Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Starting to realize that the shitty comedians whining about cancel culture/everyone being “too sensitive these days” and the shitty employers whining about how “nO oNe wAnTs tO wOrK aNyMoRe” are cut from the same cloth and are using the same faulty logic. They actually have a lot in common:

1. Both of them believe they are entitled to success.

They think success is their god-given right, and therefore if they don’t get it, it means they’re being attacked. That they’re a victim of some terrible circumstance and society is out to get them, because how else do you explain it? It couldn’t be their own actions and choices, after all. Which leads me to another trait they have in common:

2. Them failing at something is everyone’s fault but theirs.

It isn’t that a comedy set is poorly written, outdated, repetitive or too similar to jokes the audience has already heard a hundred times, aimed at the wrong audience, or not delivered well. That would imply that the comedian is bad at their job, and of course it’s much easier to blame everyone else than face the fact that maybe your set just wasn’t that good. Similarly, workers aren’t quitting or not applying because the business is poorly run with bad management, low pay, not enough training, and no benefits. It must be all the government’s fault for giving out those stimulus checks 2 years ago. That’s a way more palatable thought than having to consider that maybe, just maybe, you’re not a great person to work for. These are hard concepts to come to terms with, mainly because of the third point these groups have in common:

3. Both stand-up comedy and running a small business are extremely difficult fields that require a lot of work and risk to do, especially full-time.

That’s why so few people are able to become stand-up comics and why so many businesses go under. The odds are against you, and many of the people who succeed in these fields (at least, the ones who weren’t born rich) had to work really hard and take a lot of risk to get there. Many never make it. And there’s no one to blame for this, it’s just the nature of the field. It’s insanely hard, and that means only a few will succeed. So you can see why those who do manage it are determined to hold on tight to their success and not let go. The fear of failing like so many others did is terrifying, so they’re desperate to believe that they are not the cause of any setbacks. For those few who make it, the work finally pays off and they enjoy success…until they don’t.

Until suddenly they stop being successful and are met with resistance, which is a scary thing in a field so competitive and difficult. People are more critical than complimentary of their comedy, or workers start quitting. How can this be? Everything was going so well and now it isn’t. But they haven’t changed anything, so it can’t be them. There must be some external factor, some sort of sabotage happening. And that’s the final trait that shitty comedians and shitty employers have in common:

4. They both fail to recognize that the world has changed, and if they want to keep being successful, they need to change with it.

It isn’t that people are “too sensitive,” it’s that our idea of what’s funny has changed. It wasn’t that long ago that blackface was a common comedy tactic, and now if any comedian tried it, they would (hopefully) be condemned. That isn’t because people are less able to take a joke than they were before. It means that our tastes have changed. And there’s no one person or political event you can blame for that. It’s just a thing that happens. A good comedian would recognize this and do the work to update their material accordingly, but a lot of these folks have let the fame go to their heads and make them think they’re incapable of ever doing a bad set. So their failures become everyone else’s fault and in their minds, success becomes a right that they’re being deprived of.

It isn’t that “no one wants to work anymore,” it’s that more and more people are starting to realize that if your job doesn’t pay you enough to live on, then there isn’t much point in having one. A good employer would recognize that and pay a thriving wage, but too many are so invested in the idea of being “job creators” that workers should grovel at the feet of as a sign of thanks for “giving” them jobs that they forget who it is that really makes a business run. And they often have to be reminded of that the hard way, when their whole store quits and they have to close because word has gotten out that they’re a shitty place to work for and now no one’s applying.

Sadly, I doubt many of them will change. Either their success will be limited to only conservative audiences or their lack of adaptability will be their downfall.

Watching last week’s episode of Maron, it was interesting that Marc Maron decided to do an episode based on cultural differences in comedy and why it does or does not matter. It’s a very good episode but one part of the show I really liked is when Maron begins to talk with comedian Bruce Bruce and they get into what a white comedian is able to get away with versus what a black comedian can get away with but more importantly, it gets into how and why a black comedian has to do a show one way with black audiences and do it another way with white (arguably “more mainstream”) audiences. They get into how Richard Pryor pretty much didn’t change his act throughout his career and that if Pryor was a new comic today, he would not be able to get away with what he did in his time.

