Favorite Comedian

[flight17]

Tim Wilson is also really funny. My dad use to have his CD...

[ZetaNine]

I dig seeing everyone post such a wide spectrum of comedy talent that is being respected here.  it's good stuff.

some of you that I fly with already know that I've spend my career in the entertainment business...mostly the comedy genre.  I started in 1981 as a comedy booker..right when the comedy boom was taking off..and I somehow augmented into a comedy club owner..then as an agent...then publicist..then personal manager...it's been a great ride...but I have to say...getting back to the "wide spectrum thing"...one of the best times I ever had..is when I booked Henny Youngman...one of the original vaudeville and borche belt comics from the very beginnings of american comedy.

I got to spend a week with Henny.  He was working several of my clubs..and I decided I wanted to hang with him..so I brought him to all his media appearances and the shows of course.  Henny was really the last of the old old timers...and he was honestly a very sweet man.  The stories he shared with me about jack benny, milton berle, and all those old timers were wonderful...and Henny was every bit..just a normal guy.  He actually was the only marquee headliner I ever knew who still kept his name and number in the phone book.  Henny was certainly getting up there in age..and his wife had long since passed and that took quite a toll on him. (she was the wife, in his famous "take my wife, please" bit).  I actually had to hold his arms when he walked..and helped him up on stage..but once he was up there... he came alive..and needed no assistance. that was wonderful to see.....but more importantly...he still HAD IT.  He DESTROYED every room he worked for me...and then he's sit in a chair and sell his books as the audience left...and every one of them wanted to talk to him.  I never saw that in any other headliner I ever worked...but then again..I never worked any comics who had been around so long...and done so many things..as henny.  always worked clean......and he was without a dount......king of the one liners.  Another reason my times with Henny are so important to me..is that he was the only show I ever invited my parents to see.  They loved it..my 85 year old mother still talks about it to this day.

therefore...I gotta add mr. henny youngman to my personal list.

[maddafinga]

Hey that's a great story man!  I know he's one of the classics but haven't seen much of him except for the standard bits everyone has seen, and his bit in Goodfellas.  I mostly know him by reputation really.  What I have seen of him is that he's not my kind of comedian, but a legend is a legend and commands respect for what they have done.  Here's a <S> to Henny, and just so you know, right now I'm super jealous of your job.  I started seriously watching comedy when I was in middle school, I used to stay up all night when I was in school watching all the cable comedy shows I could find until I finally just dropped from exhaustion.  I have a serous respect for comedy as an art form, like rhetoric, and not just a bunch of "men are like this...but women are like this... " kind of jokes. That's why I have such a hard time with a mediocre comedian, just seems intolerably unfunny to me.   I used to want nothing more in the world than to be a good standup comic, but I discovered that I just don't have the tolerance for rejection that is necessary.  Anyway, enough of the rambling, thanks for sharing your story, I really dug it! 

[SmokinLoon]

Chris "Crazy Legs" Fonseca.

He has cerebral palsy and is wheel chair bound. 

You will not find another funnier guy.

Do a search on him and you can easily find some of his "clean" stuff.

[Nitro185]

Agreed with most of the Above.....


 But I have to add  Carlos Mencia....  !

 

[AAJagerX]

Richard Jeni (R.I.P.).   "Platypus Man" or "The Boy From New York City" are pure gold.

[maddafinga]

Richard Jeni (R.I.P.).   "Platypus Man" or "The Boy From New York City" are pure gold.

Yeah I liked him, was sorry to see him end it like that.  Platypus Man was a great special.  Another really really excellent comedy special from back in the day was an almost unknown comedian that I really like is Jake Johannsen.