Category Archives: Culture

Life Imitating Comedy

Culture

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you already know a lot of the inspiration comes from my obsession with comedy and comedians. And for most successful stand-up comics, the prime directive is, “When it comes to comedy, anything and everything is fair game.”  As a result we are exposed to some pretty raw humor which sometimes touches a nerve.  Comedians will tell you, the audience also believes in the prime directive, UNTIL you make fun of them or someone close to them.  Cancer patients will laugh at jokes about Lupus or M.S., but fail to see the humor when someone like the late Harry Anderson jokes, “For our anniversary, my wife wanted something expensive that she’d never buy for herself.  So I signed her up for chemotherapy.”

As Dana Gould makes clear.  You don’t need to tell him he’s crossed the line.  He knows it.  But that doesn’t mean comics don’t have a conscience and sometimes wish they could take it back.  Or at a minimum realize in hindsight they come off as a jerk.  I’ll give you two examples.

Image result for kevin pollak a little off the topOn his 2004 album “A Little Off the Top,” Kevin Pollak takes aim at airline safety announcements.  In this particular routine, the target is using one’s seat cushion as a flotation device.

It’s such a pain to get on a plane I don’t give a damn if my seat floats.  Seat floats?  When?  Oh, right.  In case of a water landing.  Cause that’s gonna happen.  Apparently, we’re going to morph into a hover craft and whoosh to safety.  They’d like us to still believe we’ll be landing on the water.  Hey Bright Eyes, it’s a JET!  And when you hear that old smelly piece of foam you’re sitting on is a flotation device, your eyes well up, don’t they?  What else have you got for me?  Is the drink cart a shark cage?

Fortunately, U.S. Airways captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberg never listened to, or if he did, paid little attention to Pollak’s rant.  And since the “Miracle on the Hudson” on January 15, 2009, I suspect audiences at his live performances never chant, “Do the water landing routine.”

But, the all-time classic entry in the “Wish I Hadn’t Said That” Hall of Fame is a 1999 routine in which Bill Cosby shares his fascination with Spanish Fly.  It begins when he first learns about the legendary aphrodisiac from a stranger on a street corner who tells him:

“There’s a girl named Crazy Mary.  You put some in her drink and she goes ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhh.”

Yeah, that’s really groovy man.  From then on, every time I’d see a girl I’d say, “I wish I had some Spanish Fly.”  Go to a party, see five girls standing alone.  I wish I had a whole jug of Spanish Fly.  I’d light that corner up over there.

I thought it only existed in Philadelphia.  So I’m working on “I Spy.”  And Bob (Culp) and I are working together and Sheldon Leonard (the producer) comes up and says, “Boys, ‘I Spy’ is going to Spain.”  A childhood dream come true.

Related imageA transcript of the routine was introduced into evidence at Cosby’s sexual assault trial.  [IRONIC FOOTNOTE:  The album on which this story appears is called, “It’s True!  It’s True!”]

Both of the above examples are unfortunate.  One is merely embarrassing in hindsight.  The other is tragic with profound consequences for both Cosby and his victims.  But they pale in comparison to the damage done when amateurs think they have the same license to offend for the sake of entertainment.  Even when the stand-up wannabe tries to convince us, “Lighten up, it’s just a joke.”

Such was the case when Donald Trump brought his “Invasion Tour” to Pensacola last May.  Trump promoted the event on Facebook as though it were a rock concert.  “Join me LIVE for a rally in Pensacola, FL.”  In what can only be called Trump’s “Bill Cosby Moment,” he telegraphs both his determination to keep people of color out of the country and an admission he doesn’t have the slightest idea how to do it.

First he regrets that he does not have the same tools at his disposal as so many of his autocratic compadres (pun intended).  Referring to restrictions against lethal force placed on the border patrol:

We don’t let them, and we can’t let them, use weapons.  We can’t.  Other countries do.  We can’t.  But how do you stop these people.  You can’t.

Then came every stand-up comic’s dream.  A heckler who helps set up the punchline. “Shoot em'” yells a supporter.  Trump responds with a 13 second pause that would put Jack Benny to shame while the crowd cheers.  A smirk.  And then the zinger.

