Should we call it CyberHeckling?

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 5th, 2006

This is a first. A comedy club patron, so incensed by his treatment at the hands of a comedian, motors home and constructs an entire website (!), PatGodwinSucks.com, devoted to trashing the comedian in question! It seems that a self-proclaimed artist and guitarist going by the name Romeorose was assailed from stage during a recent performance at an unspecified Funny Bone. The victim’s dress (“My jackets are not cheap, I have them all CUSTOM MADE, they cost me $800.00 EACH!”) caught the attention of headliner Pat Godwin, who so relentlessly hammered him that he (Rose) was moved to crank out a 1,500-word cyberscreed which led off with:

PAT GODWIN HAS NO TALENT AND HE IS NOT FUNNY, HE IS A BULLY & A JERK! (All-caps, his, not ours!)

And he’s just getting warmed up! The attack continues, devoting special attention to Godwin’s material, his guitar playing, even theorizing that Godwin “probably has the smallest penis on Earth and is a terrible lover, because he has very low self esteem if BULLYing others to try and make them feel small is the only way HE can feel BIG.” Can we get an OUCH?!

The vitriolic website was brought to our attention by a Myspace message from the aggrieved party.

Any performer who has ever tangled with an audience member has always wondered if there might be any post-show repercussions (Yelling in the bar? A weepy demand for an apology? A punch in the snout?), but matters never (or rarely) escalate much beyond a couple heated words here or there or a complaint to the club’s manager.

Let the intellectuals have Christopher Hitchens vs. Juan Cole! We have Romeorose vs. Pat Godwin!

We’re still not convinced that the character might have been concocted by Godwin– an Andy Kaufmanesque attempt to create drama by dreaming up an antagonist not unlike Kaufman’s Tony Clifton!

It’s unsettling that someone would create an entire website to slag a performer. Although, the idea in reverse has some appeal: How often have we been tempted (had we the money and the technological wherewithal) to go home and create

www.guyinthefrontrowwhowontcrackasmile- eventhough200peoplearelaughingsucks.com

or

www.oldladywhogetsoffendedatacasinosucks.com

or

www.louddrunkbachelorettewho-
doesntlikebeingcalledawhoresucks.com

Stay tuned.

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