American comedians: the best of the best

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

America is the country where the so-called black humor was born. American comedians started talking about things that no one had ever talked about before. And in general, they not only started talking about it, but also began to make fun of all these things. It is in America that new branches of humor appear. So, for example, 10 years ago in the CIS countries, few people knew what stand-up was, but there he was already very famous. Now it is a popular humorous genre in Russia as well. But American comedians never read written lines from a piece of paper, they never slip well-known jokes to everyone. Their humor is actually humor. Let's take a look at five of the most popular comedians of all time.

Richard Pryor

This comedian is one of those who had to create in the mid-50s of the last century. And he did it masterfully. Jerry Seinfeld even called him the Picasso of Humor. Of course, this is not entirely true, because there are better comedians, but at one time he was really one of the most successful. He was the son of a boxer and a prostitute, and was raised by his grandmother, who owned a brothel. But that didn't stop him from getting back on his feet. He began his productive activity in the mid-50s and was quite a traditional humorist. But in the late 60s, he was reborn and took up stand-up. Like other American comedians,he built his speeches on autobiographical materials. And he had a lot of them, because he led a rather crazy lifestyle. Already after, when he was famous all over the world, he doused himself with rum and started making cocaine. Because of this, he caught fire and began to run down the street. Friends believed it was a suicide attempt. But Richard used this story in his jokes, and it turned out to be very funny.

George Carlin

George Carlin ranks in the "American comedian-actors" category. Indeed, in addition to stand-up, he was also engaged in acting and writing activities. All this made him very successful, so Carlin is famous all over the world. This is a pillar of American stand-up, because he laid many foundations for this genre. Almost all of Karlin's jokes had a social basis. He was a supporter of expanding the boundaries of what is allowed to be shown on television. He even had a number called "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV". Because of this, he was tried, since censorship was above everything then.

Louis C. K

He can easily be classified as "The Best American Comedians of All Time". After all, he is not only an imitator of Karlin. He transformed this genre for himself, so his activities became very successful and multifaceted. Every one of his jokes is hilariously funny. In the early 90s, he began his career and was a court wit. Nobody singled him out from the crowd. This continued until 2005, until he touched on a topic that became a turning point inhis career. His golden vein was stories about a midlife crisis, a divorced loser with children. And although on stage he pretends to be a villain, a rude, constantly annoyed man, in the real world he is a very good person. He constantly calls children assholes, dreams of the death of friends, but this is only on stage. In each of his jokes, you can feel that C. K. has a big and kind heart. Since 2010, he has been filming the series "Louie", for which he writes jokes on his own.

Andy Kaufman

This is one of the most mysterious personalities in the history of stand-up. All American comedians are very different from him. After all, it is generally difficult to call him a comedian. Kaufman is the founder of trolling. He himself said that he never knew how and did not want to joke. His stage persona was assembled from various fictional characters. In general, it is unlikely that he wrote stories about himself, as representatives of stand-up do. Many still believe that the real Andy was never in his jokes. He said many times that he would like to fake his death. He died early, in 1984, from lung cancer. And most of his viewers still don't believe him, but it's true. By the way, Jim Carrey played him in the 1998 film Man in the Moon. As you know, this is one of the best representatives of the category "American comic actors".

Ricky Gervais

Usually comedians go from stand-up to their own show. But with Jarveiz, everything happened exactly the opposite. First he became the creator of the series"Office", which in a short period of time became very successful. So when he first stepped on stage, he was already a superstar. Of course, in professionalism, he is a little inferior to his colleagues. But the lack of experience pays off with his charm. Ricky laughs at everything that surrounds him: from fat people to dwarfs. All viewers love it. For his work, he receives the main prize - a lot of applause and enthusiastic looks. Usually he devotes his speeches to serious topics ("Politics", "Glory"). Unfortunately, now he has almost abandoned his passion for stand-up. Although he promised that he would soon release a new show - "Humanity".

Of course, there are other American comedians whose photos will make any viewer laugh. But above were the comedians who actually deserve attention, because they became the founders of the Stand Up genre.