Entertainment For Lively Minds
Garofalo at Latitude
Posted by badartdog on 20 July 2009 - 12:43pm.
Anyone there? Apparently Janeane Garofalo walked off after 10 minutes of lead ballooning. Must say that whilst I found myself in agreement with her political views in this month's issue, she didn't come across as at all funny.
Is this the curse of the Word? Didn't Sarah Silverman crash and burn here last year after praise in the world's best mag?
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Heard an interview with her on 5 live yesterday
recorded just before she went on. I have to say I wouldn't have predicted success from the interview - she came across as preachy and not actually funny. Issue led comics don't seem to travel that well I reckon. She also said she had no retorts for hecklers and liked to deconstruct the issue. That sounded like a recipe for disaster as well.
We Had Been Warned
The interview in this month's mag did rather point towards her being one of those comedians who gets so wrapped up in issues she comes across as completely humourless. I couldn't finish it.
American audiences are so dazzled by 'radical' rants they don't mind that they're not funny; it tends to be different in the UK. Excellent actress, but clearly she was going to be a nightmare as a stand up.
Latitude Comedy
I didn't see this but here is a report and lots of comments on a rival website that isn't cut. John Gordillo also walked off to the sound of his own footsteps as his routine ended with a punchline about a Jew being thrown to a pack of Muslims, not the kind of thing that the ever so genteel Latitude audience warm to.
I wonder if one of her kids was poorly?
There has to be some way of shoehorning a Garofalo's Child gag in here..
Silly old Latitude
Didn't they know?
There's no such thing as a Garofalo!
Gee thanks
That's another shirt/keyboard ruined due to reading the Word blog with mouth full of coffee.
Glad someone got it!
Love a bit of Julia Donaldson...
Does comedy travel?
Particularly across the Atlantic, particularly when we're talking about comics who've been raised on US chat show TV? If you're going to make an audience laugh you need some understanding of where their funny bone is located and to do that you need to have some understanding of what their lives are like. It feels like in my lifetime the gulf of understanding has got wider.
I think a comedian...
ultimately has to stand on their own two feet regardless of the terrain and pure comedy - from Shakespeare to Python through Chaplin and others - will always be able to transcend age, period, nationality, etc. Look at how Eddie Izzard has not only been able to become so big in the States he can sellout Madison Square Garden, but is now a successful standup in France - speaking a foreign language in a country that doesn't really have any previous history of standup comedy.
I have booked to see Garofalo at Edinburgh so this doesn't bode well, but last year I saw Louis CK in the same 'guest US superstar' spot and he was absolutely brilliant, second only to Daniel Kitson during the whole trip. His humour ultimately derived from being a blue-collar American man in his 40s with kids and a wife. Even as a middle-class immature 24-year-old from Birmingham without a single very serious relationship under my belt I couldn't stop laughing because he made it infectious and his timing was spot-on.
I suppose the encouraging thing from this is I read a news story around this time last year about how CK completely died in Ireland a few weeks before Edinburgh. If Garofalo is a truly excellent US comic, like CK, Chris Rock or Jon Stewart, she'll be fine-tuning at this very moment.
I'll come back with the results in a month's time.
As an actress, she's pretty good
but as a comedienne, I've got my reservations. U.S. female comics don't tend to work over here, do they?
It was almost painful - and
It was almost painful - and I don't think that comedy not travelling well was the issue, as I saw Jamie Kilstein (I think) the next day, whose set was based entirely on US politics and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think Janeane may have over-thought itm to be honest: rather than just performing her usual set, she tried too hard to 'relate' to the (apparently totally foreign) audience with what I found to be a mildly patronising question on Doctor Who... Luckily Ed Byrne made up for it, though.
What was the question?
I'm very interested at US perceptions of us.
What was the question?
Forgive the bad grammar above!
Something along the lines of
Something along the lines of 'how come there are so many Doctor Whos?' She tried a couple more lines on other topics, none of which I can recall, except that they failed as miserably as the first. It was stunningly unfunny, and actually pretty embarrassing, particularly given that I don't think any other comic over the weekend fell quite as flat.
Hmm
having read a few bits n bobs about her, I wish Rob had touched on the Scientology issue in his piece
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard came over in 1996 to play the Leicester Comedy Festival.
The plugging included an appearance on Channel 4's The Bob Mills Show, whose host jollied things along by being very condescending about Leicester - a place for which I have much fondness from university days.
I didn't see the gig, but I heard that Sandra fancied the locals would be tickled by some mimicry of her Asian cabbie's accent. She was reportedly taken aback by the resulting barracking she got. And I recall feeling very proud of Leicester.
Does anyone know if Sandra recovered from that rather ill-judged start?
I hope
not, can't stand the bint!
Speaking as a woman, I would have to say
that when it comes to Garofalo- I most definitely would.
Sorry, carry on.
We'll have none of that nonesense here, thank you.
But if we do, can I watch?
mud or baked beanz?
we need to know
Oi ----
Join the queue -
She looked kind of...grimy..in Mystery Men
Mmmm...
Anyway, where were we?
this explains why she wasn't to be seen
when we rocked up to see her.
the comedy tent at Latitude is strange beast with a range of audience from left to right wing etc and I imagine alot of people who don't usual attend comedy gigs so it must be quiet tough "room" putting aside the 1000 plus people watching. Some of the more senior comics did seem to phoning in their performances.
She died...
like a louse in a Russian's beard. Simple as that, just wasn't funny. Agree with you Chris about the comedy in general - just didn't seem to have the zing of the rest of the festival. As for the big names 'phoning in' their performances, Jo Brand, j'accuse!
Gormless Americans Rolling On Floor And Laughing Outloud ?
.
radio 4
just announced that Ms G plus some others will be on the radio4 6.30pm comedy slot tonight weds.
judge for yourself
here's the I player link for the set including Ms G, truth be told most of the acts aren't that great on this episode.No mention of dr who so that bit must have really stank
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lpc8h/4_in_a_Field/
Preaching to the choir
A lot Yankee issue-led comics spend all their time at big gigs preaching to the choir and have lost the ability to play to 'club' crowds. When no-one wants to go with their finely tuned two minute digressio on pro-choice or summat they have nowhere else to go.
I saw Greg Proops die on his hoop in Liverpol one night years ago (O'Briain and Jimmy Carr had ripped the roof off before him 'phoning it in') and get arsey that the Grand National weekend crowd had no real appetite for gags about Rumsfeld, Karl Rove and Nascar. He stormed off, as if the crowd were the problem.