Larry Gelbart: He always looked like he had been sucking on a lemon. He had this real literally sour puss. He was very literate and we’re in a very post-literate society now. He was about words. He was primarily an author who was best, the best interpreter of his own words. He wouldn’t survive for a second in today’s you know, stampede toward wherever we’re heading so quickly. He was an acquired taste. You didn’t turn him on and say I like this guy. You turned him on and said I like what this guy is saying.

Anne Beatts: You know the wonderful thing about Gilda Radner was that she was not a person who disappointed.  You know there are some famous people, and I’ve met them, who you might think are great and then you meet them and you discover that they not only have feet but heads of clay.  And Gilda was the same with everyone.  So, if you did accost Gilda — and she was always very gracious – you would, you would get Gilda.  You know.  She just had this amazing persona and I think she really was akin to say Lucy, and to some degree Judy Garland, because she had this desire to be loved.  And people really responded to that.  I mean she was like, “Love me love me love me love me.”  And that came across.  And you know, she was, she was naturally funny.  And she would do anything, I mean, she would bang into the wall.  And did.  And she said that her comedy – she once said that, you know she thought that comedy originated for her with, which, when you’re little and you fall down on the ice?  And people might laugh at you so you try and make it seem like you fell on purpose?  [Laughs.]  And that was kind of, like, part of the root of her comedy.

Cheech Marin: He used to live out here in Malibu where I live and I’d see him at the market and he’d being going, walking up and down the aisles doing these characters.  “Okay, Jonathan, it’s time to buy your groceries and go now.”  But he was, he was the, the master at doing that kind of improvisational free association thing which Robin Williams and some of those other guys came up after did.

Jeffrey Ross: Cheech and Chong was like the first dumb guys I kinda heard doing comedy.  And they were a little bit slower paced.  “Uh, what’d you mean by that?  Huh?  What?”  And, you know, just not hearing things correctly and just like– almost like two Gracies (PH).  And– it was fun to hear that stuff.  I– I was– young to really appreciate it as stoner humor.  To me, it was just dumb guys.  They were like, what we would call burnouts, guys that– you know, we didn’t know much about drugs.  I was too young to really understand about– how marijuana would ruin your brain.  But I did understand it, there was plenty of dirtbags hanging out at the 7-11 that were– dumb, and that’s all they were ever gonna be.  And for me, Cheech and Chong sort of was that.  They gave voice to these idiots that I knew around the neighborhood.

Jonathan Winters: When I first met him, they chose me to do the baby of all things, as Merth, on Mork and Mindy.  I had only seen Robin a couple of times and thougt he he was funny.  And now I’m his dad’s age.  So he said, “Pops, God” he said, “I love your stuff, I love ya.  And we’re gonna have a good time.”  And, and we did, he said he started talking to people after the show about being interviewed and what’s it like to work with Jonathan Winters, and he said time and again, “Jonathan is my mentor.”  And I turned to him and I said one day, “Don’t say mentor anymore I tell you why, in Ohio they think that’s a salve.  Say idol, we all know that.  See mentor’s a little cutie stuff.”

Richard Lewis: When I was kid, I mean when a new Jerry Lewis, when it was on TV, or when it opened up and I was eight or nine I had my parents had to take me to the matinee. I could not miss it. I mean it was like this was something that was too good to be true. You know I sort of felt like he made you feel like it was okay to be silly and dopey, but he did it on a consistent level basis, even when he did his solo stuff, and an amazing performer, you know not to mention what he did with charity obviously. I mean this guy, you know, and I understand how you know I mean I don’t totally get it, you look at other comedians to talk about why just as a comedian why, you know in Paris he’s regarded as a Chaplin in here, you know he’s looked down upon. Why because he didn’t talk politics like Mort or he didn’t break through like Lenny Bruce, or didn’t’ have the didn’t do the kind of stuff that Pryor did, why, it’s he’s different. He’s just as different as as I am as as the Kaufman, and Billy, Robin, Larry, all of us, you know I mean, and he’s you know one of the great film director’s ever for for I mean he’s you can’t get bigger than Jerry Lewis worldwide, we’re not just talking about you know how the special do in the states, you know he’s always everywhere. You know I mean the guy the guy doesn’t get enough credit he never will. He never will. They should give this guy one big gigantic award at the Oscars.

