Don't get me wrong: I am very proud today that I live in a country where an African-American man named Barack Obama could secure a major-party nomination for the U.S. presidency. I'm even more proud that it was Americans in my party that elevated Obama to this position. But right now, I am far more concerned with whether Obama actually takes the oath of office in Washington, D.C. in January. If Obama loses to John McCain in November, I will take very little solace in the history-making aspect of the campaign.
The stakes are just too high.
There is an entire generation of Americans who grew up with George W. Bush as president. For these young adults, sadly, having a president treat the office like the headquarters of his party, putting Republican advancement over everything, including governing, competency and the U.S. Constitution, is all they know. In their experience, the way Bush operates is standard procedure.
Unless these young adults do some history reading (unlikely, based on the runaway sales of the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto), they won't realize that Bush fundamentally changed the office. I could write an entire column just on the damage the administration has done, but a partial list of the administration's disasters runs from Iraq to Katrina to the Valerie Plame leak to the politicized firings of U.S. attorneys to the stuffing of Messiah College grads into executive jobs to the embrace of torture to the rejection of global warming to the handing of no-bid contracts to administration friends to the appointment of industry advocates into oversight positions to the editing of scientific findings for political purposes (mostly about global warming) to the placing of our armed forces in the weakest position they have occupied in decades to Walter Reed and other instances of disrespect to the country's veterans to back-door drafting and stop-loss and other instances of disrespect to the country's active troops to the tax cuts for the rich while cutting programs for the poor and middle class to the lies about Pat Tillman's death to sending troops into combat with insufficient equipment to allowing the country's energy policy to be written by companies like Enron (and then refusing to release the names of the companies that participated) to ... I'll stop while I still have some energy in my fingers, but you get the picture.
The election in November is not going to be about the presence of an African-American candidate (although the issue is inescapable). In the long run, the real question is whether a president can come into office in 2009 and start to undo the massive damage inflicted on the government, the U.S. and the world by the Bush administration. That is really the issue.
And John McCain certainly is not the man to make that change. We're talking here about a candidate who has had to fire staff members for their lobbying activities in order to keep the illusion going that he is a reformer. And while the 2000 version of McCain was not afraid to occasionally break with his party on issues he cared about (like campaign finance reform), the 2002-on version of McCain, the one that has been angling to be president, is an entirely different figure.
McCain's recent record and campaign promises make it clear that a McCain administration would, in every major field, continue the failed policies of Bush. As I've written over and over again, a Congressional Quarterly voting study revealed that McCain voted with Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007 (and 89 percent of the time since Bush took office). He also managed to vote with his fellow Republicans on 98 percent of his votes (43 of 44) in 2007, up from a still-high 76 percent in 2006.
McCain's record includes voting with Bush against extending health insurance to poor children, with Bush against extending benefits to veterans, and with Bush shooting down a ban on torture.
On the economy, McCain not only wants to make Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent, but his main economic advisor is former senator Phil Gramm, a proponent of deregulation (like the Bush administration) whose deregulation legislation is often pointed to as a factor allowing the mortgage crisis to take place.
On Iraq, McCain seems to ignore the lack of political progress in Iraq and the risk to our abiilty to confront threats from other countries because of the broken state of military preparedness and wants to continue the U.S. involvement there, even famously stating that he would be fine with leaving troops in Iraq for 100 years.
Most importantly, McCain has lost all credibility. His flip-flopping on issues, all to secure the Republican nomination he lost to Bush in 2000, made John Kerry (as painted by the Republicans) look like a rock of stability.
The 2000 version of McCain called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance" and criticized Bob Jones University. The 2007 version of McCain kissed the ring of these same folks, speaking at Falwell's Liberty University and Bob Jones University and courting the support of fundamentalist preachers like John Hagee. The same goes for McCain's views on tax cuts and a host of other issues.
A Web site seeking to show the real McCain constructed a very good video showing the so-called maverick's hypocrisy. Have a look:
While many people will concentrate on the historic nature of Obama's candidacy, I would rather concentrate on why he is the right guy to lead the country now.
Unlike McCain, he hasn't had to fire staff members because they were lobbying for foreign governments. He has the right ideas and views on Iraq, saying often, "We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in." He has vowed to be more fair in his economic policies, working for job growth and preserving middle class tax cuts while rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He is committed to health care reform. He understands the importance of fighting global warming and developing alternative sources of energy. Maybe most importantly, Obama will restore respect to the office of the presidency.
