Letters from our readers

ROCK IN A HARD PLACE

”Chris Rock is America’s funniest person? Richard Pryor in a coma is funnier than Rock on his best day.” MARCH COFFIELD Jasper, Tex.

The Chris Rock piece (”Chris Rock on Fire”) is the kind of celebrity interview EW excels at. We get some valuable insight into Rock’s process, where his creative mind is at the moment. He clearly believes in fine-tuning his craft, and he takes his audience quite seriously. The extra effort Rock makes distinguishes a great entertainer from a merely competent one. BRIAN CAMP Bronx, N.Y.

Chris Rock has no business ranking on your list of the 25 funniest. He has either marred good films such as Nurse Betty or bombed in flicks he headlined (Head of State). If Rock must be a superlative, let’s call him the most racist. Unlike inspired stand-ups such as Bill Cosby, Rock can’t seem to speak in anything that’s not black-and-white. In 2004 that attitude is tiresome. BRIAN BURKE Stevenson Ranch, Calif.

Chris Rock is America’s funniest person? Richard Pryor in a coma is funnier than Rock on his best day. Rock’s only lasting contribution to American humor has been his introducing us to Wanda Sykes. What country do Margaret Cho, Steve Martin, and George Carlin live in? MARCH COFFIELD Jasper, Tex.

FUNNY BONE TO PICK

A ”Funniest People in America” list without Margaret Cho?! That’s about as crazy as the ban on gay marriage or the war in Iraq. In the words of Margaret herself, ”Girl, you ig’nant!” ROBERT PICKETT postems@hotmail.com Sunland, Calif.

David Cross is the funniest person in America. Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy are the funniest writers in America, and Jerry Seinfeld is still the funniest stand-up in America. For none of them to make your list is kinda…funny. DEAN MARINO ddm21570@yahoo.com Portland, Ore.

Kelly Ripa makes the cut, but no Trey Parker and Matt Stone? Eight seasons in, South Park remains as sharp as ever. Parker and Stone don’t get enough credit for having created one of the most trenchant satires on TV. Otherwise, a fine list made even worthier by Jay Leno’s absence. CARL KRACH ckrach@ameritech.net Chicago

DEAD WRONGED

As a rabid fan of the original Dawn of the Dead, I was thrilled by your article on the remake (”Dead & Loving It”). But how could you leave The Return of the Living Dead out of your Zombies Throughout the Ages timeline? This horror classic reinvented the zombie movie almost 20 years ago and was among the first to feature the running (not walking) dead. JAY HARLESS Misterharless@cs.com Baltimore

FEAR FACTOR

Stephen King’s experience watching The Passion of the Christ (”The Passion of Alicia”) sounded all too familiar. Parents have been irresponsible in taking their children to this movie. It is soaked not just in gore, which is traumatic enough for a young mind, but guilt-infused gore. Children and teens have their own crosses to bear (no pun intended) without being pummeled for two hours by Mel Gibson’s simplistic message of ”Jesus really, really loves you.” CHAD PETTENGILL Tampa

That is rich. Regarding your latest Stephen King column: Since when is the king of horror concerned about children having nightmares? Seems to me he made quite a nice living off of it. C.R. HEATWOLE, M.D. chadheat@hotmail.com Rochester, N.Y.

CORRECTIONS: A photo on page 34 identified as being from 1968’s Night of the Living Dead is actually from 1978’s Dawn of the Dead (”Dead & Loving It”). In a review of the Starsky & Hutch soundtrack CD, Brick is the band and their song is ”Dazz” (Music).

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‘FRIENDS’ AND LOVERS During 10 years of dating on Friends, there were many hits and horrible misses (remember Chandler’s obnoxious gal pal Janice?). Look back at the 12 best and worst lovers, including Julia Roberts, Tom Selleck, and Brooke Shields, at ew.com/friends.

FAMILIAR VOICES

Fox’s Wonderfalls and CBS’ Joan of Arcadia are so similar — beautiful young women who hear voices! genius brothers! — that we had to study the details to tell them apart. Get our guide to these shows at ew.com/wonderfalls.

EW.com is a free bonus — only for readers and AOL members! This week’s access code: popculture.

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