When I saw him live, about 2 minutes in he said "I just remembered I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" and walked off stage. Of course he came back seconds later. Pure genius.
Austin Texas, circa 1985, Steven Wright is going to be at The Comedy Workshop, I'm 15. I ask my Dad to get tickets to the show, he does and we go. None other than a young, very young Bill Hicks is the opening act. He wasn't the angry, ranting and utterly hilarious Hicks that we've all come to know and love. This was a more innocent Hicks that made fun of his Mom and Dad, and his Chevette and his name, William Melvin Hicks. We left that night recalling the funny jokes that Steven said that we'd seen him say on the Letterman show, but we couldn't get over how hilarious Hicks was. My Dad died about 9 years later from leukemia,2 days before Bill died. I often listen to Steven and Bill and I can picture my Dad sitting next to me laughing just as much as we did back in the days when he was with me. I sure do miss them both...along with The Ramones.
One of the most unique styles ever. I'm sure there may have been others before or after, but I can't think of any off the top of my head who mastered such a deadpan delivery so perfectly, or who even did a deadpan style for that matter. i'm feeling a little hyper.
There's occasionally a hint of paranoia to his demeanor here, a facet of his act that he later dropped, apparently. The 'headlights' joke is my all-time favourite. If you're too young to have experienced this guy when he was new, you really miss out. He was such an original, just mind-blowing.
@@Pteromandias Someone who grew up in the 1970s listening to Led Zeppelin and who was only later introduced to Chuck Berry cannot capture the experience of discovering Berry in 1955. And if you were born in, say, 1995 then you grew up in a world populated by countless Steven-Wright-inspired comics, and so Wright's style just cannot be as startling as it was to people back in the day. At least you can still enjoy him, of course!
+Richard Dortch It is pure comedy, but i don't think it's because there is no profanity. Profanity gets bad rap because the media taught us that way. Where profanity is needed, profanity will be used and will be appreciated.
The world of stand-up changed when Steven arrived, but few can achieve his degree of cleverness, hence most opt for observational comedy which is less demanding, the main exception being the late Mitch Hedberg.
@lucy bond I think that was the one when he did his bowling imitation: dragged the mike across the top of a stool and deadpanned "gutter ball." Almost 40 yrs now and I still remember that one joke.
Out of Right field stuff. And, when it's understood, out of the bleachers. And Left field is...left. We see a new interpretation of how we think. What an amazing man he is.
Even earlier, we saw him at the Ding Ho in Cambridge MA. My favorite was "The guys over on the [Boston] Common are really weird. Today I saw a guy with wooden legs and real feet."
@Darkez982 Think about it too, this was in the 80's. No Internet. Aside from the small chance of this being on HBO (which few people had)/ radio, how else would we heard his jokes other than seeing him live!
A beam of light travels at 300,000 km per second. If a car was travelling that fast at night and the driver turned the headlights on, you would not see the road in front of you. The beam from the headlight could not get past the front bumper.🚗
Vladena!! That of course is only true if you were standing somewhere observing the car. For the driver of the car, everything would behave as normal. Keep in mind that all this only applies if the car is going just under the speed of light, since The Special Theory of Relativity states that a piece of matter is unable to attain light speed. Bottom line? You are wrong, wrong, wrong, despite your cute little car symbol. Please don't spread your ignorance any further, rather, get an education. A real education, then speak or write on some subject. And feel the love, baby!!
rranger1014 Your comment officially proves that you have no idea what is involved. Vladena's gender is not indicated by their name? Not sure. Which is by the way one of the smartest things a good scientist can say. One thing I am sure of!! That is that Vladena clearly states, "the road in front of you" clearly establishing that they are referring to things from the perspective of someone inside the car. One's perspective is all important with Relativity, since that is why it goes by that curious title.
I have an interactive answering machine, when people ring up they think they're having a conversation with me - now I'm being sued by 3 elderly women for breach of promise.
Super funny stuff of the era of real comedians. Comics didn't need to use insults, profanity or sex to get laughs. Humor that tickles your imagination and intelligence; material far and beyond Carlin and his ilk.
The speed of light thing was just supposed to be off the wall and kinda curious that's his whole act and it works! You never really know what he's going to say it's a bunch of one liners and doesn't necessarily need to make sense,however most of it does like ''I got some powder water and don't really no what to add'' It's a mix of brainy and odd demeanor that makes this guy watchable you could try to make similar jokes such as maybe ''I got the new i phone 7 and it has an app for making phone call so I decided to stick with my landline'' Ok you see it's hard you gotta be him he writes this shit and then you have to deliver it.