That’s only in the Panhandle you can get away with this stuff. Only in the Panhandle.”

If only there had been a drummer to offer the obligatory rim shot.

As we now know, Trump was wrong.  It’s not only true in the Florida Panhandle.  It’s true in Pittsburgh, Gilroy, El Paso and dozens of other cities across America.  A professional comic might admit the routine was in bad taste.  All it took was one incident for Pollak to expunge the “water landing” bit from his repertoire and to make him realize “A Little Off the Top” may have ventured a little OVER the top. But not this amateur.  Even following mass shooting after mass shooting, Trump still cannot understand why he needs to let go of this greatest hit.  Which makes one thing perfectly clear.

Instead of “Lighten up, it’s a joke,” we know what Trump’s real message is.  “Whiten up, and I’m not joking.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Timing Is Everything.

Culture, Politics

Take my wife…please.

~Henny Youngman

Open any how-to book on comedy and the first lesson begins with some variation of the following.  The key to being funny is not what you say but how you say it.  The secret is timing.  Even though this admonition customarily refers to a specific joke or punchline, it also can apply to life in general.

Related imageJust ask George Carlin.  On September 9 and 10, 2001, Carlin was recording a new album at the MGM Grand Las Vegas based on his show titled, “I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die.”  As you might  guess, those were the last performances using that label, and the album was shelved.  A retooled version of the show now titled “Complaints and Grievances” was recorded two months later at New York’s Beacon Theater.  Carlin considered reviving the original performance as an HBO special “Life is Worth Losing” in 2004, until he again postponed the project in the wake of  Hurricane Katrina. Strike two.

Nor does the timing maxim apply only to comedy.  The karma of timing reared its ugly head once again on Sunday with the mass shooting at the Annual Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California.  A gunman, using an assault rifle, murdered three people (including a six year-old boy) and injured more than a dozen others .  Once he was identified, we quickly learned from a now deleted Instagram account this 19 year-old urged others to read Might Is Right published in 1890.  This volume would be on Oprah’s reading list if Ms. Winfrey was a white nationalist or neo-Nazi.  It champions social Darwinism, women as property and the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race.

What does this have to do with timing?  As mentioned in a previous post, last Tuesday Trumpist Senators Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy introduced a resolution that would designate the anti-fascist movement Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.  [NOTE:  In deference to Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and others I will no longer refer to current members of the Trump caucus in Congress as Republicans.)  For the record, not a single death has been attributed to an individual associated with Antifa.  On the same day, FBI director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary that the majority of domestic terrorism “was motivated by what you might call white supremacist violence.”  Senators Cruz and Cassidy, add Gilroy, California to that list.  Like Carlin, you might want to re-tool your material.

A second ingredient in comedy is irony.  Take Dana Gould’s story about the Black Dahlia…please.  Black Dahlia was the pseudonym given posthumously to Elizabeth Short whose mutilated, bisected body was discovered in 1947 in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park neighborhood.  The crime was never solved.  Gould closes with the following perfect blend of timing and irony.

And to this day, some sixty years later, the police still don’t know…..what she said to deserve that.  It must have been a doozy!

Not to be outdone, Trump chose the Gilroy shooting to exhibit his own sick sense of irony and timing.  After ten days of demeaning minorities to solidify his aging, white male base, Trump described the situation in Gilroy as “horrific” and the white supremacist he enables and inspires by spewing hate and refusing to renounce even his most bigoted followers as a “wicked murderer.”  Makes you wonder if Lady McLania is sleepwalking around the second floor White House residence, muttering “Out, out damn spot.”

Well, two can play at this game. As a long time frustrated stand-up wannabe (many of my former students think I became a professor primarily for the captive audience), I will try and demonstrate how these two tools of humor–timing and irony–come together.

In the wake of the Gilroy tragedy, I’m sure there will be new calls for the Senate to act on a bill passed in the House last February which mandates background checks for all firearm sales including gun shows and private transactions. But that would not have stopped the Gilroy gunman who legally purchased an assault weapon and ammunition in Nevada.  What might have stopped him?  A limit on high capacity…….MAGAzines.

