Modified On November 17, 2004
The Daily Orange, the student newspaper of Syracuse University, ran a post-mortem on an appearance by Dustin Diamond, familiar to college-aged Americans as Schreech from the syndicated series Saved by the Bell (and its later incarnations, one of which even made it to a network).
“I thought it was OK,” said Arielle Smith, a junior fashion design major. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect. He kind of talked a lot about himself, but not in a good way. It was awkward to see Screech not be Screech.”
Awkward, indeed. We take a dim view of celebrities hitting the comedy circuit. While the celebrity does bring new people into comedy clubs, they should at least be good at this thing called standup. (There was a story a few years back that Diamond, compensated handsomely for a headlining gig at a Midwest comedy club, dropped down to emcee and let another comic on the bill close the show. Apparently he realized his limitations. This gig isn’t a comedy club, though, so it seems that someone– his new management, perhaps?– has gone the college campus/lecture followed by Q & A route. This is a much more sensible strategy, but it still leads to some cognitive dissonance:
Following Diamond’s act, many students left the auditorium wondering what exactly they had just experienced.
“I didn’t see a point to his speech,” said Marc Serber, a sophomore in The College of Arts and Sciences. “I didn’t find a message.
Someone tell us why Mr. Diamond can’t take some of that college gig money and buy some material?!? Read the rest here.