Topic: Your taste in comedy outside The Three Stooges

[metaldams]

Let's just lay it out and have it organized in one thread.  What are your comedy tastes outside of The Three Stooges?

[BeatleShemp]

As much as the Three Stooges are the TOPS of my comedy, I really enjoy the work of John Ritter.  I have both Three's Company and Hearts Afire complete on DVD.  I enjoy The Big Bang Theory, 8 Simple Rules, and I love Cheers/Frasier, That 70's Show.  I also like to go catch a college play from time to time.

[metaldams]

As much as the Three Stooges are the TOPS of my comedy, I really enjoy the work of John Ritter.  I have both Three's Company and Hearts Afire complete on DVD.  I enjoy The Big Bang Theory, 8 Simple Rules, and I love Cheers/Frasier, That 70's Show.  I also like to go catch a college play from time to time.

My brother loves THE BIG BANG THEORY, but I find the main guy with all the obnoxious comments to be, well, obnoxious.

I like THAT 70'S SHOW but part of that is because Laura Prepon, who along with Stacy Keibler, is on my short list of current celebrity goddesses.

I haven't watched Cheers/Frazier in a while, but I do enjoy those shows.

I personally like The Simpsons, crooked televangelists, South Park, Mel Brooks, Monty Python (more so the features, I really think I need to explore the Flying Circus stuff more), and just about any major and some minor comedians from the silent and early talking era of film.

Forgot to add Warner Brothers cartoons.

[Curly4444]

I like all kinds of comedy. In films it can be anything like Airplane, Mel Brooks(History of the world), Naked Gun, Rodney Dangerfield, National Lampoon Movies(Chevy Chase), Adam Sandler Movies(Happy Gilmore), and Old School. For TV i  like: Cheers, Wings, Threes Company, THAT 70'S SHOW. So in other words i really like situation comedy's.

As for Old school comedy, I like Abbott & Costello or Laural & Hardey. Some of the bits from Abbott & Costello remind me of the stooges.

[Stooge-Adam]

Sitcoms I love are:

NewsRadio
Taxi
Wings
Ellen
The Odd Couple
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Bewitched
The Honeymooners
That '70s Show
The King of Queens
Three's Company
The Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
Perfect Strangers
Happy Days
California Dreams
I Love Lucy
F Troop
The Munsters
Charles In Charge

There's a lot I'm leaving off.

By the way, I also have every episode of Hearts Afire on DVD. It's a good show.

[FineBari3]

With movies, I love Buster Keaton's work. Other comedies I absolutely love are Some Like it Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Caddyshack, Slap Shot, and Blazing Saddles.

TV shows I love are The Simpsons, Family Guy, and M*A*S*H.

[Seamus]

Huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Their best episodes, when the movie is really giving them great stuff to work with and their riffing is on fire, have me dying.

If we're counting books, the works of P.G. Wodehouse rank up near the top for me.  The TV adaptations of his Jeeves stories with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are great too.

As far as the movie classics go, I've been a Marx Brothers fan for years, and I'm currently giving myself a W.C. Fields crash course.  In the middle of James Curtis' biography of Fields, and I'm watching his movies in tandem (most for the first time).  Can't believe it took me this long to discover the Great Man.  So good.  My Fields studies uncovered a rare and hilarious Fields clip that I may post over in the vids section later.

Also enjoy the Pythons (the films and the TV shows), although Holy Grail is a little hard to watch these days after having so many lines quoted ad nauseum by unfunny American nerds.  Enjoy me some other British comedies as well (Red Dwarf, Blackadder, etc.)

[metaldams]

...and I'm currently giving myself a W.C. Fields crash course.  In the middle of James Curtis' biography of Fields, and I'm watching his movies in tandem (most for the first time).  Can't believe it took me this long to discover the Great Man.  So good.  My Fields studies uncovered a rare and hilarious Fields clip that I may post over in the vids section later.

Godfrey Daniels!  Another fan!

I LOVE Fields.  My favorites are IT'S A GIFT and YOU'RE TELLING ME.

[BenStooge9]

There's so much out there, I was raised on John Hughes films, "Home Alone", "Uncle Buck", Trains/Planes/Automobiles", anything with John Candy and now the Apatow films even tho it's stupid comedy, I love Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.

TV I gotta go with "Big Bang Theory", "Seinfeld", "Curb", "Simpsons", "Southpark", and "Roseanne"

[Seamus]

Godfrey Daniels!  Another fan!

I LOVE Fields.  My favorites are IT'S A GIFT and YOU'RE TELLING ME.

Haha!  I just read about the origin of the Godfrey Daniels expletive yesterday.