I am a big fan of Parag Khanna's January 27 New York Times Magazine article, in which he argues that while the U.S. was mired in Iraq and pursuing a combative foreign policy, the world was changing, and the Bush administration failed to notice. (I discussed this issue at length on February 5.) Khanna believes that the next administration will need to be open-minded and forward-thinking enough to compete in the new world order, and that a foreign policy looking backwards instead of forward could be disastrous.
Applying Khanna's thesis to the November election, I find a clear choice available: McCain's backward-looking, belligerent approach versus Obama's enlightened, forward-thinking point of view. To me, Obama's fresh outlook and intelligent approach to the issues is more important than his race.
It's actually pretty simple, to me: Bush's policies have made us economically worse off, weaker and less safe, and McCain wants to continue those policies. That's not good. Obama, on the other hand, offers a better approach.
So as proud as I am to have a historic nominee for my party, I won't be able to enjoy it until/unless Obama wins the White House in November. After seven-and-a-half years of Bush's disastrous policies, thinking about anything except replacing him with the right candidate is a luxury I don't think we can afford.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Eagles Show They Still Have It
If you were designing a great rock show, I doubt it would go like this: Get four guys who are old enough to cash in their 401(k) accounts. Dress them in black business suits with black ties. Back them with nine more musicians in black suits, all of whom are old enough to clearly remember Woodstock (and, in most cases, Elvis performing on Ed Sullivan’s show). And tell them to stand in place most of the night while they play. Such a scenario sounds more like a recital at Carnegie Hall than a rock concert at Madison Square Garden.
And yet, that exact set of circumstances resulted in a great rock concert last Friday, when the Eagles played the first of two sold-out shows at the Garden (earlier in the week, they had also performed two dates at the new Prudential Center in Newark).
Drummer Don Henley, guitarist/keyboardist Glenn Frey, guitarist Joe Walsh, and bass player Timothy B. Schmit, backed by another guitar player, a drummer/percussionist, three horn players, a horn player/violinist, and three keyboardists, may no longer fit the image of the wild rock and roll star. And if you were looking for performers to prowl the stage and play to the crowd, you were in for a long night.
But the Eagles, in a 30-song, nearly three-hour concert, demonstrated that with their unabashed embrace of harmonies and dedication to solid musicianship and skillful songwriting, they stand out as anomalies in the current rock landscape. The night was about the music, pure and simple, and if you’re going to go that route, you better be able to back it up. The Eagles were clearly up to the task.
With all the history of the members fighting with each other, and the swirl of turnover in membership around the two immutable figures of Henley and Frey, it’s easy to see why they can’t stay apart from each other, musically anyway. Their collective talents are something special. Henley’s soulful voice is among the best rock has to offer. Frey provides a bit of mischievousness to offset Henley’s earnestness (at one point on Friday, Frey remarked that he was from Detroit, a place where “mother is only half a word”), and his vocals are more earthy and accessible than those of his bandmates. Schmit, aside from being a steady bass player, has a sweet, falsetto voice. And Walsh is the clown prince of the Eagles, who also brings a hard-rock sentiment to his guitar playing, a nice counterbalance to the country instincts of Frey. Separately, they are all quality musicians, fully capable of putting on good solo shows. But together, they are one of the great bands of all time.
And nowhere is that more apparent than when they sing together. How many bands still touring use harmony like the Eagles do? When these four guys put their voices together, it’s magic, a point that was illustrated by the night’s opening song, “How Long,” the first single from their latest album, the solid two-CD set “Long Road Out of Eden.” With the lead vocals traded off between Frey and Henley, the country-rock guitar lines, and the killer harmonies on the chorus, “How Long” sounded like it could have been a lost single from one of the band’s first two albums.
One of the reasons having four lead vocalists works so well for the Eagles is that you always know, sooner or later, all of the voices are going to join together. Whether it’s one of Frey’s country-tinged story songs like “Lyin’ Eyes” or “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” or one of Henley’s soulful rock compositions like “The Long Run” or “Witchy Woman,” you know your heading to a chorus of great harmonies, whether they are sweet or powerful, that are the signature of this band.
The show on Friday also showcased the musicianship of the Eagles. Walsh and Steuart Smith, the guy filling the second lead guitar spot formerly held by ex-Eagle Don Felder, have markedly different playing styles, with Smith precise and direct, while Walsh is more instinctual, a bit messy, but filled with feeling. But the way they play off each other is incredible, nowhere more so than in the dueling solos at the end of “Hotel California.” (Although you had to feel a bit bad for Smith, since he was seemingly required to stand just far enough back and off to the side to make it clear that he was not a “real” Eagle.)
