"Funniest Comedian PAUL REISER vs RETTA"

Paul Reiser (born March 30, 1956) is an American comedian, actor, television writer, and musician. He is known for his roles as Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, Modell in the 1982 film Diner, Carter Burke in the 1986 film Aliens, as Detective Jeffrey Friedman in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987), and more recently as Jim Neiman in the 2014 film Whiplash and Doug Getty in the Amazon Video series Red Oaks. Reiser is ranked 77th on Comedy Central's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time". The name of Reiser's production company, Nuance Productions, is inspired by one of his lines in the film Diner, in which his character explains his discomfort with the word "nuance". Reiser also stars in the Netflix supernatural-horror series Stranger Things as Dr. Sam Owens. Reiser appears in the second season of The Kominsky Method as Martin, the boyfriend of Mindy Kominsky. After developing his skills as a stand-up comedian, Reiser had a breakout film role in 1982 when he appeared in Diner, a coming-of-age film directed by Barry Levinson. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet stand-up comedian, effectively brought Reiser's abilities to the attention of Hollywood. He followed this success by playing a detective in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), a role he reprised in its sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). Reiser also had roles in James Cameron's Aliens (1986), in which he played the villainous Carter Burke; The Marrying Man (1991) and Bye Bye Love (1995). Reiser starred as one of two possible fathers of a teenage girl in the TV sitcom My Two Dads (1987–90), and later came to prominence in North America as Paul Buchman in Mad About You (1992–99), a comedy series he co-created, in which Helen Hunt co-starred as his on-screen wife. He was also the co-composer of the show's theme song, "The Final Frontier" (with Don Was), and performed the piano for the theme's recording. Reiser's role in Mad About You earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. For the show's final season, Reiser and Hunt received $1 million ($1.5 million today) per episode. After signing onto a Mad About You revival in 2018, it was picked up as a 12-episode limited series by Spectrum Originals in March 2019.

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Marietta Sangai Sirleaf (born April 12, 1970), professionally known as Retta, is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She is best known for her role as Donna Meagle on NBC's Parks and Recreation. She has appeared in several films and television shows, and has performed stand-up on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. She currently stars as Ruby Hill on NBC's Good Girls. After graduating from Duke, Retta worked as a chemist. In her spare time, she did stand-up at Charlie Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. Retta said on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! that when she started performing stand-up comedy, she decided to call herself Retta rather than explain her name. She started doing standup in 1996, although she said she did not start "earning money" until 1998, when she began touring on the college circuit. Retta said she used to get "really nauseated" before a performance, but that the feeling passed with experience. Retta has said her stand-up material tends to be slightly embellished stories from her regular everyday life, family, and friends. Retta has served as the opening act for such comedians as Shirley Hemphill and Bobby Collins. She has made television appearances on Bravo's Welcome to the Parker, E! Entertainment Television's The Soup, Freddie, Moesha, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the "Comedy Divas Showcase" segment of The Jenny Jones Show, Retta has performed on Premium Blend, a Comedy Central show featuring up-and-coming comedians. In 2009, Retta started making regular guest appearances on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation as Donna Meagle, an employee in the Parks Department of the fictional town, Pawnee, Indiana. During a stand-up performance at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Retta said the acting job on the show was stressful because it was unclear how long the show would stay on the air, due to the poor reviews it received during the first season. Alan Sepinwall, a television columnist with The Star-Ledger, said season 2 episodes of Parks and Recreation afforded more personality and funnier jokes to Donna and other minor characters. She was upgraded to a full-time regular cast member in the third season.

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