Michael McIntyre shocked at 'hostility' from other comedians

In an in-depth interview with Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Michael McIntyre has admitted to being surprised at the 'hostility' shown towards him by some comedians.

Interviewer Kirsty Young observed: "The success you've had generates a lot of attention, it also generates a lot of envy, and sometimes derision. Some people are very rude about your comedy. Stewart Lee said that he felt that you were 'spoon feeding your audience warm diarrhea'."

Asked about what he thought about such comments, McIntyre responded: "I think it comes with the territory. I'm sure it does, actually. Of course, I can't say it is water off a duck's back and I'm so thick skinned I could just say that - I can say it now because I'm getting used to it, but it did come as a shock at the beginning, I can't deny that. It was confusing because my big break came - certainly at the beginning - with an amazing amount of hostility."

He went on to say: "I would never be rude about someone else in my profession, because we're all doing the same thing - trying to make people laugh. I have my audience and other people have their audience."

"I went to The British Comedy Awards and quite a few people were making jokes at my expense and it just made me feel awful. I was there with my wife and she had gone out and bought a new dress, and it was my big night and I won... and the over-riding experience was that of nastiness. For what reason I don't know. What I was doing was just making people laugh."

10 Best Comedians to Follow on Twitter

Following the best comedians on Twitter beats reading multi-level marketing spam. These are 10 funny celebrities worth following.

Michael Ian Black: He's got over 1.5 million followers. He rarely tweets more than 3 times a day and they're almost all funny like saying he needs to get better at doing things that people want to pay money for. That's actually good career advice.

Stephen Colbert: This comedian just hit over 2 million Twitter followers but just wishes there was some way to let you know he also has a TV show. He limits the tweets to a few a day and keeps them comical.

Sarah Silverman: This SNL graduate has over one million followers thanks to several tweets a day and virtually no promotion I could find. Love the observation that mass insanity is harder to spot.

Steve Martin: I love even the dumbest Steve Martin movies, and he takes a serious interest in art unlike celebrities who seem to treat it as a commodity. He's got a little over half a million followers. His tweets sometimes run over 10 a day, but they're usually hilarious or at least interesting.

John Cleese: Too much promotion but there's occasional gems like the anniversary tweet suggesting the show was nearly called Monkey Piston's Frying Circle. Over 800,000 people are following. You can also sign up for John Cleese's newsletter.

Sarah Thyre: This Los Angeles actress has under 3,000 followers but she's worth following if you think "Rape-ublican" is a funny word.

Sarah Palin: Sure, her bio doesn't mention being a comedian, but laugh at her not with her. Actually, I think following her sends the wrong message so just look discreetly.

Justin: This guy claims he's 29 years old and just writes down stuff his 74 years old dad says. With almost 2 million followers, he's sprucing up the image of adult men who still live with their parents, and he only tweets about once a month.

Louis C.K: If you like the TV show, you may want to join his 300,000 followers.

Tweet The Joke: Here you can follow lots of famous comedians who act as the day's host by writing an opening line. Then, you tweet the punch line with the hashtag "#tweetthejoke." They've only got 1,117 followers now, you don't get anything for winning, and the volume of tweets could get annoying. But, you may find more humorous people you want to follow.

Have fun following these funny comedians on Twitter.

Comedians Tweet The News: The Week's Best Jokes On The Week's Hottest Topics

Gone are the days when someone must tune into a late night talk show or go to a comedy club to hear topical jokes about the day's headlines. Today, Twitter has given many comedians a reason to turn joke telling into a 24/7 business. Even during relatively slow news cycles, like right now, comedy wordsmiths still make topical jokes about the events in the news available to a mass audience. Here are some of the best tweets from our favorite funny tweeters that cover today's biggest stories, from the "Huckleberry Finn" controversy, to John Boehner, to Ted Williams:

Morgan Murphy:
I bet Ted Williams will get a great job. And the guy he replaces will end up homeless.

Stephen Colbert:
It's great that they took the N-word out of "Huckleberry Finn." Now get to work on "Moby D-Word."

Rob Kutner:
Just ordered my copy of Mark Twai's Huck Fi from Amazo.com

Chris Regan:
The GOP are doing the "People's Work" of reading the entire Constitution. Or the "People's Homework They Should've Done in 9th Grade."

mileskahn:
I've replaced all the racist words in Huck Finn with "Boehner." Reads much better now.

Guy Nicolucci:
Michelle Bachmann was appointed to the Intelligence Committee. Didn't George Carlin do a routine about that?

Chelsea Peretti:
Scientists! Look at what's right in front of you. The dead birds were killed by Mark Twain's ghost. He's lashing out bc he loves the n word

Top 9 Black Stand-Up Comedians

In the world of comedy, segregation may be a good thing. Black comedy is something like extended time with a member of our family. Instead of the person on stage coming up with ridiculous situations only they went through, black comedians thrive on finding ways to relate to their people via the audience before them. It’s as if they say, “Being a black person in this world is a trip, and I know you know what I’m talking about.” Here are nine black comedians who took us on trips we were all familiar with, and made us laugh throughout the entire journey.