A perfect example of this is to explore Redd Foxx’s vast discography. For most of his albums released by the Dootone/Dootoo record labels, those were performed in front of “down home” audiences, a black nightclub where his routines were recorded and then transferred over to be released on vinyl. Those are some of the best comedy albums ever released, and while Foxx was never that explicit in those days, he was raw and blunt. The only time he cursed was at the end, when he told the crowd that if anyone in the audience ever got offended by his material, he would like to apologize sincerely from the bottom of his heart and that he doesn’t give a shit. Otherwise, Foxx found himself talking about corksoakers, spelling the word “bathroom” with his tongue during cunnilingus, racing horses, and discovering his lady is pregnant but has a Mexican child “and there’s no Mexican blood… in me”. In the early 1960′s, that was the kind of records that would be considered “behind the counter” but that was most likely in reference to those records having to be safe in white record stores. If you were to go to a black record store, you’d probably find every Redd Foxx album in the comedy section along with loads of albums made by comediennes and drag queens (and yes, there are many of both).

As Redd Foxx started to get more attention outside of the black comedy clubs, he found himself signed to a Warner Bros. subsidiary label called Loma, created by Bob Krasnow (the brief existence of Loma would eventually lead to him creating the incredible Blue Thumb record label, so consider Loma a pre-cursor). Foxx’s albums were recorded in Hollywood to a wider/whiter audience, and he did have to “polish” his act in order to be accessible to those audiences. It comes off like a lounge singer who wants to do material that will please those crowds and yet the humor is still as strong as anything Foxx did on those Dootone/Dooto albums. It just happens to be a bit milder, a bit cleaner, not as suggestive. Foxx recorded what would be his last album for Loma called Foxx-A-Delic, done in Las Vegas. Foxx was making it into the big time or perhaps, looking for bigger. With the close of Loma, Warner Bros. proper would release the album as “Live” Las Vegas and Foxx was free to find another label. At the same time, Dootone Records continued to dig into their tape library and release Foxx albums that would be “more suitable” for black audiences, and they were sold in mainstream stores as well, to let new fans know where he came from. In 1970, Foxx found himself on the King record label, which had been known as the home of James Brown for years. He ended up only one album for King and while it too was recorded in Los Angeles, not in a “Hollywood club” but the Redd Foxx club. You can say he had every reason to drop his pants with a nude woman and said “this is my album cover, I’m home now.” Foxx was heading up and with major label success and his own club, it was a matter of time before he found himself as Watts junk dealer Fred G. Sanford on a successful NBC situation comedy, Sanford & Son.

After the success of Sanford & Son, Foxx found himself back into the Warner fold for one album, but this time it was on Atlantic. Rather than play it safe, he went raw and dirty and you can say he was dirtier than how he was on those Dootone albums.  It could easily be said that the success of Foxx on Loma/Warner Bros. may have lead to Pryor being signed by Warner Bros. for years and allowed Pryor to be as open and as uncensored as he was. Perhaps due to Pryor’s success, it lead to Foxx coming up with the material that would become You Gotta Wash Your Ass. Audiences who loved Sanford & Son probably ended up very shocked to hear their favorite junk dealer speaking about doing a 69 with a woman, smelling something but wondering if it is a filthy/un-wiped anus and realizing “SHIT, THE NOSE KNOWS!”  That was the dirty Foxx older fans had come to know and love and he would never return to that phase again.

Nonetheless, cable television has almost eliminated the power that comedy albums used to have, as being able to watch a routine on HBO eliminated the need to have to buy a record. However, one is able to watch a comedy special and still get a laugh and for some comedians, it’s great to watch someone’s early days vs. what they would become. For some, it is a difference between doing a routine for a “down home” audience vs. the bigger, more profitable crowds. Is it any different? Depends on your perspective. Maybe for some comedians, it becomes a bit of “I want to test the limits of the crowds, I want to see how far I can go but still move the crowd.“  That’s the best in comedy, understanding the power of the word and seeing what they can get away with while knowing it’s about going to the edge and always going beyond a barrier or two.

13MAY22 Huge thank you to Billiam Finn for booking me for Aaron Rowe’s roast.

Still in awe that I got to see John Mulaney and Pete Davidson live. Love these two

Movie Review: Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla

Movie Review: Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla

Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla dir. William Beaudine

Crooner Duke Mitchell (himself) and comedian Sammy Petrillo (himself) are on their way to a USO performance in Guam when they get lost on their way to the restroom and walk off the airplane. Good thing they were wearing parachutes! The pair land on the tropical island of Kolakola and wander around for a few days living on berries and raw…

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fyeahusheraymond:

Tee Morant and Usher finally met! What in the multiverse is this

RIP you badass

This is just a little excerpt of my writings, I work a lot with my own characters like in this one, I will probably post more about my usual additions later on.

