FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Omar on April 01, 2007, 04:32:29 PM
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From AST (http://aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5724&sid=e98e0d06bb7c7db7f8dda09ffee7630e):
In October of 2004, we launched the first-ever AST Top 20 Poll in pursuit of identifying our favorite comics working today. Every six months since, we have conducted the polling again.
With April upon us, it's now time for AST TOP 20 POLL #6!
JUDGING CRITERIA & SCORING: You are to vote for the 10 comics you feel are currently the best comedians and/or live comedy troupes working today. (Just to make this crystal clear, this is not the place to pay your respects to your all-time favorite comic, but rather to vote for who is the best right now.) Each voter submits 10 names ranked from 1 (being best) to 10 (being 10th best). The scoring system works as follows -- 10 points will be rewarded for a first-place vote, 9 for a second, 8 for third, and so on.
ELIGIBILITY: Any individual, duo or group that writes and performs all their own material without any significant outside assistance is eligible. My suggested guideline for creating your list would be to imagine you are booking a live comedy show and you want the 10 people and/or acts you feel are the absolute best right at this moment. Your votes should not take television or feature film acting roles into consideration. As always, the people you vote for must be living.
A DISCLAIMER TO THE COMEDIANS AND COMEDY-ADJACENT PEOPLE WHO FREQUENT THIS BOARD: The intent of this poll is solely to have some fun and keep our collective finger on the pulse of the comedy scene. Please do not take offense or let these rankings alter your usage of the board. In fact, you are eligible and encouraged to participate, as you see as much comedy as anyone, and this poll will work best if people who see live comedy on a regular basis participate. I also encourage you to use the rankings in promotional materials for upcoming shows.
To participate, email your list ranking the 10 best active comics right now to me at itslikeimsayin@yahoo.com. Please put "AST TOP 20 VOTING" as the subject line and be sure to include your AST screenname in your email.. The poll results will be announced on April 16. The deadline for voting is midnight Pacific on April 15, 2007. When voting, please start with your favorite comic at the top and work your way down to your 10th favorite. (In other words, don't allocate the points already. I'll take care of that part.) Also, the same exact name cannot appear more than once on your list. Be sure to stick to the rules! Do not send a list that has people tied for a certain rank or exceeds 10 people/groups. Finally, but important: ANY INDIVIDUAL MAY VOTE ONLY ONE TIME!
Please use this thread for any discussion of the poll, but DO NOT POST YOUR RANKINGS HERE! Email them to me. You can also discuss results of the poll and merits of various comics here.
The polls are now open for April 2007. Start voting!
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Done and done! I voted them number one!
Had I not stumbled upon AST and sought out the artists who got love from the poll, I would not yet have discovered Stereolaffs, Maria Bamford, Tim and Eric, ,Martha Kelly, Todd Glass, Zach Galifianakis and many many others.
I hadn't even heard of WFMU or the vast majority of artists played on the Best Show. I tuned in solely because I heard Tom was funny, and now I'm fully engorged in an alt-comedy/freeform radio phase I hope I never grow out of. Thank you, AST.
So check out the poll results and check out the people you've never heard of!
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I signed up for their stupid forum months ago and they never verified my account.
Bastards, I've a good mind to delete this thread.
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I signed up for their stupid forum months ago and they never verified my account.
Bastards, I've a good mind to delete this thread.
Didn't Jouster say he was going to approve you? I don't even recall any human-based verification process when I joined, but who knows. I thought it was just one of those click-this-link to-confirm thingies.
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I voted for Kojak.
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Jason,
The same thing happened to me. I sent them an e-mail, admitting that I only registered to big-up Tom and expressing hope for a more productive relationship in the future, and they let me in. When they did this a few months ago, I think they had problems with ballot-stuffers.
As of now, I haven't spent much time there. It's got no shortage of content. I think I could sift through it for hours a day and still not be able to keep up. If you're interested in standup fundamentals, it's got some interesting threads about that. Patton Oswalt and a few others sometimes field questions on threads which quickly expand into dozens of pages. I have no idea how they have that kind of time - I certainly don't.
~EmD
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The same thing happened to me. I sent them an e-mail, admitting that I only registered to big-up Tom and expressing hope for a more productive relationship in the future, and they let me in. When they did this a few months ago, I think they had problems with ballot-stuffers.