Thank you and good night.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

Chutzpah

Culture, Religion

(Chutzpah)…that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.

~Leo Rosten/The Joys of Yiddish

I have been pretty tough on white evangelicals the past few weeks.  And with good reason as most recently evidenced by the latest Pew Research Center survey on attitudes toward refugees in which 68 percent of white evangelicals do not believe the United States has a responsibility to accept refugees.  Which makes you wonder if they are channeling Bill Clinton when citing the sermon on the mount. “It depends on what the meaning of ‘welcome the stranger into your house’ is.”

However, it is unfair to single out one group when there are equally hypocritical representatives of all the major religions and among the unaffiliated.  Today, my focus is the domination of which I am most familiar.  Although my adherence to religious practice associated with Judaism becomes more distant daily, I still consider myself a “member of the tribe,” with deep historical and cultural ties.  Among the latter is the concept of “Tikkun Olam” which roughly translates into “heal the world.”  The concept first appears in Orthodox Judaic commentaries as a call to eschew all forms of idolatry.  In “Tikkun Olam: Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law (1997)”, the four authors write, “In the modern era, this concept calls for Jews to bear responsibility not only for our own moral, spiritual and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large.”

Sadly, there are anecdotal instances in which individuals raised in Jewish households–e.g. Bernie Madoff, Jeffrey Epstein–by virtue of their greed and perversity result in disgrace and embarrassment and, most unfortunately, affirm the stereotypes of those who hate and have persecuted Jews throughout history.  Don’t believe me?  Readers’ comments on The Daily Stormer website in response to coverage of the Epstein story include, “Jews do not fear wrongdoing…they fear getting caught and exposed for who they are…jews.”  Or, “If it wasn’t Epstein, it would be another Jew.” It is unconscionable this kind of bigotry is given cover in Donald Trump’s America.

So, how do you fight prejudice?  With role models.  John F. Kennedy’s election forever debunked the fear a Catholic president would be more beholden to the Vatican than the Constitution.  And Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House demonstrated that a black man with power did not have to be angry a la Putney Swope who, in the 1969 movie of the same name, said, “I’m not going to rock the boat.  I’m going to sink the f***ing ship!”  Equally important, the Obama family stood in stark contrast to many of the images we see of the African-American experience on the news and in popular culture.  My favorite commentary on inauguration day 2017 accompanied a picture of Obama and Trump on the White House steps before heading to the Capitol.  “Guess which man has five children by three different women?”

Which brings me back to Judaism.  Would the election of the first Jewish president affirm or refute the prejudicial memes spouted by those who believe in the international Zionist conspiracy?  An “N” of zero makes any empirical analysis impossible.  But we do have data on Jewish-Americans in or near positions of national power.  And the reviews have been less than glowing.  For example, Abe Fortas was nominated by Lyndon Johnson to become the first Jewish chief justice of the Supreme Court.  His confirmation was derailed when Judiciary Committee chairman James Eastland (yes, the same James Eastland Joe Biden referenced last month) opposed Fortas’ promotion from justice to chief justice.

Unfortunately, Fortas brought his own nails to seal his coffin when it was revealed he had accepted speaking fees from business interests presenting a conflict of interest if and when these interests had cases before the court.  By today’s standards, this indiscretion would barely make the news.  But opponents used it to suggest Fortas could be controlled by moneyed interests.  And eventually Johnson withdrew the nomination.

Then there is the case of Joe Lieberman who came within a hanging chad of becoming vice-president.  Instead of continuing to support the Democratic agenda, Lieberman became an independent and supported John McCain in 2008.  I understand they had become close compadres while serving together in the Senate.  But that does not explain Lieberman’s endorsement of Sarah Palin, saying, “She is the leader we can count on to help John shake up Washington.”  As we now know, his affinity for McCain was more than support for a personal friend.  In 2016, he tossed aside years of progressive ideology and backed Trump amid rumors he might become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.  Can you spell “opportunist?”  I knew you could.