EDDIE MURPHY

Eddie Murphy may still be making at least one movie ever year, some of which are good, but a lot of his die-hard fans miss the Eddie Murphy of old. He was the one wearing the red leather suit in Delirious making jokes about men claiming the house when they’re drunk and memorable impressions of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and James Brown. Or, for some fans, the Eddie Murphy in the leather purple jump suit from Raw. Whichever one you choose, no one can deny, before Murphy went all “Nutty Professor” on us, he was the biggest black stand-up comedian in the world.

RICHARD PRYOR

Before Murphy, there was Richard Pryor, the larger-than-life stand-up comedian who broke through the mainstream in a way few had before him. Pryor’s act was unapologetic, aggressive, and deeply steeped in black life. The man didn’t just know how to tell a joke, he knew how to tell a joke in areas of life where people hadn’t thought laughter existed. From drug addiction to his public demolishing of the N-word in his off-stage conversations, Pryor knew how to make others laugh at things he could barely smile about.

DICK GREGORY

Dick Gregory made a name for himself as the face of black comedy during the Civil Rights era. At a time when black comedy was and stand up comedy in general was still a somewhat cottage industry, Gregory came of age to an audience that was both black and white. His popularity was undeniable, just ask Hugh Hefner who hired Gregory to perform at the Chicago Playboy Club.

BILL COSBY

Before he became America’s dad in his sitcom series, The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby was one of the biggest stand-up comedians in the 60s and 70s. Unlike his peers like Pryor and Gregory, Cosby gained notoriety for keeping his stand-up acts clean and without curse words.

CHRIS ROCK

Arguably the best comedian performing stand-up today, Rock’s stand-up comedy is so smart, his jokes would not sound out of place in a college classroom. Rock rifts from the heart but most noticeably from his brain, where he comes up with some of his most well-known bits like his long tirade and explanation about the difference between “black people” and “niggers” and rich” and “wealthy”.

DAVE CHAPPELLE

Chapelle will go down in history as the man behind one of the greatest sketch comedy shows of all time, “Chappelle’s Show”. But prior to his show, Chappelle was one of the sharpest stand-up comedians working in the 90’s. His aw-shucks style on the microphone gave his routine a childlike innocence, but his jokes were strictly for grown folks who never could stop laughing.

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER

Before Cedric became the host of BET’s popular Comic View, and one of four comedians featured on the Kings of Comedy Tour, he was a funny man who sold insurance during the work week and told stand up jokes on the weekend. The grind paid off and now, Cedric The Entertainer has lived up to his stage name in venues around the world.

STEVE HARVEY

Harvey wears a lot of hats, but none of them would be worn without his first one: stand-up comedy. Unlike most comedians who pander to a younger audience, Harvey takes a different approach. Harvey laces his humor with bits of wisdom he learned back in his younger years, like the older uncle you love to hear talk at the family barbecue.

BERNIE MAC

The late great stand-up had a long career before coming into fame as a member of the Kings of Comedy tour back in 2000. After his performance — the raucous, prfoanity-laced finale — Mack went onto find success with his own sitcom on FOX and numerous roles in successful movies like the Ocean’s Eleven franchise.

The Best Comedy Albums of 2011 (So Far)

Even though 2011 isn't over yet, we've already had an impressive number of excellent comedy albums, both from veterans and relative newcomers. Check out the best comedy albums of 2011 so far.

1. Louis C.K. - 'Hilarious'
It almost seems unfair that comedian Louis C.K. releasedd his latest album, Hilarious, within the first two weeks of 2011. It's unfair because the album is so outstanding that it set an impossible standard for every other record that followed it; over and over again, I can hear myself saying "Sure, it's funny...but is it Hilarious?" It's so rare to find a comic with a point of view these days that coming across one as sharply defined as Louis C.K.'s is a kind of miracle. Hilarious finds the best comic of today at the top of his game, and truly earns its title.

2. Natasha Leggero - 'Coke Money'
On her first comedy album, Coke Money, Natasha Leggero does exactly what her contemporary female comics like Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler do -- only much better. She's the spoiled-brat-as-comic, the girl who is all too aware of her own shortcomings but who still isn't going to suffer fools lightly. That's how she ends up taking on L.A. club girls, douchebag guys, egotistical rappers, toilet babies and many, many more in routines that only get funnier as the album goes on. Coke Money is so much better than what several of Leggero's more successful or better-known contemporaries are putting out. It's one of the funniest records of the year.

3. Tommy Johnagin - 'Stand Up Comedy 2'
Tommy Johnagin is way too funny to have finished in only second place on Last Comic Standing in 2010, as evidenced by his second album Stand Up Comedy 2. Johnagin is a terrific joke writer and, like a lot of great comics, has a knack for applying logic to situations that may not call for it and pulling the humor out of that juxtaposition. It's the kind of comedy album that will hold up to repeat listens, and it moves quickly; Johnagin knows how and when to get out of a bit and into the next one. Bring on Stand Up Comedy 3.

