I just put that ventriloquist part in there so as not to hurt anyone's feelings......My favorite comedian (of the moment) is Jim Gaffigan. I guess I first saw him about two years ago. One of the things I found so funny about him is his propensity to comment parenthetically on his own stand-up as if he were in the audience watching it. He'll tell a joke in his normal voice and then comment in a slightly different voice, "That joke wasn't even funny!"
I visited his website recently, though, and something jumped out at me. He has a number of video clips on the site, and they're arranged top to bottom from most recent clip to least recent clip. Some of the clips at the bottom are from the old tv show Dr. Katz, which I know is from the mid '90's. And it's really interesting to watch all of these clips and see him evolve into the performer he is now. In some of the clips he tells the same jokes he does now, but they're not funny, or at least not AS funny. And it's interesting to see how in the old clips the parenthetical voice is not there AT ALL and then to watch the newer clips and see it start to happen and then just be there.
If you haven't ever seen Gaffigan at all (He's not a household name, so I guess that's certainly possible) you can watch his fully formed comedy below. The intro that lasts the first minute and a half is pretty dumb, but after that you can really see the parenthetical voice in action.
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