@didostojev George Carlin did his '7 Words you can't say on TV' on ALOT of his albums, not mention his first three HBO specials. So you're wrong. He also did the joke 'You know what people don't talk about in public anymore? Pussy farts!' on Complaints and Grievances and Life is Worth Losing.
Seinfeld gets 60 million a year for his TV show and this guy has only done some cameos in a few movies and Sit-coms! Hollywood truly sucks, makes you wonder how many truly funny guys like Mr Wright are passed by so crapbag drug addicts like Charlie Sheen can be made millionaires. later =o]
Jon Williams Seinfeld had broader appeal but that doesn't mean he wasn't funny. Also, Seinfeld's observational comedy is _much_ more amenable to forming a sitcom around than Wright's one-liners and non sequitur.
Not to mention he was in The Emoji Movie. A film where I heard more people saying bad things about it than people saying good things. It was an obvious cash grab to use his likeness to get adults to see it.
I thought Dimitri Martin was going to be the next Steven Wright, but he went to conventional and was obsessed with the slang, "dick", like this one's a dick, he doesn't want to be a dick, etc. Martin had less clever lines than in his early cds.. There's a couple that kind of do some Steven Wright stuff, but not as nerdcore.
When I saw him live, about 2 minutes in he said "I just remembered I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" and walked off stage. Of course he came back seconds later. Pure genius.
He had lines I quote all the time. My favorite: “Everything is within walking distance if you have the time.”
Austin Texas, circa 1985, Steven Wright is going to be at The Comedy Workshop, I'm 15. I ask my Dad to get tickets to the show, he does and we go. None other than a young, very young Bill Hicks is the opening act. He wasn't the angry, ranting and utterly hilarious Hicks that we've all come to know and love. This was a more innocent Hicks that made fun of his Mom and Dad, and his Chevette and his name, William Melvin Hicks. We left that night recalling the funny jokes that Steven said that we'd seen him say on the Letterman show, but we couldn't get over how hilarious Hicks was.
My Dad died about 9 years later from leukemia,2 days before Bill died. I often listen to Steven and Bill and I can picture my Dad sitting next to me laughing just as much as we did back in the days when he was with me.
I sure do miss them both...along with The Ramones.
Hey don't you talk about The Ramones like that!
I've always loved how he works with language and absurd situations.
One time, in the 60's I almost OD'ed on carrot juice and Bug's Bunny's life flashed before my eyes.
this guy is by far one of the best
stand up acts i ever heard
One of the most unique styles ever. I'm sure there may have been others before or after, but I can't think of any off the top of my head who mastered such a deadpan delivery so perfectly, or who even did a deadpan style for that matter.
i'm feeling a little hyper.
Love Steven Wright!!! Saw him live in St. Louis a several years ago. Amazing.
Thanks for posting this.
One of the funniest men on the planet and still one guy in the audience looked confused. 😂
i saw the guy you are talking about, yeah, and weird shirt he had on too, as he looked dumbfounded
@@ronvalley1973 He is from Finland and didn't understand the language that well back then. He later went on to a comedy career of his own.
@@Pteromandias that didn’t happen
@@TWOhype23 You're right. He's Swedish.
There's occasionally a hint of paranoia to his demeanor here, a facet of his act that he later dropped, apparently. The 'headlights' joke is my all-time favourite. If you're too young to have experienced this guy when he was new, you really miss out. He was such an original, just mind-blowing.
But...we didn't miss out. He's new right now. To us.
@@Pteromandias Someone who grew up in the 1970s listening to Led Zeppelin and who was only later introduced to Chuck Berry cannot capture the experience of discovering Berry in 1955. And if you were born in, say, 1995 then you grew up in a world populated by countless Steven-Wright-inspired comics, and so Wright's style just cannot be as startling as it was to people back in the day.
At least you can still enjoy him, of course!
I LOVE his humor. Reminds me of my dad's sense of humor. Super dry.
Dry until you cry laughing.
He is hands down my favorite comedian!
Check out Mitch Hedberg if you haven't already :)
@@cadetri9716 I agree he had a very similar joke style. Both are great
This is real comedy right here. No puppets or props, no excessively hyperactive acting, no rampant profanity, just pure comedy.
+Richard Dortch It is pure comedy, but i don't think it's because there is no profanity. Profanity gets bad rap because the media taught us that way. Where profanity is needed, profanity will be used and will be appreciated.