Yea, same thing happened to me. I then realized I don't really have much to add so I didn't hound them. The only reason I really visit is for the news, interviews, and Q&A threads, which are definitely a treasure for comedy fans.
S&W are easily #1. I'd be reluctant to exclude Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, being that live comedy is Gervais's weak point...but I guess it'd be kind of a stretch? Did either of you vote for them Omar or Dorvid? If we were talking comedy in general, encompassing their TV work and the podcasts, they'd probably be #2 or 3, for me.
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Way to ruin the poll, Omar. Please delete this thread.
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Ilis - if ballot-stuffing is a concern, maybe you could disqualify anyone who hasn't posted on AST at least 20 times or something.
I don't want the poll tainted, and I sure as hell don't want the Scharpling/Wurster rank, which I predict will be high, to be called in to question.
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Way to ruin the poll, Omar. Please delete this thread.
Ruin the poll? Wait? Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut? I alerted the FOT community, which includes several existing AST members, that the new poll was in session. Right now, it would be easy to miss that there was even a new poll since the AST thread is tucked away in the Sticky area, which I rarely check. Plus, not every AST member checks the board nonstop. I provided the details and that was that. If you're concerned about ballot stuffers, then the solution is simple: just don't approve new members for the duration of the voting period. (Disqualifying people based on post totals won't work because existing members who haven't/don't post much should be allowed to vote.) I'm not deleting this thread unless ordered to by Elizabeth Alexandra Mary herself. If the results are questioned, I'm sure Kate Harris and Anton Scalia can sort it all out in the coming months.
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I just feel as soon as it is publicized on a site outside of AST, especially one related to a specific performer, it taints the results. Again, I say please delete this thread.
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I just feel as soon as it is publicized on a site outside of AST, especially one related to a specific performer, it taints the results. Again, I say please delete this thread.
Along the lines of DB's comment of "I don't want the poll tainted, and I sure as hell don't want the Scharpling/Wurster rank, which I predict will be high, to be called in to question.", I will support the deletion of the thread despite the lack of Queen-based edict. However, I don't think I have the ability to delete an entire thread, so perhaps my British Superior can do the deed.
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The thread stays due to non-verification of my account at AST.
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For the record, I tried to get Jason verified when I talked to him in the chat, but he couldn't even tell me what name or email he registered with. Seems like he doesn't really want to be an AST member.
And for the record, the way the system is set up now is that once you register, you get an email asking for a reply with reasons why you want to join AST. All you have to do is return the email and you're in (the actual reasons aren't important).
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(http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/824/1130626609p9150164rx7.jpg)
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(http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/824/1130626609p9150164rx7.jpg)
(http://i13.tinypic.com/4400d3d.jpg)
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One could get the impression from all this heat that something important is riding on the results of this poll.
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For the record, I tried to get Jason verified when I talked to him in the chat, but he couldn't even tell me what name or email he registered with. Seems like he doesn't really want to be an AST member.
No I couldn't remember the exact name but I could have told you the email if you'd asked. I did want to be an AST member when I attempted to join, I wanted to be a member when I spoke to you and I only stopped wanting to be a member halfway through this thread.
For the record I was joking about not deleting this thread because of AST's faulty sign-up system. I'm not deleting this thread because it's something I don't like doing and something I certainly won't do for reasons that has nothing to do with this site.
As loyal as the FOTs are I seriously doubt they are going to start stuffing votes in order to see Tom and Jon win a poll of little or no consequence to anyone outside of your forum. For a humor site you seem to be taking yourselves very seriosuly.
Now let's all be pals again.
Friendsoftom.com is for everyone.
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I am genuinely bummed that Jason seems to think I was unhelpful, or not as helpful as I could have been. I did ask for his email, and got no response. I think it was reasonable on my part to assume he didn't really want to be a member at that point. Forgive me for taking AST (too) seriously, but it's important to me and I can get a little defensive when it's criticized. In defense of my comrade Itslikeimsayin, although I'm sure he realizes the poll is "of little or no consequence to anyone outside of [our] forum," he takes its integrity seriously. That's the kind of guy he is, and I like to think it gives the poll a little bit of credibility it may otherwise not have. Best wishes to all FOTs, and good luck to Scharpling and Wurster in the AST poll.
