resinrats

Jim Gaffigan is my favorite. Jeff Foxworthy is pretty clean as well.

moviefan2k4

Thank you.

As could I.

I haven't ever seen Eddie or Dave be clean, and I don't think I've seen any of Cedric's routines at all. Carlin was much better when he wasn't cussing like crazy or demeaning everything religious; one of my favorites was the "airline safety lecture" speech.

I started watching Jeff Dunham in the very early '90s, when he did Showtime's "A Pair of Jokers" with Rondell Sheridan. Language has always been part of his act, but its gotten much worse since "Arguing With Myself". I do like some of his stuff with Achmed, though.

Yeah, like the old "cocaine intensity" joke from the "Himself" routine.

Supermallet

Some comedians are vulgar because their jokes aren't good enough to stand on their own two feet without the vulgarity. Those are not good comedians, and I don't want to watch them, not because of the vulgarity, because who gives a shit, but because they're not funny.

Other comedians use vulgarity as a form of expression, part of their bag of tricks as a comedian. These comedians are talented enough that their material stands on its own, but the vulgarity can add an extra layer of emphasis, drawing your attention to certain parts of the bit. There I have no problem with vulgarity, because like everything else they do, it's being used for a purpose, and it works.

My all time favorite stand up comedian is Stewart Lee, who makes very deliberate word choices in all of his routines. The few times he does use any kind of profanity, it's amazingly effective, because he's using it for a very specific purpose. But then, any words he uses are for a very specific purpose. He does an hour long show that culminates with him puking into the gaping anus of Christ that is one of the funniest things I have ever experienced.

kvrdave

Now you're just trolling him.

Supermallet

I'm not kidding. Check out '90s Comedian by Stewart Lee. It can be hard to find because he's practically ignored in the states. I'd post a clip but his shows are meant to be seen from beginning to end, clips out of context don't have the same impact.

Music

The "cleanest" ones:

Abbott & Costello
Adam Ferrara
Adam Sandler
Aziz Ansari
Bill Cosby
Bob Newhart
Brian Regan
Comedian Bob Marley
Craig Ferguson
Dane Cook
Denis Leary
Gabriel Iglesias
George Carlin
George Lopez
Greg Giraldo
Jim Gaffigan
Joe Rogan
John Pinette
Jon Stewart
Lewis Black
Louis C.K.
Nick Di Paolo
Norm MacDonald
Patton Oswalt
Ralphie May
Richard Pryor
Robin Williams
Ron White
Roy D. Mercer
The Touch-Tone Terrorists

Tarantino

Dimitri Martin.

Tarantino

Sounds...hilarious...

Supermallet

It's funnier than Dimitri Martin, I can tell you that.

But as I said, Stewart Lee's shows need to be seen from beginning to end. Clips don't work for his type of stand-up.

moviefan2k4

I hope you're being sarcastic, because all of these guys are nowhere near clean.

dhmac

George Carlin did both clean comedy and risque "blue comedy" and seemed to use one or the other depending on what type of audience he had. It's probably due to when he first started in the early '60s, clean comedy was the norm. By the '70s, blue comedy was getting more popular so he added it to his act, but he always seemed to have some clean comedy bits ready for when he was on The Tonight Show (or something like that) for the rest of his career.

I was able to see Carlin live once back in the late '80s, but he apparently judged the audience to be a "clean" crowd, so he (disappointingly to me) used only his clean material for the show.

JimRochester

Bill Cosby has always been a favorite. Got to meet him back in 94 when I had my limousine service and he came to town. Got to drive him to his gig.

Jim Gaffigan - love his goofy stuff. Ran in to him at the airport in Atlanta a few years ago. Got to tell him how much the family loves his stuff

Steven Wright - OMG. That deadpan humor. " I was at the border, they asked if I had any guns? I said; "what do you need?" The wife and i saw his show here in Rochester probably 20 years ago.

As many have said. I'm not averse to risque' humor or swearing, but too many rely on that instead of actually being funny or writing funny material. But I guess that's what the market desires. We were in Vegas a few years ago at the Imrov Club, when asked for suggestions everyone started yelling out the bodily function humor options.

Vibiana

Jasper Carrott.

Howie2000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uldt6Y-CE3s

No one spoke about the importance of clean hygiene as much as Redd Foxx.

Lt Ripley

Moviefan2k4.

Music

cungar

This is supposed to be a thread about good clean comedians

Shamus McAnally

As kids, my brother and I shared a room. We used to go to sleep every night with my parents' Bill Cosby comedy records. Grew up on that stuff. Thought it was (and still do) very funny, especially for "clean". (He's got the occasional moment, but you're not going to find much squeakier out there.)

Music

Indeed!

Jon2

Don Rickles?

creekdipper

Didn't mean that they did a totally 'clean' show...just that they could do some bits that were hilarious before throwing in the usual profanity/vulgarity. What I was trying to say is that these guys (as well as most really talented comics) CAN be both clean AND funny, so it's obvious that they made the choice to go with with the harder-edged (or, in the case of Murray, just plain nasty) stuff to appeal to a different audience.

I've actually seen Cedric do the same routine in a relatively 'clean' version and then do the same routine with the standard dirt in another venue. Showed that it wasn't necessary for the material; it was just meeting audience expectations.

kvrdave

I heard a story by Bob Newhart. Bob and Don are great friends. They met because their wives met, though they had heard of each other before. So Bob's wife tells Bob about this lady she met and what a wonderful husband she had. They meet, and Don's wife invites them to the show that night. Bob knows Don's brand of comedy, so he is not sure about his wife enjoying it. They accept, and Bob warns his wife that Don is pretty "blue." His wife can't believe it. Don was the nicest, most respectful person she could imagine.

They get to the show and during the beginning Don let's the audience know that Bob Newhart is down in the front, and they had met earlier. Then Don say something to Bob like, "And where did you find this whore?" looking at Bob's wife.

Talkin2Phil

Have you seen Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project? great documentary. Filled with stories like that.

dvdjunkie32

Shame that a lot of ppl haven't heard Anthony Griffith's comedy. 100% clean


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vmxrkc1tek

JimRochester

There were some notoriously dirty comics back in the day. Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor didn't invent the F-word comedy. Buddy Hackett and Redd Foxx were known for their blue material. George Carlin would interlace some colorful language when I saw him but stayed away from explicit sex or bodily function talk. I don't mind a little risqué stuff but really am not entertained by hearing about how people take a dump.

We saw Rita Rudner in Vegas. Very clean and very entertaining. She would ask people's names and remember them, and refer back to them throughout the show. That alone was fun.