Yeah, It's a Gift is a classic.  I'd never even heard of You're Telling Me till I started reading the Fields bio, so that was a fun discovery.  I love how he managed to work in his old golfing routine from his stage days at the end of the movie, although I don't think it worked quite as well as it did in The Golf Specialist (his first talkie short).  When I first watched Golf Specialist on YouTube I laughed so hard I had to watch it again the next day.  And the day after that.  Fields could have said, "Stand clear and keep your eye on the ball" a dozen more times and it still wouldn't have been enough for me.

I'm all set to watch You Can't Cheat an Honest Man for the first time this weekend.

[BeAStooge]

A lengthy list for me; just some off the top...

Film
Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, W. C. Fields, Buster Keaton, Our Gang, The Marx Brothers, Wheeler & Woolsey, 1960s-1970s Mel Brooks, Charley Chase, 1940s/mid-1950s Bob Hope, WB cartoons, Martin & Lewis

Television
The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, Get Smart, I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show (seasons 1 - 3), The Honeymooners, All in the Family, The Jack Benny Program, The Burns & Allen Show, Cheers, The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Your Show of Shows / Caesar's Hour

[Shemp_Diesel]

Abbott and Costello
The Marx Brothers
Get Smart
Married w/ Children
Sanford & Son
That 70s Show
Frasier
Dr. Katz Professional Therapist
Bewitched
I Dream of Jeannie
Two and a Half Men
The Daily Show
The Colbert Report

[stooge1029]

Laurel and Hardy! There a close number 2 after the stooges. Ive been downloading a lot of the sound shorts. I also like WC Fields who I too recently discovered. The Bank Dick and Its a Gift are great. As for sitcoms or tv comedies I like Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Office, and Seinfeld.

[Curly4444]

There's so much out there, I was raised on John Hughes films, "Home Alone", "Uncle Buck", Trains/Planes/Automobiles", anything with John Candy and now the Apatow films even tho it's stupid comedy, I love Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.

TV I gotta go with "Big Bang Theory", "Seinfeld", "Curb", "Simpsons", "Southpark", and "Roseanne"

Man, i love John Candy. How could i forget him. He was a comic genius.

[Justin T]

My list is pretty long too.

Film:
The Marx Brothers
Abbot and Costello
70's-80's Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part 1, Spaceballs)
80's Steve Martin (The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man With Two Brians, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Monty Python (Holy Grail, Life of Brian: starting to explore the Flying Circus TV show)
Dr. Strangelove
Ghostbusters
Caddyshack
Clue
My Cousin Vinny
Some Like It Hot

TV:
Mystery Science Theater 3000- freaking love this show, glad to see another MST3K fan here Seamus!
Seinfeld
Get Smart
The Cosby Show
Married With Children
Wings
Cheers
Frasier
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Simpsons

[middlenamewayne]

Haha!  I just read about the origin of the Godfrey Daniels expletive yesterday.

Yeah, It's a Gift is a classic.  I'd never even heard of You're Telling Me till I started reading the Fields bio, so that was a fun discovery.

Neither of those tend to get mentioned as being among his best work, so each one tends to really wallop you unexpectedly in the laff center.

I wish I still had a load of unseen Fields flicks to look forward to -- apart from a couple of silents, the only one I have left to "discover" is "Mississippi".

As far as my comedy taste(s): Bill Hicks, Joe Rogan, Robert Newman, Eddie Izzard, Ron Shock, Bruce Campbell, John Waters, Will Elder/Harvey Kurtzman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, The Rutles, William Shatner, Firesign Theatre, Credibility Gap/Spinal Tap, SPUMCO, The Monkees, SCTV, "Look Around You", "Archer", Parker & Stone, Eek the Cat!, Duckman, SPY Magazine, The Onion, Steve Gerber/Howard the Duck, The Boondocks, Shelley Berman, Dick Shawn, Brother Theodore, Shnookums & Meat, Morton & Hayes, Clark & McCulloch, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Carl Reiner, Herbie the Fat Fury, Plastic Man, Little Lulu, Uncle Scrooge, George Carlson, Norman Maurer, Dave Sim, Berke Breathed, Lenny Bruce, Murray Roman, Smothers Brothers, Rowan Atkinson, Lee Evans, Matt Groening, Karl Pilkington, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonson, Homer & Jethro, Jack Black & Kyle Gass, Chris Elliott, Dan Clowes, Peter Bagge, James Thurber, Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Mrs. Miller, Harvey Sid Fisher, Robert Tilton, Adam West, Don Rickles, Stiller & Meara, Nichols & May, The Dickies, Sparks, Jacques Tati, Gilbert Shelton, Richard Lester... okay, that's enough for now!

   -- mnw

PS: Here's a heads up for ya regarding a new movie that oughtta be good...

