"Volodymyr Zelenskyy 2016 Playing Piano with Penis"

Last edited by Rampop II (5/08/2022 2:39 am)

About halfway through the new Kids in the Hall.  It takes some adjusting to how poorly they've phystically aged, but maybe that's partly because they were originally so uncannily boyish looking anyway.  Now?  Well a couple of them look like they've been through some kind of dioxin poisoning.

Also never really expected for little Jacques and little Francios to make an appearance.  Brave and pitiful, not in terribly equal degree.

I'm greatly looking forward to the upcoming George Carlin documentary for what should be obvious reasons.  (Hard recommend for Carlin's book, Last Words, a posthumous assemblage that works as effective an autobiography as he could have written.)

But I have doubts.  Primarily that it is co-directed by Judd Apatow.  Judd's previous doc on Garry Shandling was similarly irresistible for the subject and vintage materials, but I had a number of issues with Apatow's lack of depth in dealing with Shandling's more profound philosophical and spiritual engagements.  But, like Carlin, it's thankfully virtually impossible to compile a halfway adequete collection of the comic doing what he does best and have the results be less than thrilling.  They're idiot-proof levels of genius.

But what a fucking idiot.  I saw Apatow on Colbert this week, plugging the Carlin doc.  Colbert asks Apatow, perhaps presuming that this project has endowed him with some kind of insight, what it was about Carlin's mind from which he was able to craft such brilliant, timeless comedy.  Judd's answer: "Cocaine".  Colbert waits a few seconds for the glib joke to land, but Judd wasn't joking, "Seriously, he spent most of his time by himself doing cocaine and writing material."  This is, I'm guessing, the same 'cocaine' that Carlin quit in 1986, after which he continued to produce 20 years of brilliant comedy without its aid (and, arguably, some may legitimately say that this more cantankerous, crusty incarnation of Carlin was perhaps his finest work, on at least a couple of those sets).  But here's the real idiocy in action: Judd later admits that he himself has never done cocaine, or any drugs, and is basically completely ignorant of their effects and influences.  Don't let that stop you, ya cunt, from reducing all of that brilliance from this complex and complicated person down into a substance that Carlin himself called "a colossal waste of time, health and money".  You know what's as addictive as cocaine?  Kissing all of the ass in the comedy industry for 40 years until they let you make all of the documentaries.

George Carlin's American Dream

As I pointed out above, George Carlin happens to be idiot-proof, not for lack of trying.  The good news is that this 2 part special is so loaded with archival material - rare photos, vintage TV video, private cassette recordings, facsimiles of scores of pages of notes - that it's truly irresistible for fans of all degree.  And, over its four hour run, is an impressively faithful representation of the man, his talents and flaws, lusts and loves, inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies and indomitably defended principles.  It's impossible to spend four hours immersed in Carlin's life and not be thrilled and fascinated.

Most of the irritations I had with the documentary are consistent with my dislike of a lot of modern documentaries of media figures, which usually involves devolving into rote narrative cliches, both stylistic and emotional, with low-hanging fruit observations and trite portents.  Had the film been a conventional length feature, it would likely be unbearable, but thankfully, given the luxury of exhaustive content, the depth and complexity of Carlin is too vibrant to be constrained by easy bio tropes.  Even in archival fragments, Carlin insists on speaking for himself.

