T

he inaugural class of our Stand-Up Comics Hall of Fame made room for comedians both family-friendly (Bill Cosby) and blue (Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor) -- and if something ain't broke, there's no reason to fix it, so for this year's class we followed the same formula. Though each of our new Hall of Fame members has achieved major commercial success -- and each of them arguably redefined comedy for his era -- they each took different steps to get there. With Bob Newhart, you get mild-mannered dry wit; with Steve Martin, joyous absurdity. Eddie Murphy, of course, brings hilariously lewd humor to the table. And Sam Kinison? Well, he was just nuts.

It's a varied list, and we think you'll agree that everyone in this year's class is more than deserving of the honor.