The strange world of stand-up comedians

Was thinking about this yesterday when someone posted the clips of Adam Pally. He sometimes can be REALLY insulting towards other comics just out of nowhere, but his friends just laugh and laugh at him when he goes off on them. He must be a seething volcano of resentment, but he seems really beloved within the community of stand-up comics.

OP, that is one of the most accurate description I’ve ever read, not just about stand up comics, but comedians in general. I was discussing this with my friends just last week and they were quick to dismiss most comedians as bitter, miserable and just plain unpleasant in real life, without looking into the ‘why’.

The Leno-Letterman feud/rivalry was interesting to me. Letterman was doing his best to let his audience know that he hated Leno, while Leno was making sure never to acknowledge Letterman.

Letterman was beloved by other stand-up comedians because he played by their rules. His was a kind of insider's comedy; plus he always tried to promote young up-and-coming comedians.

Leno was loathed because he did not try to help others when he had made it. he rarely would have struggling comedians on his show because he always wanted to be on top of the ratings and did not want to take chances. It's always interesting when you here other former stand-ups or comedy insiders speak about him,. because they do so with such loathing, when often he didn't really "do" anything to them--they just think he was bad for the stand-up industry.

R4 - Leno did more shit than just that. Re-read his 'retirement' and how he fucked everyone over.

Plus, Leno was never really that great at stand-up, but somehow his giggles got him hosting jobs. And Leno has done a LOT of stereotypical cracks on the gay community. A ton.

Leno's a dick.

Most comedians are people who have managed to squeeze five minutes of laughs out of the tragic lives.

Joan Rivers was very down to earth when the cameras were off. She had a loyal group of staff and a tight knit group of close friends. She devoted a lot of her non working time to charities.

She also raised a successful, stable, well educated daughter who became a successful entrepreneur.

That's only half the picture, r7.

Joan Rivers at times brutally betrayed key members of that loyal group of staff, as anyone who saw "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work"well knows. She took up irrational public hatreds of celebrities who had done nothing bad to her but would just somehow ended up on her bad side, like Gillian Anderson. She toadied to royalty like Prince Charles and Camilla because she was such an obsessive social climber. She was a hardcore Republican.

And, she was a grotesque plastic surgery addict.

I had a friend who was on the circuit for a while. He said most comedians are angry, bitter and complete mental cases. Many suffered childhood trauma and seek laughter as medicine. Unfortunately many end up like Greg Giraldo and Robin Williams.

Greg Giraldo's life was so strangely directed: a handsome kid from the Bronx who was a star student at Jesuit Regis, Columbia, then Harvard LS, but he literally said he could not hack it in the world outside of comedy, and so gave up a promisingly lucrative legal career for stand-up. Did fairly well, but ended up first a drug addict and then dead from an overdose in 2010.

Greg's father was a diplomat, Greg was Columbian. Beautiful, handsome man. I remember Colin Quinn had a late night TV show and Greg and Patrice O'Neal were both regulars. They committed suicide within months of each other. So sad.

Robert Klein always struck me as one of the few really funny guys who was also stable. I hope he's still that way!

The nominees for most unlikeable comedian are:

1. Ellen DeGenres

2. Ricky Gervais

3. Roseanne Barr

4. Michael Richards

5. Sarah Silverman

6. Bill Maher

7. Jerry Seinfeld

8. Kathy Griffin

9. Lewis Black

10. Chelsea Handler

Most are also very homophobic.

R5 Howard Stern used to talk such shit about Leno. Claiming he would steal other comedians material, I have no idea if this was true or not.

R11 I remember an episode of that show where Greg jumped down Dennis Leary's throat about stealing Bill Hicks's act. Leary was fucking pissed and looked at Colin like he betrayed him.

R15 I used to love Stern’s Letterman appearances when he would just shit all over Leno. They were hilarious and so spot on.

R5

Untalented comedians tend to be better at hosting though. Not that Leno was some amazing talent at that either, but when you have a truly talented comedian in that job, they can overshadow the guests.

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon are all mediocre comedians. I can't judge Letterman because I've never seen his standup, but I find it hard to believe he was great at it given how he was as a host.

[quote] Many suffered childhood trauma and seek laughter as medicine.

And last ghetto is the best medicine only when you engage in it. Trying to make people laugh all the time, on the other hand, is an unhealthy obsession.

Laughter is also the last ghetto, apparently.