Get Up, Stand Up

Image credit: Eddie Murphy Delirious: Everett Collection

OH EDDIE, YOU'RE SO FUNNY Murphy makes us laugh until we're Delirious

After watching 100 comics tell variations on the same supremely raunchy joke in The Aristocrats, you may want to catch some of them performing a full routine, and maybe without so many references to incest and bestiality. We've compiled some of our favorite stand-up performances of all time, almost all of which are available on CD or DVD. We've watched these over and over, and they're still funny.

George Carlin DVD: George Carlin at Carnegie Hall (1983). The cranky Carlin excels at pointing out the absurdities of language, and how they lead to absurdities in the way we think. HIGHLIGHT: The classic seven-dirty-words bit, expanded here from when Carlin first created it in the 1970s.

Margaret Cho DVD: I'm the One That I Want (2000). The fabulously uninhibited Cho shines, whether she's dishing about sex or paying offbeat tribute to her mom. HIGHLIGHT: Cho's notorious explanation of the prejudices and catastrophies that sandbagged her short-lived sitcom, All-American Girl.

Bill Cosby CD: Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow — Right (1963). Before he became a curmudgeon, a pudding pitchman, or a sweater-clad sitcom dad, Cosby made his rep telling vividly recalled tales from the point of view of a child. HIGHLIGHT: The extended routine in which God talks to a skeptical Noah.

Mitch Hedberg CD: Strategic Grill Locations (1999). Hedberg left behind few recorded performances before his death earlier this year, but this CD captures him in his shaggy glory, offering his Zen-like one-liners. HIGHLIGHT: The routine about why Smokey the Bear should be replaced with a frog.

Eddie Izzard DVD: Dress to Kill (1999). Try to keep up as the brilliant British comic launches on a seemingly stream-of-consciousness performance that manages to riff on the entirety of Western civilization. HIGHLIGHT: Izzard's description of the Church of England will have you saying ''Cake or death?'' for weeks.

Steve Martin CD: A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978). Martin was one of the first stand-ups to make comedy about comedy, poking fun at the inanity of his own status as a white-suited, laugh-producing performer. HIGHLIGHT: Martin recalls how hard it was to speak to the locals during a trip to Paris because ''it's as if those French have a different word for everything.''

Eddie Murphy DVD: Delirious (1983). Murphy's transition from comedy stud to Daddy Day Care seems a little less like a stretch if you go back to this classic performance, which includes both blue material and Cosby-esque reminiscences of childhood. (The DVD is out of print, but the concert is available onVHS, and most of this material also appears on Murphy's CD, Comedian.) HIGHLIGHT: Kids display their cruelty when the ice cream truck arrives.

Bob Newhart CD: The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1960). It's hard to imagine today that a stand-up album could win a Grammy as the year's top record, but that's how massive a hit Newhart's debut was. 45 years later, Newhart's patented one-sided phone conversations are still wryly hilarious. HIGHLIGHT: Abraham Lincoln's publicist tries to convince the president to make the Gettysburg Address more audience-friendly.

Chris Rock DVD: Bring the Pain (1996). In his breakthrough performance, Rock hones his sharp outrage at public and private follies. HIGHLIGHT: Rock's still-controversial routine in which he uses the N-word to distinguish between responsible and irresponsible African-Americans.

Richard Pryor DVD: Live in Concert (1979). Even before he set himself on fire — and then joked about it, Richard Pryor was fearlessly funny about probing his own frailties. HIGHLIGHT: Pryor re-enacts his own heart attack.

Robin Williams VHS: An Evening With Robin Williams (1983). Long before he became serious and cuddly, Robin Williams was at his synapse-fast, free-associating best in this performance, which has yet to be released on DVD. HIGHLIGHT: Elmer Fudd sings Bruce Springsteen!

What are your favorite performances of all time?