This guy is #1. A legend in my eyes. Although he is not yet a well known celebrity (as I write this in 2005), he is definitely on the way to super stardom. He is dominating the stand up comedy circuit and selling out massive shows and has a top selling comedy CD, numerous appearances on all the big TV shows (Leno, Letterman, Comedy Central, etc.), and he is also slowly pushing his way through Hollywood. He is everything I want to be. He is everything I dreamed of being, before I ever knew he existed.

But that is not why he is my #1 idol and comedy god. That reason is his voice. His voice resonates. It has a quality that cannot be duplicated. It just SOUNDS funny. I'm not talking about his screams or his act-outs or his jumping around. I'm talking about his normal speaking voice, and the way he uses it. He just SOUNDS funny. And then he takes that voice and takes it to the next level. His comedy is hilarious. His spin on life, and his silly imagination are pure entertainment. He is my biggest inspiration in the world of comedy. He seems indomitable. I would pay $1000 to see Dane Cook bomb, just to be able to weigh in that experience with my own comedy growth. Or maybe he is unbombable????

If there is one comic who might be unbombable -- that would be Dane. It's that voice I'm talking about. He just SOUNDS funny, even when he's not even saying a punchline. He could probably sound funny reciting the encylopedia. I cannot say enough about Dane so I will stop here.

Normally one-liner comics are not my favorite. There are some great ones, such as Steven Wright who was big years ago, but personally I would not place Steven Wright on this web page. But Mitch Hedberg had something else. He had the wonderful imagination of Dane Cook, with some of the weird stylings of Louis CK, delivered in one-liners. Add to that a unique voice.... his unique method of speaking slowly, stressing the wrong syllables, and stuttering while not really stuttering.

He also consistently wrote great, funny one-liners. That is HARD to do. He had like an un-ending supply of them! Wow.

All that created one of the funniest and most unique comedians of our time. The loss of Mitch Hedberg is a tragedy in the comedy world. R.I.P Mitch Hedberg.

I consider Chris Rock to be one of the most brilliant comedy writers working today. His material is very in depth and goes exactly where you want it to go. His delivery and his voice are unique. He has tremendous power on stage.

His writing, delivery, power, voice, and consistency make him an inspiration to me.

I had the pleasure of seeing Chris Rock live at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, in 2005, a couple of weeks before the Oscars. He was a surprise guest who came on AFTER the headliner, Jeremy Hotz (2), who was brilliant. Only someone of Chris Rock's caliber could come out after a genius set like Hotz's and rock the house even more. And he had a NOTEBOOK in hand. He was practicing his material for the Oscars, which he was hosting.

A couple of weeks later, I saw him host the Oscars and he did his material word for word (minus a couple of small parts). That was awesome and professional, and showed that great comics do stick to their sets. They don't always come up with everything off the top of their heads.

Louis C.K. is a brilliant writer who has a very weird style. He is just plain weird. All his punchlines take you to a weird ending instead of an obvious or traditional funny punchline. This is what makes him so great. But yet he speaks in a totally down to earth and friendly nice guy tone. It's a perfect mixture. He'll talk about the worst, nastiest shit in the world: sucking demon cock, raping Hitler into a 69 position, and telling your 2 year old to shut the fuck up... and make it weird and funny and innocent and sweet. But most of all, funny.

George Carlin is in every comedian's "favorite comedian" page. I have to list George Carlin or be sent to comic-hell where Bog Saget and Dave Coulier will gnaw on my flesh for all eternity.

Brilliant writing, the most articulate speaker I've heard on the comedy stage, maybe any stage, dead-on delivery, and longevity you can't touch.

Also, he never became a full time actor, but stayed a stand up comedian primarily, even after all these years, which I have tremendous respect for.

As of this writing (July 2005) Jokoy runs the Thursday night "Asian Night" show at the Laugh Factory. I saw him in April 2005 over there and he was a blast. He was truly funny on the highest level, so that is why he has the honor of being on this page here. This night was when the Dane Cook girlfriend story took place! (Read about it here)

Robert Kelly has toured with Dane Cook all month in April 2005 on their Tourgasm tour. I got to see him live (with Dane Cook) at the Laugh Factory on July 19th. He was so great on stage that he earned his spot right here. (Read about the show here)

There are many other wonderful, awesome comics, but the ones listed here are the few that touched me in a way that went beyond everyone else. Having said that, here are some honorable mentions. Comics that also touched me, but maybe not as profoundly as the ones above. Or maybe I haven't seen them enough. But either way, they made it to this page.

Margaret Cho
She inspired me back when I was a teenager. When I first started wanting to do comedy. I remember she was the first comic who made me laugh out loud, which is something that hardly EVER happens to me, even today. Also, I thought her show All American Girl was hilarious, back in the day. Her newer material is great as well, but hasn't touched me in the way I remember when I first saw her years ago.

Kevin Brennan
Kevin Brennan is a mystery. There is no info on him anywhere. No video. No nothing. I saw him on Comedy Central on a show called "Tompkins Square" years ago, when I was a teenager. Back when I first wanted to get into comedy. He made me laugh hard. He was wonderful. I'm not sure how I would see him now. I wish he had a website. Or video clips. Or a tour schedule. I remember laughing so hard at his joke about high school, how high school sucked. How he was driving his car getting road-head, going over a speed bump, and his girl biting down on his dick, and he screamed. Then he said "high school still sucked more than that." I remember raising my fist and screaming "YEAHHH!!!" At the TV when I heard that. I hated high school with all my passion. He spoke to me then. Where is he now?

Jeremy Hotz (2)
Another brilliant comic with no website. I saw him at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. (Read the Chris Rock story above.) His set was brilliant. Genius. Amazing. He picked on my friend Josué and I because we were sitting in the front row. He was making fun of him for living in the ghetto (somehow the topic went there). Then he asked where I live. I said the strand. (Million dollar beachfront property.) The whole audience said "ooohhhh". Then I said "just kidding, I live on Marine Ave." He asked me where on Marine. Somehow, I said "A few blocks from the beach, just over the hill." He replied saying "So you can't see the beach. So you live in the ghetto of Manhattan Beach!!". The audience roared. I was floored. He touched on some of my own material, which I am still writing, while RIFFING on CROWD WORK!!! (I am writing material about my life and poverty, that involves living in the ghetto of Manhattan Beach -- My own house.) His whole set was amazing. He has a unique voice, and unique style, which is what separates the greats from all the others. I can't wait to see him again.