So last night Tammy Pescatelli was performing at the Comedy Zone in Jacksonville, Florida. It is a nice club. I’ve been there. Tammy is doing her act and about 40 minutes in she realizes a woman in the front is messing around with her phone. First, this in itself is rude. Tammy makes a joke. They go back and forth. Tammy moves on. Woman throws a wine glass with wine at her. Tammy orders woman arrested. Whole audience stays to give a statement to the police. The police make no arrest because according to Tammy a comedian should more or less expect this type of treatment in a comedy club. Listen I don’t expect the club to have my back when I am on stage, I don’t expect the booker to have my back when I am on stage. I never know what the audience is going to think. This is the reason why I tape everything. For evidence. Now we can’t even count on the police. It is over. I can’t say I am surprised. It has been going down this path for a long time. Just realize this, once people no longer have the courage and protection to speak in this country that your world will have a lot less choices.
Is it unheard of for audience to throw things at performers? Nah. Jackasses throw batteries at baseball players. Morons throw snowballs at football players. Idiots throw garbage at wrestlers. I’ve even had a room full of cops throw bread & tin foil balls at me. People stink and don’t know how to behave. The one thing we had was when people were morons if we pressed charges there would be some penalty. Well I guess that is different for comedians. I guess we speak at our own peril now. And if we get hurt it is not like we have insurance so I guess we’ll just walk it off. You know what comedy will be better behind a steel cage. Yeah comedy works better without intimacy. And you will be better off if less comics say things that make you think or feel on stage. I hope you feel that way because we are getting there.
But it is our fault. We as a society love bad behavior. Can anybody of my age range remember anybody from MTV’s reality show the Real World? I bet you can all remember one guy…Puck! He was the biggest asshole going. Do you remember who he tormented? Some guy with Aids who is dead now. But Puck, yeah I remember that dirty, bike riding, peanut butter eating asshole. He was entertaining! I also remember Trachelle from Vegas. But that’s because she was a slut. So in all the years of the Real World I remember the asshole and the slut. Nice!
We remember bad behavior. We celebrate bad behavior. How else can you explain Kim Kardashian…”leaked porn video,” Paris Hilton…”leaked porn video,”…Lindsey Lohan…hot mess! At least Lindsey use to be an actress. The other two are just hot hos. Did anybody but kids give a rats ass about Miley Cyrus when she was on Disney? Nope. Once she started dressing hot and having provocative photos with a penis cakes she became relevant to people without kids. Well sort of relevant.
Go ahead. Act out. Be crazy. Anybody else remember Obama’s state of the union address where a republican yelled out…’you lie’ in the middle of the speech. That had never happened before. The Republican congressman’s fundraising was just fine after that. Imagine yelling during the President’s speech. Where is the decorum? It is gone.
I watch Jersey Shore for the bad behavior. We all do. And those kids have been rewarded for it. Nobody wants to see Snookie sober. It is on tv now and now instead of being drunk and dumb and a ho she is just dumb. Not as much fun as you would think. Of course, I am still watching. Maybe she will drink while she is pregnant and then we can all be outraged and tune in next week. We will definitely judge her. We will feel better about ourselves after we judge her. She will get paid well for letting you judge her.
The only ones who can’t behave badly now are comedians on stage. Every month or so another comic pisses somebody off and then gives a half assed apology. Maybe the words were offensive. maybe. But where is the outcry about the woman standing up and interrupting a live performance as in the Tosh incident. There wasn’t one. Except from comics. Mostly open micers. Who like to get upset about these things because that way they feel like they are on the same level as Tosh, Morgan, Williams, etc. Indignation is all an open micer has. It sure as hell ain’t money, management, or good gigs.
So now we come to Pescatelli. She was not even being offensive. The audience was digging her. She was assaulted. The police were pretty much like walk it off. Really? So what do you think is going to happen? It is going to get worse. Somebody is going to get hurt. Comics know this. We are going to stop taking chances because the $200 just ain’t worth it. You are going to get bad shows. You are going to lose one of the real remaining places where you will hear things that make you uncomfortable. That challenge you. We will all be talking about the difference between men & women. Start with the amount of shoes we have and move onto how we argue differently. It is going to be fun!!!!!!!
And we all just sat by and watched it happen. We rooted for the bad guy. We shunned those who made us uncomfortable with how we looked at life. We felt entitled to be the center of attention. And finally the authorities ignored assault. It happened on our watch.
I am the problem. You are the problem. At least here I can voice my opinion in safety. Oh shit……flying wine gla