Was Steve Martin ever funny?

[imported_The Vibesman]

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Also, in reference to the recent George Carlin special. Easily the worst Carlin routine ever. ...... This recent one didn't seem like comedy at all. It seemed like he was more interested in just talking about current events.


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I paid to see him in August (Vegas) and he announced this was the routine he was going to do for an HBO special. He was pwned by the opening comic. After about 20 minutes, people started to leave the theatre. Worst performance I ever seen!!! It was embarrassing how few times people laughed. I think I laughed one time and it was at a comment my brother made that funnier than Carlin's punch line [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

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Carlin was once the funniest comic working. He is now a ranting old man. Sort of a shame.

He did an interview where he talked about how he didn't feel he had to get a laugh a minute anymore, that he felt he could stretch his jokes out a bit and go for a big laugh at the end. I thought that was a really self-serving rationalization from a guy that just wasn't that funny anymore. I haven't watched the new HBO special, a friend of mine says it's just more of the same.

Regarding Steve Martin, one of the coolest things about Steve Martin when he was big in the 70's was the range of people that liked him. His absurdist humor appealed to smart and dumb people, to hippies and conservatives, to Doctors and trailer trash. (I've heard; I was born in '75, so I don't really know firsthand.)

And for all the talk about the Jerk, I think his funniest movie may have been "All Of Me." Jesus, what a riot that movie is.