Greatest Comedians of All Time

'Laughter is the best medicine' is a common saying to which our great comedians of all time have live up to. As it is said comedy or making someone laugh is most difficult of all tasks, these great standup comedians with their amazing comic timing have quite successfully made people laugh insanely on their jokes and hilarious one liners.

Their immense talent and great comic timing is impeccable, hence here is a tribute to all these greatest comedians who have made us laugh madly on their silly and witty jokes.

Best known for his 'in your face' approach to comedy, Richard Pryor (December 1, 1940 - December 10, 2005) was one of the best comedians of his time who brought in light some serious issues like racism and personal demons.

Quite popular for his dark humor especially in early 60s and late 70s, George Carlin (May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008) made his audience laugh as well as admire him for addressing subjects ranging from politics to religion in a simple, hilarious, and discrete way.

Though he got his actual big break in the field of comedy when he was almost 50, Rodney Dangerfield (November 22, 1921 - October 5, 2004) was another comedian whose jokes, one liners and self mockery made people laugh really hard. Apart from being a standup comedian he also had a fairly lucrative film career.

Though he was a preacher before, Sam Kinison (born on December 8, 1953) is a great standup comedian known for its funny one liners and jokes majorly targeting love, life, and society.

Bill Cosby (born on July 12th, 1937) is a great actor, producer and author, but is more popularly known as a great African-American comedian. His deliberate delivery, great comic timing, and funny facial expressions have kept him as the favorite among all.

Apart from being an award-winning director, actor, producer and singer, Eddie Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is also a great stand up. He is skilled at impersonations which he implemented in his routine.

Known for his famous sitcom 'Seinfeld', one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Jerry used sophisticated observational comedy on mundane details of life.

Known for his larger-than-life persona on stage, Steve Martin (born on August 14, 1945), with his unique comic timing and quirkiness, sold out arenas and stadiums. However, later in early 80s he left stand up comedy for an extremely successful career in films, music, and literature.

Robin Williams (born on July 21, 1951) is well-known for his witty jokes and one liners. It was believed that his brain works 10 times faster than anyone, and his improvisation skills were unbeatable.

Lenny Bruce (October 13, 1925 - August 3, 1966) took comedy to another level of humor, freedom, and respect. Though he was always surrounded by controversies, he was a pioneer for dark comedy and witty one liners.

• Woody Allen
• Chris Rock
• Roseanne Barr
• Johnny Carson
• Robert Klein
• Steven Wright
• Redd Foxx
• Bob Hope
• Bob Newhart
• David Letterman
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Don Rickles
• Jonathan Winters
• Bill Hicks

• Phyllis Diller
• Jim Carrey
• Martin Lawrence
• Bill Maher
• Joan Rivers
• Richard Lewis
• Adam Sandler
• Henny Youngman
• Tim Allen
• Ray Romano
• Jay Leno
• Jack Benny
• Milton Berle
• Garry Shandling
• George Burns
• Albert Brooks

• Andy Kaufman
• Buddy Hackett
• Billy Crystal
• Mort Sahl
• DL Hughley
• Alan King
• Colin Quinn
• Richard Jeni
• Jon Stewart
• Flip Wilson
• Dave Chappelle
• Freddie Prinze
• Denis Leary
• Lewis Black

• Damon Wayans
• David Brenner
• Jackie Mason
• Drew Carey
• Joey Bishop
• Sandra Bernhard
• Louis CK
• Janeane Garofalo
• Gallagher
• David Cross
• Brett Butler
• Richard Belzer
• Cedric the Enter
• Shelley Berman
• Kevin Pollak

• Larry Miller
• Gilbert Gottfried
• Jeff Foxworthy
• Bobcat Goldthwait
• Eddie Griffin
• Paul Rodriguez
• Eddie Izzard
• Robert Schimmel
• Paul Reiser
• Dave Attell
• Louie Anderson
• George Wallace
• David Alan Grier
• Andrew 'Dice' Clay
• Pat Cooper
• Wanda Sykes

• Red Buttons
• Bernie Mac
• Billy Connolly
• Sinbad
• Dom Irrera
• Bobby Slayton
• Dick Gregory
• Howie Mandel
• Norm MacDonald
• Paula Poundstone
• Kevin James
• Dana Carvey
• Jim Breue

These were the best comedians that made us laugh till we had tears in our eyes. Seeing their names in this list would have surely brought back some great memories and funny, joyous moments that you would have lived watching and adoring them.