The worst part of the film is easily the very beginning, an opening montage which looks like they were trying to make Carlin into a truck commercial or something.  Maybe this is the kind of hook that's necessary these days, I dunno.  I am glad that anyone who sits through the rest of the four hour special will hopefully be able to look back at the opening and realize that it's just as vacuous as the inflated mythical bullshit that Carlin was so intent on puncturing with his needle wit.  It's a great irony that one of our greatest sociocultural mythbusters is being so facilely mythologized.  I'm not at all impressed by the extent that Carlin continues to have viral memes and youtube clips, and I doubt he would be either.  One reason is the internet hoax from the 2000s, where an imposter was pushing fake Carlin blogposts with right-wing agendas, racism about Katrina and welfare and other opinions which anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the man would know instantly to be fraudulent.  The fact is that there are tons of fake quotes attributed to Carlin that are easily found memes on the internet.  There's a small industry of youtube videos of speciously edited Carlin clips pushing a wide variety (but mostly the grossest extremes) of political perspectives.  Anyone who knows George Carlin from memes and youtube frankly doesn't know a goddamn thing.  And similarly, the opening caricature of Carlin in this doc, the tough bootstrapping fuck-your-feelings nihilist, is exposed around the 3:40 mark of the documentary as not Carlin the man but a "backdoor" provocation to shock the audience into realizing our collective lack of empathy.  Basically, the opening is exactly the Carlin that assholes misunderstand and misappropriate.  Hopefully these kinds of fans can muster the patience to make it far enough to understand the modest, merciful idealist underneath the crags that people like this have caused him to protect himself by wielding.

But yet Carlin insists on speaking for himself.  One clear fact that emerges is that Carlin steadfastly refuses to be owned by anyone, put into anyone's pet box, forced to speak on behalf of anyone.  And this is why the special's most awkward segments involve attempts to latch Carlin onto larger sociopolitical trends (even recent ones) using ample amounts of stock footage and Time/Life B-roll.  It's a distraction and noise that misses the point of his more universal truth of singular clarity and compassion.

10/Carlin; 7/Apatow

Last edited by Jinnistan (5/22/2022 6:50 pm)

Jinnistan wrote:

And then he kicked him in the pussy.

D'ohhhhh! 



I guess there's little point in saying "Shame on the New York Post" for giving this nutjob a platform. Tabloids got no shame. 
Does this not count as an ongoing investigation?
Oh right. It's just a misdemeanor. 
 

crumbsroom wrote:

The actions and the explanation of this dipshit can be viewed as both a grotesque exaggeration of what 'cancel culture' might lead to in a worst case scenario, as well as the logical path that modern discourse has forged for these fucking loser, idealogue weirdos to grandstand their violent behavior.

I think that calling Lee an  "idealogue" is quite generous, implying sincerely-held beliefs.  I see him as more of an opportunist, using Chappelle's coattails as a means to get his name out there, in the further deterioration of the line between fame and infamy that has been rotting away in our media age.  The self-aggrandizement and predictable checkboxes of greivances suggest to me someone savvy enough to attempt to play the game but not smart enough to make it stick (Jussie Smollet comes to mind, another performer of ideology who likely doesn't adhere to any beyond the virtue of ego).

But the dinner bell tolls for thee, and similarly this is definitely a call, or a justification, for a great number of loser weirdos to take the playbook and run with it.  To paraphrase an earlier Chappelle joke about fame, this shows that there may be a lucrative future in being a celebrity assaulter.

Last edited by Jinnistan (5/25/2022 7:33 pm)

Well, the headlines are bleeding yellow once more as here comes a fresh target into the rabble's crosshairs, and fresh fuel into the fires of self–righteous indignation: let's re–sharpen those guillotines again and get even more outraged over what GLAAD just condemned as the latest "graphic, dangerous, anti–trans rants masquerading as jokes," in the new Netflix stand–up comedy special from... Ricky Gervais. 

Uh, ok? Funny thing, though... as soon as it occurs to me to make a point of seeing this latest comedy/horror for myself, a cold and familiar feeling descends over me: the vague but unmistakable sense that I'm being suckered. 

I assume it's bound to happen if it isn't happening already, when the strategy for promoting new features capitalizes on cancelmania, by deliberately getting new features publicly condemned, generating outrage, headlines, flame wars and bottomless tweetnadoes of controversy, drawing Pavlovian moths like me fluttering instinctively into the cold LED glow of some production that would otherwise never have become so much as a fleeting blip on my radar. I don't mean I have any problem with Ricky Gervais. He's funny. But, you know, only so many hours in a day. 

So, throwin' another violent stand–up comic on the barbie...

