Reggie just came at me tonight kicking my butt all over the floor. He is in your face with his intelligence that he uses to demonstrate the absurdity he sees in this world.
It’s the kind of humor I can kick back and get all day because it puts the idiosyncrasies of the world on display. His rap at the end of Why S*** So Crazy? is a commentary on what makes rap and the rap industry ridiculous. Catch the video sometime if you can. It’s called F ck Sh t Stack. No, you’re reading those titles correctly. Watch the show and you’ll understand why his titles are spelled that way.
He records sound bites on stage and then plays them back with other sound bites that he creates on stage. He sings or raps and he changes his voice to any tone, any accent, anything. He has some real talent. He is using it to humor us. But, he could just as easily get serious with it.
He actually has more talent than some of the big guys in the hip hop industry today. Reggie can change up and do Reggae whenever he feels. He turns it on, shuts it off, talks about a few things that makes us laugh and then he’s right back into it again. That’s the sign of a genius.
Anyway, the excerpt to the left is from his Comedy Central special Why S*** So Crazy? It’s the perfect example of the kind of humor that makes Reggie so F ck ng awesome. He talks about his research in Mexico and how the GPS intuitive linguistic system in Mexico is different from that of Canada and America. He talks about the obviousness that is there is something that you can’t miss.
Talk about riding it until the wheels fall off! Real World is still running? When is that dead horse going to get some peace?
I remember the first episode of Real World airing in 1992. I was an MTV fan in those days because they still played Music. Imagine a day when they played music on television at Music Television. Yeah, it was an exciting time.
Real World was one of the first reality shows. A handful of strangers thrown into one house and forced to live together. The experiment was actually to take people from all walks of life and see if they could find a way to get past their differences. This experiment has been lost on the newer generations who look at Real World as a vacation where dramas are created for the camera, everyone has dreams of being a superstar and not one person has a pimple or a hair out of place.
Can you say, NOT Real World? Not even close.
Of course, how can we miss the eye-watering reunions that take place five minutes after the show wraps? Oh yeah, remember that one moment that happened just two days ago? It seems like just yesterday. Wow, how these people have grown since their tough times in … Cancun? Sydney? Hollywood???
In 1992, I watched the first episode and I remember thinking that one season would be good enough of an experiment. Any more than that and the show will play itself out…and that was almost 20 years ago.
Who else has a strange attraction to Persons Unknown?
The kind of attraction where you are ready to give up and quit watching. It literally is jerking you around because it just doesn’t give you enough information. An entire episode of madness and you learn one or two more things that really don’t satisfy you.
But now, you finally find out who is in on this thing. And that’s the thing too. We don’t know what this thing even is. We don’t know who these people are. We don’t know where they are. We don’t know why they are there. Four episodes and we still don’t know any more than we did a few weeks ago before one episode even ran.
So, you’re about ready to quit watching and turn the channel to Law and Order: Criminal Intent when all of a sudden Joe goes to the kitchen. He meets with the chef who escorts him to a back room where they talk about “Threatening Withdrawal.”
It’s one thing, but it’s enough to bring me back next week so that I can watch the show and learn very little getting ever more and more aggravated about the show. That’s the kind of strange attraction I’m having.
I almost hate the show, but I have to find out what happens to these people. I have to know why this is being done to them and how they get out of it. Who is watching them? Why haven’t they taken that clerk hostage yet?
I don’t understand it. I’m watching a show that frustrates me to no end but, I can’t stop watching it.
The levels Burn Notice has taken its viewers through actually seems like a realistic portrayal of espionage and what it takes a burned spy to get back into the game at the level he once was. It also seems like a video game, with realistic parameters. No superheroes, although Michael Westen does have some rather extraordinary skills. No supervillains. No ulterior worlds.
Michael Westen went from being a burned spy followed by FBI agents to a man who is now partnered with a syndication referred to as “Management.” But, the levels he had to go through were quite impressive. Just like a video game.
He had several handlers he had to dodge and eventually he managed to get them all out of his life. The final handler had actually hired a handler of her own to…well, “handle” Michael. But, that eventually didn’t work out and that handler actually became a client of his when Michael finally learned the back story. This led to Michael’s first visit with Management and he was offered a position. This is where some confusion begins. But, I think I can explain it.
What happens next is Michael turns down this new opportunity, which begins a whole new chapter in his life. I was under the impression that this is what Michael wanted all along. So, what is Management then if Michael doesn’t want a position with this secret organization?
He endures being arrested and being followed by a detective who has heartburn for him. He has enemies who come running to take advantage of him any way they can. It gets worse as higher level opportunities come after him left and right. I’m not going to mention the useless attempts with Strickler. That ended with Strickler’s death and an agent’s death who didn’t want involved in the first place.
It gets really heated when Gilroy steps into the picture. Their little play of cat and mouse has Michael running all over Miami doing errands and trying to figure out what it all means. But Gilroy, it turns out is not up on his game as much as he would have us believe. After helping Simon, a once burned spy himself, escape from prison, Gilroy becomes Simon’s next victim. It becomes Michael’s job to recapture Simon and that launches him back into the hands of the Management where the first episode of this new season begins.
The Management, who burned Michael in the first place, has now recruited him to partner with them. His first assignment, to investigate – first, who helped Simon escape – and “B”, I’m not sure. I caught-on to the idea that it’s a war that Management doesn’t know how to handle and everyone who has tried ended up dead. Other than that, we’ll just have to learn as Michael learns.
But, I would have to say that the show delivers. I have often been disappointed when a show has promised to raise the bar and take things to another level. They always seem to flop. Lack of imagination. Laziness of writers. I’m not sure what the problem could be. But, Burn Notice has not failed. In fact, Michael is now responsible for burning a spy himself. His relationship with the Management is like being married to a giant squid that lurks at the bottom of the ocean, but with tentacles that literally reach into everything.