"Upon its screening at Sundance, The Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter gave 'FOUR LIONS' extremely positive reviews, the latter describing the film as 'a brilliant takedown of the imbecility of fanaticism' drawing comparisons with This Is Spinal Tap and The Three Stooges." -- Wikipedia

[Dog Hambone]

My list would be ridiculously long, but one of my favorite comedians has always been Norm Crosby. I think it's mainly because I'm a big fan of malapropisms, & he's one of the best. I like to use them myself when talking, although it confuses some people. With TCM showing The Bowery Boys on Saturday mornings recently, I can really appreciate Leo Gorcey (Slip Mahoney) even more; he's good at the malaprops.

[Curly4444]

[metaldams]

Neither of those tend to get mentioned as being among his best work, so each one tends to really wallop you unexpectedly in the laff center.

I wish I still had a load of unseen Fields flicks to look forward to -- apart from a couple of silents, the only one I have left to "discover" is "Mississippi".

 Robert Tilton

I'm in the same boat as you concerning Fields, same film and everything.

Robert Tilton's the man!  Greatest television comedian of all-time.

[fishacura]

Hi all...noob here.  Very excited to have found the board (found from the Stoogeum site which I am happy to say we're checking out for the first time this weekend).  Anyway, wanted to just throw my 2 cents in re: outside of the stooges.  Keeping with that era, favorites are Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers.  Moving into the 50s & 60s I am a big You bet your life and Jack Benny lover.  Dick van Dyke is also a favorite.....70s moves me to Monty Python (probably my all time favorite) and more current it's a lot of animation such as South Park and Family Guy.  The one "cult" show I love which only had 2 seasons prior to being cancelled was HBOs Flight of the Conchords...

[falsealarms]

For W.C Fields fans, which box set is better? THE BANK DICK and IT'S A GIFT are widely regarded classics (neither of which I've seen - gasp!) but the others aren't as familiar to me. I've heard some knock YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN for the awful ventriloquism in it. Others say the teaming of Fields and Mae West in MY LITTLE CHICKADEE was a bit of a bust.

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 (The Man on the Flying Trapeze / Never Give A Sucker An Even Break / You're Telling Me! / The Old Fashioned Way / Poppy)

IMDB Ratings

   2. (7.74) - Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
   3. (7.69) - It's a Gift (1934)
   4. (7.64) - You're Telling Me! (1934)
   6. (7.55) - The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
   7. (7.49) - The Bank Dick (1940) (would have guessed this to be tops: it's the film I associate with Fields, but maybe because Shemp has a role.)
   8. (7.48) - Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
  11. (7.29) - You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
  16. (7.12) - Poppy (1936)
  19. (7.02) - International House (1933)
  22. (7.01) - My Little Chickadee (1940)

[metaldams]

For W.C Fields fans, which box set is better? THE BANK DICK and IT'S A GIFT are widely regarded classics (neither of which I've seen - gasp!) but the others aren't as familiar to me. I've heard some knock YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN for the awful ventriloquism in it. Others say the teaming of Fields and Mae West in MY LITTLE CHICKADEE was a bit of a bust.

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 (The Man on the Flying Trapeze / Never Give A Sucker An Even Break / You're Telling Me! / The Old Fashioned Way / Poppy)

IMDB Ratings

   2. (7.74) - Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935)
   3. (7.69) - It's a Gift (1934)
   4. (7.64) - You're Telling Me! (1934)
   6. (7.55) - The Old Fashioned Way (1934)
   7. (7.49) - The Bank Dick (1940) (would have guessed this to be tops: it's the film I associate with Fields, but maybe because Shemp has a role.)
   8. (7.48) - Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
  11. (7.29) - You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
  16. (7.12) - Poppy (1936)
  19. (7.02) - International House (1933)
  22. (7.01) - My Little Chickadee (1940)

I'd say volume 1 if only because the two films you mentioned are the well regarded classics and POPPY isn't exactly prime Fields, but in all honesty, volume 2 is almost just as good.  You really can't go wrong with either set, as its not like there's a major gap in quality between the two.

[stooge1029]

I just got into Fields a few months ago and the first two films of his I watched were The Bank Dick and Its a Gift. Both movies are up there with my top comedys now, but Bank Dick was his best in my opinion. Every time Fields spoke I laughed, he was at the top of his game. Then I watched two more off the first disk, My Little Chickadee and You Cant Cheat...both were disappointments not because of Fields performance but because he split the bill with much less funny individuals. I just dont like ventriloquists and Mae West got irritating. I think Ill take a look at volume 2

[falsealarms]

It seems like there's less song/dance/romantic subplots in most of the Fields films when compared to the later Marx Brothers films.

And that's a good thing.

[metaldams]

It seems like there's less song/dance/romantic subplots in most of the Fields films when compared to the later Marx Brothers films.

And that's a good thing.

That's because Fields was never at MGM.

Now THERE'S a scary thought.  Imagine the back and forth letters that would've happened between Fields and Thalberg or Mayer.