Do These Men Deserve To Be The Highest Paid Comedians?

@Natasha VC: As in, "Do not date in the 818"?

@Natasha VC:

Hmmm... you are knowledgeable. Did you go to El Camino?

'Achmed the Dead Terrorist'... Really, America?

fuck the men - what about female comedians? jen kober should be making millions compared to that ventroliquist shit. a bigot hiding behind a terrorist puppet that doesnt even function properly (the skeleton's shoulder or rib or whatever - it's different anytime - never manages to work and it kiiiiiillllssss me)?

FAIL!

k122n

@Caius: Not too funny, either.

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...: And I can think of dozens of people who deserved it more. Have you ever actually spent much time in comedy clubs? Dane Cook is a dime a dozen (if he even writes his own jokes anymore, which I doubt). There's five Dane Cooks in every major city, and there were before he became famous. What Dane Cook is a genius at is marketing himself. (Heh, he's a marketing genius.) On that, no contest. But there is not one ounce of originality or wit in his act. Compared to someone like Dana Gould, or Jake Johansen, or Louis C.K., Cook is an utter disappointment.

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming:


All of the above! He also has a house there. (818) Sometimes referred to as the GREAT ONE EIGHT

With a few exceptions, society generally rewards mediocrity with success and excellence with obscurity.

furrina

@ChillbearLatrigue: I've spent quite some time trying to understand why everyone loves Demetri Martin... could someone please explain?

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...: Foxworthy actually worked for it, created this different (albeit umm, not my kind of taste) niche and ran with it. Dane Cook recycles jokes and, apparently, also steals them. So yeah, too many people know that now. Plus, his last cd/dvd was just awful... sex jokes coupled with a swear every 30 seconds can only go so far my friend.

@skt.smth: Not even edgy lite! Anyone who thinks Dane Cook is "edgy" or "pushes the limit" needs to move the Comedians of Comedy DVDs to the top of their Netflix queues. That's cutting edge, pushing the limits, experimental, alternative comedy. David Cross, Patton Oswalt, etc etc etc

@lobstr: Every time someone tells me they really like Dane Cook's comedy, I like them a little bit less.

Adah

That is why the terrorists hate our freedoms.

where is my bag of dicks, my hot pocket, my kfc failure bowl, my cake or death?

Dane Cook, I can tune out. Seinfeld is the anti-Carlin...willfully proud of having nothing to say.

jeff dunham is HORRIBLE. how did he manage to make that kind of cash?

Señor Wences FTW !!!

@DennyCrane: They're only counting money filed for taxes. Obviously, Lisa isn't reporting the earning made from working the corner or else her ass would be at the top of the list.

No Louis CK? No Jim Gaffigan? You suck, America.

I watched the Chris Rock clip followed immediately by the Dane Cook clip -- and bias notwithstanding, there is no fucking contest. I was having a hard time breathing I was laughing so hard at Chris Rock ... The Dane Cook bit, I cut it off about one minute in.. it was fucking unwatchable. Come on, a whole bit about falling into a lion den at the zoo.. "lulz", no.

George Lopez & Canoga Park? Is that where he bowls? Produces latino porn? Runs a food pantry?

@SanjivaniChrysippus:

I believe this is a list of comedians.

Mutley

@anibundel: Here, here!

WitteeFool

@ChillbearLatrigue: I would find Demetri Martin funnier if he would just excise that damned air of smug condescension from his act. Michael Ian Black, also. And Bob Saget! Ooooh, I hate that guy...

onebadclam

What scares me is that Lisa Lampinelli should be on this list before about half these jerkoffs.

I will take Dane Cook and his mildly good acting in 'Dan In Real Life' over ANYTHING Larry The Cable Jerk has ever done. Including lie about his job as a cable guy.

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...: He's edgy-lite. He's not doing anything to challenge his primary audience of stupid, white fratties. About 80% of his routine is based on the same physical gag of acting like a wired-up cokedhead. This is, in essence, his version of smashing watermelons or pulling out the box of shitty visual puns. I wish he were offensive, because at least then he might be worth watching every now and then.

Oh gods, Jeff Dunham and Larry the Cable Guy. *facepalm*

Jeff Dunham I just don't like that much, he's not really funny to me but a very talented performer. I have to give him that. "Larry," on the other hand, is a manipulative audience-hating douchebag with strong vitriol for the people he mocks with his character and act. Guy's a disgrace.

Aidan_

@RussianTaco: Demetri Martin is underrated and hysterical. Good observation.

@ Caius @skt.smth: I remain unconvinced. He's on speed. so what? I don't know, I guess I can appreciate observational humor. Why I like Seinfeld/Curb I guess, and why this guy doesnt get under my skin.

did appreciate the clip though, pretty good parody.

