Thursday, February 26, 2009
I don’t think I could handle teetering the fine line stand-up comedians pluck at with every joke. Taking the risk of offending some to tickle the greater number’s funny bone is just too chancy for my taste.
I have always been surprised at what makes me huff in a disgruntled fashion and what makes me teary-eyed with laughter. The factor in acts that makes me smile rather than scowl is a shared characteristic that I can identify with the comedian.
Here are a couple of my favorite comedians’ more memorably offensive rants:
Margaret Cho:
“I was hanging out in the one gay bar in all of Scotland. They have one gay bar. It’s called C.C. Bloom’s. C.C. Bloom’s is the name of the character that Bette Midler played in Beaches. That is the gayest thing I have heard in my entire life. That place should just be called Fuck Me In The Ass ... Bar and Grill.”
Jim Gaffigan:
“I was looking at a box of Hot Pockets. They have a warning printed on the side. Warning: You just bought Hot Pockets. Hope you’re drunk or heading home to a trailer. You hillbilly, enjoy the next NASCAR event.”
See Madeline’s Q & A on page 13 for some insight into comedian Nikki Glaser’s comedic style. Here’s a sample of her brand of comedy that was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:
“I get jealous of couples a lot. You see couples out and about and they do the PDA thing, the public displays of affection. I saw this couple the other day and this guy was giving his girlfriend a piggyback ride down the street. And it was a little over the top. But something was in me like, ‘Oh, I want that. Like that is what I want.’ And then he like set her back down in her wheelchair. And then I was like, ‘Maybe that’s not what I thought it was. That’s fine. It’s not for me.’”
I’ve seen Beaches like Cho and have eaten Hot Pockets like Gaffigan, giving me a common characteristic with each of them.
So if Glaser were to poke fun at Lawrence’s liberal loonies—I’d be OK with that. She’s a fellow Jayhawk.
Q & A with Nikki Glaser
"Most comedians had to develop a thick skin for whatever reason."
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