The concert’s song selection featured a good mix, blending old and new, as well as Eagles and solo material. The two sets each started off with songs form “Long Road Out of Eden.” After “How Long,” the band played three more new songs to start the night. And after the intermission, an acoustic set began with the nearly a capella “No More Walks in the Woods,” before moving into the stunningly beautiful Henley slow-burner “Waiting in the Weeds.” This was not a case of a band dumping its inferior new album onto its audience. The new material stood on its own merits. One of the night’s highlights was the title cut of “Long Road Out of Eden,” an epic anti-war song that combines the musical vision of Henley’s “Sunset Grill” with politically aware lyrics not often found in Eagles songs.
There was also a good amount of material from the band members’ non-Eagle projects, although because room was needed for the nine songs from “Long Road Out of Eden,” fewer solo numbers made it into the set than during the 2005 tour. (Thankfully, the night was free of any of Frey’s solo material, with the insipid “You Belong to the City” mercifully deleted.) The set list included three Henley solo efforts (“Boys of Summer,” “Dirty Laundry” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”), along with four of Walsh’s extra-Eagles hits (“Life’s Been Good,” “Rocky Mountain Way” and two James Gang staples, “Walk Away” and “Funk 49”).
In fact, Walsh’s material injected some life and fun into proceedings, just enough to keep things from getting too serious. During the band’s run of eight upbeat rockers to end the second set, three of them featured Walsh on lead vocals. A swingier, less-edgy version of “Walk Away” was fun. I prefer the raw arrangement on the original recording, but it was interesting to hear this take on it.
Two songs later, after Henley nailed a dead-on reading of “One of These Nights,” Walsh took center stage for “Life’s Been Good,” which he introduced by saying he had written while lost for two years in “the Peruvian rain forest” so that he had no memory of having composed it. While I’m not happy Walsh had a drug problem, I’m glad that at least something good came of it. With its playful vocals, catchy guitar line and immediately identifiable snare-bass-bass-bass drum part, “Life’s Been Good” seemed to be the most fun the band had the whole night. As he did last tour, Walsh strapped a camera onto his head, with the shaky visuals displayed on the big screen at the back of the stage. It was one of the few times anyone on the stage moved around or engaged the audience, and it was a nice change of pace. The song is so much fun, it pretty much didn’t matter that Walsh forgot the words and blew the chorus the third time through. Nearly as much fun was a rousing, loose and rocking “Funk 49,” which started with Frey and Walsh, back-to-back in the center of the stage, trading short bluesy guitar riffs.
I thought it was interesting and telling that while Henley generally played drums on many of the older Eagles songs, but left the percussion to his stand-in on cuts from “Long Road Out of Eden” and his solo material, he was behind the kit for “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way,” as if he didn’t want to miss out on the fun.
Of course the Eagles gave its fans a steady stream of their classic hits, too. “Hotel California,” which followed the opening four new songs from “Long Road Out of Eden,” was a high point. When the lights went down, and, after a solo trumpet interlude, the iconic opening guitar line kicked in, the crowd exploded and shivers went up and down my spine. As Henley sang the first line, “On a dark desert highway,” in his signature upper-register voice, and, moments later, as his long-time bandmates harmonized perfectly on “and still those voices are calling from far away,” it was clear that this was no oldies show. The performance of “Hotel California” on Friday surrendered nothing to how the song would have sounded live in 1977.
Other highlights included the rousing first-set closer “The Long Run” and the second set finale of “Heartache Tonight,” with its tremendous harmonies, and the closest thing the night had to a full-out, balls-to-the-wall arena rock song, “Life in the Fast Lane.”
The videos that ran on the giant circle behind the stage included animation, still photography and movies. The content ran a bit to the obvious (for example, showing a beach when Henley sang “nobody on the beach” in “Boys of Summer,” or random shots of New York City buildings during “In the City”), but often added to the proceedings. The gorgeous, haunting cover photo of “Hotel California” fit in with the atmosphere of the song, and the simple animation of prison bars during “Guilty of the Crime” was cute. One of the most intricate movies was the collage of television, magazine and Web tabloids during “Dirty Laundry.” The idea was incredibly on the nose, but the quality of the editing, perfectly juxtaposing the different clips, captured my attention, maybe too much, as I can barely remember the performances (a shame, since Walsh reprised his killer solo from the record).
But an Eagles show is not about video footage, it’s about the music. And by the time the final encore was coming to a close, and Henley held the final “let somebody love you” of “Desperado” seemingly forever, inspiring an immense ovation from the crowd, it was clear that somehow, against all odds, four old guys in suits, standing around on stage for three hours, had put on a tremendous rock show. And that’s not something you see everyday.
