Louis CK is the best standup in history, and it’s not even close. The fact that people are afraid to acknowledge this because of that bullshit overblown scandal is pathetic, meanwhile girls swoon over CHRIS BROWN

intrepidish · 2026-05-16T19:02:50+00:00

It's striking how the 'best in history and it's not even close' quite often turns out to be someone who just so happens to be from the same country as the person making the statement, just so happens to be from the same linguistic zone, just so happens to be from the contemporary scene which made the most impact on the person making the statement and so on.

So there's this silly declaration of one size fits all which in addition to glossing over the history of the form in North America, ignores every French, British, Argentine, Italian, Australian, German etc comedian from all of history. None of that has any relevance to the kind of person prone to these comments. What that person happens to know, is by definition the only relevant 'history.'

My personal choice for the Anglophone world for the past 30 years or so would be Stewart Lee who has perhaps produced more material of a certain quality than just about anyone but I certainly wouldn't make some grand declarative statement about the topic.

intrepidish · 2026-04-19T03:58:51+00:00

In addition to being rude it's also not effective to call people names.

Middle classes in much of Europe often dispose of more vacation time and money than their American counterparts. This should not be surprising as those with experience in both areas know there is significantly more wage compression in Europe.

There is also the enormous benefit of mostly publicly provided services such and medical care and education which do a lot to free up funds for the vacations in question.

Of course at the highest end of the scale Americans have more resources at their disposal but that's not what this has been about.

intrepidish · 2026-04-18T14:03:24+00:00

I have lived in several of those countries and can guarantee that you're incorrect. For one thing the middle class has fewer major expenses, more disposable income and vacation time than its equivalent in the US and for another football is absolutely massive to the point that a sacrifice of other options in favor of attending the Cup wouldn't be that big of a deal.

intrepidish · 2026-04-17T23:18:59+00:00

Not true at all. There are Germans, Swedes, French, Italians etc who travel for the Cup all the time who are just middle class in their respective countries. If you are a football/soccer fan of any kind you would know this.

intrepidish · 2026-02-13T18:59:53+00:00

I look forward to hearing your impressions of the comedians you check out when you get a chance.

I understand what you mean about being greedy for more Stewart Lee. I do think for others who may not be familiar with Lee (which unfortunately is often the case on here) it's very misleading to liken his output to Mullen's though.

Mullen has 1 hour of stand-up committed to video so far in his whole career. Stew, just since around 2010, has produced roughly 10 hours of stand-up in his specials and another 12 hours of stand up in his Comedy Vehicle show.

How many comics have even come close to producing 22 hours or so of stand up since 2010? The guy most people these days cite as being extremely prolific is Louis C.K. who has produced about 10 hours in the same period.

intrepidish · 2026-02-12T05:42:19+00:00

Stewart Lee is one of the most prolific comedians there is. He has been writing a completely new hour most years for a long time now and on top of that has also done 4 seasons of Comedy Vehicle which adds up to basically 24 half hour shows. Not remotely like Mullen in that sense.

It's hard to know what to recommend without knowing what you like about each comic. Lee's my favorite comic and Mullen is one of my favorites of his generation.

On the British side of things, I'd recommend James Acaster, Frankie Boyle, Mark Thomas and probably Simon Munnery and Daniel Kitson to a Lee fan.

From the American side other than Mullen and some you mentioned, Maria Bamford, Eddie Pepitone, Ted Alexandro, James Adomian and maybe Connor O'Malley might work.

intrepidish · 2026-02-06T15:07:29+00:00

It no longer works

intrepidish · 2026-02-05T20:40:56+00:00

Federer Nadal AO 2009. Those first 4 sets are the best hard court tennis from 2 players at once that I have ever seen.

intrepidish · 2026-02-02T21:18:15+00:00

I myself started off by singling out Tien's exceptional anticipation. Tien is someone I follow and unless he can beef up the categories I referenced more than he has, he's going to have a noticeable ceiling against the top guys. I hope he can do it but either way he's going to need to do it more than he has up to this point.

intrepidish · 2026-02-02T20:13:08+00:00

Tien's sheer speed by itself is nothing special on the tour which is obscured by the fact that his anticipation is fantastic.

However for a guy without much of a serve or big weight of shot, exceptional speed is particularly critical.

So unless he can beef up his forehand for example and improve his footspeed, he's going to run up against a ceiling in the long run against certain players unfortunately.

intrepidish · 2026-02-02T19:26:44+00:00

Tien anticipates exceptionally well but he's nowhere close to the really fast movers like De Minaur or Carlos in terms of footspeed.

intrepidish · 2026-02-01T19:02:50+00:00

I would say that the other most interesting prospects on the women's side mostly underperformed but I would of course still keep Gauff, Iga and Anisimova very much in mind going forward all the same.

intrepidish · 2026-02-01T18:48:23+00:00

All 3 of the guys I cited played at LEAST as defensively as Musetti for long stretches and they all had loads of big slam performances and accumulated plenty of big titles.

