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Comedians From Pittsburgh
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience directly is called a stand-up comedian. A popular saying often attributed to Ed Wynn attempts to differentiate the two terms: "A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny." This draws a distinction between how much of the comedy can be attributed to verbal content and how much to acting and persona. Since the 1980s, a new wave of comedy, called alternative comedy, has grown in popularity with its more offbeat and experimental style. This normally involves more experiential, or observational reporting (e.g., Alexei Sayle, Daniel Tosh, Malcolm Hardee). As far as content is concerned, comedians such as Tommy Tiernan, Des Bishop, Kevin Hart, and Dawn French draw on their background to poke fun at themselves, while others such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurel And Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "sound film, talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer Marvin Hatley, T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats. Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amusing
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or animal actively maintains the experience, and is associated with enjoyment, happiness, laughter and pleasure. It is an emotion with positive valence and high physiological arousal. Amusement is considered an " epistemological" emotion because humor occurs when one experiences a cognitive shift from one knowledge structure about a target to another, such as hearing the punchline of a joke. The pleasant surprise that happens from learning this new information leads to a state of amusement which people often express through smiling, laughter or chuckling. Current studies have not yet reached consensus on the exact purpose of amusement, though theories have been advanced in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and sociology. In addition, the precise mechanism that causes a given element (image, sound, behavior, etc.) to be perceived as more or less 'amusing' than another sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''The Problem with Jon Stewart'', which premiered September 2021 on Apple TV+. Stewart started as a stand-up comedian but branched into television as host of ''Short Attention Span Theater'' for Comedy Central. He went on to host ''You Wrote It, You Watch It'' (1992–1993) and then ''The Jon Stewart Show'' (1993–1995), both on MTV, until ''The Jon Stewart Show'' was retooled, dropped by the network and moved to syndication. He has also appeared in several films, including '' Big Daddy'' (1999) and '' Death to Smoochy'' (2002), but did few cinematic projects after becoming host of ''The Daily Show'' in 1999, where he also was a writer and co-executive producer. After Stewart joined it, ''The Daily Show'' steadily gained popularity and critic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders, and played the lead role as Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom ''The Vicar of Dibley''. She has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009. Early life Dawn Roma French was born on 11 October 1957 in Holyhead, Wales, to English parents Felicity Roma (''née'' O'Brien; 1934 – 2012) and Denys Vernon French (5 August 1932 – 11 September 1977), who married in their home town of Plymouth in 1953. French has an older brother, Gary. Her father served in the Royal Air Force, stationed at RAF Valley and later RAF Leconfield, where Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother went to tea at French's home when French was three years old. An RAF archive footage of this event was included in French's comedy t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning several stand-up comedy competitions, Hart had his first breakthrough when Judd Apatow cast him in a recurring role on the TV series ''Undeclared'' (2001). He has since had roles in films such as ''Paper Soldiers'' (2002), ''Scary Movie 3'' (2003), ''Soul Plane'' (2004), '' In the Mix'' (2005), ''Little Fockers'' (2010), ''Think Like a Man'' (2012), ''Grudge Match'' (2013), ''Ride Along'' (2014) '' About Last Night'' (2014), ''Get Hard'' (2015), ''Central Intelligence'' (2016), ''The Secret Life of Pets'' film franchise (2016–2019), ''Ride Along 2'' (2016), '' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'' (2017), the ''Jumanji'' film franchise (2017–present), and ''Night School'' (2018). He also created and starred as a fictionalized versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Des Bishop
Desmond Bishop (born 12 November 1975) is an American-Irish comedian. He was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14. He primarily resides there. Approach to comedy Bishop's comedy has covered social issues, such as poverty. In 2000, Bishop was diagnosed with testicular cancer; and went on to turn his experiences into comedy material. Life and career Bishop is a comedian who has worked as a comic in Ireland since the late 1990s. He began hosting shows at the International Comedy Cellar - a venue set up by Irish comics such as Ardal O'Hanlon, Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy. It was here that Bishop honed his act. Bishop appeared in the 2002 film '' In America'', in which he played a high stockbroker rapping in the back of a New York taxi cab. He reached a broader audience after his TV show '' The Des Bishop Work Experience'' screened on RTÉ Two in 2004. The show featured him attempting to survive for one month working a minimum wage job in various parts o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Tiernan
