I don't spend my time watching as much stand-up comedy as I did, say, a year ago. I'm partial to a bit of Bill Hicks and Carlin every so often though (even if I don't exactly agree with some things the latter says), but I don't watch a lot of either these days, mainly because I've heard just about everything worthwhile they've had done. I will say though that for the best Carlin and Hicks you've gotta look out for bootlegs (a lot of them are on youtube, you've just gotta know where to look for them), as often some of the best stuff they did never made it to the officially-released gigs.
Mitch Hedberg's great stuff and, a lot of you probably don't need telling, but a very unusual style - kinda throws a load of unconnected punchlines at you (at least from what I've seen), which actually works surprisingly well. I like Robin Williams as well - very friendly, non-confrontational style, kinda like a funnier Lee Evans.
This here's reason enough to like Eddie Murphy (even if he hasn't done anything worthwhile since Bowfinger);
When it comes to my favourite American comedian though, it's a tie a between Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Denis Leary for me. Despite what the Hicks fanboys'll tell you, one joke about smoking and jogging aside, Leary's virtually nothing like him.
Those are my personal picks anyway. There are probably more I like, but I've only been awake 10 minutes so I can't really think straight at the moment!
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