WOODY ALLEN
His Act: No one ever took stage with better-written material.  His stand-up career was brief but he changed the rules, bringing more personality to the craft, paving the way for comics who didn't look or act like polished performers.  The tale of The Moose is as funny as any routine anywhere.
These Days: Hasn't done stand-up in 30-some-odd years; says he wouldn't do it again if you pointed a howitzer at his vitals (or words to that effect).  The material from his albums is, however, often heard on comedy club stages, coming from other mouths.

SHELLEY BERMAN
His Act: The first of his generation to get on stage and do "scenes" — usually phone calls — but also had a wonderful way of connecting with the audience, discussing things that piss us all off.  In his case, that appeared to be everything.  His "Morning After The Night Before" is a classic, as is the one about the man who calls a store to tell them there's a lady dangling from an upper story window.
These Days: Still doing the circuit with a mix of new material and golden oldies.  Both are great and remind you how truly funny he was and is.

LENNY BRUCE
His Act: The way some recall it, it was 40 solid minutes of the "f" word.  In actuality, you could do most of it on the Disney Channel today.  But he was courageous and innovative, challenging the audience and venturing into topics no one else had then touched.  Amazingly, he made audiences laugh at those topics...but not always and not always when it counted most.  One wonders if he'd be less the legend if more tapes of his performances existed today.
These Days: Hasn't been too funny since his death but, in hindsight, it was probably a good career move.

GEORGE CARLIN
His Act: "Like Lenny Bruce, only funny" was one comment, not altogether inaccurate.  About half the guys who became stand-ups in the seventies were inspired by Carlin (the other half by Robert Klein) because he made it look easy.  Went through mid-life crisis growing his hair long and talking about drugs but was still funniest discussing stupid airline regulations, stuff you find in your refrigerator and other roads well-traveled by Alan King.
These Days: Plays Vegas and elsewhere, occasionally tries to branch out into acting.  Still funny but getting angrier and angrier...

BILL COSBY
His Act: The Perry Como of stand-up, making it look not only easy but like he wasn't even doing stand-up.  He'd just come out, sit in a chair and chat with those in ringside seats, eventually (and seamlessly) segueing to prepared material.  No one ever caught him making the switch and no one ever will.
These Days: Sits on a chair and chats with those in the front row, mostly about the problems of being a parent.  Slight drop in cleverness more than made up for by the fact that audiences worship the guy.  As well they should.

ROBERT KLEIN
His Act: Maybe the best actor in the Art Form, able to always sound spontaneous and to make you think he's ad-libbing a routine you've heard him do a dozen times.  No one ever did a better job of connecting with an audience and his three records stand up better than anyone else's, with the possible exception of Woody Allen.
These Days: Stand-up plays second to acting gigs but he still manages a few concerts and the occasional cable special, each with the latest variation on "Can't Stop My Leg" song.  Would that he did more.

JACKIE MASON
His Act: The famed Ed Sullivan "finger" incident was so talked-about that folks forgot how truly funny Jackie Mason could be.  His first one-man-revue, compiled from 30 years of playing clubs, was a riot, especially the lists of all the traits that Jews (and, incidentally, a lot of non-Jews) share...a couple of post-mortem shots at Mr. Sullivan.
These Days: Turns up intermittently on Broadway with new one-man-revues, each balder on jokes than the one before.  Also becoming well-known for inane, angry political commentary.

BOB NEWHART
His Act: Stammering phone calls and speeches, like the School for Bus Drivers or the night watchman at the Empire State Building trying to report that King Kong is climbing the thing.  He defined low-key stand-up comedy that was devoid of raw jokes but drenched in funny, revealing situations.  No one could wring more out of a funny premise.
These Days: Occasionally goes and does old bits that the audience knows better than he does, but everyone loves him, nonetheless.  And not just because of a couple of great sitcoms.

RICHARD PRYOR
His Act: Pretty much summed up by the title of his best album, That Nigger's Crazy!  A lot of nervous, paranoid but always earnestly-held observations.  When he was "on," which wasn't always, he was funnier than anyone.  He brought an odd mix of anger and vulnerability to most stages and practically invented racial humor that, unlike Dick Gregory or Godfrey Cambridge, was not primarily about race.  Probably the favorite of other stand-up comedians who'd tell you it isn't so much what he said as the way he said it.
These Days: Sad, very sad.

MORT SAHL
His Act: Stood on the stage, preferably in front of a brick wall...held a newspaper, wore a red sweater, talked about J.F.K., Nixon, Norman Vincent Peale, Adlai Stevenson and other comedic icons.  The premise was that he knew more about the world than anyone else in the room and he was usually not wrong.  Even when he wasn't funny, he was always riveting.
These Days: Same as above, only with a little more bitterness, a lot less relevance to today and some undisguised contempt for newer comedians.  And what's this news about Jack Kennedy being shot?

Okay, a few points:  If there are names you think should have been up there, it's probably because the consensus was that that person, funny though they may be, did not fit our narrow definition of stand-up comedian.

We did not formally tally a "runners-up" category but if we had, I'd guess it would have included — this is not in any order — Alan King, Jonathan Winters, Sam Kinison, Jay Leno, Myron Cohen, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, perhaps Don Rickles, and the only woman anyone mentioned, Phyllis Diller.  (Other names that were mentioned a lot: Rodney Dangerfield, Godfrey Cambridge, Lord Buckley, Henny Youngman and Dick Gregory.)

Also, it's important to consider these people not in abbreviated excerpts but, to the extent humanly possible, in their natural habitat...the comedy stage — if possible, live.  I never felt Bill Cosby was all that funny when I saw him doing a five-minute hunk on the Carson show.  When I saw him do an hour at Harrah's in Reno, I laughed myself silly...and fully and finally understood his stature in the field.  There's a vast difference between seeing Jay Leno do his whole routine in a club, as opposed to seeing his shorter Tonight Show monologues.  Same with Sam Kinison.  Never thought he was any good doing seven minutes on TV but he was brilliant doing forty in a late-night Comedy Store set.

Now, if you disagree with the list...well, that's fine.  Like I said, it's just a list — a means of isolating a batch of men who've done superior work in a very demanding and difficult area, and served as role models for countless others.  Any list you make will be just as valid as this one except, of course, that this one's right.  Thank you.

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