Continuing our Comedy MVP series, here’s 1975-1979. You’ll find that it differs from Simmons’s list–and you’ll find that it’s correct, as well.
1975: Andy Kaufman (w/ a Mel Brooks Honorable Mention): Andy Kaufman broke through in 1975, and despite a strong run from Richard Pryor, I don’t see how you can’t give the MVP to this:
Also, Mel Brooks should get an honorable mention here on the strength of Blazing Saddles, despite its release in 1974. So, keep him in mind here, as well.
1976: Chevy Chase: Chase left SNL in 1976 because he was effing awesome. Strangely enough, he continues to be awesome, despite the occasional stinker. Here’s a vid of Chase in 1976 at the DNC:
1977: SCTV: Seriously, we’re not forgetting those important to comedy here, and in 1977, the entire cast of SCTV did the heavy lifting for comedy at large.
1978: John Belushi: Animal House. Some great SNL sketches. All-around awesomeness. A legend nobody could outlive, or, if you’re a certain brother named Jim, a shadow you’ll never be able to step out of. That’s pretty much what you get with Belushi.
1979: Steve Martin: in the late 70′s, Steve Martin was the greatest stand-up comedian in the world. He also made what might be considered a peculiar version of Citizen Kane, if you made Charles Foster Kane an idiot. Behold:
And some Martin stand-up for good measure:
Be back soon with 1980-1984. They’re doozies, fer sure.
Every week or so, depending upon the comments we get, we choose a comment of the week and add that person to a random drawing for a quarterly CotW prize. The first of these drawings will be around the end of August–so get your comments in for a chance at a Party Source gift card.
Meh, you’re not wrong about the comments at all, but I’d point out that we’re talking about a newspaper here that is barely publishing in print anymore, and their revenue is taking a beating because of it (I would think, anyways). Whether removing comments is a good idea or not (and in terms of decency it probably is) doesn’t matter to them one bit. If they’re squeezing a few cents out of the “racist slapfighting”, they’re going to keep doing it. Does that suck because it gives these racist clowns a sounding board? Yes, but that’s life when the news is a business. I just ignore the comments.
Thanks for pitching in and conversing, Sherm. Good luck!
You’ve probably seen this scene, so you know it’s a hair NSFW–but it might be the funniest thing I’ve seen so far this year. It’s the “I shot Marvin” scene from Pulp Fiction with a laugh track. Vid after the jump.
“Comedy MVP” is, essentially, exactly what it sounds like: the most important comedian of a particular year. I’m not really objectively weighing for any particular thing, but special contributions to comedy itself and lasting influence is looked at to be more important than how many movies or comedy albums were released in that particular year.
We’ll be going all the way up through 2010. Here are the Comedy MVPs from 1970 to 1974.
1970: Bill Cosby: In the early 70′s, Bill Cosby was basically the tits. There’s a reason why Fat Albert got made, and there’s a reason why The Cosby Show existed, and it’s basically his stand-up comedy and his performances in I Spy. Sports won a Grammy in 1970, after a string of Grammys and Emmys through the 60′s. Behold:
1971: Flip Wilson: The Flip Wilson Show, which debuted in 1970, was one of the biggest things going by ’71. All sorts of major comics appeared on the show, and you probably have seen some of the Jackson 5′s performances from TFWS, too. Crazy.
1972: George Carlin: In the early 70′s, Carlin changed his look and his act–and that, as they say, is history. Both FM & AM and what would become his signature album, Class Clown, came out in 1972, changing comedy forever.
1973: George Carlin & Redd Foxx: Carlin’s here again because of Occupation: Foole. In 1973, Sanford and Son was at its height. It’s not particularly widely recognized now as it probably should be, but Sanford and Son helped define what we know as the contemporary sitcom. Which is huge.
1974: Richard Pryor: 1974 marks the year That Nigger’s Crazy came out. That’s enough.
It’s always fun times to be a blogger when someone is wrong on the Internet–and boy, is Bill Simmons wrong as hell about his list of comedy MVPs pretty much throughout the whole thing. There are shining stars here and there (Richard Pryor comes to mind immediately), but he seems to fail to take into account importance to comedy itself and/or boundary stretching–with the exceptions of Pryor, Steve Martin, and the South Park Guys (though I would give them the MVP earlier than 2001).
So, here’s his list. Look at how wrong Bill Simmons is (with my own annotations italicized):
1975: Richard Pryor Okay, he’s right on this one. IMO, Pryor thinly edges out George Carlin here.
1976: Chevy Chase If you’re basing this on SNL alone, then you’re probably right.
1977-78: John Belushi 1978 only.
1979: Robin Williams, Steve Martin I don’t know that Robin Williams makes this list at all; Martin’s the right choice, though.
1980: Rodney Dangerfield I’d push Dangerfield down the list a little, around Back to School-era.
1981: Bill Murray No. Not here. Either during SNL or Ghostbusters, but not for Caddyshack alone. A list like this wants to be more objective, and it should be.
1982-84: Eddie Murphy (1984 Honorable Mention to Sam Kinison) I don’t know about 3 years in a row, here. You’re getting lazy, dude.
1985-86: David Letterman This multi-year stuff is silly.
1987: Jay Leno, Howard Stern (tie) Wrong. Wrong on all accounts.
1988: Eddie Murphy He should be 1987′s MVP, because Raw is a lot more important to comedy than Coming to America.
1989: Dana Carvey Heh. Nope.
1990: Billy Crystal This shit is silly.
1991: Jerry Seinfeld Still silly.
1992: Jerry Seinfeld, Mike Myers (tie) You could make a case for Seinfeld here, but not Myers–contributions to comedy not important enough.
1993: Mike Myers No.
1994: Jim Carrey Hell no.
1995: Chris Farley Norm MacDonald got a mention in Simmons’s annotation, and he’s the real MVP that year based on Weekend Update alone.
1996: Chris Rock You make a strong case here, Simmons. A strong case indeed.
1997: Garry Shandling This is just a way for Simmons to recognize The Larry Sanders Show. Great show, but whatever.
1998: Adam Sandler Does Sandler make this list at all? Probably a big no on that one.
1999: Mike Myers, Chris Rock (tie) You could make a case for a 2nd Chris Rock MVP here, but not Mike Myers. NOT. MIKE. MYERS.
2000: Will Ferrell Ferrell’s Comedy MVP should come a hair later, maybe.
2001: Matt Stone and Trey Parker (tie) Stone and Parker should come earlier.
2002: Larry David Blecch.“I’m Larry David. I hate stuff. I’m neurotic and angry and sad-looking.” Whatever.
2003: Dave Chappelle Absolutely correct here, Simmons. 2003 Chappelle was a-ma-zing.
2004: Dave Chappelle, Jon Stewart (tie) Meh.
2005: Steve Carell Hmmm… the year of Anchorman. Gonna have to give it some thought.
2006: Sacha Baron Cohen Probably right, based on media coverage for Borat alone.
2007: Larry David I’m gonna say it right now, and I know it’s controversial, but Curb Your Enthusiasm is dumb.
2008: Tina Fey Maybe a different year–also, nice “Token chick” pick, Simmons.
2009: Zach Galifianiakis The Hangover isn’t Galifianiakis’s finest work. You’ve seen his stand-up, right? Come on.
This got me to thinking: why not do our own list, and go back 40 years (to 1970) instead of 1975? The reason I’m saying 1970 instead of 1975 is, well, because lots of important comedy happened between 1972 and 1975. Instead of starting there, the round number seemed like a good idea.
I’ll start with 1970-1974 tomorrow and go in chunks from there, ending with a little poll to decide who the 2010 Comedy MVP is. Nice.