Well....just seeing as you asked, the only one of those that I would regard as generally 'overrated' (wondering what the criteria might be?) would be Woody.

I feel that all the others have changed the world a bit...some in a big obvious way, and others in a smaller, subtler..but possibly, eventually, a more substantial way...Woody's legacy is more likely to be 'quite funny but flawed, inconsistent and, ultimately insubstantial Bergman pastiche artiste'.

JMHO

: )

Jx

I see your point Steve: however are we clear on 'over-rating' and 'hype' I think the individuals concerned may have never 'rated' themselves in that way...(more thinking involved)

Tommy (thanks for the 'card')

An interesting and eclectic list. I'll go for the Beatles, not that I don't think they're brilliant in their field, popular culture is by its very nature more accessible therefore has a higher profile in the collective consciousness and Monty python, again who I love, but represent a moment in time in the development of comedy rather than artists of significence in their own right.

It all depends who's "rating" them I guess. One man's meat etc. Personally:

The Beatles (can't deny a great body of work)

Ted Hughes (a curate's egg)

Monty Python (got us away from stand ups who only did Mother-in-law jokes)

Shakespeare (enriched our language more than any other writer)

Picasso (not to my taste)

TS Eliot (varied output from a somewhat tortured but intelligent mind)

Woody Allen (never once made me laugh)

Harold Pinter (not familiar enough with his work to comment)

So, who is underrated?

Oasis
The Pre-Raphealites
Maya Angelou
Pink Floyd
Damien Hirst
Rudyard Kipling
Philip Larkin
Wendy Cope