diff --git a/sqlparse/filters/others.py b/sqlparse/filters/others.py
index 95bc436c..cd2ef210 100644
--- a/sqlparse/filters/others.py
+++ b/sqlparse/filters/others.py
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@ def _get_insert_token(token):
             tidx, token = get_next_comment(idx=tidx)
 
     def process(self, stmt):
-        [self.process(sgroup) for sgroup in stmt.get_sublists()]
         StripCommentsFilter._process(stmt)
+        [self.process(sgroup) for sgroup in stmt.get_sublists()]
         return stmt
 
 
diff --git a/sqlparse/filters/output.py b/sqlparse/filters/output.py
index d4e20f29..db062fac 100644
--- a/sqlparse/filters/output.py
+++ b/sqlparse/filters/output.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ def _process(self, stream, varname, has_nl):
             # Escape backslashes before quotes so a backslash preceding a
             # quote cannot break out of the generated string literal
             # (GHSA-3496-9g83-7v6x).
-            else:
+            elif not token.is_group:
                 token.value = token.value.replace('\\', '\\\\').replace("'", "\\'")
 
             # Put the token
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def _process(self, stream, varname, has_nl):
             # Escape backslashes before quotes so a backslash preceding a
             # quote cannot break out of the generated string literal
             # (GHSA-3496-9g83-7v6x).
-            else:
+            elif not token.is_group:
                 token.value = token.value.replace('\\', '\\\\').replace('"', '\\"')
 
             # Put the token
diff --git a/sqlparse/sql.py b/sqlparse/sql.py
index ec44a6da..ce05ab5c 100644
--- a/sqlparse/sql.py
+++ b/sqlparse/sql.py
@@ -39,35 +39,17 @@ def get_alias(self):
             return self._get_first_name(reverse=True)
 
 
-class Token:
-    """Base class for all other classes in this module.
+class TokenBase:
+    """Base class for ``Token`` and ``TokenList``.
 
-    It represents a single token and has two instance attributes:
-    ``value`` is the unchanged value of the token and ``ttype`` is
-    the type of the token.
+    It has a single instance attribute, ``parent``, which if not ``None``
+    represents the ``TokenList`` that contains this token.
     """
 
-    __slots__ = (
-        'is_group',
-        'is_keyword',
-        'is_newline',
-        'is_whitespace',
-        'normalized',
-        'parent',
-        'ttype',
-        'value',
-    )
+    __slots__ = 'parent'
 
-    def __init__(self, ttype, value):
-        value = str(value)
-        self.value = value
-        self.ttype = ttype
+    def __init__(self):
         self.parent = None
-        self.is_group = False
-        self.is_keyword = ttype in T.Keyword
-        self.is_whitespace = self.ttype in T.Whitespace
-        self.is_newline = self.ttype in T.Newline
-        self.normalized = value.upper() if self.is_keyword else value
 
     def __str__(self):
         return self.value
@@ -84,19 +66,12 @@ def __repr__(self):
         return "<{cls} {q}{value}{q} at 0x{id:2X}>".format(
             id=id(self), **locals())
 
-    def _get_repr_name(self):
-        return str(self.ttype).split('.')[-1]
-
     def _get_repr_value(self):
         raw = str(self)
         if len(raw) > 7:
             raw = raw[:6] + '...'
         return re.sub(r'\s+', ' ', raw)
 
-    def flatten(self):
-        """Resolve subgroups."""
-        yield self
-
     def match(self, ttype, values, regex=False):
         """Checks whether the token matches the given arguments.
 
@@ -155,24 +130,76 @@ def has_ancestor(self, other):
         return False
 
 
-class TokenList(Token):
+class Token(TokenBase):
+    """"A single token.
+
+    It has several additional instance attributes:
+        ``value`` is the unchanged value of the token
+        ``ttype`` is the type of the token
+        ``normalized`` is the value of the token, converted to uppercase if it
+            is a keyword
+        ``is_keyword`` is a boolean indicating if the token is a keyword
+        ``is_whitespace`` is a boolean indicating if the token is whitespace
+        ``is_newline`` is a boolean indicating if the token is a newline
+            character
+    """
+    __slots__ = (
+        'is_keyword',
+        'is_newline',
+        'is_whitespace',
+        'normalized',
+        'ttype',
+        'value',
+    )
+
+    is_group = False
+
+    def __init__(self, ttype, value):
+        super().__init__()
+        value = str(value)
+        self.value = value
+        self.ttype = ttype
+        self.is_keyword = ttype in T.Keyword
+        self.is_whitespace = ttype in T.Whitespace
+        self.is_newline = self.ttype in T.Newline
+        self.normalized = value.upper() if self.is_keyword else value
+
+    def _get_repr_name(self):
+        return str(self.ttype).split('.')[-1]
+
+    def flatten(self):
+        """Resolve subgroups."""
+        yield self
+
+
+class TokenList(TokenBase):
     """A group of tokens.
 
-    It has an additional instance attribute ``tokens`` which holds a
+    It has an additional instance attribute, ``tokens``, which holds a
     list of child-tokens.
     """
 
     __slots__ = 'tokens'
 
+    is_group = True
+    ttype = None
+    is_keyword = False
+    is_whitespace = False
+    is_newline = False
+
     def __init__(self, tokens=None):
+        super().__init__()
         self.tokens = tokens or []
         [setattr(token, 'parent', self) for token in self.tokens]
-        super().__init__(None, ''.join(token.value for token in self.tokens))
-        self.is_group = True
 
-    def __str__(self):
+    @property
+    def value(self):
         return ''.join(token.value for token in self.flatten())
 
+    @property
+    def normalized(self):
+        return self.value
+
     # weird bug
     # def __len__(self):
     #     return len(self.tokens)
@@ -330,7 +357,6 @@ def group_tokens(self, grp_cls, start, end, include_end=True,
             grp = start
             grp.tokens.extend(subtokens)
             del self.tokens[start_idx + 1:end_idx]
-            grp.value += ''.join(token.value for token in subtokens)
         else:
             subtokens = self.tokens[start_idx:end_idx]
             grp = grp_cls(subtokens)