My choice?
I’d choose Andy Kaufman.
Not because he was the best at anything. I chose him because he was the first person to popularize trolling long before it became an internet thing. He seriously got off on annoying people. He was the godfather of trolling.
Kaufman wasn’t actually a comedian, a lot of people thought he was, with a hit-and-miss style, but by his own admission Andy never told a joke in his life. What Andy really was was a Performance Artist, possibly the first modern one. Andy’s thing was evoking Emotions, any Emotions, humor, confusion, outrage, annoyance, anger, it didn’t matter so long as something was felt.
And in Andy Kaufman’s mind there was no greater Performance Art than Professional Wrestling, he LOVED wrestling, and he was one of the most natural villains in it, his run with Jerry Lawler was pure magic few seasoned stars had a greater understanding of Ring Psychology than him. If Andy was a bit larger, and had any athletic ability at all, and of course hadn’t died, he would have been one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Now all that said, resurrecting a dead comedian, I’d go with either Richard Pryor or Sam Kinison
Dirch Passer, a danish actor/comedian who passed away far too early because of drink and depression especially over ONLY being cast for funny parts. He had a sweet bright soul all could see, and I would have liked to see him turn it around as a human being. Side-benefit would be the laughs that made me pee myself, that only he’s been able to do, and more brilliant drama! <3
Close second is Robin Williams, if I need to explain I don’t want anything to do with ya anyway 
Mitch Hedberg. Easily
( Robin Williams as well but he was way more than just a comedian so it felt like I was cheating if I included him. A lotta folks want him back. Myself included )
Tough choice. I’m stuck between John Belushi and George Carlin.
I’d bring back the beautiful dulcet tones of Gilbert Gottfried
George Carlin, I’d imagine that current politics in the US of A would give him endless amounts of content to go with.
Nah, he would end up cancelled by the woke mob.
you kidding?
With stuff like this?
More like the Woke mob would embrace him!
George Carlin.
Even dead that guy makes me wet myself laughing…and hes right so much it hurts.
Carlin is like all entertainers, some things he says / thinks I just have to ignore. lol.
Im conservative, Bill Maher isnt.
I love most of his stuff, but when he starts on gun rights I just have to roll my eyes and tab out. We’re not going to agree on that and we’re both allowed our opinions. Im not going to let it bother me and Id hope hes adult enough to not let my views upset him either.
And its just comedy anyway. Not like its there for anything more than getting a few laughs.
That was literally his whole shtick. He was an outspoken leftist.
I think some people might have gotten him confused on his political ideology because sometimes he has skits like…
Which I still find hilarious even as a leftist myself.
I have never been keen on Carlin or similar comedians. I always think the applause they get from their audiences is more like “I AGREE” rather than “That’s funny”. He just reinforces certain views and gives the audience a feeling of superiority. He follows a rigid formula, he just swears and says something edgy when in reality its cringe.
Whenever I see people saying “LOL HE’S RIGHT”, I think those people are rather insular and think highly of themselves. This pertains to a neckbeard demographic. This is why I believe that Stand-up Comedy should be called Stand-up Conformity. He doesn’t challenge his fans, he only preaches to the choir. A true comedian will risk challenging and even alienating his fans. No comedian I know does that. But if Carlin were to turn off any fans, then I would respect him. But he plays safe, in my opinion anyway.
Probably John Candy. I feel he died on us too soon and would have loved to see more from him.
John Candy was more wholesome than Carlin. Candy never felt to preach his views nor put down others to be funny.
Chris Farley
Tim Conway for sure. He could keep a straight face while his costars were struggling to keep from bursting out laughing.
The co-stars didn’t always succeed, though. I remember a number of episodes where Carrol Burnett and the others burst out laughing. It was fun to watch.
I saw a George Carlin show about 20 years ago in a small Kansas town hall. My only guess is that he had family around there since there were maybe 100 people in attendance. I really enjoyed his show, and although it was a lot of opinion pieces, he definitely had parts that were anything but playing it safe. I got my monies worth that night.
I like the Richard Prior movies and comedy shows, and early Eddie Murphy HBO specials were pretty funny too.