The Eagles
Madison Square Garden
May 30, 2008
1. How Long
2. Too Busy Being Fabulous
3. I Don’t Want To Hear Anymore
4. Guilty Of The Crime
5. Hotel California
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. I Can't Tell You Why
8. Witchy Woman
9. Lyin' Eyes
10. Boys of Summer
11. In the City
12. Long Run
Intermission
13. No More Walks In The Woods
14. Waiting in the Weeds
15. No More Cloudy Days
16. Love Will Keep Us Alive
17. Take It To The Limit
18. Long Road Out of Eden
19. Somebody
20. Walk Away
21. One Of These Nights
22. Life’s Been Good
23. Dirty Laundry
24. Funk 49
25. Heartache Tonight
26. Life in the Fast Lane
(Encore 1)
27. Rocky Mountain Way
28. All She Wants To Do Is Dance
(Encore 2)
29. Take It Easy
30. Desperado
And yet, that exact set of circumstances resulted in a great rock concert last Friday, when the Eagles played the first of two sold-out shows at the Garden (earlier in the week, they had also performed two dates at the new Prudential Center in Newark).
Drummer Don Henley, guitarist/keyboardist Glenn Frey, guitarist Joe Walsh, and bass player Timothy B. Schmit, backed by another guitar player, a drummer/percussionist, three horn players, a horn player/violinist, and three keyboardists, may no longer fit the image of the wild rock and roll star. And if you were looking for performers to prowl the stage and play to the crowd, you were in for a long night.
But the Eagles, in a 30-song, nearly three-hour concert, demonstrated that with their unabashed embrace of harmonies and dedication to solid musicianship and skillful songwriting, they stand out as anomalies in the current rock landscape. The night was about the music, pure and simple, and if you’re going to go that route, you better be able to back it up. The Eagles were clearly up to the task.
With all the history of the members fighting with each other, and the swirl of turnover in membership around the two immutable figures of Henley and Frey, it’s easy to see why they can’t stay apart from each other, musically anyway. Their collective talents are something special. Henley’s soulful voice is among the best rock has to offer. Frey provides a bit of mischievousness to offset Henley’s earnestness (at one point on Friday, Frey remarked that he was from Detroit, a place where “mother is only half a word”), and his vocals are more earthy and accessible than those of his bandmates. Schmit, aside from being a steady bass player, has a sweet, falsetto voice. And Walsh is the clown prince of the Eagles, who also brings a hard-rock sentiment to his guitar playing, a nice counterbalance to the country instincts of Frey. Separately, they are all quality musicians, fully capable of putting on good solo shows. But together, they are one of the great bands of all time.
And nowhere is that more apparent than when they sing together. How many bands still touring use harmony like the Eagles do? When these four guys put their voices together, it’s magic, a point that was illustrated by the night’s opening song, “How Long,” the first single from their latest album, the solid two-CD set “Long Road Out of Eden.” With the lead vocals traded off between Frey and Henley, the country-rock guitar lines, and the killer harmonies on the chorus, “How Long” sounded like it could have been a lost single from one of the band’s first two albums.
One of the reasons having four lead vocalists works so well for the Eagles is that you always know, sooner or later, all of the voices are going to join together. Whether it’s one of Frey’s country-tinged story songs like “Lyin’ Eyes” or “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” or one of Henley’s soulful rock compositions like “The Long Run” or “Witchy Woman,” you know your heading to a chorus of great harmonies, whether they are sweet or powerful, that are the signature of this band.
The show on Friday also showcased the musicianship of the Eagles. Walsh and Steuart Smith, the guy filling the second lead guitar spot formerly held by ex-Eagle Don Felder, have markedly different playing styles, with Smith precise and direct, while Walsh is more instinctual, a bit messy, but filled with feeling. But the way they play off each other is incredible, nowhere more so than in the dueling solos at the end of “Hotel California.” (Although you had to feel a bit bad for Smith, since he was seemingly required to stand just far enough back and off to the side to make it clear that he was not a “real” Eagle.)
The concert’s song selection featured a good mix, blending old and new, as well as Eagles and solo material. The two sets each started off with songs form “Long Road Out of Eden.” After “How Long,” the band played three more new songs to start the night. And after the intermission, an acoustic set began with the nearly a capella “No More Walks in the Woods,” before moving into the stunningly beautiful Henley slow-burner “Waiting in the Weeds.” This was not a case of a band dumping its inferior new album onto its audience. The new material stood on its own merits. One of the night’s highlights was the title cut of “Long Road Out of Eden,” an epic anti-war song that combines the musical vision of Henley’s “Sunset Grill” with politically aware lyrics not often found in Eagles songs.
