First off, I'll say that I enjoy comedy more if it is in bad taste or different from the normal wank on tv. I like heaps of different stuff, like Billy Connolly, Ben Elton, Sean Hughes, and the Doug Anthony All Stars, and various other stuff which I just can't be fucked writing.
My favorite standup comedian would probably be Billy Connolly, even though I thought that Ben Elton was funnier of the two when I saw them live. There's a tape of Billy available (called 'Billy Connolly Downunder 1995' or something), and it's got the most funniest shit I've ever heard on it, and is definitely worth checking out if you get the chance. If you've only ever seen his 'Wrold Tour' tv series, don't be put off by that, as he's a lot better than that live. In fact, the show I went to see him at (march '99), went on for over 3 hours, so at least you've got to give him the endurance vote.
Another excellent standup comic is Ben Elton. Even though a lot of his stuff is a bit too 'right-on' (almost politically correct), his show are absouletly hilarious, and I managed to catch him live when he toured here in May 1997, and his act was completely awesome. During the first hour alone I cried from laughing so hard twice, which is something I've only ever done once before. His '97 show was the best one of his I've seen (I've seen a few others on video), and the show here was even better because he did a lot of his stuff in an Australian accent, which made it about ten times funnier. I'm not sure if he changed the accent when he toured a different country, but it was hilarious in the Australian accent. He's also written a few books, with 'Stark' definitely his best. It was actually made into a shit movie/series, but the book is awesome, one of the best I've read. And you can probably tell by the level of this site that I've read vast quantities of varying literature, as I am so knowledgeable in all of my discussions on the pages presented here.
Some other stuff which I reckon is really good is the 'Jerky Boys' tapes (all 4 of
them), and the movie is pretty good aswell. For those who don't know, they're two
guys from America (who are now pretty famous) who do hilarious prank calls. They've
got a heap of characters, with my favorites being -
•Sol Rosenberg - a neurotic 50 year old who was warts all over his ass and genitalia
•Frank Rizzo - an ex-mechanic psychopath who will "split the nuts off the side
of your face" if you get in his way •Jack Tors - a gay guy who needs help fixing
his tennis ball machine, because he was firing baked potatoes up his ass and it broke -
"I need to dance, you fuck!" •Tarbash The Egyptian Magician - an egyptian
magician who can't seem to get anyone to book his act, even thought it contains breaking
posionous balloons over the crowd, ramming fingers up elderly people's anal passages,
getting kids to poke him in his eye, and, of course, the classic magical trick, getting
blindfolded audience members to try and pierce his nipples.
Anyway, all four of the Jerky Boys tapes are hilarious, with numbers 2 and 4 being the
best in my opinion. They are definetly worth checking out, and I guarantee that
you'll piss your pants listening to them. Their stuff is that funny.
Another comedian who was also really good live was Sean Hughes. He used to have a tv show called 'Sean's Show' (love the title), which was ok. When I saw him (sometime in 98 I think) I wasn't expecting very much, but he was awesome. He tours pretty often, but if you see him live, don't go in the front row, as he give splenty of shit to the unlucky people sitting directly in front of him. Which is funny for the rest of us, but humiliating for them.
Oh yeah, another excellent show is the Doug Anthony All Stars. I never got to see them live (they split up a while ago), but I've seen videos, and they're just fucking hilarious. They admit to being "friendly satanists", and sing about such family-orientated, PC topics like bestiality, necrophilia and incest, with the song "I fuck dogs" being an obvious highlight. Seriously though, they are fucking funny.