I welcome anyone else that can give me reasons, maybe some bullet points on why specifically he doesnt deserve the 20large he made this yr. I can think of @ *least* 20 ppl who deserved it less.

So, um, yeah, this article is from like October 2007. Slow news day?

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...: I hate MadTV about as much as I hate Dane Cook, but this video pretty much explains it all.

@Caius: I should also add that there are 1,180,000 results for "dane cook is hot" . . . . so. . . Yeah. Make of that what you will, I guess.

Caius

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...: According to the interwebs, there are 53,000 results for "dane cook is a douche," which is probably as good a reason as any.

Also, here's a site that listed 5! http://omglists.blogfaction.com/article/100743/top-five-reasons-to-not-like-dane-cook.../

But seriously, I would have to agree with you. He kind of rubs me the wrong way, but isn't too offensive.

Caius

Walter Cronkite died. Talk about a Friday news dump.

OK. please dont flame. this is an honest question. why SOOO much hate for dane cook?

while i wont say i like him.. i dislike foxworthy, larry cable guy, carrottop, etc so so so much more. just want a couple of *friendly* answers to the question. enlighten me. i personally find him very middle of zee road

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert need to demand raises from America, effective immediately.

anibundel

Wow. There is only one funny comedian on that list.

i can not believe Stereotype Ventriloquist Man is on this list....*remembers Sarah Palin exists*....oh wait, this makes perfect sense.

Seinfeld, the show, was hilarious, and it probably had less to do with Jerry than with Larry David and the incredibly talented actors they hired to cover up the fact that Jerry couldn't keep a straight face to save his life.

Helio

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/russell-peters-joins-list-of-richest-com.../article1218560/ Russell Peters, Canada's answer to Carlos Mencia has also broken the top 10. Potentially the least funny man on earth.

read like Jerry Seinfeld " What is the deal with Earl Grey tea? I mean it's not gray and who's Earl?"

610Dean

What, no Carrot Top!?

SanjivaniChrysippus

Really? Dane Cook? lame. I like some of his jokes, but only the ones he steals from Demetri Martin and Louis C.K.

RussianTaco

This list stops at #8? Forbes says the final two are a tie Terry Fator and Russell Peters. I don't believe I know who they are. This list, apart from Chris Rock (I'm giving Seinfeld a bye), just make me sad. And understand why so many people love Sarah Palin.

RubyBegonia

@MissNormaDesmond: Fuck. The system won't let me edit this. I realized belatedly that you seem to be speaking for others rather than yourself. However, the last sentence definitely stands.

@Excusado: You've merely added disdain for what you find physically attractive to my disdain for what you find funny. I don't wonder why Dane Cook's popular; shit floating is not a new phenomenon.

How did Raaaaaaaandy not make this list?
http://www.laughyourdickoff.com/

Excusado

@MissNormaDesmond: Wonder why Dane Cook is popular? It's because he's hot. His fans have mancrushes on him/want to be him. Can you name another male stand-up who is remotely attractive? Now pair those good looks with a schtick that appeals to frat boys and doesn't make anyone think too hard, and you've struck comic gold.

Excusado

@Helio: I respect Seinfeld as a stand-up; he worked long and hard to get where he is, and he remains devoted to the crafts of joke-writing and performance. He's not my favorite by a long shot, and I doubt I'd like him that much personally, but if anyone deserves the professional position he's in, he does. He didn't make it by putting up a website, he made it by years of journeyman labor and some very canny joke-writing.

@Superawesomerad: Stewart did stand-up for years, and still occasionally does, if I'm not mistaken.

@anibundel: Neither Stewart nor Colbert is a stand-up act, which is what this list is about.

Superawesomerad

@SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley...:

The dislike for Dane Cook is because he's trying to stuff a size 10 ego into a size 4 talent.

hey, at least Glenn Beck wasn't on that list

Attention all Chobots: please form eight cells to carry out the assassinations of the above listed "comedians" so that our goddess Margaret may draw ever closer to the top 8 highest paid comedians!

2007? Am I in a time warp? (And if they included crappy jewelry sales, Joan Rivers would surely be on the list. She is mad rich.)

Carol Gardens

@Mary Mouse:

If it's 818, I can't relate?

@Adah: Liking Dane Cook is one of those signs like wearing Ed Hardy or The Shocker sticker on their car. Unfortunately not as immediately visible.

So I'm the only one who thinks Chris Rock is still coasting on the strength of his first HBO special? That was sensational. He's been little more than average ever since.