4. Amy Schumer - 'Cutting'
Overlooking the double meaning in the title of Amy Schumer's debut album, Cutting, it's a great example of the comic's approach to stand-up: take a subject that might otherwise be sensitive or off-limits (in this case, teenage cutting) and turn it into comedy. When she's not destroying political correctness for its own sake, she's comes up with some terrific black comedy one-liners, and her album shows a real intelligence and knack for using language. Oh, and it has maybe the best final joke of any comedy album I've heard in a long, long time.

5. Norm Macdonald - 'Me Doing Standup'
There's something so laid back about Norm Macdonald's approach to comedy -- as evidenced even by the title of his latest album, Me Doing Standup -- that I think some people have a hard time taking him seriously. Macdonald segues from a deconstruction of language into long-form bits about 24 hour news, the woman troubles of Tiger Woods and gives an involved, detailed description of just how he would go about getting away with a murder (not that he's planning on killing anyone, but a river can only go so long before there's a bend). The material is funny enough on its own, but it's made even better by Macdonald's trademark delivery.

Comedian Jimmy Tingle jokes about running for president in new stand-up show -- or is he?

from: DailyNews.com

To the running joke that is the Great American List of Unqualified Presidential Candidates, add one more joker.

This one actually admits he's running as a joke.

"I have absolutely no legislative accomplishments whatsoever," says comedian Jimmy Tingle, through a chowder-thick accent that reminds voters he was born in Cambridge, Mass.

"I want to take the great political principles of the United States and combine them with the great spiritual principles of the world's major religions that focus on love, compassion, peace, mercy and forgiveness."

It is really funny to have his say all these especially now that the games for next year's presidential elections have already started.
Is he going to be the new president???? I guess if you stay tuned you will hear more about this.

In the mean time we just want to stay entertained so let's hit the comedy shows and see the best performances !

Comedians dish about funny business at fest

from: BostonHerald.com

NANTUCKET — Hundreds of Nantucket Film Festival fans felt like flies on the wall yesterday as funny guys Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, Seth Meyers, Colin Quinn and Aziz Ansari took to the stage to talk amongst themselves about making people laugh.

The high hilarity at the high school, moderated by Meyers, the head writer of “Saturday Night Live,” was an hour-plus inside look into making hit TV sitcoms, sketch comedy shows, funny films and stand-up routines.

And here’s a sample of some of the things we overheard:

•Stiller, who flew in from New York after closing his Broadway show, “The House of Blue Leaves,” on Saturday night, bombed at his first try at stand-up comedy.

“I think it’s the hardest thing you can do in show business,” he said. “At 16, I took a class at The Improv in New York, and I wrote a horrible bit about alternate-side-of-the-street parking.” Whereupon Quinn said, “Hmm. Jerry did a whole episode on that.”

• Seinfeld said his one regret about his uberpopular, long-running sitcom was pulling the plug on doing an entire episode in Claymation.

“I didn’t do it because Tim Allen has already done a Claymation scene in ‘Home Improvement,’ and I didn’t want to imitate Tim Allen,” he said. “I regret that.”

• And speaking of Seinfeld, he missed the griminess of stand-up comedy when he was starring in the hit NBC comedy series. But he still can’t understand why his jokes need to be approved by an audience. Because, really isn’t he the funny one?

“If a joke doesn’t work, how come I have to come and ask you?” Jerry asks a hypothetical audience. “What do you know about comedy? If you were funny, you wouldn’t be here (in the audience).”

• Quinn, who has been touring with his one-man show “Long Story Short,” directed by Seinfeld, said the last time he was in Massachusetts for a stand-up gig, it was in Gloucester and a fight started outside the club.

“There was a giant brawl after the show,” he said. “This little waitress comes back inside and I said, ‘I’m sorry about this’ and she said, ‘It’s awesome.’ Goes to show you the clientele...”

• Ansari, who stars as Tom Haverford on NBC’s “Parks & Recreation,” joked he would much prefer to have others write great material for him — like they do on his sitcom.

“Writing is soooo hard,” said the proprietor of the faux Pawnee uberconglomerate ‘Entertainment 720.’ “But seriously it’s really important to write your own stuff.”

• Meyers, who confessed he thinks Bill Hader’s alter ego Stefon is the “funniest character on “SNL,” said writers only have two hours after two run-throughs to tweak the show and get it down to 90 minutes before it airs at 11:35 p.m. And many weeks, it’s a nail-biter. Also nearly half of the Weekend Update jokes are tossed out before he performs the bit for real.

The audience at the Nantucket Film Festival’s final big event included many aspiring Jerry Seinfelds (although the questions from the audience at the end were rather lame). So we asked Jerry what’s the secret to a blockbuster comedy career?

“You got to fall in love with it,” he said. “I am a big fan of obsessive behavior. I’m a big fan of what people think of as workaholism. I don’t think that this is a real problem in (our) culture that people are working too hard. I’ve seen the antithesis of that. So I am a big fan of go crazy and become obsessed to the exclusion of all other things.

“People say you need to have balance in your life and a broad perspective. I’m against all these things,” Jer told the Track. “I advocate for narrow and unbalanced. And that is the only possible route to becoming a comedian.”

And not that there’s anything wrong with that ...