There was also a good amount of material from the band members’ non-Eagle projects, although because room was needed for the nine songs from “Long Road Out of Eden,” fewer solo numbers made it into the set than during the 2005 tour. (Thankfully, the night was free of any of Frey’s solo material, with the insipid “You Belong to the City” mercifully deleted.) The set list included three Henley solo efforts (“Boys of Summer,” “Dirty Laundry” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”), along with four of Walsh’s extra-Eagles hits (“Life’s Been Good,” “Rocky Mountain Way” and two James Gang staples, “Walk Away” and “Funk 49”).
In fact, Walsh’s material injected some life and fun into proceedings, just enough to keep things from getting too serious. During the band’s run of eight upbeat rockers to end the second set, three of them featured Walsh on lead vocals. A swingier, less-edgy version of “Walk Away” was fun. I prefer the raw arrangement on the original recording, but it was interesting to hear this take on it.
Two songs later, after Henley nailed a dead-on reading of “One of These Nights,” Walsh took center stage for “Life’s Been Good,” which he introduced by saying he had written while lost for two years in “the Peruvian rain forest” so that he had no memory of having composed it. While I’m not happy Walsh had a drug problem, I’m glad that at least something good came of it. With its playful vocals, catchy guitar line and immediately identifiable snare-bass-bass-bass drum part, “Life’s Been Good” seemed to be the most fun the band had the whole night. As he did last tour, Walsh strapped a camera onto his head, with the shaky visuals displayed on the big screen at the back of the stage. It was one of the few times anyone on the stage moved around or engaged the audience, and it was a nice change of pace. The song is so much fun, it pretty much didn’t matter that Walsh forgot the words and blew the chorus the third time through. Nearly as much fun was a rousing, loose and rocking “Funk 49,” which started with Frey and Walsh, back-to-back in the center of the stage, trading short bluesy guitar riffs.
I thought it was interesting and telling that while Henley generally played drums on many of the older Eagles songs, but left the percussion to his stand-in on cuts from “Long Road Out of Eden” and his solo material, he was behind the kit for “Life’s Been Good” and “Rocky Mountain Way,” as if he didn’t want to miss out on the fun.
Of course the Eagles gave its fans a steady stream of their classic hits, too. “Hotel California,” which followed the opening four new songs from “Long Road Out of Eden,” was a high point. When the lights went down, and, after a solo trumpet interlude, the iconic opening guitar line kicked in, the crowd exploded and shivers went up and down my spine. As Henley sang the first line, “On a dark desert highway,” in his signature upper-register voice, and, moments later, as his long-time bandmates harmonized perfectly on “and still those voices are calling from far away,” it was clear that this was no oldies show. The performance of “Hotel California” on Friday surrendered nothing to how the song would have sounded live in 1977.
Other highlights included the rousing first-set closer “The Long Run” and the second set finale of “Heartache Tonight,” with its tremendous harmonies, and the closest thing the night had to a full-out, balls-to-the-wall arena rock song, “Life in the Fast Lane.”
The videos that ran on the giant circle behind the stage included animation, still photography and movies. The content ran a bit to the obvious (for example, showing a beach when Henley sang “nobody on the beach” in “Boys of Summer,” or random shots of New York City buildings during “In the City”), but often added to the proceedings. The gorgeous, haunting cover photo of “Hotel California” fit in with the atmosphere of the song, and the simple animation of prison bars during “Guilty of the Crime” was cute. One of the most intricate movies was the collage of television, magazine and Web tabloids during “Dirty Laundry.” The idea was incredibly on the nose, but the quality of the editing, perfectly juxtaposing the different clips, captured my attention, maybe too much, as I can barely remember the performances (a shame, since Walsh reprised his killer solo from the record).
But an Eagles show is not about video footage, it’s about the music. And by the time the final encore was coming to a close, and Henley held the final “let somebody love you” of “Desperado” seemingly forever, inspiring an immense ovation from the crowd, it was clear that somehow, against all odds, four old guys in suits, standing around on stage for three hours, had put on a tremendous rock show. And that’s not something you see everyday.