Ssscorpion

no katt williams?

tigolbitties

Dane Cook is awful but his popularity is what's most shameful. Shame on you, America! Then again, his movies tank. Carrot Top is wildly successful as a live act but is a perennial joke in pop culture. Dane Cook and Carrot Top: same audience. (Though given a Sophie's Choice situation, I prefer the Carrot...)

While we're here, I don't like what these Comedy *Roasts* have become. I like the old Friar's Club tradition where a bunch of friends come out and bust your balls. Now they've just got this stock of comedians who roast for a living who rarely even know the person being roasted. They end up going around the room roasting everyone else. Sort of diminishes the whole affair, doesn't it?

@k122n: Yeah, where's Kathy Griffin? Maybe she really is on the D List.

pumpkinsoup

Dane Cook his horrible. Hiis "jokes" about Catholicism are the same things my brothers and I used to say on the way to church in the back of the station wagon in the 1970s. How can he get paid for it?

seattlesue

@Conchie Birdie: I think I just find the skits from his show fresh and original. He had the one about Galileo, Shakespeare and Frankling throwing cheap lines at the TGIP waitress that killed me. I also liked him as one of the Crazy Dogs on FOTC. I don't know if that's an explanation, but its a few of the things that I like.

@fuzzymuffins: They absolutely love him in Germany, so I think we can safely blame the Krauts' penchant for recognizing great humor on that one.

When I was teaching English there, I can't even count how many students would repeat lines of his or send me youtube links. Ugh.

personally i look forward to the day mike birbiglia puts dane cook to deep, deep shame in terms of $.

rubyruby

@unclevanya:

List is accurate, hyperlink wasn't. Fixed. These are comedians who do active stand up.

@Natasha VC: Well, no the article is from Oct. 2007 as well. Also, you left out Letterman, Ben Stiller and Leno from their list. The picture version even says of Leno, "With 2 years left to go on his Tonight Show reign"...

Not trying to be a nudge, but look at the byline:

The Top-Earning Comedians
Lacey Rose, 10.11.07, 6:00 AM ET

@Dave J.: I know! I just saw louis ck live last night and it was all new material and all fucking hilarious.

Janky

@Dave J.:

I bought a star and named it Mitch Hedberg.

@onebadclam:

Ugh! His quirk-hipster-aloofness is unbearable!

@Mary Mouse:

Oooo DON'T HATE One Eight!

@Uncle_Billy_Slumming:

OMG! I did!! Could you tell from my FABULOUS public school grammar?

@Ed Wood Jr Jr:

I have heard some great one-ups on the subject of a bag full of dicks. Landfill, dumptruck, sea of, etc...

@k122n:

You should post some video of your fav female comedian, cause like, eh, there aren't many.

@rubyruby:

Mike B is way great but his popularity seems to be concentrated in NY, no? LA commenters?

Whereas Tom Papa who is INSANELY funny has no real audience outside of the Laugh Factory on Sunset.

Sad, sad.

@tigolbitties:

I NEVER understood this dude's appeal until today. I heard this exact bit on Rawdog radio. Oh, how I laughed!

@Carol Gardens:

The stats are compiled from June 2007 to June 2008. The list was released this week.

@Natasha VC: I'm not saying that he is all things to all people, but come on, Achmed the Dead Terrorist and his parasitic fister made $30 million. Larry the Cable Guy made $13 million. I want to slit my wrists after reading this comedy world order.

@Natasha VC: Ah! Thought it might be something like that, but I couldn't find the more recent article at Forbes.

As long as we all agree that Dane Cook is a talentless douche.

what kind of world takes George Carlin and Mitch Hedburg and leaves us with rednecks and dane cook

@Natasha VC:

Nah, I could tell from your ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS legerdelangue. ;P

El Camino is the academic decathalon champeen many years running (except last year?) and so I associate it with bright shiny people. Even here on this grey-backed, black-margined blog, and despite your dun-tinted avatar, one can tell you are bright shiny people.

@fraaap: His "Mexican" puppet is a jalapeño on a stick. It makes one yearn for the sophistication and wit of Larry the Cable Guy.

@ChillbearLatrigue:

Mad truth. Poverty of comedy.

@unclevanya:

Forbes has the most HEINOUSLY user-hostile site. They're so cluttered with flash ads and bullshit that I got totally turned around and lost and awful.

@Natasha VC: If Mitch was still with us, would he be on the list? Would he have had a Galliafinakis-type breakthrough role? Would he be doing the same old comedy club trudge and putting out CD's?

@fraaap: Part of it, yes.

Is it coincidence that all but the first two of these are unknown outside the US? Be funnier, America!

LolpantsofArabia

@Conchie Birdie:

Was it on Gawker that someone called Martin this generation's Gallagher? I thought that was harsh, if not a little accurate.

ohgee