The 100 greatest stools in stand-up comedy history, by ralter
Everybody wants stools
As set dressing, stools blend into the background of stand-up clichés, but as the vestigial limb of vaudeville, they are so much more. To paraphrase Karl Marx, “The stool remains wood, an ordinary, sensual thing. But as soon as it steps out as prop, it metamorphoses itself into a sensually supersensual thing.
99. James Acaster, Repertoire Photo: Netflix The least-comfortable seating at your local fast-casual grain-bowl chain. That’s what this stool represents. 95. Aziz Ansari, Nightclub Comedian Photo: Netflix The stool did all the heavy lifting in this special. 91. Maria Bamford, The Special Special Special Photo: Netflix This sofa is nowhere near close to a stool. I suppose Wayne Federman is sitting on a stool at the keyboard? Bamford has a mic, and stage lighting, and a classic red backdrop. But she drew the line at stool? 89. Robin Williams, An Evening With Robin Williams Photo: YouTube A chair with stool vibes. There’s a certain humble, round-seated practicality to it.
79. Iliza Schlesinger, War Paint Photo: Netflix Did you know there’s a Broadway musical from 2016 that’s also called War Paint? And it stars Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as dueling cosmetics entrepreneurs Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden? Now there’s a show with some nice stools. 75. Zach Galifianakis, Live at the Purple Onion Photo: Netflix If a “stool” is just an onstage legged structure at an accessible height where the comic can access their water and notes, then Galifianakis’s piano is a pretty good stool … but that’s a big “if.” A piano is not a stool, it is a piano . Nice try, Zach.
69. Nick Kroll and John Mulaney as Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, Oh Hello Photo: Netflix What they lack in stools they make up for in so many other surfaces. 65. Andy Kaufman, Andy’s Funhouse Photo: YouTube When a table is used in lieu of a stool it is good form to use a bar table, so that at the very least it is stool-like in height and girth. Kaufman didn’t even bother with that, but it’s okay because we’ll assume this blunder was just part of the act.63. Hannah Gadsby, Nanette Photo: Netflix A closing shot of the stool, upon which rests a glass of water in case you were thirsty … for jokes! 61.
53. Steven Wright, Wicker Chairs and Gravity Photo: HBO For a comedy special with such an elaborate and artful opening sequence, not to mention how seats are mentioned in the title, this is an underwhelming stool. Looks well-crafted though.51. Cristela Alonzo, Lower Classy Photo: Netflix The clean black horizontal lines of Alonzo’s shirt echo those of the stool. Subtle symmetry.
43. Whoopi Goldberg, Back to Broadway - The 20th Anniversary Photo: HBO Sometimes the beauty of a stool lies in what’s on it. In this case, a flashy red hand-fan. 39. Louie Anderson, Mom! Louie’s Looking at Me Again! Photo: YouTube Something about how Anderson is turned away from the stool … something about how there’s a mic stand dividing them like an upright slash … something about how his silhouette is cast onto the white box like an Alfred Hitchcock Presents intro … something about how the distance of the stool accentuates the spare vastness of the stage … it’s giving Beckett.
35. Bill Hicks, Sane Man Photo: Netflix Chunky sausage legs, cushy seat, facilitating an interesting camera angle. Great stool shot. 27. Jo Firestone, Good Timing With Jo Firestone Photo: Peacock This stool does the noble work of offering support and reassurance to Firestone’s class of amateur senior-citizen stand-ups, holding their notebooks. Not that Bill Burke, pictured here in pasties and a tie-dye speedo, needs the backup.
21. Eugene Mirman, An Evening of Comedy in a Fake Underground Laboratory Photo: Comedy Central On theme.19. Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill Photo: Amazon There is tragically no stool in the special itself, but this stool-forward poster remains one of the most iconic pieces of comedy imagery of all time.
13. Martin Short, The Martin Short Comedy Special Photo: YouTube Human man + chair=a stool for Martin Short.
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