Woody Allen.
In the history of modern comedy Woody Allen stands apart. He is to comedy what Elvis and The Beatles are to music. Seriously. Because Woody changed things.
Woody went from being a TV sketch writer to becoming a stand up comedian.
He was a writer first and thus was performing his own material amongst a group of comedians telling jokes or performing jokes written by other people.
Sure Lenny Bruce came first but he didn't have the influence, Notoriety yes , but he wasn't mainstream and didn't live long enough to become the influence which Woody has become.
Woody is a great influence to me, mainly because he is hilarious and his scripts and stories are so well crafted.
But before dismissing him, it's worth noting that Woody Allen is who he is because he is one of the absolute masters of modern comedy.
GET SMART
My most biased claim of comedy writing is this. Those who are influenced by GET SMART have a greater capacity for comedy writing than those who are not. Still the greatest show to watch in regards to the craft of comedy writing. Why? Because Max kills people.
MAD MAGAZINE
From the age of 11 to 19 I bought very edition of MAD and still have them. ( Except I missed the JAWS 1975 edition) That was it's golden era and I am still influenced by Siegel, Hart, Jacobs, Aragones, Berg and Don Martin. Another form of comedy genius was MAD magazine.
Favourite comedy people.
Graham Kennedy, Woody Allen, Barry Humphries, Garry Shandling, Louis CK Don Adams. Peter Cook . Bob Hope who extremely important. The Monty Python Team. Steve Martin The Zucker Movies and although I used to see Mel Brooks films on the the Thurday night which they were released he's now a bit stale for me.