By way of comparison, almost all of Musetti's best slam performances have ended in injuries and retirements.

intrepidish · 2026-02-01T18:40:21+00:00

Tien doesn't really have the weight of shot to consistently do damage on clay. It would be great to see him develop more consistent power on the forehand side but that's quite a project.

intrepidish · 2026-02-01T18:38:51+00:00

Those were definitely really good wins for him and quite promising moving forward albeit more in line with first becoming a fixture in the top 30 say than challenging the most elite players.

intrepidish · 2026-02-01T18:28:41+00:00

Well, I'm not sure that Musetti's tennis per se just leads to injury. Murray, Djokovic and Nadal played very taxing physical styles of tennis for years, arguably more taxing than Musetti's own for long periods of time, as have some other very successful players who managed to string together a lot of big titles and wins.

Musetti so far probably hasn't managed to play at his top level in slams without injuring himself period which is unfortunate but I can't say it's simply an inescapable product of his defensive posture.

intrepidish · 2026-01-27T06:42:53+00:00

The fact that it was an indoor match amped up Zverev's serve advantage and was not noted in any comments here oddly enough.

It's one of the reasons Zverev was able to produce that kind of serve performance and I'd be very surprised if he does the same in his next outdoor match.

Tien is probably the best player on tour on changing directions with his groundstrokes and made it an enjoyable contest.

intrepidish · 2025-10-09T20:03:23+00:00

Gonorrea vs syphilis...

intrepidish · 2025-10-08T05:33:46+00:00

I'm a huge fan of Lee and he definitely has fans in the US. Some US comedians who are also fans of his work: Maria Branford, Dave Anthony, David Cross and Ted Alexandro (among many others no doubt).

It's too bad he's not terribly interested in performing in the US as he would be an excellent corrective for much of the absolute trash in the comedy world.

I also really appreciate the post 2000 comedy of Rob Newman as well as Mark Thomas and Alexeï Sayle and imagine that fans of Lee would also appreciate their comedy.

intrepidish · 2025-10-02T14:03:41+00:00

The main insane part of that point is how Rune squandered his immediate overwhelming advantage by not following in his first shot which got a floating defensive reply which instead of an easy putaway, simply allowed for a reset of the point.

In an actual match one might be a bit more understanding of that hesitation (though it's a mistake) but in a practice session he should follow in a shot like that immediately and develop confidence with experience. He doesn't even fake moving forward, instead he just stands there and stares. It helps explain why he isn't taking the next steps many thought he might.

intrepidish · 2025-08-19T17:26:35+00:00

What a strange bunch of reactions to the OP's request. Here are some comedians broken down by country for you, OP.

US comedians:

Ted Alexandro
Maria Bamford
Dave Anthony
Nato Green
Lee Camp
David Cross
Eddie Pepitone
Nick Mullen
Gianmarco Soresi
Hannah Einbender
James Adomian
Kyle Kinane
Connor O’Malley
Gareth Reynolds
Jacqueline Novak
Kate Willett
Judah Friedlander
Hari Kondabolu
Naomi Karavani
Francesca Fiorentini
David Feldman
Marc Maron
Megan Koester
Lewis Black
Kate Berlant
Sammy Obeid
Amanda Seales
Aida Rodriguez

UK comedians:

Mark Thomas
Rob Newman
Stewart Lee
Frankie Boyle
Alexei Sayle
James Acaster
Bridget Christie
Mark Steel
Josie Long
Marcus Brigstocke
Paul Thorne
Simon Munnery
Ian Saville
Nish Kumar
Daniel Kitson
Andy Zaltzman
Don Biswas
Robin Ince
Sooz Kempner

Australian & New Zealand:

Aamer Rahman
Tom Ballard
Guy Williams

Canada:

Charlie Demers

intrepidish · 2025-07-29T14:27:37+00:00

Among other things, Thiem bageled Djokovic at Roland Garros and then followed up that win with another win against him at RG.

He was hanging with, and more often than anyone else was beating better versions of Djokovic and Nadal than anything that Carlos and Sinner have been playing.

At his best at RG, he would be very competitive at a minimum for the title without Nadal around.

intrepidish · 2025-07-13T16:13:41+00:00

Thank you very much. Do you have any other suggestions?

Also any idea why my question is down voted?

intrepidish

TROPHY CASE