The Eagles
Madison Square Garden
May 30, 2008
1. How Long
2. Too Busy Being Fabulous
3. I Don’t Want To Hear Anymore
4. Guilty Of The Crime
5. Hotel California
6. Peaceful Easy Feeling
7. I Can't Tell You Why
8. Witchy Woman
9. Lyin' Eyes
10. Boys of Summer
11. In the City
12. Long Run
Intermission
13. No More Walks In The Woods
14. Waiting in the Weeds
15. No More Cloudy Days
16. Love Will Keep Us Alive
17. Take It To The Limit
18. Long Road Out of Eden
19. Somebody
20. Walk Away
21. One Of These Nights
22. Life’s Been Good
23. Dirty Laundry
24. Funk 49
25. Heartache Tonight
26. Life in the Fast Lane
(Encore 1)
27. Rocky Mountain Way
28. All She Wants To Do Is Dance
(Encore 2)
29. Take It Easy
30. Desperado
Thursday, May 29, 2008
“Last Comic Standing” Ushers in a Summer of Reality TV
[NOTE: The following article will also appear as my regular television column for WILDsound.]
“Last Comic Standing” is better than “American Idol.”
Okay, I knew that would get your attention. I know the ratings for “Last Comic Standing” (Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC) don’t even rise to the level of nipping at the heels of “Idol,” and I also get that “Last Comic Standing” sometimes feels like it was thrown together by a basic cable network.
But as I watched the premiere of the sixth season (yes, sixth season ... I am as shocked as you are) of “Comic” last Thursday, I couldn’t help thinking that despite the fact that the show is far from perfect, and even though it hasn’t captured a place in American pop culture like “Idol” has, it is, to me anyway, a more enjoyable viewing experience.
Let’s start with the performers. As a guy who loves comedy and has no interest in teen-friendly pop music, clearly, I start with a bias in favor of "Comic." But beyond my personal tastes, I think the comedians are way more interesting to watch than the singers. The audition episodes of both shows mix the good and the awful, but the rejects on "Comic" are more interesting. Singing is more objective than being funny. It is (or should be) clear to the lousy crooners who take their shots at "Idol" auditions that they're bad. Which means they're either looking for publicity or so deluded, I feel a little guilty laughing at them. And besides, how many different ways are there to sing badly? It all starts to run together.
The walking disasters on "Comic" are way more interesting to me. Comedy is personal. More than 10 million viewers each week tune in to "Two and a Half Men," voluntarily, I assume. But to me, watching my computer crash would be funnier than that train wreck of a show (and I'm a writer, so that's really saying something ...). So I think it's way more plausible that the parade of people who go onstage at the "Comic" auditions and bomb honestly think they're funny. And that's way more interesting than a guy's voice cracking as he tries to sing "I Will Always Love You." Not to mention the sheer variety of ways that comedians can suck, from the raving lunatic who had one of the judges fearing for her safety to the guy who dressed in an alien outfit and tossed off one-liners in a deep baritone and the nut job in a chicken outfit who relied on even worse one-liners playing off bird noises.
I also find the good performers to be more entertaining on "Comic" than on "Idol." Good singers are a dime a dozen. It's a rare case when "Idol" finds someone with true star quality. It feels like for every Kelly Clarkson, there is a flood of Justin Guarinis, Ruben Studdards, Diana DeGarmos, Jordin Sparkses and Bo Bices (all winners or runners-up). Maybe we expect less from comedians, but sitting through an episode of "Comic," you're bound to laugh several times at truly funny bits. Don't get me wrong. It's not like the "Comic" winners are dominating prime-time television or anything, more likely using their new-found title to book themselves into comedy clubs across the nation. It's not that the Dat Phans and John Heffrons (past winners) of the world have done better than the "Idol" champs and runners-up, but, while on the stage, their best moments deliver in a way the singers on "Idol" rarely do.
Take the two twins in the "Comic" premiere who constantly talk over each other, for example. They tested the boundary between annoying and funny, but their act was pretty out there. What was the most innovative thing an "Idol" contestant has done? Blake Lewis beat boxing? Enough said.
Even more than the performers, the judges on "Comic" are infinitely more entertaining than their "Idol" counterparts. Year after year, “Idol” sends Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell out on audition after audition, and to performance show after performance show, so much so that there is virtually nothing left for any of them to say that would surprise, move or entertain us. Abdul’s lack of basic coherence has officially moved from funny to sad; if Jackson was any more prone to repeating bland statements from an increasingly limited pool of comments, he could be George W. Bush’s press secretary; and Cowell’s British bad boy act has grown tired and cartoonish.
