Michael Ian Black told us who are the 4 funniest comedians right now

As Michael Ian Black gets ready for his first televised comedy special in four years Friday on Epix, he told Business Insider what he thinks is funny and who best pulls it off in stand-up these days.

For the longtime comedian of "The State" and "Wet Hot American Summer," figuring out a joke isn't that tough. His new special, "Michael Ian Black: Noted Expert," tackles his day-to-day, from his wife and kids to observations about the election.

"It's just whatever is interesting to me at the moment," Black told Business Insider. "Unfortunately, I'm not smart enough to just think of topics and start going. It needs to come from something, usually from my life or something that I'm railing about on Twitter or something that I'm upset about in some way, shape, or form."

As for other comedians, the self-proclaimed "noted expert" knows what he likes.

"I'm drawn to comedians who are just kind of doing their own thing and expressing themselves the way only they can express themselves," Black said. "That's what I find interesting about stand-up comedy, is people sort of being the best distillation of themselves that they can be. So anybody with a unique point of view, anybody with a distinct voice, I really like."

Here are the four comedians Black told us are ruling stand-up: