Comedian Dane Cook is currently in the first half of a several month long comedy tour spanning the entire country. I went to see him perform at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh on May 7th, with a filled to capacity crowd, myself, my girlfriend, my sister and her friends included.
The performance was sandwiched between two Pittsburgh Penguins home playoff games against the Washington Capitals, which if anything had the crowd in an already riled up mood. The crowd was an interesting mix however, with half dressed in their Penguins jerseys and the other half glammed up in club attire, short skirts, stilettos and the like.
I've been a Dane Cook fan dating back to his first special on Comedy Central in the beginning of the decade. My favorite moments from his early standup include "Christ Chex" and the Burger King drive through sketch.
However in recent years there has been a backlash against him as his popularity has grown, something that he himself has become aware of, and mentioned towards the end of his hour long set. Apparently the backlash is more Internet chatter than anything else, since as mentioned the arena was absolutely packed.
The show opened with a brief set from comedian Al Del Bene who covered topics ranging from possible names for his new son "Con Carne" to the strange rituals of a Catholic Mass.
Next up was Robert Kelly, who arguably stole the night and had the funniest and most raucous moments of the evening. Describing how much he hates dieting and how eating apples excites approximately 5 taste buds compared to macaroni and cheese, which for Kelly, is orgasmic in deliciousness. Other key bits including cramping up at inopportune times, how he doesn't care what people think anymore and one of the ways he displays that is by taking every opportunity to fart in a baby's face, something he urges we all get to try before our time is up.
After the two opening comics it was time for Dane Cook to hit the stage. He talked about various relationships and sexual encounters as well as a new term for the female equivalent of a guy who gets in the way of his buddy hooking up. He also dedicated a solid half an hour to describing his experiences searching for porn videos on the website "You Porn".
All together it was a hilarious evening. Dane Cook brought his usual stuff but the funniest moments of the night when to Robert Kelly.
Dane Cook's latest comedy special featuring the same material will debut on Comedy Central on Sunday May 17th.
I’ve watched South Park for years, and have watched other Comedy Central programming more occasionally, believing until recently that it provided a cutting-edge environment for satire. Unfortunately, the network has now caved twice to radical Islamist terrorism, once in 2006 and again last month, in two episodes of South Park that skewered major religious figures while censoring the satire of Trey Parker and Matt Stone on Mohammed. Instead of staying out of religious satire altogether, the brave souls at Viacom have apparently green-lit a new series that will poke fun at Jesus … again:
Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on “South Park,” yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ.
As part of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers (full slate here), the network is set to announce “JC,” a half-hour show about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father” and live a regular life in New York City.
In the show, God is preoccupied with playing video games while Christ, “the ultimate fish out of water,” tries to adjust to life in the big city.
“In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable,” said Comedy Central’s head of original programming Kent Alterman.
Yes, Kent Alterman, you’re quite the brave individual for making “some” people uncomfortable. Those would be the “some” people who won’t issue threats of violence for your satires. Comedy Central and Viacom have no appetite for making some other people uncomfortable — the very people who would not waste a moment in shutting down Comedy Central if given the opportunity.
South Park takes an honest approach to satire by skewering everyone equally. They lost a major cast member when they satirized Scientology, and no doubt have had complaints from many groups about their portrayal of Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Lao Tze, and other religious figures. But one never got the sense that Parker and Stone had it out for any one group because their satires ran the entire gamut, at least until Comedy Central began censoring them.
And even that would have been understandable — had CC made the decision to avoid religious satire altogether. Instead, they’re launching a new effort to parody Christianity while imposing the rule of radical Islamists on satires of Islam. There’s a word for the kind of people who only pick fights with no risk whatsoever: pussies.
Update: I agree with The Anchoress on this one:
As a Christian, I am unoffended by this move. The Triune God has awfully big shoulders; he can take it.
It is Comedy Central that betrays the tiny fragility that lies behind its strut.
I am embarrassed for them.
Offended? Not really. It’s more like utter contempt for their blustery cowardice.
Update II: The Verum Serum headline sums it up: “Comedy Central: Unlike Mohammed, Jesus a Constant Source of Amusement.”
NEW YORK — Having already caused a fuss this spring with the depiction of the prophet Muhammad on "South Park," Comedy Central said it has a cartoon series about Jesus Christ in the works.
"JC" is one of 23 potential series the network said it has in development. It depicts Christ as a "regular guy" who moves to New York to "escape his father's enormous shadow."
His father is presented as an apathetic man who would rather play video games than listen to his son talk about his new life, according to Comedy Central's thumbnail sketch of the idea. Reveille, the production company behind "The Office," "Ugly Betty" and "The Biggest Loser," is making "JC."
It wouldn't be the first time Jesus Christ has been on a Comedy Central cartoon; he's a recurring character on the long-running "South Park."
Comedy Central was the target last month of an Internet threat for a "South Park" episode that supposedly showed Islam's prophet in a bear costume.
Whenever "South Park" features Muhammad in an episode, Comedy Central obscures the character with a black box; Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous. Following the Internet threat, Comedy Central angered "South Park" producers by editing out a character's speech about intimidation in a subsequent episode.
"It's not certain what is more despicable: the nonstop Christian bashing featured on the network, or Comedy Central's decision to censor all depictions of Muhammad," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, on Thursday.
Comedy Central wouldn't comment on Donohue's statement, said network spokesman Tony Fox, who declined to give further details about "JC."
A development deal is a couple of steps ahead of a series making it to air and, in fact, most such deals don't result in series. The network would have to like the scripts enough to produce a test episode, then like that enough to put it on the air.
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