And now, although not elected, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are perhaps in the highest position of national influence than any Jewish couple in the nation’s history.  And how would they use that influence?  In May 2017, Jodi Kantor, Rachel Abrams and Maggie Haberman wrote the following in a New York Times article titled, “Ivanka Trump Has the President’s Ear. Here’s Her Agenda.”

In interviews last week, she said she intended to act as a moderating force in an administration swept into office by nationalist sentiment. Other officials added that she had weighed in on topics including climate, deportation, education and refugee policy.

I know, Ivanka was not born into Judaism.  She converted when she married Kushner.  However, it is said that converts often become stronger believers of their chosen theology than those who come to a religious denomination by birth. And based on the 2017 Times report, Ms. Trump would seem to support the principle of “Tikkun Olam.”  But like her father, selective amnesia runs deep.

  • Where was she when daddy decided to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords?
  • What happened to the “moderating force” when Trump demonizes refugees and authorizes raids to deport immigrants whose only crime is wanting a better life for themselves and their families?
  • When has she ever spoken out against Betsy Devos’ proposals to slash funding for public education, deregulate predatory for-profit colleges or weaken protections against sexual assault and harassment under Title IX of the education act?

Not to be outdone by his wife, Kushner, a modern-day Shylock, is more than willing to use his connection to his father-in-law to grease his own financial position.

You have to appreciate the irony.  I, born and raised as Jewish, find myself wondering if, based on the attitudes and behaviors of some at the doorstep of national influence, there is a kernel of truth in the negative stereotypes of my people promoted by the alt-right.  Equally ironic, Jared and Ivanka are Jews only a white supremacist or neo-Nazi could love.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

Synchronicity Runs Deep

Culture

The title of today’s post is what you get if Carl Jung sang backup for Stephen Stills and Neil Young on Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 single “For What It’s Worth,” often mistakenly called by its opening line, “Something’s happening here.”  This past weekend synchronicity, Jung’s theory about the connection between seemingly unrelated events, did, in fact, run deeper than normal.  Sometimes that intersection is just interesting.  But at its most potent, it explains the inexplicable.

Image result for pat conroy literary centerThe first event was a visit to the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, South Carolina during which we talked with one of the curators Will Balk, who previously owned the local bookstore where Conroy would hold his first signings after the release of each book.  His friendships included, not just Pat, but several of the author’s six siblings who occasionally visited his shop and now the Literary Center.

Not surprisingly, the most often asked question of family members is, “Was your father (Donald Conroy, the model for “the Great Santini”) really as bad as portrayed in the novel?”  According to Balk, they would reply, “It was 10 times as bad.”  His sister Kathy once said, “I would have loved to have had the father in that book, but that’s not who we had.” (Source: 2015 interview in the Charlotte Observer)  It was only after Pat’s youngest brother Tom committed suicide did Donald Conroy realize the physical and mental torture to which he subjected his children and its impact on their lives.

But there was another side of Donald Conroy.  He was a highly decorated Air Force fighter pilot.  And as my wife suggested on the ride back to Hilton Head after visiting the center, this was the environment in which he was most comfortable.  He could be himself and not be viewed as an aberration, or worse, “a monster.”  The strict order and discipline required of a fighter pilot were a better match for Donald Conroy’s core beliefs than the compassion and affection needed by his children.

Which brings me to the second event, the following exchange between CNN reporter Jim Acosta and Donald Trump during Trump’s visit Sunday to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the Korean peninsula.

Acosta: What is it with your coziness with some of the dictators and autocrats at these summits?
Trump: I get along with everybody, except you people … I get along with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin, I get along with Mohammed (bin Salman) from Saudi Arabia.

Like the Great Santini, Donald Trump is in his element when hobnobbing with the Putins, bin Salmans and Kim Jung Uns of the world.  They reinforce his personal moral (or some might say amoral) compass.   When Donald Conroy had a choice between being the best fighter pilot or best father, he gravitated toward the former because that was how he was hardwired.  Every time Trump has a chance to choose between behaving like an autocrat or a champion of democracy, he too chooses the former.  Like “Santini,” his circuits are permanently soldered.

