I'm too tired to remember if we've had a similar topic, but I'm just wondering who else might get named here. I guess performer can be anything, but what I'm thinking of is just banter.

I think it's a rare gift, and not many rock bands have that. The two that leap to mind immediately are Springsteen and Wayne Coyne, whose banter I started liking a lot more than his band's music some time ago.

Craig Finn talks a lot, but it's never really all that entertaining. John Darnielle can be funny, but it can just as likely go the other way.

I dunno, any suggestions?

This one is easy:
Jonathan Richman

No contest.

If you think yelling at moshing kids is funny (as do I) then Ian McKaye is hilarious. Also, Billy Corgan's water bottle throwing tantrums were good stuff too.

wouldn't that make Patrick Wolf, like amazing?

WOW. What a prissy little bitch. Looks like Lucius Malfoy in a Boys 3T-4T size jumper.

Might be hard to believe for anyone who never saw him perform, but Townes was as hilarious as anyone I've ever seen.

John Wesley Harding, Robyn Hitchcock, and Wreckless Eric.

Tom Waits, although I think it was all pretty rehearsed.

Dirty Three: Very surprising to me the one time that I saw them, and seemingly out of place, considering how melancholy of a band they are. But Warren Ellis is one crude lush motherfucker, and his tangential song intros are amazing, and cast the band in a different light for me, more wild than sad.

Billy Bragg!

Also, Steve Poltz.

He's become too famous and happy now, but in the early days and his solo tours (1996-2004) Jeff Tweedy was the funniest, most acid-tongued between-song patterer ever.

Although I also have seen Lou Reed say nothing during a concert, I also saw him be pretty hilarous.

Los Lobos (Cesar) is also a riot.

Micky DeSadist from the Forgotten Rebels would go on and on about ass-eating.

Milo from the Descendents used to say some really funny shit.

El Duche from the Mentors.

Never seen 'em, but I have to imagine that GWAR would be pretty entertaining in-between songs.

Agreed, though he still has some pretty hilarious moments. Highlights for me were the last time he was in Baltimore when he kept talking about The Wire between songs. He did a solo show at Messiah College a few years back and his banter with Glen Kotche (who opened and accompanied) was really great as well.

One of the most annoying, even though I love them, is Thurston Moore. He tends to prattle off some type of pseudo-poetic blurbs, which are meant to sound impressive but just ends with a stark silence of the crowd.

Mark Kozelek was interesting, though he made some fan leave because he was so embarrassed. Still don't know if that was staged or not. Called the guy a "blog-posting fanboy, who was writing down the setlist and probably little notes on the performance", and "probably couldn't wait to get home first to post up a review"

Bonnie Prince Billy seemed like he was on acid when I saw him, so ya know that was just mostly a head-scratcher.

eddie spaghetti
tim harrington
andy falkous
mark arm

Holy shit how could I forget Tortelvis from Dread Zeppelin. Guy took questions from the audience and was incredibly quick and funny with the answers. I was in tears.

[img][498:500]http://www.club-chantal.com/bilder/singles/Manowar%20-%20Blow%20Your%20Speakers.jpg[/img]

I picked up a 2 DVD set of these guys for a buck, and I'll be damned if there isn't more patter than songs.

It's fairly entertaining, but these guys take themselves wayyyy too seriously.

Oh, and Nomeansno.

MOJO FUCKING NIXON
[img][335:500]http://www.roanokecycling.org/members/howard_d/mojo13.jpg[/img]

though to be fair, they did warn you with that album cover.

john reis is pretty good. he has a tendency to mock the audience and go to the same well too often some nights, but overall he's quite entertaining.

and i think jello biafra gets a nod here just for the rednecks track on give me convenience.

That's not the actual cover (it's below), I was too lazy to look for it.

But, yeah- I should have known.

Neko Case was witty and fun between the songs.

Yeah, the banter between her and the backup singer whose name I can't remember right now was quite amusing at the two full-band shows I saw. And I also saw her do a "music and conversation" thing and the interview was hilarious.

Al Kooper