I happened across Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Standups of all Time today. They had Ellen DeGeneres ranked at #16, two spots above Jonathan Winters.
Are you freaking kidding me? She's good, and I like her stuff, but there's no way Winters is anywhere below #10.
OK, now I see what's going on here. One of the panelists is Richard Lewis, who woulnd't know funny it it smacked him in the face with a frying pan (actually, that would be funny). I remember him circa 1993 (has he worked since then?) doing his pacing-back-and-forth schtick, with his hand on his forehead, then turning to the audience and saying, apropos of nothing, "I don't know... Dan Quayle!"
That was a joke? This guy, Comedy Central has judging the top 100 standups ever? Suuuuuuuure.
I can't argue with you there... Richard Lewis... He tried really hard, but for me he was never really as funny as he tried to be.
I saw it too... I had to agree with 'em that Richard Pryor was #1, but I would have had Bill Cosby no lower than #3. And I'm not sure Roseanne Barr belonged in the top ten-- above Robin Williams!-- either.
Yeah, now that I've seen the whole thing, I have less of a problem with Jonathan Winters ranked where he was, but that just means De Generes was ranked way way WAY too high.
And I personally would have switched Robin Williams and Chris Rock, moved Cosby up into Roseanne's spot, and put Rodney and Roseanne somewhere between 20 and 30...