George Carlin is one of my all time favorite stand up comedians, and Lewis Black is good for many of the same reasons. If I see a commonality between the two it’s a strong observational skill about the inconsistencies in the world around us and a clever yet brash way of pointing out these problems. Basically grumpy guys who complain, but who do so in a very sharp, smart, yet blunt and to the point way. For this reason, I think your BEST bet is going to be Bill Hicks…he was definitely the closest in terms of political world view, the quick, acerbic wit, the way of getting to the point when taking down the nonsense that pervades our world.
Now the only skinny white guy with red hair who comes to mind is Carrot Top, and I hope to hell that’s not who you’re thinking of, because that’s a completely different mode of humor…he is a prop comic who basically does about 45 minutes of puns. I guess Bill Maher’s hair is kind of reddish, I hope that’s who you’re talking about, as he’s the only person like Carlin and Black who meets that general description.
Getting back to what you definitely would like, I can 100% guarantee you that Bill Hicks is the single closest to those two guys that you’re likely to encounter. His humor was (he died in ‘92 I believe) based in the same roots as Black and Carlin, very much a slayer of the politically correct BS that pervades our culture…some of the references may be a bit dated, but one can only imagine on hearing Hicks go after the first Bush administration, what he would have thought of the second.
The next closest I can think of who really is similarly minded, who treads the same types of topics is David Cross, who may be better known as a character actor (or to some from the HBO comedy series Mr. Show). But his standup is incredibly on point…he and Hicks are probably both a bit to the political left of Carlin and Black, but they share the keen sense of observation and the ability to skewer nonsense with acerbic wit.
Now the next “socially relevant” person I’ll mention is actually several shades to the right of these guys, and that would be Dennis Miller, but if you catch his earlier stand up before he got all Fox News pro Bush on the world, he made a lot of socially relevant points in a very intelligent way. Some times he could rely too heavily on the obscure references, but I’d check out “The Off White Album” at least, I think anyone who likes Carlin would appreciate that.
Now the next one I would for sure suggest would be Margaret Cho, again very far to the left politically, very acerbic wit, great ability to point out idiocy in our culture, but in her case her comedy is often very sexually charged…probably talks more about her own out there sex life than any other comedian I can think of. She for me is kind of the bond between the comedians who like Carlin, Black, Hicks, Cross, etc. are very much into pointing out the problems with the world, and the ones who are brutally honest and open about their own lives as source material for comedy. Those would be I think cousins to the kind of comedy purveyed by Black and Carlin, which I think would be another logical choice for you. And most of these comedians for whatever reason tended to be African American. It kind of started with Redd Foxx.
Now you can make a mistake with Redd Foxx in getting some of his early work on what was called the “Chitlun’ Circuit”, it was very tame, very toothless by today’s standards…it wasn’t until later in his career, after the next person I’ll mention, Richard Pryor, broke down some racial doors in the comedy world. Foxx of course inspired Pryor who really, like Carlin, pointed out a lot that was wrong in the world in a very clever way, though much of his humor was more racially charged (not like old white guys like Carlin and Black could really do those kinds of jokes). That in turn inspired Eddie Murphy whose standup in the early 80s was brilliant, and more recently Chris Rock. These are all people who I think anyone who likes Carlin or Black would like for many of the same reasons, but the humor is a bit further removed from the specific type…still close enough though that I think you would appreciate it. And along these same lines you can throw Wanda Sykes. Also belonging to this general “style” of Comedy…the observational humor that is more about self-reflection than political relevance would be Bill Cosby, who unlike these others, shuns profanity, but who is a legend and an inspiration for many of the people on the above list.
Now for some of the other suggestions people have made. Mitch Hedberg….YES, one of my all time favorites. But he was a different kind of comic than Carlin altogether. His humor is basically non sequitor, absurdist…it’s witty like Carlin and Black, but it’s not ranting, it’s not socially relevant, it makes you laugh for different reasons….the only common element between him and what you like would be the wit and the great command of the English language to communicate what he is trying to say. And Steven Wright was of course as someone pointed out the precursor to Mitch Hedberg. Someone mentioned Sarah Silverman, and her comedy is off the wall in sort of a different way, she’s kind of a mix between the self-confessing type and the non-sequitor type of comic, though very funny as well.
Jim Gaffigan, again one of my all time favorites, but a completely different type of humor, observational, but not about real deep, cutting social issues. Also Gaffigan is basically clean…he doesn’t need to use foul language to be laugh out loud funny. He has some skits that can make me laugh so hard I can’t breathe, but again, he’s not a lot like Carlin or Black in terms of content or style. He’s more like Bill Cosby, basing his humor in observations about mundane every day things, though unlike Cosby, he incorporates less of his personal life in his humor.
Those would be my suggestions, in the order which I would suggest them. I would also point out that without Lenny Bruce, there would be no George Carlin or Lewis Black or Bill Hicks or David Cross…he practically invented the form of humor based on shattering hypocrisy and political correctness. Kind of tame by today’s standards, but enough to get him jailed for obscenity in his day.
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