“Comic,” on the other hand, features different celebrity judges in each audition city. And they're a lot more interesting, too. The debut edition of the show had Richard Belzer (“Law and Order: SVU”) and Steve Schirripa (“The Sopranos”) making the yea-or-nay determinations in New York, while Kathy Najimy and comedy legend Fred Willard handled the judges' table in Tempe, Arizona. Belzer and Schirripa, emitting pure New York attitude, had an easy rapport with each other, mixing spot-on judgments about the comics with smart, funny comments meant to entertain. Willard just brings so much joy to the stage. He clearly was having fun watching the performers (good and bad, mostly bad), and yet he wasn’t a pushover, even if he claimed to be (mainly because he likes impressionists, but the one they let move on was great and ended up being one of the three semifinalists). I find Najimy’s persona to be too big and too fake for my tastes, but at least she made coherent observations on the competitors.
In other words, it was like a Bizarro World version of the "Idol" judging sessions.
Future "Comic" judges are equally interesting, like George Wendt and John Ratzenberger of “Cheers,” Neil Flynn of “Scrubs,” Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez of "The Office," Dave Foley ("Kids in the Hall") and Richard Kind ("Mad About You"). I'd rather spend an hour with anyone on that list than Abdul, Jackson or Callow.
The real edge for "Comic" comes in the host. Bill Bellamy is a solid, professional comedian with a playful, engaging personality and decent material. Ryan Seacrest is, well, Ryan Seacrest. First-round knockout to "Comic." And that's even taking into account the "Comic" roving reporter/co-host, English presenter Fearne Cotton, who is so loud and grating, if someone tried to put together a second generation Spice Girls, she would surely be booted out of it for being even too annoying for that shrill-fest. The fact that she is easy on the eyes is the only plausible explanation for her presence on this (or any) show.
As much as I truly believe that "Comic" provides a superior viewer experience to "Idol," I also fully acknowledge that the programs are watched against a completely different set of expectations. "Idol," regardless of what I think, is fodder for water-cooler discussions. Seemingly everyone you meet watches the show and, even more than that, has strong opinions on who they like and dislike. The bar is raised so high, it is not only virtually impossible for the program to reach it, but it makes experimenting a risky proposition. How do you mess with the number one show? If you are a network executive, you do so at your own peril.
"Comic," on the other hand, flies so low under the radar, I have no doubt that most people reading this article will say to themselves, "That show is still on the air?" Going in with low expectations, you don't need that many funny comedians to make it a worthwhile endeavor. And nobody is going to ask you the next morning what you thought of the previous night's show, unless you actually work at a comedy club.
So there you have it, incontrovertible proof that "Last Comic Standing" is better than "American Idol." Well, incontrovertible to me, anyway. Is "Comic" a great show? No. But compared to the average summer reality series (last week also brought us the premieres of "Living Lohan," about Lindsay's manager mother and her aspiring singer/tabloid casualty daughter Ali, and "Denise Richards: It's Complicated," about the actress who is anything but), "Comic" starts to look like a pretty good option.
“Last Comic Standing” is better than “American Idol.”
Okay, I knew that would get your attention. I know the ratings for “Last Comic Standing” (Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC) don’t even rise to the level of nipping at the heels of “Idol,” and I also get that “Last Comic Standing” sometimes feels like it was thrown together by a basic cable network.
But as I watched the premiere of the sixth season (yes, sixth season ... I am as shocked as you are) of “Comic” last Thursday, I couldn’t help thinking that despite the fact that the show is far from perfect, and even though it hasn’t captured a place in American pop culture like “Idol” has, it is, to me anyway, a more enjoyable viewing experience.
Let’s start with the performers. As a guy who loves comedy and has no interest in teen-friendly pop music, clearly, I start with a bias in favor of "Comic." But beyond my personal tastes, I think the comedians are way more interesting to watch than the singers. The audition episodes of both shows mix the good and the awful, but the rejects on "Comic" are more interesting. Singing is more objective than being funny. It is (or should be) clear to the lousy crooners who take their shots at "Idol" auditions that they're bad. Which means they're either looking for publicity or so deluded, I feel a little guilty laughing at them. And besides, how many different ways are there to sing badly? It all starts to run together.
The walking disasters on "Comic" are way more interesting to me. Comedy is personal. More than 10 million viewers each week tune in to "Two and a Half Men," voluntarily, I assume. But to me, watching my computer crash would be funnier than that train wreck of a show (and I'm a writer, so that's really saying something ...). So I think it's way more plausible that the parade of people who go onstage at the "Comic" auditions and bomb honestly think they're funny. And that's way more interesting than a guy's voice cracking as he tries to sing "I Will Always Love You." Not to mention the sheer variety of ways that comedians can suck, from the raving lunatic who had one of the judges fearing for her safety to the guy who dressed in an alien outfit and tossed off one-liners in a deep baritone and the nut job in a chicken outfit who relied on even worse one-liners playing off bird noises.
