I have watched a ton of standup comedians in my life. I've seen George Carlin, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, Norm MacDonald, Brian Regan and a bunch of others live. If I was tasked to sculpt the Mt Rushmore of standup comedy I would include these four men:
George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Norm MacDonald
Louis CK
I realize some people will disagree and probably the main sticking points will be the last two guys on my list. I know a lot of people would argue that Lenny Bruce and Bill Cosby deserve spots, and I totally get that. I am just going off of the 4 people that I see as the best at the craft that I have ever seen.
For my money the funniest person I have ever witnessed was Norm MacDonald. He did a 2 hour show in GJ, I'm sure it was used to refine some material for a recorded show, as he was a little all over the place, you could tell it was not a fully fleshed out show but more of a trial run for certain bits. With that said, it was the funniest 2 hours I have ever experienced in my life. My uncle (the attempted NTL murderer) and I laughed so hard for so long that the next morning I literally felt like I had done 10,000 situps the day before.
Who is on your Mt Rushmore of standup comedy?