Just want to Help…

Word count:904

Requested:NOPE

Warnings:none

Cesar held her in his arms as the tears fell from her eyes staining his shirt and breaking his heart. He never quite Knew how to comfort Charlotte, he never had to. She was always the one helping someone else, the one who knew what to say, who knew how to make the meanest thug blush in admiration and the worst bitch smile with glee. No one ever had to help her feel better, she did that for everyone else in Freeridge, and yet no one knew how to do that for her. He had tried to impress her and be as romantic as she was but she was so easily pleased with kindness that while he gave her a pricy bouquet if some random guy gave her a random handful of wild flowers with the roots and dirt still attached she’d be just as happy. It wasn’t that she wasn’t impressed easily by him, it’s that she’s just as easily impressed by everyone else. It made his job harder. Now he was the only one who she came to, showing up at his door with tears in her eyes and her hands clutching her crossed arms, red nose sniffling. That led to them on his bed, her sobbing as she told him about her brother being arrested. He knew the feeling of someone you loved being arrested his brother too was arrested, the difference was Oscar had gone to actual jail, her brother (being her twin) was in juvie and when he turned 18 then he’d hit the slammer.

All he could do was think of one question.

“What happened?”

She lifted her head slowly looking him in the eyes.

“He’s been charged for a lot of different things, he did a lot of secret things whenever he left out, things he never told me, I just came home to Lucy panicking and she told he was arrested, she won’t even tell me why, or how, he’s just gone!” She sniffed some more but his question seemed to distract her from crying.

“If you need anything, I can help or Oscar, I think he has a soft spot for you and your family” her lip twitched upward as he said the last part.

“You mean he has a soft spot for Lucy” she giggled lightly trying to wipe the tears off her cheek, Cesar raised his thumb, wiping lightly across her skin as he tried to help.

“Is it weird your sister and my brother used to date?” He asked acting nonchalant but secretly feeling a little discomfort.

“No, but it is weird they still hook up sometimes whenever he visits”

“He visits?!” Cesar knew Oscar was close to the Candid girls for protection, but he didn’t know his brother was close enough to visit their home.

“Yep, just when big conflicts and issues go down in the neighbor and to check in at times to make sure Jason is… under control.” He heard the tremor in her voice and a scowl formed on his face, if anyone needed to be arrested to was Jason candid, but he could tell she didn’t want talk about him. They stayed silent for a minute. At least she stopped crying and now just looked down at their intertwined hands. He wasn’t her boyfriend, at least not yet he hoped, but he sure was her closest friend. He sometimes thought they would become more but it was never sure. Now that all seemed unimportant to him. He just wanted her to be happy, and he wanted her brother out of trouble.

Jest and Cesar were not close at all in fact jest hated Cesar, but they had a mutual agreement to keep Charlotte safe. Just worked at home and Cesar worked the streets. She didn’t know about this and they never talked about it. It was more of a silent understanding both letting the other know if anything happened it would be their fault. Now that he was arrested that left Lucy and Charlotte under Jason’s care and Jason’s care alone. That was not going to end well.

“Stay here” Cesar barley realized he was saying this. “You and Lucy should stay here till we can figure something out, Oscar would be fin-“

“No” Cesar wasn’t shocked by her answer, he was shocked by her tone “I am not going to do that to you guys, we can take care of ourselves”

“No doubt, but Jest brought in a lot of your guy’s money, we can help” She stood up and didn’t look angry but looked sad and conflicted

“Cesar…” He wanted to stop her knowing she would reject his offer “I thank you, but if you really want to help, just pray for us, and… tell me how you got through it with Oscar” Cesar was quiet, he knew exactly how he got through it, he just knew she didn’t have it and didn’t have the heart to tell her, and yet for some reason he did anyway.

“My friends” he whispered, then cleared his throat and spoke up “I had my friends to help me through it” He expected her face to fall but instead it lit up and she gave a smile.

“that’s awesome” she mused “and sweet” she looked down at him with those big amber eyes and he noticed they were glossy “I think I can head home now”

“But you just-“

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know it ended abruptly but this was just a little writing therapy, the point was to get it out of my system not to stress

John Mulaney Would’ve made it huge as a 1950s radio show host, no question