Image via Complex Original
This feature is a part of Complex's Danny Brown Week.
Despite being frequently hilarious and possessing the most elastic, unpredictable voice in rap today, Danny Brown and his music don't make it completely obvious how much he loves stand-up. He doesn't name-check comics in his verses. You wouldn't necessarily imagine running into him at the Laugh Factory or the Comedy Store. And yet Brown's knowledge of the medium is both deep and broad, and he's honest about the ways comedians have influenced his subject matter, delivery, and more.
"I like when comedians aren't trying to be funny, when it seems like they're being real," Brown says. "The comics I like take shit that shouldn't be funny and make it funny, so that we're laughing at their sorrow. I do that with my records."
Listening to the Detroit MC talk about stand-up is, surprisingly, just as illuminating as when he talks about his favorite albums. These are Danny Brown's 25 Favorite Comedians.
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25. Kevin Hart
Danny Brown: "He's the new guy coming up now, so you gotta respect him. He's coming in the same vein as a lot of black comedians, he's just the new guy doing it. I ain't gonna lie, I didn't like his last one too much. But the two before that were classic."
24. Sarah Silverman
Danny Brown: "I think she could make me laugh 24/7. She reminds me of the girl that would be in your elementary school class, who doesn't even realize that she's funny. But now that she's grown up, she knows it. I loved her show on Comedy Central. She's unpredictable, almost to the point where people think she's trying too hard. But I don't think she's lying about her shit."
23. Dennis Miller
Danny Brown: "An O.G.—I used to watch his HBO show when I was a kid. I didn't know why I was watching; It wasn't like I was laughing at every joke. But I knew this nigga was funny, so I fucks with him. You wanna hang out with that guy."
22. Gilbert Gottfried
Danny Brown: "I really believe he is the way he is. I don't think he's acting. He showed me that you can say shit that's not funny, but if you say it in a certain way, it becomes funny."
21. Andrew Dice Clay
Danny Brown: "I threw him on the list because there was a time when he was super crackin' and you weren't supposed to watch. You know I'm all about shock value. At the end of the day, he wasn't that funny, but I caught the appeal. He was saying what he thinks. His comedy wasn't planned punchlines or nothing like that. It was just how he felt."
20. Bobcat Goldthwait
Danny Brown: "Same thing with like Gilbert Gottfried. To me, Goldthwait is like the ODB of comedy. The expressions he makes with his face? Going back to what I've been sayinh about comedy: He makes me feel like he's that guy."
19. Dave Attell
Danny Brown: "He's one of my favorite guys, one of the most underrated comedians ever. I loved his show on Comedy Central, Insomniac. I used to watch that shit all the time. I'd love to do a show like that."
18. Dennis Leary
Danny Brown: "I picked Leary because of shock value. He's sorta like Andrew Dice Clay in that way, but he's way more like calculated. He's smarter with his jokes. He had that song about assholes, and I used to play that shit on the jukebox like a hundred times a day. You loved to hate him."
17. Rodney Dangerfield
Danny Brown: "'No respect!' That's my homie right there. I don't know if he would be funny to me now, but as a kid he was great. Maybe it was the way he loooked, like the fat drunk uncle."
16. Amy Schumer
Danny Brown: "Same way with Sarah Silverman. She's one of those people that talks about situations that probably shouldn't be funny, things going on in her life, and she makes them hilarious. I give her props about that. She's got the No. 1 show right now. I watch it all the time."
15. Nick Swardson
Danny Brown: "I really fucked with his show on Comedy Central. I was mad when they stopped it. Because of his show, I started watching his stand-up. He's always doing some gay shit, and it's really funny."
14. Sam Kinison
Danny Brown: "I'm a sucker for the delivery. Kinison was so unpredicablte, shouting and shit. You never knew when it was gonna happen. I do that in my raps, too. You never know when the shouting might come. It might be low and out of nowhere, or it might come in high."
13. Lisa Lampanelli
Danny Brown: "She's like the O.G. auntie. It's like being at dinner, too drunk off wine and saying whatever she wants. She was super raunchy, and you can't be mad at that."
12. Eddie Griffin
Danny Brown: "You can tell he's trying to get a point across with ever stand-up he does. He's calculated."
11. Kathy Griffin
Danny Brown: "That's my homie. She's my favorite female comic of all time. She makes a joke of herself. She talks shit about a lot of people, but at the end of the day it's funny to see someone who doesn't take herself seriously."
10. Hannibal Burress
Danny Brown: "He's my new favorite. His last one, Animal Furnace, I loved that shit. I've met him a few tims and he's cool as fuck. He's got good storytelling skills."
9. Katt Williams
Danny Brown: "I fuck with Katt because he's a rebel. He's the new age Andrew Dice Clay. You love to hate him. But I think he can go blow-to-blow with any comedian around. He deserves his props. He's got the delivery, great storytelling, and he's got funny jokes. And no one looks like Katt Williams. He's on some pimp shit."
8. Aziz Ansari
Danny Brown: "He's the best storyteller right now. When he talks about celebrities? It's coming from a different point of view. He's a little goofy homie. And some of what he does isn't supposed to be funny, but it is because of how goofy he is. His story about the R. Kelly concert is the illest shit ever."
7. Eddie Murphy
Danny Brown: "Raw is one of my favorite stand-ups ever, so Eddie will always be a favorite because of that. I remember watching that as a kid. My mom told me I wasn't supposed to watch it, so I had to sneak around to see it. That was my first time hearing someone talk like that. I was probably in second grade, and I loved the McDonald's bit. That one hit home."
6. George Carlin
Danny Brown: "He was almost like a politician with his shit. They were like State of the Union addresses. It was socially concious and heavy. In some sense, he was more than a comedian. He should be on everybody's list. He and Paul Mooney both did that. But Mooney did more writing than stand-up."
5. Louis CK
Danny Brown: "He's the perfect example of dark comedy, saying what's not supposed to be funny and making it funny. I bet that any conversation you'd have with him, he's gonna find something funny to say. And it's just him being natural. He's got a God-given talent. He's definitely been influential for my raps, becuase he's talking real shit."
4. Richard Pryor
Danny Brown: "I remember seeing his movie Jo Jo Dancer as a kid, and that fucked me up. When I got older and went back and watched all his stand-up—I don't know, man, he's just telling the truth. He was up there telling you about his life and what he was going through. Every stand-up he did, it was like a press conference. That's crazy to do. You know how strong you've got to be to get on stage and make people laugh at your pain?"
3. Chris Rock
Danny Brown: "He was one of the first black comedians to just be smart. He's similar to George Carlin. A lot of his topics are real heavy. Some black comedians will just talk some black shit, and some white comedians will just talk some white shit, but he was talking in the middle. Talking about both sides. He was on some Civil Rights shit with his stand-up. He brought people together through comedy, showing us that we're all the same."
2. Martin Lawrence
Danny Brown: "He's my No. 2 because he's the guy who got me into stand-up. I remember I had his tape Talkin' Shit, and I played it all the time. That tape made me realize stand-up is more than a guy on David Letterman doing 15 minutes."
1. Dave Chappelle
Danny Brown: "At the end of the day, he hits all the points I look for. Like with Pryor, his shit was press conferences. When he stopped doing Chappelle's Show, I wasn't mad at him. It was one of the best TV shows ever, and he never let it get wack. He saw it was going in a certain direction and he stopped it. That show is gonna play forever, though."