Saturday, June 10, 2023

Comedians

Who got funnier as they went along, and who started out great and then slowly receded? Eddie Izzard was much funnier when he started than he is now. I think much the same of Taylor Tomlinson. Phyllis Diller was basically one joke, and it got old fast.

Bob Newhart was funny starting out, and I think he got funnier the longer he went. Rodney Dangerfield got funnier, Jonathan Winters got funnier. Oh, come to think of it, I think Steve Martin takes the prize for continuing improvement.

Try some more on me.

3 comments:

Grim said...

John Candy got a lot better with age, I think. Sadly he didn’t get much age.

james said...

Bill Nye started well, but may have overextended himself--the lecture circuit seems kin to stand-up comedy.
Twain developed (if I have the timeline right, not unnaturally) a bitter streak that makes some of his work unpleasant.

Perhaps comedy demands novelty and there's only so much you can do from a few sources. When what for you is the low hanging fruit is gone, later work is more strained.

basher20 said...

Dave Barry improved with time, though I think he want into a decline about the time he gave up his newspaper column.

Steve Martin is a special kind of case, as even though he has received pretty much every award and accolade that can be bestowed in his field, he still seems to be underrated.