Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedies alike, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, five Grammy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005.
Steven Alexander Wright is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctive lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations.
David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in and co-created the satirical comedy sketch series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006) before quitting in the middle of production during the third season. After a hiatus, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the U.S. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time".
Kevin Brennan is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and writer. He is the host of the Misery Loves Company podcast, and is best known for his work on Saturday Night Live'sWeekend Update in 1999 and 2000.
David Attell is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer best known as the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell.
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational, often vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy. He released six comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed (2003), Retaliation (2005), Vicious Circle (2006), Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden (2007), and Isolated Incident (2009).
Stan Lathan is an American television and film director and television producer. He is executive producer and director of BET's Real Husbands of Hollywood. He has produced and directed numerous stand-up comedy specials starring comedian Dave Chappelle, including Killin' Them Softly, Equanimity, The Bird Revelation, Sticks & Stones, and The Closer
Killing Me Softly may refer to:
Louis Alfred Székely, known professionally as Louis C.K., is an American stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker. C.K. has won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as numerous awards for The Chris Rock Show, Louie, and his stand-up specials Live at the Beacon Theater (2011) and Oh My God (2013). In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked C.K.'s stand-up special Shameless number three on their "Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies of All Time" list and ranked him fourth on its 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.
Ned Arnel "Carlos" Mencía is an Honduran-American comedian, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race relations, Latin American culture, criminal justice, and social class. He is best known for a controversy involving being a joke thief and therefore “Carlos Menstealia” and as the host of the Comedy Central show Mind of Mencia (2005–2008). Around the time of the show's cancellation, several comedians accused Mencía of plagiarism and stealing jokes.
Nathaniel Stroman, known professionally as Earthquake, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice artist and radio personality. He presently hosts a radio show entitled, Quakeshouse for SiriusXM and Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud Network. His first Netflix special entitled Chappelle's Home Team- Legendary: Earthquake was produced by Dave Chappelle and his Magic Lemonade production entity in February of 2022.
Neal Brennan is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006) with Dave Chappelle and for his Netflix stand-up comedy special 3 Mics (2017).
Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known as the "Roastmaster General" for his insult comedy, his multiple appearances at celebrity roasts held by the New York Friars Club, the Comedy Central Roast television series, and the Netflix historical comedy series Historical Roasts. In 2009 the Chicago Tribune called Ross "the new millennium Don Rickles." His directorial debut, the 2006 documentary Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie, won the prize for Best Film at the Comedia film festival held at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.
Wayne Federman is an American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.
The Comedy Cellar is a comedy club in Manhattan where many top New York comedians perform, sometimes referred to as the "Harvard of comedy clubs". It was founded in 1982 by then stand-up comedian, and current television writer/producer Bill Grundfest. It is located in Greenwich Village on 117 MacDougal Street between West 3rd Street and Minetta Lane. Above the club is a restaurant called The Olive Tree Cafe to which it is connected, where many of the comedians hang out after performing. The club is owned by Noam Dworman, who inherited it from his late father Manny in 2003. It is being booked by Estee Adoram, who has developed the club's talent for nearly four decades. The businesses share the same menu, kitchen, and staff as the Olive Tree Cafe.
Comic Relief USA was a non-profit charity organization whose mission is to raise funds to help those in need—particularly America's homeless. It has raised and distributed nearly US$50 million toward providing assistance—including health care services—to homeless people throughout the United States. Although Comic Relief's charity work is continuous, its fundraising events were held and televised at irregular intervals—and primarily by Home Box Office (HBO), with comedians Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg as the hosts each time. They—along with many other comedians, celebrities, and occasional politicians—perform various segments—both general-purpose and specific to homelessness—of standup comedy, sketch comedy, speeches, live music, and impressions of persons and characters—all in order to entertain and enlighten. There are also documentary segments dealing with real-life problems of homeless people, in order to raise awareness of not only the grim realities but also how many hard-working "ordinary" people can wind up or grow up homeless. In exchange for contributions exceeding certain key amounts, T-shirts, sweatshirts and other merchandise are typically for sale. Its slogans are “Where there’s laughter, there’s hope” and “Comic Relief—it’s no joke.”
HBO Comedy Half-Hour is a stand-up comedy television series of specials by various comedians, usually live from The Fillmore in San Francisco, with the format of a single comedian presenting a routine for thirty minutes.
Greer Barnes is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for clever wordplay, observational humor, sketch comedy, mimicry, and energetic physical comedy. He has performed in comedy festivals, in commercials, on television and in films. He regularly appears at The Comedy Cellar in New York City’s West Village.
Sticks & Stones is a 2019 American stand-up comedy television special starring comedian Dave Chappelle and directed by Stan Lathan. It was produced by Chappelle and Lathan and distributed by Netflix, the special is detailed as "a provocative perspective on the tidal wave of celebrity scandals, the opioid crisis, and more".
The Closer is a 2021 American stand-up comedy special written and performed by Dave Chappelle for Netflix. It was directed by Stan Lathan and recorded over the course of seven sold-out performances at The Fillmore Detroit, which ran from August 10 to 15, 2021. The Closer is Chappelle's sixth and final special under his 2016 deal with Netflix, with the other five being Deep in the Heart of Texas, The Age of Spin, Equanimity, The Bird Revelation and Sticks & Stones.
