Is John Mayer really funnier than David Cross?

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Mr. Show can't touch Kids in the Hall. It was funnier, edgier, far more creative and even the one-off characters were better-developed than most sketch comics ever come up with. (Not that sketch comedy is such a great field.) Someday Rhino will lovingly rerelease KITH on DVD and everyone'll dig it again.

David Cross is tedious. His lack of enthusiasm in his own material made his comedy album a slog. At least Bill Hicks could convey rants and self-hatred with a smile and some honest effort. (If Hicks' anti-establishment, anti-GOP anger strikes a nerve with me, does that mean I'll vote for Dean? Just curious.)

― Chris Dahlen (Chris Dahlen), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:42 (twenty years ago) link

KITH destroys Mr. Show, that is a laughable comparison. KITH was Python caliber.

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link

Fuck all y'all.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:53 (twenty years ago) link

I totally agree. (and psst...the first season of KITH on DVD is now available to order online, and will be in stores in the spring)

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:55 (twenty years ago) link

>KITH destroys Mr. Show, that is a laughable comparison. KITH was Python caliber.<

But The Goon Show destroyed Python, right? (At least I used to think so.)

― chuck, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:58 (twenty years ago) link

Then I've gotta track down some Goon Show ... after I go preorder myself some KITH!

― Chris Dahlen (Chris Dahlen), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:04 (twenty years ago) link

KITH destroys Mr. Show, that is a laughable comparison. KITH was Python caliber.

I can't agree with this, really. Both shows had some dizzying highs and real blahs.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:08 (twenty years ago) link

i love mr.show AND The Kids In The Hall AND monty python AND the ben stiller show AND the ernie kovacs show AND the goon show AND beyond the fringe AND the muppet show AND the upright citizen's brigade. they are all really really funny. they all kill each other.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:11 (twenty years ago) link

and Run Ronnie Run is more consistently entertaining than Brain Candy.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:11 (twenty years ago) link

and i fucking love sctv. where is my 10 dvd box set!!!!!!!!??????

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:13 (twenty years ago) link

I love both shows like a would a family member (seriously)!!! I hate this "David Cross ain't really funny" shit. Y'all make me sad, sad, sad.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:17 (twenty years ago) link

now that bob saget. he slays me.

― Christian Rawk (Christian Rawk), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:31 (twenty years ago) link

Wow, this is probably the first thread to inspire actual anger in me. Really weird.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:36 (twenty years ago) link

Don't fret. I've calmed down.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:36 (twenty years ago) link

Bash Jimmy Fallon all you guys want, though. No problem with that.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:38 (twenty years ago) link

tina fey: bob odenkirk :: david cross : jimmy fallon

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:40 (twenty years ago) link

ie. 'the one that's actually funny'

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:40 (twenty years ago) link

you don't wanna RILE me, cinniblount.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:43 (twenty years ago) link

anyhow i glanced at this tonight and, i spose this dates to alan light's editorialship though correct me if i'm wrong (maybe whenever bob jr. sold it), but is anyone who remembers spin in the eighties when it was able to note and pay attention to the underground AND still write intelligently and take pop seriously without any (in comparison to 80s rolling stone at least) rockist baggage or kneejerk corny indie fuxxtosis? did alt-rock (which played into spin's strengths cuz it - unlike rolling stone - was actually paying attention to this music pre-nevermind) warp spin's demographics and catering to it (in that they finally knew just what their demographic was) so much that it's unsalvageable?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:46 (twenty years ago) link

I read a bunch of 1990-on SPIN recently (earliest had Jon Bon on the cover) and I hope to god you're describing some period before then. It might have been better than Rolling Stone but jeezus what ain't.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:48 (twenty years ago) link

Bob Odenkirk is definitely more underrated. He's a really talented comedy writer and performer and more versatile than David Cross. I still think Cross is funny as hell, though.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:48 (twenty years ago) link

though the one 80s SPIN article I've read is the one by Meltzer about Springsteen, which is fucking awesome ("an issue about Bruce? what are you cover next issue, Garfield the cat?")

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

i don't think they know what their demographic is anymore. they are schizo. well, i guess they must know who buys the thing-they pay people to figure that stuff out-but it doesn't always seem as if they do.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:49 (twenty years ago) link

x-post typo: covering next issue

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

i mean the reason i loved spin as a kid (and maybe it really wasn't much better than - though i doubt it very much) was that they GOT madonna and rob base and husker du whereas rolling stone only even acknowledged the existence of one of those acts (madge) and even then only becuz she was really, really, really famous, not like they could tell you how 'lucky star' was great or what was great about it.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:50 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, i'm referring more to mid to late eighties

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

who does chuck klosterman appeal to? i mean age-wise or any-wise.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:51 (twenty years ago) link

x-post re: cinniblount meaning late eighties

thank god, I like that Mark Blackwell, Jonathan Bernstein and Jim Greer are now writing such films as Max Keebler's Big Move - though Bernstein's movie reviews and book Pretty In Pink weren't bad.

