The 5: Most Important Stand-up Comics by Decade

With the New York Comedy Festival starting this week, we’ve been thinking about who have been the greatest best stand-up performers of each decade from the 70’s through the aughts.  Here is our list:

• 1960-1969:  Bill Cosby:  Cosby started doing stand up in the early 1960s and started killing from the word go.  And he hasn’t stopped killing since. With his non threatening style he was quick to cross over to white audiences and he shone as a light to the civil rights struggle of the 1960’s. When Cosby was signed by NBC and partnered with Robert Culp in the series ‘I SPY’ it was the first time an African American co-starred on an American TV show. He handled this Jackie Robinson moment with great ease. Some liberals complained that Cosby didn’t talk enough about race but Bill said “A white person listens to my act and he laughs and he thinks, ‘Yeah, that’s the way I see it too.’ Okay. He’s white. I’m Negro. And we both see things the same way. That must mean that we are alike. Right? So I figure this way I’m doing as much for good race relations as the next guy.”  Bill on YouTube
• 1970-1979:  Richard Pryor:   In the 1960s Richard was making a good living  by doing a watered down version of Bill Cosby’s persona.  By the end of the decade he walked away from safety and headed straight for the edge. He became the ultimate comedian’s comedian by being brutally honest and vulnerable on stage.  A huge movie career followed and enough personal drama to make Richard a mythic figure with a permanent place in stand up history. Richard on YouTube.
• 1980-1989:  Eddie Murphy:  Eddie Murphy made the stand up comedian as big as the rock star . Studying Elvis as a kid he brought that bigger than life persona to the stage and his peers joked that Eddie wanted to be the first comic to throw scarves to the audience. He saved SNL and then had huge movie career.  His films became events that had lines around the block.  He wasn’t as amicable as Cosby or vulnerable as Pryor.  And he didn’t run from trouble he kicked its ass.  Eddie on YouTube.
• 1990-1999:  Chris Rock:  Stand up comedy in the 1990s was hitting  a barren period after being over exposed on tv in the 80s.  Comedy Clubs around the country were switching to karaoke and nail salons. If comedy wasn’t dead it was definitely on life support.  Then in 1996 , Chris Rock drops “Bring on the Pain,” the best stand up special in decades, and some believe the best of all time. Comedians have a new high water mark to shoot for  and audiences are reminded that comedy matters.  Chris on YouTube.
• 2000-2009:  Dave Chappelle:  Dave Chapelle was the hottest comedian in the country.   TV specials, his own show; Chapelle sold more DVDS of its first season than any show in history knocking off The Simpsons.  Kids were
  shouting out his catch phrases and the great Richard Pryor said that he had passed the torch to Dave. Viacom had offered $55 million to Chapelle for 2 more seasons as well as the freedom to do side projects when Dave unexpectedly walked away from it all, saying he didn’t like the direction the show was going.  He became comedy’s J.D. Salinger as urban myths spread, wondering if he had gone crazy crazy, was high on drugs , found religion or chose art over commerce .  Dave on YouTube.