Abraham
Where profanity is needed…
Ha
Ha
Ha
The world of stand-up changed when Steven arrived, but few can achieve his degree of cleverness, hence most opt for observational comedy which is less demanding, the main exception being the late Mitch Hedberg.
Richard Dortch But i like all the other stuff!!!🤣🤣🤣
Wright’s deadpan, lethargic delivery of his bits really helps the comedy factor 😂
i like it when he can't keep a straight face!llol!!
I wonder how long he had to practice getting that deadpan delivery right. For all I know he's actually a smiley, cheerful type who likes to chat.
carmium he's not.
@lucy bond I think that was the one when he did his bowling imitation: dragged the mike across the top of a stool and deadpanned "gutter ball." Almost 40 yrs now and I still remember that one joke.
Ppl pick styles which fit them
This bit continues with more hilarity. My earliest memory of Wright, this bit.
Greatest stand up comedian ever hands down
"About four years ago I....oh wait it was yesterday"
"This morning I was...Oh wait. That wasn't me."
One day, I'm gonna apply for a job, whether I need it or not, and I'm gonna bring a book with me to the interview.
Thought provoking comedy. Pure Genius.
Out of Right field stuff. And, when it's understood, out of the bleachers. And Left field is...left. We see a new interpretation of how we think. What an amazing man he is.
Subconsciously I see him as the same person as Robby Krieger.
Ha ha! Very good! I see the resemblance!
BTW I reckon Krieger was a hugely underrated guitarist.
By far one of the very best,EVER. I'm like not lie'n dude.
My favorite
His delivery has gotten a lot better since the 80's. He's still great!.
Brilliant!!!!!!!! always love smoking and watching wright, amazing, smart comedian!!
Funny as a fuck!! always been!!
Open 24 hours, not in a row 😅😂🤣
some jokes repeat them selfs but there is some different ones on this one.
Him and Emo Phillips.... the best
Even earlier, we saw him at the Ding Ho in Cambridge MA. My favorite was "The guys over on the [Boston] Common are really weird. Today I saw a guy with wooden legs and real feet."
Genius
very good comedy of the time. Busted a gut a couple of times!
Hi buddy how are you these days ?
hes one of the best
My favorite bit was the actual size map, the powdered water, and the tree in the forest.
He and Mitch Hedberg. Love their twisted logic that isn't so twisted in the end.
The pleading insanity for a parking ticket bit always kills me.
I remember this episode like it aired yesterday.
Alan Morris me too. And sometimes I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday.
most original comic ever...
Guy at 3:53 is trying to figure out the gag.
Ever since I first heard this, I have had countless opportunities to pop out a 24 hours...in a row quip of some sort.
This was his first Tonight Show set. This might have been what turned the producers on to him.
That delivery tho..
This is where the magic started.
The funniest man alive 😆👍
RIP
Great set. Classic
"Feed him, and he'll look like Art Garfunkel" --- Mark Twain, March 10, 2039.
0:50 - I know a guy who always leaves through the back door. He's the shit.
Nice work :)
@Darkez982
Think about it too, this was in the 80's. No Internet. Aside from the small chance of this being on HBO (which few people had)/ radio, how else would we heard his jokes other than seeing him live!
I remember watching this way back when... hilarious
Me too. I knew he was going to be famous after this show.
Me too! I thought he was hysterical!
Surely you mean yesterday.
Evening at the Improv. Great comedy.
He actually looks normal here. Just like Albert Einstein in his early days.
Brilliant!
This guy is hilarious
A beam of light travels at 300,000 km per second.
If a car was travelling that fast at night and the driver turned the headlights on, you would not see the road in front of you.
The beam from the headlight could not get past the front bumper.🚗
Vladena!! That of course is only true if you were standing somewhere observing the car. For the driver of the car, everything would behave as normal. Keep in mind that all this only applies if the car is going just under the speed of light, since The Special Theory of Relativity states that a piece of matter is unable to attain light speed. Bottom line? You are wrong, wrong, wrong, despite your cute little car symbol. Please don't spread your ignorance any further, rather, get an education. A real education, then speak or write on some subject. And feel the love, baby!!
she said if @@misterquanalocho3593
rranger1014 Your comment officially proves that you have no idea what is involved. Vladena's gender is not indicated by their name? Not sure. Which is by the way one of the smartest things a good scientist can say. One thing I am sure of!! That is that Vladena clearly states, "the road in front of you" clearly establishing that they are referring to things from the perspective of someone inside the car. One's perspective is all important with Relativity, since that is why it goes by that curious title.
Mister Quanalocho You seem fun at parties
"When you're a dog, every day is Saturday."