Last edited by Rampop II (5/26/2022 1:27 am)

As funny as I think Gervais can be, I've always found him to be a fairly mediocre (at best) standup. Which is maybe impressive since that's not his natural format and doubt he's done his dues in small clubs honing his chops. But, still, he's not great. He desperately wants to be earth shatteringly profound with his insights about life and they have all the wallop of an average conversation at a dive bar. And, as for the jokes, you can always track exactly where they are going. Dave Foley once likened comedy to slight of hand, and ever since I've not been able to shake that connection. And so when Gervais reaches for your ear, you know exactly what's going to happen (plus you can see he palmed that nickle before hand)

As for the gender stuff outrage, I guess that's hardly surprising. I read a couple of articles floating out there angry about it and the fact that their authors can't emotionally separate themselves from disapproving of his jokes and how this comes from the fact that 'Ricky Gervais hates trans people' is fucking embarrassing. I get the trans rights issues are fairly new and thus are probably by necessity more reflexive then most. I also get that trans issues are slightly more complicated than some in that, it's not so much as a right for equality as a right for simple recognition that they exist, which I guess can't help but lead to a bit of extra fear of language that seems to not even understand the claim they make of who they are. But, for fucks sake people, if you want anyone who isn't already aggressively on your side to listen, you need to stop mistaking the root of these jokes being Hate towards you. Ricky Gervais doesn't hate you. At worst he doesn't understand you. And maybe it's not the best he's making jokes about something he doesn't entirely understand, but it's a far leap from hate.

And then there is also the reality of understanding the target of humor, which people of all groups are notoriously terrible at. Yes, Gervais does make a few jokes where the punchline is gendered people. Fairly harmless jokes, if you ask me, but if they want to discuss the ramifications of what those kind of jokes mean, the forum is all theirs. But it seems to me the vast majority of his punchlines involve, not so much trans people, as it is the frequently wildly  reactions of those who defend trans people from any kind of real or perceived or totally imagined slight. He's not making claims he's worried that trans people will rape women in washrooms. He's making fun of being more concerned with inserting proper pronouns into a sentence where a woman WAS raped. And, also, making fun of those who are against trans people using their preferred washroom because of such manufactured concerns of possible sexual assault.

But, no matter, here we go with the TERF TERF TERF TERF horseshit again. That real chestnut to prove how much someone hates trans people. Just throw that word around a little. This little protective amulet that allows that trans community to act as if feminists, a group which still speaks for an incredibly underpriviledged and marginalized group in society, are somehow their sworn enemies due to their activism in pushing women's rights. Because they refuse to allow any discourse that ever tilts towards women who were born women (as if there are no unique qualities to the oppression of this particular group that still very much need tending to). Like, honestly, fuck all the people who throw that term around.

 

I'm not smart or informed enough to look at this holistically, but I feel like over the last decade there's been this weird insistence on interpreting issues through a handful of social justice lenses, no matter how ill fitting that lens might be in understanding the actual issue. I don't know if this would be the cause, but surely there's a relation to the thinkpiece cottage industry, specifically publications like Jezebel and the Root that offer the glibbest version of these critiques and do a disservice to actual social justice efforts in the process. This is anecdotal, but I feel like I've seen an overall shift from misogyny to racism to late capitalism being brought up as a catch all explanation for whatever issue is being discussed. And my internal response is that things can be bad without being directly related to your specific grievance.

Norm MacDonald - Nothing Special

I appreciate the attempt to pre-emptively put some truth in advertizing.  I would add that this doesn't exactly consist of new material, though maybe that's because of all of the clips available of '18-'19 stuff that's out there.  Or maybe some of it's just obvious.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm delighted to spend some time with Norm.  And he seems so game.  And this seems like such an adequete eulogy.  Norm is so in his element in this equivalent of doing his act in a bathroom mirror.  We've all been his bathroom mirror all along.  I'm honored.

(I'll excuse the extra commentary on the special because, according to Spade, they were pretty much blindsided into participating at Norm's memorial.)