I suppose you mean someone who is deliberately, not inadvertently, funny and someone who's still alive. That's a toughie, since that giant sucking sound you hear is today's US pop culture. But I'd have to say that probably the two funniest movies of recent decades were Albert Brooks' "Real Life" and "Lost in America."
BTW, when did Thurber/Perelman become "high-falutin'"? And when, for that matter, was James Thurber ever funny? S. J. Perelman, OTOH, *was* a comic genius.
Overall I think the satirists who best stand the test of time are Tom Lehrer and the Monty Pythoners, collectively and individually.
>Don Rickles will have to wait, I guess.
Forever, AFAIC.
Carl
_________________________________________________________________ Add a Yahoo! contact to Windows Live Messenger for a chance to win a free trip! http://www.imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/yahoo/default.aspx?locale=en-us&hmtagline