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Interesting that there's been no mention of Stephen Colbert,whose performances are by far the funniest in over a generation, or of Seinfeld, and little mention of Jon Stewart (lack of women cited is another discussion). These men are in their forties, but (Colbert and Stewart) just getting better and better. They are both clearly happy men who use their sincere and discomforting political anger as their artistic medium, and seem to enjoy relying on their live audiences. One difference from some of the other comedians discussed is that these two are unusually smart, quick-quippers with a firm philosophical grounding, and their comedy is more wit than schtick (ditto for Rob Corddry and a couple of other Daily performers). Could it be that the trend of critical audiences is actually becoming more intellectually demanding, even though the paying ones still pony up for slapstick?
(Stewart and Colbert have also chosen, or even invented, performance settings that serve them very, very well, and chosen excellent writers. I haven't seen either of their movie performances, but Stewart's book was a big disappointment.)