Compromised information that Michael gathered from a military installation has to be blamed on someone. So, a spy takes a fall. You can see that Michael isn’t too happy about the turn about, but what can he do? Or, what does he do?
There was a time when Jay Leno called the shots. But, NBC shifts just might hinge on how Conan O’Brien feels about them. Jay Leno’s ratings have dropped and they have had an effect on Conan O’Brien’s show. With many options on his plate, it looks like NBC will have to wait until Conan O’Brien makes up his mind about what he is going to do.
What has been going on is quite a stir. But, has anything really changed at all? Jay Leno recently adopted a whole new style and I’m not quite sure why. But the more I watch George Lopez, the more I get the idea. That’s the way Hollywood works.
When one success breeds another success, copycats show up all across the networks. Reality shows speak tremendously to this truth. One reality show bred another. Now, there is a reality show on every channel. You can watch one at just about any time of the day.
So, George Lopez changes the approach to late night television and throws the desk out the window. He brings the stage closer to the people in a more “get up close and personal” type of touch. When I saw Jay Leno’s new show, I realized a lot of those same changes. Of course, Jay Leno also has some of the same gimmicks that have entertained us for years. So, it’s not an exact rip off and to be honest with you, I’m really not sure which came first…the chicken or the egg.
But the fact of the matter is that while this approach has worked for day time with Oprah and Ellen, George Lopez has been the only one to pull it off for late night. Jay Leno’s time shift and stage changes have only resulted in a drop in ratings, which is really what television executives think it’s all about. And if they run the show, Jay Leno needs to find a way to bring his ratings back up to speed.
But for now, that fate seems to actually be in Conan O’Brien’s hands. That is until he makes his decision. He has options. In fact, he could have more lucrative options with other networks. So, it could really turn into a stirred up mess by the times it’s all settled. We’ll just have to wait and see.
I love watching the Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest Criminal episodes that come on from time to time. I’ve watched a guy hold up a convenience store with a rifle and then put it down on the counter so that the counter person could take it away and chase him out of the store. That was one of the best.
I watched a guy walk into a bank with leaves to cover his face. He ripped it off, clean and easy. But, they put a die charger in the bag of money and it exploded just as he got out of the bank. The cops found a guy who matched the slightly camouflaged description. But, the dead give away was the ink that was still on the man when the cops caught up to him.
I watched a guy on the dashboard police camera hand his wallet over to the police officer. That’s all fine and dandy. But, it had his heroine in it. That’s about the time you hear the guy turn from a tough guy into a crying little girl.
I’ve watched plenty of drunk people cracking their heads on hard pavement, plaster walls, glass windows and steal bars. I’ve watched them jump off of bridges, cross busy highways and drive cars with flat tires to get away from cops. I watched three people conspire to insurance fraud…and tape it. These shows have all kinds and they can bust a gut at times.
What I find most interesting though is who is willing to comment on these shows. Everyone’s been in trouble. Most of them, I find funny and have no reason to speak bad of now. But, I absolutely love the commentators who speak without remembering their own past.
Tonya Harding is a regular on the show and she makes some real stupid statements from time to time. She was talking about one stupid criminal who forgot to check with his probation officer and video taped himself doing drugs as well as some other things. Part of Tonya’s sentence was probation and there are just some topics you should stay away from when you are judging others. She mentioned the probation and I say, “Tonya, stay away from that one. You’re no better than he is.”
Danny Bonaduce is another one I think lets some interesting things just fly out of his mouth. But, his are in an entirely different way. Danny don’t pull any punches when it comes to admitting that he hasn’t led that most perfect life on earth. But, he plays the bad card way too many times. We’re watching a police officer give a man a ticket who is just ranting and raving. The officer is maintaining his demeanor. It is quite impressive. Bonaduce says that if he was an officer, all of his police reports would end with, “…and that’s when I shot him.”
Lighten up! It’s just a guy going off about a ticket that he probably can’t afford. Sure, he shouldn’t have been speeding if he can’t afford it. You can raise those arguments all day long. But, many of us have been there. Most of us can relate.
And the thought of Danny Bonaduce being a cop is a joke itself!
“I’m Just Saying” is such a widely used term that it now is the name of an online show with its own website. But, what does it actually mean?
Let’s say you’re a journalist and you just uncovered the story of the century. You have found some loophole in the system or some glaring hypocrisy among the lawmakers. So, you gather your facts and you tell your story. It blows our minds because you are so on target with information that your audience did not know…at all.
Then, you say, “I’m Just Saying.”
Why? Why are you backing down now?
You’ve just got our attention and you’ve driven your point home. Then, you ruin your momentum with, “I’m just saying.” It’s a spineless way of saying, “I just reported on something that has the potential to make some huge waves. But, I don’t want to be a part of the drama when the $#!? hits the fan.”
I came across this funny book the other day and am dying to share it with the world. When Justin found himself living with his father, he decided that a worthy thing to do with his time would be to document his father's musings. It's a true story. Take a look at some of the things his father has to say:
A Danger to Society
How one simple man with the unfortunate case of mistaken identity shook an entire town...and the Good Ol' Boy network waging war against him!
It's a laugh riot as Michael Allen explores the notions of power, privilege and intoxication. After a brush with the law, Dawg's life takes a sudden turn as he becomes a hostage of the "system."
Fighting against the madness every step of the way, Dawg's behind the scenes discoveries are hilarious, sobering and often shocking exposures of a transparent Gaggle blatantly making their own rules and disregarding them themselves.
They soon find Dawg isn't who they thought he was and all their tactics, normally quite effective are actually what help him find his way out of their clutches so that he could live to fight another day.
Who else has a strange attraction to Persons Unknown?
