Modified On December 1, 2005
Considering that the subtitle of the Nuvo website is “Arts, Entertainment & Social Justice,” we should expect ridiculous drivel in a review of Robert Klein‘s latest HBO special. Observe the review’s lede:
Robert Klein is one of the funniest people alive, and he achieved that status without trying terribly hard.
Say what? It’s gets better:
Look at his career choices– his movies (try to name a good one), his TV shows (The Stones and Bob Patterson, most recently) and even his standup– and it’s obvious he doesn’t put forth that much effort.
Perhaps the byline, Marc D. Allan, is a nom de plume for Klein’s mother. Allan heaps on more abuse in his big finish paragraph:
And he absolutely should have expended more effort honing his jokes and writing transitions between subjects.
Absolutely.
We haven’t seen the new special, but we doubt very much that Klein is guilty of all the above charges. He’s Robert Klein, after all. Nobody works (or worked) harder at standup than Robert Klein. His voice, his writing style, his approach has shaped generations of standup comics. His influence is so pervasive as to be inivisible to even the folks who’ve been influenced.
Klein has achieved what so many comics strive for– he’s made it look easy. This only becomes a problem when your work is reviewed by dullards. Good news for Mr. Allan: he has made it just under the wire and is in the running for the SHECKYmagazine Dumbass of the Year award.