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Criticism

Lena Dunham Kind of Enjoys the 'Girls' Criticism

by | November 13th, 2012

"People are ultimately threatened by young people taking positions of power. But there's also this feeling of 'I could do that, too.' People don't feel rabidly jealous of Larry David or Salman Rushdie because they don't think, I could do that. And with what I've done, I think a lot of people think, 'I could do that in my sleep. If I'd just met one person along my path, I would have that TV show'… I kind of get off on it because I had a liberal-arts education… It's a really self-righteous, annoyed, argumentative world. And I loved it. But I don't wanna engage with people. I think you look [...]

Criticism

What Tosh-Gate Says about the State of Comedy Appreciation and Criticism (Some of It Is Good!)

by | July 16th, 2012

When the Daniel Tosh firestorm started my initial reaction was to shrug and say "who cares?" It was a comedian making an off-hand offensive joke not on television, not on a CD, but to a live audience. The jokes weren't great and they weren't in any way PC, but I felt like they were a non-issue; I had seen many comedians say worse things to hecklers. (I thought it was much worse when he encouraged his fans to “Lightly Touch Women's Stomachs While They're Sitting Down.”)

But then it became a discussion that was being had everywhere by comedians and non-comedians alike, and I started looking at the [...]

Criticism

David Foster Wallace and the Comedy Nerd

by | October 1st, 2012

Mike Schur, showrunner of Parks and Recreation, is obsessed with David Foster Wallace. At Harvard, he made Wallace an honorary member of the Lampoon and wrote his thesis about Infinite Jest. He directed a music video depicting a scene from IJ. His wife banned him from discussing the book at social gatherings.

It’s not just Schur — a ton of comedians share David Foster Wallace enthusiasm. Adam Scott, Nick Offerman, Rob Delaney and a bunch more comedians read monologues from Pale King after its 2011 release. Tina Fey mentions Wallace in Bossypants. Anecdotally, a lot of my comedy friends are into Wallace. I read Infinite Jest while [...]

Criticism

Bill Burr Hates Boston Sports and Just About Everything Else

by | September 26th, 2012

The very funny Bill Burr stopped by Conan last night to promote his new comedy special, You People Are All the Same, and he ended up setting some kind of world record for criticizing the most things in the least amount of time. In just five minutes, Burr went off on bandwagon Boston fans, sports mascots, campfire songs, Steve Jobs, political conventions, the people who watch political conventions, guys with Tennessee signs, and people who illegally download comedy specials, all without stopping to take a breath.

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