It seems to me that there are kinds of comedy, such as physical or stand-up, and eras of comedy, such as radio comedians or TV ones. And then you have the question of ensembles vs. single comedians, story-telling (set jokes) vs. spontaneous, and even good vs. bad presentations.

Jerry Lewis, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams = physical, usually spontaneous, not in a cast.

Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, many others = situational, not often spontaneous, usually with a cast.

Goons, Three Stooges, Marx Bros. = Cast only (interaction more important than one person as "comedian"), very situational (though some members of the group could be brilliant spontaneously).

The era of the comedy show (often combined with variety acts, but not always) was radio and then TV from 1945 to 1975 or so, with everyone from Jack Benny to Burns and Allen to Sid Caesar to Ozzie and Harriet, ending with skit comedians like Carol Burnette and Laugh-in.

Nowadays you get TV shows like "Everybody Loves Raymond" (no, they don't) or "Seinfeld" which must be the least funny "comedy" to ever have more than one season's run.

Off of TV, in clubs, you get stand-up comics and alternative comics and anything-goes comics and who-knows-what comics, and it's really hard to judge these folks unless they appear on TV in "Last Comic Standing" or "Night at the Improv" or some other (usually cable-only) show. Few of these folks have ever impressed me enough to learn their names, though a few have got through my defenses -- some because they have some part of their schtick that makes me itch (Bobcat Goldthwaite and Paul Poundstone, for example, though, once past the weird personal style they can both be funny).

So choosing the least funny among the various kinds of comics is hard work. Hard work, I tell you. Really hard.

So I won't choose one. Or even many. There are some I don't want to see or hear, like Jerry Seinfeld or Woody Allen, some I can take or leave, like Whoopi Goldberg (her early stuff was good, of late she's coasting), and some I seek out, though no name comes to mind.

I do remember one comedian, a stand-up comic, whose act was incredibly funny; unfortunately, I didn't get his name (on one of those cable shows I mentioned). His act consisted of saying, "I don't have enough time to tell the jokes, so I'll just give you the punch lines," followed by the punchlines of meany of the best classic jokes you've ever heard, delivered so fast you can't catch your breath. Your memory supplies the setup and straight-lines, and, despite their age, the jokes work. Now that is pure genius.

Songbob