I’m sorry if you aren’t excited about this movie… I’m not sorry that it’s happening, I’m just sorry that you aren’t experiencing the same joy that I am. If you are excited about this movie then feel free to come over to my house, and let’s be friends.
Joan Rivers was one of the most crass and offensive comedians to ever be a part of mainstream comedy. This is just a fact. However, she paved the way for so many. As a big fan of comedy, and the progression of people being able to make an impact I have a big place in my heart for Joan, even though she manages to make me uncomfortable pretty regularly when I watch her. Joan was groundbreaking with all of her appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but after she hosted a competing show for a short time there was a long time ban on her appearing on the Tonight Show – that was up until recently on Jimmy Fallon’s first episode after taking over the show.
So, with Joan being who she was I’m posting the thing that probably most exemplifies her career (outside of her documentary “A Piece Of Work”, which is not available on YouTube), her Comedy Central Roast.
*WARNING: if you are easily offended this will definitely offend you.
If you have a Time Magazine nearby I suggest picking it up to find out if it contains a recent article that they published about a very inspiring and insightful person who I really grown to enjoy. If you can’t find a copy feel free to read it below, you’ll just really have to zoom in to see it.
Oh man… So this is a fun post for me. The event that I would most like to attend each year is the White House Correspondence Dinner (followed by the Oscars), where the worlds of politics and comedy collide. Also, this year I happened to be watching the dinner whilst sitting about 2 miles away trying to think of ways to participate… I am sorry to report that I didn’t get to be a part of it in any way, but I did get to tweet a little bit with a wonderful comedian Ophira Eisenberg – whose book I’m reading right now “Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy” (and yes it’s a bit risqué , but it’s honest and for that I treasure it). Also Ophira’s trivia show on NPR “Ask Me Another” is a real treat for a nerd who loves podcasts. Oh yeah, back to the correspondence dinner. This dinner is intended to honor the press, while also roasting them a little bit too. They used to be rather mild roasts, but they have gotten more and more shall I say “bold” each year. And ever since Stephen Colbert so controversially roasted President George W. Bush to his face the whole game has changed.
While I think that President George W. Bush was actually pretty good at events like this, President Obama is just better, in my opinion. He knows not to laugh when the crowd is, and then he is the first to laugh when they don’t laugh, or show some type of hesitancy. I’m sure he was trained to do this, but controlling when he laughs like that isn’t easy I’m sure, but it displays a cool confidence and that in comedy can be powerful stuff… I’d love to talk about which jokes were my favorite, but this is one of those things that I’d rather just let you dive into on your own, it’s that fun.
I hope you enjoy it.
P.S. if you don’t watch “House of Cards” this first video probably won’t be quite so funny to you, but I recommend the show (and it’s a Netflix original, so you won’t find it on your cable channels).
House of Cards Intro
Obama Monologue
Conan Monologue
That’s me on the right, and Bill Maher on the left. He shook my hand, and I thanked him for being the King of Nuance, to which he laughed.
Last night (April 14th, 2013), I got to shake hands with one of the people who has been on my bucket list to meet for a long time, Bill Maher. I ended up getting to sit on the second row in the middle of the stage, and it felt like he was looking at me several times. As a kid I was scared of Bill, and I thought that he was the absolute epitome of all that was wrong in the world, I’d never heard anyone talk or act as he did on national television, several times a week. Skipping a few steps in my story, I decided in my early adult life that there really was no such thing as a bad question, so started listening to videos and clips of people who I adamantly disagreed with, so that I could figure out how others could possibly believe things so different from what I believed. This list of people who I’ve listened to due to my disagreements on politics, religion, philosophy, and the weather has grown and changed several times, but Bill remains a part of that list. The funny thing is that I’ve found myself agreeing with much of his sentiment, but not always the snark. I have truly grown to appreciate his honesty, even when it hurts. I could talk about Bill Maher for a long time because of what it has meant to me to listen to his standup routines and panels and challenge myself to never stop asking questions, and to not get my feelings hurt so easily when someone disagrees with me or even calls me a name. Bill is guilty of the name calling, and he could tone that down – but I will also say that if he hadn’t called me names I wouldn’t have been challenged enough to ask the tough questions that I’ve needed to ask myself on several occasions.
I’ve decided in this post to include a couple more pictures and a few of his standup routines, but mostly I want to include the first episode of his new show (of which he is the head producer), that follows his show on Friday nights now. It’s called VICE, and it is Very challenging to watch… I must warn you it is very graphic, and you should not watch it at work, unless if you work at home, or actually want to get any work done for the rest of today. As I understand it they decided to start this show because of the disappointing lack of journalism in the Middle East being broadcasted in the United States, and as HBO and Bill are both tips of the spear for progression this show is incredibly well done.
So, thank you Bill for your candor and sincerity. If we weren’t laughing about some of the absurdity in the world we would be crying. However, if you watch this premiere of VICE it is likely that you’ll cry regardless.
I don’t agree with Bill on everything, especially his approach to faith (although I appreciate him forcing people to ask questions that they might not otherwise), and If you would like to know about my faith feel free to click on this recent post “And Then the Conference Uninvited Me To Speak”.
I’m sorry if your feelings are hurt by me saying anything warm about Bill Maher, but he has challenged me, and for that I’m grateful. When I shook his hand last night I thanked him for being the king of nuance, to which he laughed. Playing the “devil’s advocate” (poor term in my opinion) / asking questions even when it is unpopular or personally challenging is something that I intend to do for the rest of my life, so if I stop friends, family and strangers please remind me to start again.
-Grady
VICE Series Premiere
Thanks for reading, please feel free to give me some feedback.
