"Meanyheads since 1999!"
Hop on over and read the interview with Patton Oswalt on website/chat board/portal Aspecialthing.com, in which Oswalt displays his special talent for remembering details from incidents that occurred in his formative (comedy) years. (Especially interesting for those of us familiar with the setting of some of his stories.)
The graf that caught our eye was the one about the New Media:
The other thing that’s really exciting now is the Internet. I don’t think things would’ve been as bad, even on the East Coast, even in D.C., if the Internet had been around. Because now, with sites like aspecialthing, and blowupthemoon, and Shecky Magazine, and Cringe Humor, even though a lot of them are at odds philosophically, it is a subjective, critical look at this art form. And it’s treated as an art form. It reminds me of the early, stapled-together punk zines, or Cream (sic) Magazine, where you had people that were really passionate about what they loved and what they hated. You don’t need to agree with everything.
We’re thrilled to be compared to Creem.We stumbled across the interview (and the reference to us) after following a thread off their chatboard. Someone posted that “Shecky are a bunch of big meanie heads” after reading what we posted about the debut of Comedy Central’s Comedians of Comedy. In our defense, our posting about Mr.Oswalt and his show was reasoned, somewhat positive and hardly enough to earn us the title of “meanyhead.” Unless it’s a (misspelled) attempt to portray us as fans of Kevin Meaney, in which case, we plead guilty.
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Reply to: "Meanyheads since 1999!"
Haha. The “meanie heads” comment was made by me, but meant only in a lighthearted way, hence the use of childish words rather than what the people after me chose to use.I was just a little disheartened to hear you focus on the narcissistic side. I’ll skip a personal rebuttal and just point you to what Patton wrote at his site: http://www.pattonoswalt.com/ht/COC_nov_eps102.htmlThe fan email at the end sums up my thoughts pretty wellm “like watching a home video starring some funny people just being people.”
I do agree that your statements were reasoned. But the review was definitely not positive. Quote:<>Stasi says she, “…can’t imagine anyone will tune in for more than one show.” We’re hoping she’s right on this one.<>http://www.sheckymagazine.com/2005/07/just-for-laughs-2005-saturday.htmlHoping people don’t tune in for more than one episode does not make a positive review, even if you do say the perfomers are funny.Patton makes a valid point about your review on aspecialthing.com:<>“Listen, I agree with Shecky that comedians have had this cliched persona stamped upon them — the angry, sad, bitter clown laughing through the tears. And yes, it’s false — to a point. But comedians, like any other group of people, are good-hearted, angry, happy, mean-spirted, generous, stupid and brilliant. Just like everyone else on the planet. Shecky want to dispels the angry clown myth so badly they’ve whipped 180 degrees in the other direction — into a false, albiet more admirable, cliche.I wanted to humanize comedians, warts and all. I know I’m biased, but we come off pretty good.”<>http://www.aspecialthing.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1336&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=sheckymagazine&start=60Keep on fighting the good fight against the silly, easy label the media uses for stand-up comics. But I don’t think you can expect every comic to live up or even want to live up to the new image your trying to create.(And I ain’t saying you have to like the show. I loved it, but people have the right to love and hate what they love and hate. I just want to challenge your criteria.)
I like Comedians of Comedy. It’s funny part of the time, and it’s got room to breathe. If you wanna be in stitches all the time, watch The Three Stooges. If you want to see that comedians, like all other human beings, spend part of their time just getting through their day, goofing off, griping, whatever it takes, then watch Comedians of Comedy.