Roseanne Barr: I think she was more, I think if, if you’re going to compare Phyllis to any male comic, she was Bob Hope.  She was the female Bob Hope.  She just was like so loved and so accepted and…she kind of like was the butt of her own jokes even though she sideswiped her husband in there, too.  But it, it was very sophisticated for it’s time, like Bob Hope’s.  You know, you could see, you, she could make anybody laugh and still does.  She’s really, a really intelligent woman.

Sid Caesar: Well, you take a picture like, with Chaplin, ‘City Lights’. There was a part in that picture where he’s running away from the cops, he’s always running away from the cops and he sees a traffic light, and he sees the traffic light and he goes “ah!” He gets an idea. And all the cars are stopped for the traffic light, so he walks through the back of all the cars, and the last car he gets out of is a limousine. Of course, that’s how he got the idea of a blind girl seeing – thinking that he is a millionaire. I mean, how do you do that? How do you do it? It’s a blind girl, in a silent movie, and she falls in love – I mean, she knows that this guy is a millionaire. And Chaplin gets out of the car, slams the door, and he sees that she turns around because she heard the door, and she offers him the lilacs that she’s selling. And he looks at her, and it’s immediate love. Immediate! He falls in love – aah! (laughs) And then he takes his last dime, and he takes it and he gives it to her. And she takes the dime and she gives him the flowers. And he takes the flowers and she takes this cup, and she’s going to walk down to the fountain in the park and rinse it out. So he follows her, and she gets the cup and she rinses it, and then she throws the water in his face! And the whole audience went “ah!” because they were in a serious situation, and all of a sudden there’s something that’s funny. Right there. No introduction or nothing, boom. Bang. A switch. And the audience went “ah!”, they drew in because they were in a serious situation and you get a thing like this, they didn’t know whether to laugh or not, because they would – in those days, they were afraid to laugh because they thought that they’d embarrass somebody on the screen.

Whoopi Goldberg: Richard Pryor, oh my God. Richard Pryor, again, it’s one of those things where you hate to keep saying it but he’s black! And young. He was black and young and so were we. And so a new generation of humor came from Richard. ‘Cause when you watch him on some of the more staged shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, the humor’s there but there’s something just different. You know, and when you got the albums, you heard a whole different kind of thing going on because he could tell you a story, tell you the story of big Bertha’s behind and we all knew a big Bertha. Even all the white kids knew a Big Bertha, you know, in every neighborhood except the . . . No, every neighborhood has that wino. Now maybe he isn’t on the corner, maybe the wino is parking his car coming from work, but you go over to those folks’ house and it’s the same guy, whether he’s on the street or he’s, you know, just come home from work from having . . .Again, you know, it’s universal, Richard was universal and innovative because no one had ever done it the way that he did it. Not who was black.
Mort Sahl told amazing stories but not from the neighborhood, you know. Richard was from a specific neighborhood and people went, “Hey, you’re talking about me. That’s, that’s me.”

1. The Evolution of Dance

Whether you love it, hate it, or just think it’s boring and not worth the energy to think about, Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube and deserves recognition.

2. The Numa Numa Guy

Gary Brolsma rose to internet stardom by dancing in front of his computer’s screen lipsynching to this track by Moldovan pop music group O-zone. This video has been reposted thousands of times on the net and has even been referenced by the popular animated series South Park.

3. The Dramatic Chipmunk

In actuality a gopher, the clip known as “Dramatic Chipmunk” originally comes from an appearance by J-pop group MiniMoni on the Japanese TV show Hello! Morning. Taken out of context, this 5 second video has become one of the funniest and most popular 5 second clips online.

4. Star Wars Kid

The Star Wars Kid is one of the biggest internet phenomena of our current era. Star War Kid’s footage was released online by his classmates when they found his home made footage at school in Montreal. Originally shared and popularized through the peer to peer client Kazaa, this footage has found its way to popularity on YouTube and has even been referenced by the popular comedic series Arrested Development.

5. Chocolate Rain

Tay Zonday hit an internet goldmine with his music video and song “Chocolate Rain.” His video quickly rose to millions of views and becoming the winner of the Music category in the 2007 YouTube Awards. His internet fame has been referenced by popular comedy shows such as The Daily Show, South Park, and countless interviews and appearance on talk shows. Zonday was later paid a hefty sum for a Dr. Pepper ad compaign promoting “Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper” with his song re-recorded as “Cherry Chocolate Rain.”

What is it about these clips that makes so many people laugh? Is it a factor of finding the lowest common denominator of humor? Or is there something more complicated going on? When are these clips about mean-spirited humor and are they in good fun?

Leave your thoughts in the comments.