Here are just a couple of his standup routines, and I would like to remind you that posting this does not mean I approve of everything that he says, in particular about religion. But I do appreciate him making space for me to ask questions, which has been very liberating in my spiritual journey believe it or not…:
I’m Swiss (2005):
Crazy Stupid Politics (2012):
A few years ago I had the chance to meet Jimmy Fallon, and he was an absolutely amazing person (also he had the softest hands I’d ever touched in my life, Seriously!). But below there is a clip of Jay and Jimmy having some funny during all of the confusion of figuring out what was next to come, and the other video is a part of the chaos after the announcement was made that Mr. Fallon would take over. For the last 20 years late night television has been a point of controversy, and the previous 30 years there was little doubt as to who the king of late night entertainment was – it was Johnny Carson. But now in this new age where there are a hundred times as many channels, and the nation is seemingly used to conflict we even end up with variety show battles between people who are all very funny and talented. This clip is proof that we’re dealing with professional comedians…
And here is the clip this morning from Morning Joe recapping all of the jokes on late night TV after the announcement.
And I decided that I want to include the clip from when I met David Letterman a couple of months ago. I know that he is not the focus of this story, but with the history of him getting snubbed for the Tonight Show I thought it was worth including.
Eddie Murphy’s First Appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” – 1982.
One of my favorite things about the invention of “video tape”, or any type of recorded video, is that we can look back through a window in our past on so many different levels. This standup set was performed in 1982, and if it were done today it would not have the same reaction, which is not to say that it’s not funny (I laughed), culture and people change. I love a great comedian, and I love watching them grow and change.
On January 16, 2013 I had a ticket to attend The Colbert Report, and Stephen Colbert being one of my heroes I was completely ecstatic… I also somehow got a ticket at the last minute to go to a taping of Late Night with David Letterman, who is another one of my heroes, on the same night… Unbelievable I know! Well, Letterman tapes just before Colbert so I attempted to go to both, and sprint several blocks through New York City traffic to pull it off. On my voyage there were some exceptional highs, and surprising lows. I ended up getting to talk to David Letterman before the show, and he referenced me/my home town on the show, putting my face on TV. It was completely surreal, and whenever I play 2 truths and I lie from now on that will be one of my amazing truths. After leaving The Ed Sullivan theater (where the Beatles were first introduced to The United States!) I sprinted as fast as I could and was checked into the line to enter Mr. Colbert’s show. After talking with other patrons for about 10 minutes about how this was the best night of my life a few of us at the end of the line were approached by a nice young lady with an iPad who told us that they overbook to ensure a full audience, and that we would not be attending that nights show… It was tough news, and I was mildly devastated and simultaneously still elated from my Letterman experience. They promised me tickets for the next time I would be in town (hopefully soon), and I went on my way. I admire Stephen Colbert (the man, not the character) a great deal, and I can’t wait until the day when I hopefully get to meet him. Until then I’ll just have to watch YouTube videos like this. I really love watching him break character.
I don’t usually buy these history/satire books because I have a hard enough time following along when I’m reading for fun with less challenging material, but I plan to buy this book after hearing this talk. At this point I’m only debating between getting it on my kindle or getting a real book… I just don’t know if it is designed to sit down and just read straight through. Either way I’m buying it, and if you’ve already read the book I’d love to hear what you think.
Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod – TED.
While I’m not advocating theft I must say that this was a very funny talk due to the recognition of a lack of transparency in this arena because the legal implications of the subject matter. It is hard to question something like this without some strong data, that I frankly wouldn’t know much about conjuring on my own. I really appreciate the mild humor bassed in disestablishment culture in this talk, and I hope you do too.
New Rule: The New Neighbors
Bill Maher each week on his show has a segment called “New Rules”, where he gives comedically scathing reviews of things or people that he doesn’t approve of. Sometimes he can make very poignant points during this segment, and sometimes it is basically about whatever he seems to find worth joking about in his last few minutes on air each week. Today I’d like to make a new rule of my own.
New Rule:
Corrupt Members of society , whether they be involved in government or in business (or some kind of freaky hybrid), who have hurt people with corrupt practices should have to register as “offenders”. Every time they try to make a legal transaction of a certain level of significance or price with you, they have to warn you that they are an “offender”, and if they don’t they’ll face punishments… In some states (ie: Oklahoma, my beloved home state) somebody could pee in public and have to register with the state as a “sex offender”. They have to tell all of their neighbors each time that they move that they are a sex offender… I’m not saying that this would be wrong for actual sex offenders, but when you become so willing to lie to Your Self justice almost surely will not be served… Peeing in public is not sex offending. I won’t pretend that I have all of the answers on moral issues, I can’t simply make everything black and white, but I know that calling this
sexual offense takes cognitive dissonance… I would prefer that over this however…
Billy was pretending to have peed in his pants to help a friend, but even if it were not pretend I would prefer that he find a bush… Peeing in your pants is not cool to people. I would prefer that you just act as this man in China did while I was visiting the Shanghai equivalent to Central Park while I was traveling in China
This man looked at me as if I was completely out of line, and I returned the favor. But after reflecting on this event, I would prefer he not wet his pants (although, he was about 50 yards from a free public restroom…).
So I’m kind of joking in that I’m not actually advocating for indecent exposure, or public urination so much, but I am saying that peeing in public does not make you a sex offender. And on the flip side, just as I do actually want to know if I’m living by an actual sex offender (not a public urinator), I want to know if I’m doing business with a crook… The lack of any kind of a crack down on Wall Street after the 2008 collapse has spurred doubt about justice in our system, and when an “offender” wants to do business with me I want to be the one to decide whether or not I’m willing to a risk working with a cheater…
Ok, I’m done with my New Rule, but if you feel the same way about the lack of a crackdown on Wall Street you should watch, if you haven’t already, the Academy Award winning Documentary Inside Job (Best Documentary 2011). Here’s the trailer from the movie:
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