I'm glad that we're getting past the angry comedian phase that followed more original comics Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks. For a while after their passing it seemed like enraged yelling was the best (or most popular) way to get a laugh. Guilty parties include Dennis Leary, David Cross, Dane Cook to an extent, and even Lewis Black (who I still happen to enjoy).
I particularly love Patton Oswalt's ability to get passionate, even angry, about a subject without sounding like he's ripping off Bill Hicks. As much as I like David Cross, his political stuff always sounds whiny. Oswalt becomes almost giddily excited when a topic starts to raise his blood pressure and that excitement is contagious.
Mitch Hedberg of course managed to combat the angry comic wave almost singlehandedly with majestic one-liners. I also am starting to like Eugene Mirman, who is a little surreal and commonly go off on tangents.
And to go way back. I love that one compilation of Woody Allen's work "Standup Comic." It's a masterpiece up there with his funniest movies, some of which have jokes from his original routine.
