The Boys Consider the State of American Comedy / Also: Metal Pick of the Day

Richard tries hard to stay abreast (Chip: "Abreast is a sexy word") of everything important in popular culture but occasionally certain things fly under his radar, such as the extreme popularity of comic/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Aside from his hugely popular new Comedy Central program, Dunham is, according to a recent NY-Times piece, "the third-highest-earning comedian in America, after Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock" and THE highest-earner based on ticket sales alone.

So what has Richard been missing? Let's take a look at some quotes from the Times profile regarding Dunham's act:

"Peanut, a hyperactive purple Muppetish dummy, kicked off his portion of the show just by saying different words for breasts — “bodacious ta-tas” got the biggest laugh — and closed with a bit about ordering Chinese food, done in a preposterous Fu Manchu accent."

"...a shtick with a skeleton in a turban named Achmed the Dead Terrorist — is currently the ninth-most-watched video of all time on YouTube."<

"Dunham’s live audiences spend $8 per head on merchandise, which is more than most rock bands average...Vahldick, a mustachioed automotive instructor in his 50s, was about to drop $100 on two plush dolls. He couldn’t help himself. “Peanut’s a stitch,” he told me. “Absolutely a stitch.”

Richard: "Certainly at the LC we have no problem with 'dummy' humor, since 'Chip' is essentially our dummy, but I like to think we're using him to interrogate aspects of the culture whereas Dunham is just using his dummies to reinforce offensive things which much of his audience actually believes."

Chip: "I thought I was just here to make stupid boner jokes. I mean, look at that parenthetical statement from me up above. It's simply there to make a joke about titties. Anyway, in Forttt Scottt, my friends have some of those plush Achmed dolls and they often sit around of an evening acting out the Dead Terrorist routines. It's absolutely a stich. People don't need to go and see Dunham for some clever interrogation of cultural foibles. We've got Dane Cook for that."

Richard: "Well, at least the theater remains our last bastion of intellectualism, as one can tell from this line regarding a new work on Broadway starring Willem Defoe: "[Defoe] will don a frilly 18th-century costume and lead a giant anthropomorphic duck around the stage by its genitals in Richard Foreman’s surrealist play “Idiot Savant.”


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If you're a metalhead, you don't need us to tell you that Valient Thorr is at the Jackpot tonight. But for the rest of you hipsters, surely you can't resist a band from Venus in Viking costumes with band member names such as "Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees" and a devoted following known as "Thorriors?"

See you in the mosh pit!