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The unbearable hipness of Phily Mag
We alternate between being stunned and being disappointed. Then we shrug and realize that some folks just can’t give up old habits. There’s a short piece on Philadelphia Magazine’s website, in a blog called “Impresario,” which is edited by Victor Fiorillo. The title?
Philly Getting New Comedy Club… Does Anybody Care?
It’s a heads up on the opening of the National Lampoon Comedy House on July 25. It gets better:
…in Philadelphia proper, going out to see stand-up just isn’t something that ranks too high on most of our lists.
It’s getting almost humorous now. We envision hacks from all over the country (working at thick, slick, formerly ad-choked city mags) passing around the same tired clichéd paragraphs and phrases that denigrate what has become one of the more popular entertainment choices in the past 30 years.
Dig out that dreary takedown of a standup comedy club from 1992, insert the name of the new comedy club and change the name of the city and you’ve written yourself a snarky three-paragraph story in a record three minutes!
Hasn’t this guy heard? Standup comedy is more popular now than it has ever been. And it has multi-generational appeal– even the old people and their parents (Philly Mag’s prime demo?) regularly enjoy standup. Performers like Chappelle and Lewis Black and Jim Gaffigan sell out theaters large and small in towns large and small. (Check out our posting from Vegas last week if you need proof that standup excites people and easily separates them from their entertainment dollar.)
Fiorillo does his readers, his employers and standup comedy a disservice. His attitude is square and dated.
On a brighter note, the January 25th soft opening for the National Lampoon Comedy House in Philly was supposed to be a fundraiser to cover the cost of local comedian Jeff Pirrami‘s recent heart surgery. Pirrami however, has graciously opted to make it a show that benefits the family of recently departed comedian Mike Sullivan Irwin. Such selflessness is inspiring.
P.S.: Here’s a sampling of references to standup in Fiorillo’s postings in just the last 75 days
Haven’t we had enough of Chris Rock yet?
If I were ruler of the world, impressionists would be banned. BANNED, I tell you. But I am not. So you are still free to enjoy the supposed funniness of Frank Caliendo…
I have to be honest with you. I actually thought that Bob Newhart was dead. Not in the way that you might say that you thought Samantha Fox or Kato Kaelin was dead. Like, actually dead. Well, either I am wrong or they’re practicing some kind of voodoo out in Hershey, where Newhart or perhaps the Ghost of Newhart will do whatever it is that he or it does these days…
Sophisticated he is not. Andrew Dice Clay– in what should be called The Back From The Fucking Dead Tour…
Also at the Borgata, youve got that annoying redhead Kathy Griffin…
Does this loser do good things for the credibility of Philadelphia Magazine? Is it really in their best interests to have someone like this commenting on standup? Don’t mention standup around Grandpa Fiorillo! HE GOES APESHIT!
7 Responses
Reply to: The unbearable hipness of Phily Mag
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Well, someone cared enough to open a new club!These stand-up bashing pieces are so lame. It’s like having album reviews done by someone who hates music.
Maybe Fiorillo was abused at a comedy club as a kid. Now we ALL have to pay the consequence.
Good lord – I’ve never seen a case of anti-comedy bias so bad that it extends to Bob Newhart! That’s insanity.
In our ongoing quest to demonstrate a severe anti-standup bias in the MSM, we too often feel like Kevin McCarthy in the last scene of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But such blatant examples as Fiorillo convince even the skeptics. (And should embarass the editors of Philly Mag enough that they take care to cover standup with a bit more of an open mind in the future.)
There’s a piece on local (PHL/So. Jersey) standup scheduled for the August issue of Philly Mag. And it’s not written by Fiorillo. We are hopeful that it won’t be a hit piece, but we won’t know until we pick up a copy.
Great analogy, joedevito. So true.But sheckymag, is this an example of the mainstream media? It sounds like it’s the alternative press. You don’t often see the word “fucking” in the MSM.
It’s mainstream enough. It’s the monthly magazine for the fifth largest city in America. And, while this may be that publication’s website, it’s still a part of the organization. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a definition of mainstream media, but if it’s slick, packed with advertising, distributed via regular channels and it gives out “Best Of” awards every year, that’s about as mainstream as it gets. And, since 1968, nobody bats an eye when the provocateurs at Philly Mag use the coarse language.
Even the alt weekly newspapers have gone mainstream– they’re being bought and sold for large sums, so they must be making gobs of money. They have a veneer of alternative– and plenty of ads for escort services and gay massage and whatnot– but they’re about as alt as Grit.
The counterculture isn’t “counter” any more.
In the same August issue of Philly Mag that you mentioned above, Kenneth Keith Kallenbach is profiled. He was an aspiring Philly stand-up who was helped very kindly in his life and in his stand-up comedy by Andy Scarpati and John Kensil, although they are not mentioned in the Philly Mag piece, which focuses on Kenneth’s death while in prison custody. But Philly Mag is edited by Larry Platt, who is a huge fan of stand-up–see his piece on Bill Maher in Rolling Stone, for example–and is a solid citizen and ‘standup guy’ in his own right. Philly Mag deserves a lot of respect, in my opinion, but I love Shecky, too, so what do I know? I know we should all be happy for having BOTH Shecky and Philly Mag. Thanks, John Dougherty