Tommy Tiernan (; born 16 June 1969) is an Irish comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for hosting ''The Tommy Tiernan Show'' (2017–present) and playing Gerry in the sitcom ''Derry Girls'' (2018–2022). Early life Tiernan was born in Carndonagh on 16 June 1969, the son of a mother from County Limerick and a father from County Kerry. He moved with his family as a child; after spells living in London and Zambia, he attended the Catholic ex-junior seminary St Patrick's Classical School in Navan, where his schoolmates included Hector Ó hEochagáin and Dylan Moran.Tommy Tiernan: Comedian profile — biography from the Comedy Zone website, retrieved 28 November 2006. He later attended the boarding school |
Malcolm Hardee
Malcolm Hardee (5 January 1950 – 31 January 2005) was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor. His high reputation among his peers rests on his outrageous publicity stunts and on the help and advice he gave to successful British alternative comedians early in their careers, acting as "godfather to a generation of comic talent in the 1980s". Fellow comic Rob Newman called him "a hilarious, anarchic, living legend; a millennial Falstaff",Hardee, Malcolm: "I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake" (pub Ebury Press, 1996), pre-title page while Stewart Lee wrote that "Malcolm Hardee is a natural clown who in any decent country would be a national institution" and Arthur Smith described him as "a South London Rabelais" and claimed that "everything about Malcolm, apart from his stand-up act, was original". Hardee was also a compère and talent-spotting booker at his own clubs, particularly The Tunnel Club in Greenwich, South East London, which gave early exposure to up-an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Tosh
Daniel Dwight Tosh (born May 29, 1975) is an American comedian, writer, and producer. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Marketing, Tosh moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. His career accelerated in 2001 after a performance on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. He would go on to appear in other national shows, leading to his own 30-minute special on Comedy Central Presents two years later. From 2009 to 2020, Tosh was the host of Comedy Central series ''Tosh.0'', a showcase of popular Internet video clips with the addition of Tosh's narrative comedic dialogue. Daniel Tosh also went on his own series of comedy tours from 2010 to 2015. In addition to ''Tosh.0'', he is known for his deliberately offensive and controversial style of black comedy and as the star of stand-up comedy tours and specials. Early life Born in Boppard, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany to American parents, Tosh grew up in Titusville, Florida, the son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic of all time on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007. In an updated 2010 poll he came 72nd. Much of Sayle's humour is in the tradition of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, with riffs based on often absurd and surreal premises. His act is known for its cynicism and political awareness, as well as physical comedy. Early life Sayle was born and brought up in the Anfield suburb of Liverpool, the son of Molly (Malka) Sayle (née Mendelson), a pools clerk, and Joseph Henry Sayle, a railway guard, both of whom were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Sayle's mother was of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and some members of his family were devout Jews. From 1964 to 1969, he attended Alsop High School in Walton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Comedy
Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content that was an "alternative" to the mainstream of live comedy, which often involved racist and sexist material. In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt has defined it as "comedy where the audience has no pre-set expectations about the crowd, and vice versa. In comedy clubs, there tends to be a certain vibe—alternative comedy explores different types of material." In an interview with ''The A.V. Club'' after his performance in the 2011 comedy-drama film ''Young Adult'', Oswalt stated: I had come up out of that whole alternative scene, which was all about, "Don’t try it, man. Just go up and wing it. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Wynn
Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.Obituary '' Variety'', June 22, 1966, page 71. Background Wynn was born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish family. His father, Joseph, a milliner, was born in Bohemia. His mother, Minnie Greenberg, of Romanian and Turkish ancestry, came from Istanbul. Wynn attended Central High School in Philadelphia until age 15. He ran away from home in his teens, worked as a hat salesman and as a utility boy, and eventually adapted his middle name "Edwin" into his new stage name, "Ed Wynn", to save his family the embarrassment of having a lowly comedian as a relative. Career Wynn began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was a star of the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' starting in 1914. During ''The Follies of 1915'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
