, even posted much of it.

I just use many languages.

Every interpretation is a part of writing by the listener.

[backwoodsbob]

44. Milton Berle

had to throw the name in since no one else had :fistbump:

[sakabatou]

45. Carlin

[wickerwoman]

46. P.G. Wodehouse

with Stephen Fry a close second.

[RagAss]

47. Gleason.

[HopeHoops]

48. Marty Feldman

[Graybeard]

49. Another vote for George Carlin.

I have never laughed so hard or so much as I have at some of Carlin's routines. The way he would build on a premise and make each absurd yet weirdly logical jump even funnier than the last.

[WinkyDink]

50. Dang! I have to agree! Percy Dovetonsils! The Nairobi Trio! (Sid Caesar was no slouch, though!)

[Ilsa]

52. Carol Burnett, no,wait, Tim Conway.No, wait, Betty White. How about Mel Brooks? nt