I also find the good performers to be more entertaining on "Comic" than on "Idol." Good singers are a dime a dozen. It's a rare case when "Idol" finds someone with true star quality. It feels like for every Kelly Clarkson, there is a flood of Justin Guarinis, Ruben Studdards, Diana DeGarmos, Jordin Sparkses and Bo Bices (all winners or runners-up). Maybe we expect less from comedians, but sitting through an episode of "Comic," you're bound to laugh several times at truly funny bits. Don't get me wrong. It's not like the "Comic" winners are dominating prime-time television or anything, more likely using their new-found title to book themselves into comedy clubs across the nation. It's not that the Dat Phans and John Heffrons (past winners) of the world have done better than the "Idol" champs and runners-up, but, while on the stage, their best moments deliver in a way the singers on "Idol" rarely do.
Take the two twins in the "Comic" premiere who constantly talk over each other, for example. They tested the boundary between annoying and funny, but their act was pretty out there. What was the most innovative thing an "Idol" contestant has done? Blake Lewis beat boxing? Enough said.
Even more than the performers, the judges on "Comic" are infinitely more entertaining than their "Idol" counterparts. Year after year, “Idol” sends Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell out on audition after audition, and to performance show after performance show, so much so that there is virtually nothing left for any of them to say that would surprise, move or entertain us. Abdul’s lack of basic coherence has officially moved from funny to sad; if Jackson was any more prone to repeating bland statements from an increasingly limited pool of comments, he could be George W. Bush’s press secretary; and Cowell’s British bad boy act has grown tired and cartoonish.
“Comic,” on the other hand, features different celebrity judges in each audition city. And they're a lot more interesting, too. The debut edition of the show had Richard Belzer (“Law and Order: SVU”) and Steve Schirripa (“The Sopranos”) making the yea-or-nay determinations in New York, while Kathy Najimy and comedy legend Fred Willard handled the judges' table in Tempe, Arizona. Belzer and Schirripa, emitting pure New York attitude, had an easy rapport with each other, mixing spot-on judgments about the comics with smart, funny comments meant to entertain. Willard just brings so much joy to the stage. He clearly was having fun watching the performers (good and bad, mostly bad), and yet he wasn’t a pushover, even if he claimed to be (mainly because he likes impressionists, but the one they let move on was great and ended up being one of the three semifinalists). I find Najimy’s persona to be too big and too fake for my tastes, but at least she made coherent observations on the competitors.
In other words, it was like a Bizarro World version of the "Idol" judging sessions.
Future "Comic" judges are equally interesting, like George Wendt and John Ratzenberger of “Cheers,” Neil Flynn of “Scrubs,” Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez of "The Office," Dave Foley ("Kids in the Hall") and Richard Kind ("Mad About You"). I'd rather spend an hour with anyone on that list than Abdul, Jackson or Callow.
The real edge for "Comic" comes in the host. Bill Bellamy is a solid, professional comedian with a playful, engaging personality and decent material. Ryan Seacrest is, well, Ryan Seacrest. First-round knockout to "Comic." And that's even taking into account the "Comic" roving reporter/co-host, English presenter Fearne Cotton, who is so loud and grating, if someone tried to put together a second generation Spice Girls, she would surely be booted out of it for being even too annoying for that shrill-fest. The fact that she is easy on the eyes is the only plausible explanation for her presence on this (or any) show.
As much as I truly believe that "Comic" provides a superior viewer experience to "Idol," I also fully acknowledge that the programs are watched against a completely different set of expectations. "Idol," regardless of what I think, is fodder for water-cooler discussions. Seemingly everyone you meet watches the show and, even more than that, has strong opinions on who they like and dislike. The bar is raised so high, it is not only virtually impossible for the program to reach it, but it makes experimenting a risky proposition. How do you mess with the number one show? If you are a network executive, you do so at your own peril.
"Comic," on the other hand, flies so low under the radar, I have no doubt that most people reading this article will say to themselves, "That show is still on the air?" Going in with low expectations, you don't need that many funny comedians to make it a worthwhile endeavor. And nobody is going to ask you the next morning what you thought of the previous night's show, unless you actually work at a comedy club.
So there you have it, incontrovertible proof that "Last Comic Standing" is better than "American Idol." Well, incontrovertible to me, anyway. Is "Comic" a great show? No. But compared to the average summer reality series (last week also brought us the premieres of "Living Lohan," about Lindsay's manager mother and her aspiring singer/tabloid casualty daughter Ali, and "Denise Richards: It's Complicated," about the actress who is anything but), "Comic" starts to look like a pretty good option.
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