Tuesday, August 16, 2005
On the Fringe
I was able to get down to Edinburgh to see some shows during the Fringe Festival before school started. This Festival is massive ( I think it is the largest in the world). Anyway, I met up with Melissa O'Byrne, who was on her way back to Canada from a couple of weeks of touring Scotland and Ireland. Good to see her and get the update on Surrey news.
We saw 3 shows during the day. the first was a Shakespeare adaptation - not bad. The second was horrible! We went to see a stand-up comedian. His show was entitled "Fat, Bald and Loud" and judging by the write-up seemed as though he would be funny. He wasn't. When a comedian claims "the wheel of stereotypes" as his big finale, you know that he gonna be crap. His act consisted of him spinning the wheel and speaking in the style of the stereotype it landed on. Who does jokes about Chinese people saying "more egg roll?" or a mentally-challenged person trying to hit on a girl??! I couldn't believe it. Again, I think back and I know what I should have said....
"Hey fatass, do you realize that imitating racial and social stereotypes doesn't make you a comedian? It makes you a racist and a biggot! Get off the stage and out of the 80's. Eddie Murphy may have done done that stuff twenty years ago, but that was then and this is now. And you, my fat, bald friend, are no Eddie Murphy. Get off the stage."The unfortunate part was that some people were actually laughing at this dated display of American ignorance (the comedian was American).
Oh well, the third show was good. It was a stage production of a Scottish novel I have read. More on the dramatic side, but very well done.
We saw 3 shows during the day. the first was a Shakespeare adaptation - not bad. The second was horrible! We went to see a stand-up comedian. His show was entitled "Fat, Bald and Loud" and judging by the write-up seemed as though he would be funny. He wasn't. When a comedian claims "the wheel of stereotypes" as his big finale, you know that he gonna be crap. His act consisted of him spinning the wheel and speaking in the style of the stereotype it landed on. Who does jokes about Chinese people saying "more egg roll?" or a mentally-challenged person trying to hit on a girl??! I couldn't believe it. Again, I think back and I know what I should have said....
"Hey fatass, do you realize that imitating racial and social stereotypes doesn't make you a comedian? It makes you a racist and a biggot! Get off the stage and out of the 80's. Eddie Murphy may have done done that stuff twenty years ago, but that was then and this is now. And you, my fat, bald friend, are no Eddie Murphy. Get off the stage."The unfortunate part was that some people were actually laughing at this dated display of American ignorance (the comedian was American).
Oh well, the third show was good. It was a stage production of a Scottish novel I have read. More on the dramatic side, but very well done.
// posted by Mr. Muir @ 4:23 p.m. 