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For the record, I considered joining AST for the prime purpose of voting for Scharpling and Wurster, and then got pre-emptively bored thinking about the ten minutes out of my life it would take to do it, and so I didn't do it. I do recall that this decision was promptly followed by the thought "Perhaps I will join that site someday, for it looks pretty good, but I am so completely and deeply obsessed with the FOT, and haven't really joined any other internet community for the last six years, and really don't have time to join anymore, so I probably won't." Then I went and flamed a Ted Leo fan site.
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"Can we all just get along?"
(http://kickthebobo.com//blurb200.jpg)
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I recently registered at AST but now I might vote for the Tourgasm guys, just to offset any potentially controversial S&W votes.
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Well I voted Sharpling last time at no. 1 and PFT the poll before that at no. 1 with no one influencing me and they both placed no. 1. I think they scored so high because most people on AST aren't from NY or LA so the only exposure they have to these comics is radio and podcasts which Tom and PFT are on a lot.
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Well I voted Sharpling first last time at no. 1 and PFT the poll before that at no. 1 with no one influencing me and they both placed no. 1. I think they scored so high because most people on AST aren't from NY or LA so the only exposure they have to these comics is radio and podcasts with Tom and PFT are on a lot.
1) It's "Scharpling", Jimmy Typo.
2) PFT won the last poll, not the poll before that.
3) Scharpling/Wurster have never won the AST poll.
4) Most people on AST are from LA or NY.
Other than that, yes, good point.
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Scharpling and Wurster place 7th* (http://aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=107639#107639)
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Asterisk - A Poem.
A weight upon my shoulder weighs,
Moderation fills my days,
As Lady Justice must I be,
Fair in my activity,
And so it came that I did earn,
Some undeserved opprobium,
When in judgement I did state,
That AST would not dictate,
Decisions I alone could make,
But th'asterisk I had to take.
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Is #7 with an asterisk as good as #1 with a bullet?
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It's not an asterick, it's a star!
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I e-mailed AST and called them nappy-headed faggot cunts. Is that extreme?
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Edit: I originally thought that Tom himself places the flashing messages on the home page of the message board. I've since been corrected.
The "7*" flashing message on the homepage had me doubled over in pained laughter.
I'd been wondering if I had been too harsh a critic of the poll results, but now I know my little tantrum over there was justified.
I still like and respect many individuals over there, the pollster included, but the comments about the FOTs and Tom/Omar's alleged hypnotic power over us really pissed me off. This isn't friends of L. Ron Hubbard; I think for myself.
The fun part is supposed to be seeing how your buddies rank their favorite comedians, right?
Maybe hearing about someone new?
Right! Here's my top 10. They kicked ass.
1 - Scharpling and Wurster
2 - Tim and Eric
3 - Paul F. Tompkins
4 - Louie CK
5 - Todd Barry
6 - Maria Bamford
7* - Todd Glass
8 - Martha Kelly
9 - Patton Oswalt
10 - Morgan Murphy
And my 11-20, because I've always thought it should be 20.
11 - Jimmy Pardo
12 - Zach Galifianakis
13 - Andy Kindler
14 - Jen Kirkman
15 - Flight of the Conchords
16 - David Cross
17 - Eugene Mirman
18 - Brian Posehn
19 - Leo Allen
20 - Hard and Phirm
*7 - Todd's the only one whom I've met, so the integrity of my own opinion must be called in to question. Throw out the ballot.
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I hate this.
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I did a stupid, idiotic, awful thing. I'm an idiot. I'm stupid and made a truly distasteful choice to promote the AST poll in this forum. I've dished it out in the recaps for a long time, and now it's my turn to take it. The AST pollsters didn't deserve this. They are not the public figures I usually skewer like Spike and Fred from Queens. Please accept my apology. It should be noted that I was listening to a lot of Nas and that new Devin the Dude record at the time of the original posting, so that certainly influenced my decision. Yo, Harold Ford, Jr? Where you been, pussy? I gave you $300 last fall, you white-women-loving weasel. Couldn't even call me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ford,_Jr.#Controversies), huh? Stupid.
[youtube=425,350]Be8PE2d_mBU[/youtube]
[/let this be the final word on this topic]
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Lighten up, it's just comedy!
[youtube=425,350]-S1mBlVHXNM[/youtube]
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Man, I was bummed when Santino lost.