I believe universal humour is better known as slapstick humour. I mean who on this planet doesn’t think Tom and Jerry cartoons hilarious?

That’s the thing whenever there’s an attempt to create a “top” list of anything – defining exactly what the parameters are. Time Mag did a Top 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century list in 1999. Einstein was #1, but there’s an argument to be made for Hitler (especially when you consider the fact that Hitler was the reason Einstein pulled up stakes in the first place).

It’s admittedly not a great analogy for comedy, of course, because Dane Cook is not Hitler and Doug Stanhope is not Einstein.

But as far as a Rushmore of Comedy – just four measly comics – it’s probably impossible and certainly totally subjective. I don’t think anyone has produced quite the signature style/bits that captured large public attention like Lenny Bruce’s tackling of social mores in the 50’s, Pryor’s auto-biographic honesty, or Carlin’s “7 Words…” The only possible contender I can think of is Chris Rock’s “Black People vs. Niggers” bit, but even then, Chris Rock is not under contract to do an hour for HBO every 18 months.

I could – and probably will – write a lengthy and boring blog post on this, but I’ll just leave off with why certain people DON’T make my personal Rushmore:

HEDBERG: Two CD’s, one of them posthumous, doesn’t cut it. Sorry. Yeah – good writing and great delivery. Comics who remember him will always admire him, but there is little if any broader cultural impact.

GAFFIGAN: I may be a snot, but I’m with Hicks on this one: “You do a commercial, you’re off the artistic roll call. Forever. Everything you say is suspect, and every word out of your mouth is like a turd falling into my drink.” Gaffigan’s a good comic, but he’s not so good that I forget he shilled for Sierra Mist, of all things.

Anyway, like I said I could eat up all of Brian’s bandwidth with this subject, and to no avail, because we all have our personal loves and opinions. But there’s one guy I failed to think of in my first post, who it could be argued tops them all:

PAUL MOONEY

I am, however, in favor of having this discussion at great length, just so Brian has to read 472 posts in a week

Oh, one last thing on topical humor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdFJ-hFFdI8

Brian/Comics: have any of you found a tried and true method of squashing that person at the club who wants to tell you street jokes?

They invariably open the conversation by complimenting the comic before starting that shit, which makes it even harder to nip it without looking like the asshole.

Besides, they’re never hot single women.

All 4 guys on Mt. Rushmore had people who voted against them, but made a huge impact on the nation. In that spirit, wouldn’t you have to consider Jeff Foxworthy for the last 20 years? I’m no fan, but he has quite a resume and launched a few careers…

Okay, let’s give this a try. If the criteria are comedians who became popular in the last two decades (for doing comedy) as well as being my favorite comedians, my list would have to include Chris Rock, Lewis Black, Mitch Hedberg and David Cross.