What is perhaps the saddest commentary is the fact Donald Conroy never considered it a choice until it was too late.  Nor will Trump.  As Popeye always reminded us, “I am what I am and that’s all what I am.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

…AND the American Way

Culture, Media

Image result for mort sahl lbjBefore there was George Carlin or Lewis Black, there was Mort Sahl.  In August 1960, Sahl appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and was lauded as the person who could, through social satire, help voters understand the choices in the upcoming presidential election. In what seems unimaginable today, Sahl befriended several presidents despite his sometimes critical commentaries and was often invited to accompany them on Air Force One, which resulted in my all-time favorite Mort Sahl story which, 50 years later, I can only paraphrase.

I was flying back to Washington, DC from California with President Kennedy when the plane hit an air pocket and dropped several hundred feet.  Kennedy comes out of his private office in the back of the plane and walks right up to me.  He says, “Sahl, you realize what might have just happened don’t you?  If we had crashed, your name would have been in small print.” Ironically, the same thing happened again just recently when I was on Air Force One with Nixon.  Nixon walks to the front of the plane and says to all on board, staff and press, “I hope you realize how close the country came to losing its leadership.”That tells you everything you need to know about these two men.

Mort Sahl released 10 comedy albums between 1958 (At Sunset) and 1973 (Sing a Song of Watergate).  Of all these hours of what can only be described as “streams of consciousness,” one bit seems more relevant today than all the rest.  Again, I will paraphrase.

I know they did not mean it this way, but I never understood why the introduction to the television show Superman proclaimed ‘…this strange visitor from another planet…fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.”  In school, we were told truth and justice WERE the American way.  But when you add the AND, doesn’t that mean, “There is truth and justice AND then there is the American way.”

For the record, the original description of the Man of Steel, when he first appeared in DC Comics in 1941, did not include “and the American way.”  It was added when the television adaptation Adventures of Superman debuted in September 1952.

Sadly, it appears Sahl was on to something.  Consider the following.

  • Jeffrey Epstein receives a slap on the wrist for running a prostitution ring with under-aged girls.
  • Attorney General William Barr does not believe Congress, much less American voters, have a right to see the complete account of Russian interference in a presidential election.
  • The Illinois state attorney drops charges against actor Jussie Smollet, even though evidence suggests he faked a hate crime which cost the Chicago police time and over $125,000 in resources to investigate.
  • More is being written about the consequences to the children of the parents indicted for gaming the college admissions system than the impact on qualified applicants deprived of educational opportunities.  And despite the fact many of these students posed for staged photographs or provided writing samples that were used by SAT surrogates, “details in court documents indicate students were unaware of the parents’ actions.”   (Source: USA Today, April 12, 2019)  [NOTE: The USA Today story was accompanied by a slide show about Lori Loughlin’s daughter titled, “Olivia Jade Giannulli: Her Life in Pictures.”  Unfortunately, it did not include a mug shot of her with her parents.]
  • And of course, there is Donald Trump who lied, telling anyone who would listen that the Mueller Report had “totally exonerated” him of obstructing justice.  It’s as if the truth is Trump’s Kryptonite.

In July 2015, a CNN/ORC poll showed 95 percent of registered voters claimed honesty and trustworthiness were important characteristics of the next president. Likewise, in theory, most Americans believe in equal justice under the law.  However, as we learned in 2016, theory and behavior are two different things.  The question in 2020 is, “Does behavior change when theory meets reality?’  Consider the new-found support for the Affordable Care Act and it’s impact on the 2018 mid-terms.  In theory, Republicans could attack it.  But once voters realized what was at stake if ACA was repealed, their preferences changed.

So, what could be a winning message for Democrats next year?  Now that you know what it feels like when you have leaders who constantly lie to you, treat differently those who profess loyalty to those who do not and put personal gain above the national interest, remember when America was great.  Not when there was truth, justice AND the American way.  It was when truth and justice WAS the American way.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP