Richard Prior, Chapel, & Mel Brooks. Rodney's career spanned decades, and he found success in practically every media. He also opened Dangerfields, which gave many other comedians their start. He was just amazing across the spectrum. Mel Brooks has had a similar impact, across decades and different media. Richard was sort of a ground breaking comedian. He set the stage for a lot to follow, like Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, etc. He was a comic and a comedic writer, being one of the primary writers on Blazing Saddles. I added Dave because he sort of came out of nowhere, shot to the top, then walked away on his own. Not only is he one of the funniest comedians today, he does comedy for comedy. There are so many comedians during this period, it's really tough to single out just four. Just look at all of the SNL and Second City comedians who were highly successful afterwards in movies, writing, directing, etc.