Another Fine Dresser

I did an interview with Lisa Lampanelli in advance of her show here in Madison, and she told me to come say hi afterwards. I had to get a picture of what she was wearing, because it was just so stupendous. See?



Sorry for the shitty picture quality; I was in a rush to get to the DeVotchKa show across town.

I did like Lisa's set, although I wish she'd done more of the new material she's talked about. Well, maybe some of it was new, but it sounded like the familiar race- and gay-baiting stuff. I would have laughed harder if her two openers hadn't reminded me how unfunny comedy like that can be. Of course, Lisa's attitude would probably be "Fuck you, you part-Injun faggot, they're hard-working comedians." What I want to know is, after you've been inured by Lisa's act, how many laughs can you get out of Tracy Locke and Wendell (I know nothing about them and am probably misspelling Wendell's name), who basically came on and did a more coy, undeveloped version of what Lisa did? OK, Wendell's set focused a lot more on the "Yep, I'm a big fag and may be prone to doing things gays are often thought to be prone to doing!" stuff, but frankly I've exchanged better gay jokes with my gay friends. I can't remember any of them right now, but I do remember laughing harder at them.

I'm not even saying these two were un-funny, I'm saying that there's a point where pushing it isn't really pushing it at all. Lisa is friendly to the people she picks on, and she'll eventually say that she doesn't mean the stuff she's saying, but she's convincing as a racist, bitter bitch on a tear. She makes the crudest, dumbest jokes funny because she plows right into them without any of that cut-rate, huckster-y, "ain't-I-funny?" aftertaste that so many comedians (including Tracy and Wendell) have. Hey, I fucking know when I'm at a comedy show. I don't need a comedian's personality to constantly remind me that, "HEY HEY HEY, IT'S FUNNY TIME!!!!" Of course it's fucking funny time, and of course these people are just trying to have a decent career and have fun doing it and make people laugh, and yet a lot of these people just seem to be trying too hard. I'm not sure this is even a clear distinction, but some comedians act like comedians and some comedians (most of the ones I like) just act like people who say funny stuff.