3:54 doesnt get it
Great! I just wish he was more prolific. So many shows have the same stuff.
See "Steven Wright, Live in Canada" for some different material.
i like this better each to there own
So hilarious
When I was little my parents bought a quicksand box. I was an only child...eventually.
I have an interactive answering machine, when people ring up they think they're having a conversation with me - now I'm being sued by 3 elderly women for breach of promise.
Isaac Kappys spirit animal.
Super funny stuff of the era of real comedians. Comics didn't need to use insults, profanity or sex to get laughs. Humor that tickles your imagination and intelligence; material far and beyond Carlin and his ilk.
very true....Well said!! love wright!!
George Carlin was a huge influence on Wright and one of the greatest comedians of all time. No need to put him down here.
The speed of light thing was just supposed to be off the wall and kinda curious that's his whole act and it works! You never really know what he's going to say it's a bunch of one liners and doesn't necessarily need to make sense,however most of it does like ''I got some powder water and don't really no what to add'' It's a mix of brainy and odd demeanor that makes this guy watchable you could try to make similar jokes such as maybe ''I got the new i phone 7 and it has an app for making phone call so I decided to stick with my landline'' Ok you see it's hard you gotta be him he writes this shit and then you have to deliver it.
I think of him as a series of Far Side panels with a little added schizophrenia.
it's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it
Is there a full video of this?
Same jokes ten years later!
What's the 'Helter Skelter' reference? I don't get that one
3:54 is not amused.
He's obviously trying to figure out the equation. Rumor has it, he still has no answer.
Not one bad word
Dressed in Steve Jobs fashion.
Comedy Connection in Boston I think
Original talent
I'm pretty sure this is the stand-up where he talked about the hot Asian blonde he met on the bus. Please if you have that, please post it
Steve Wright is never wrong 😅
It's a small world. But I wouldn't want to paint it.
Thirty-odd years later and it STILL kills me.
What show was this?
Matt Jones I believe it's one of those specials called young comedians..???!!! something like that
He was actually handsome before his hair fell out
@didostojev George Carlin did his '7 Words you can't say on TV' on ALOT of his albums, not mention his first three HBO specials. So you're wrong. He also did the joke 'You know what people don't talk about in public anymore? Pussy farts!' on Complaints and Grievances and Life is Worth Losing.
It had no 5 On it.!
Still funny
He’s the far side of stand up comedy
Seinfeld gets 60 million a year for his TV show and this guy has only done some cameos in a few movies and Sit-coms! Hollywood truly sucks, makes you wonder how many truly funny guys like Mr Wright are passed by so crapbag drug addicts like Charlie Sheen can be made millionaires.
later =o]
Jon Williams Seinfeld had broader appeal but that doesn't mean he wasn't funny. Also, Seinfeld's observational comedy is _much_ more amenable to forming a sitcom around than Wright's one-liners and non sequitur.
natureboy tom I guess you can affrod to be arrogant when you have one of the most successful TV shows of all time
Not to mention he was in The Emoji Movie. A film where I heard more people saying bad things about it than people saying good things. It was an obvious cash grab to use his likeness to get adults to see it.
lol...
4:00 what does his ice cream truck play?
Helter Skelter
Yaasss!
:-)
:-D
haha
#Living
I thought Dimitri Martin was going to be the next Steven Wright, but he went to conventional and was obsessed with the slang, "dick", like this one's a dick, he doesn't want to be a dick, etc. Martin had less clever lines than in his early cds.. There's a couple that kind of do some Steven Wright stuff, but not as nerdcore.
Soon😲don't believe haters🤓whats meant to be will be....🐭🇵🇷
Keep on truckin
Hahaha
Why does every stand up comic tell jokes in front of a brick wall?
hes alright
Do 64 and 59 upside down like the boy who sees the World upside so down! Next! 52 and quest of hi h9!
Rick white jim breaur
I love Steve's dry humor, but I couldn't go out drinking with this guy because I'd eventually slap the living daylights out of him.
Just like Jack Benny. Not once did he laugh at his punchlines.
I’m 32 I love Jack Benny... and I’m never gonna be older than 39!
wait a minute, they had contact lenses in the 80s?
daafuQ!!
Yes and they were made out of glass.
Yes but, the flip-ups were really hard to find.
And the 70s!
And the fifties
Uh yes they do. They all do
The best guy is sitting in the Audience is taking him very seriously and not laughing.
3:53 That looks a lot like Michael Palin of Monty Python.
iv1.lisimg.com/image/1715541/514full-michael-palin.jpg
He tells the same fn jokes all throughout his career