non-xpost re: klosterman
I actually think Klosterman writes some of the most entertaining interviews out there. He's not afraid to ask the stupid questions that force the interviewee to answer with some thought.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:53 (twenty years ago) link

i mean that list issue they did lately (haha - which one?) was fucking dire and lists were something they used to be really really good at (see that pink issue with jim morrison on the cover or their rebuttals to rolling stone's singles and albums lists)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:53 (twenty years ago) link

i'm thinking more byron coley, legs mcneil (who i luv so nyah), and, mainly, john leland john leland john leland

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:55 (twenty years ago) link

I think I'm the only guy who liked the list issue.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 02:57 (twenty years ago) link

i've gotten my ERT(estimated reading time) of Spin down to 10 minutes. last issue of magnet:4.3 minutes.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

I will admit that the last two issues I bought of SPIN the penultimate one (Dashboard Confessional on cover) I just got to read at Pizza Hut while in NY a few months ago and threw away. I just bought the Best of 03 one and I totally regret buying it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:06 (twenty years ago) link

this reminds me (since i think he'll look at this thread again) MATOS!: there's a neat thing with griel marcus in the new artforum on lists

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:06 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, i think in the past six, seven years the only issue of spin i've bought has been the year end issue and i stopped doing that when they broke up the 'best albums of the year' into a 'top twenty' and then 'editor's pick' (so who picked the top twenty?), plus they got rid of the 'top ten albums YOU haven't heard you stupid suburban fuck' which maybe was a ridiculous concept for a list but were alot more interesting than the usual 'let's codify this year stat' nonsense.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:09 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, saw the Artforum.

the pink Jim Morrison cover was actually a different set of lists--the top 25 albums and 100 singles were a year before. but I LOVE those lists, and Spin at that period, and fucking JOHN LELAND's singles column, which I have been looking at a lot lately in preperation for the year-end issue, just to see how you DO it, y'know? he's one of the best critics ever.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:10 (twenty years ago) link

(also I think I'm gonna start doing a mix CD every month in the Weekly)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:11 (twenty years ago) link

haha Anthony you should start a thread in which we all insert the answer to you saying "I think I'm the only guy who liked _______"

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:14 (twenty years ago) link

should i even ask if i'm the only person who thinks that rolling stone is a more entertaining read ever since they decided to try and keep up with the blenders? i actually find myself reading stuff in it. and i always like the non-music stuff which was always their strong point anyway-killer kids, death squads, etc. and i like the idea of christian hoard being the cameron crowe of a new era.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:17 (twenty years ago) link

I liked it better right after all the ex-Details folks (Sheffield especially) got in there, '98-'01 or so. (almost said "took over" but you can never really "take over" RS, it's always gonna be RS)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:19 (twenty years ago) link

should i even ask if i'm the only person who thinks that rolling stone is a more entertaining read ever since they decided to try and keep up with the blenders? - no i totally agree with this

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:21 (twenty years ago) link

i just detect a certain loosening of the necktie which could be completely phoney and transparent, but when all is said and done i don't really care if it is phoney and transparent cuz it's still somehow refreshing in a way.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:22 (twenty years ago) link

thing is, I noticed that in the period right before Blenderizing, and to me it's a lost some of that, not gained

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:23 (twenty years ago) link

i actually view R.S. a lot like i view SNL. it can be an awful fucking trainwreck that makes you want to spit, but it's OUR awful fucking trainwreck that makes you want to spit.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:25 (twenty years ago) link

I haven't watched SNL in ages; maybe it isn't mine anymore. And even though I occasionally write something for RS, I sort of feel the same way.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:26 (twenty years ago) link

i mean i bemoan the shortening of the interviews since that was one thing i liked about rolling stone, and they're actually not any less political than they were for the past twenty years, maybe more so even (probably cuz of all the media columns devoted to 'rolling stone's gonna be just a lifestyle mag now' - haha "now") if not as smart (bye bye greider). i mean two timberlake covers might feel like overkill but it also feels pretty damn accurate in terms of '2003 - here tis' though i'm still wondering if missy elliot's ever gonna actually get a rolling stone or spin cover (and not just as part of an ensemble portrait) even if it wouldn't mean 1/10th as much as it would've two nevermind six years ago.

x-post - i agree it seemed maybe a bit more popist pre-blenderising (when sheffield reigned supreme i guess).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:27 (twenty years ago) link

I totally think Blender is the best glossy music mag out there right now. And while I'd feel that way even if I wasn't writing for them, I totally would have never bothered to open it up the first time if I wasn't.

And they'll give David Lee Roth four pages to answer questions from readers! RAWK!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:28 (twenty years ago) link

Though I hate Blender's determination to put the word BLENDER in the place of I. They'll have a picture of Neil Strauss and Ludacris slapping girls' asses, which is wrong in and of itself, but even wronger when the caption is "Blender and Ludacris...". I much prefer SPIN trying to make Klosterman into some kind of modern day Lester Bangs celebrity.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:30 (twenty years ago) link

i think i just meant that if i didn't have RS and SNL to complain about the world would seem emptier somehow.and i actually don't even have cable anymore since we moved, but i can certainly imagine how bad snl is sucking.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:38 (twenty years ago) link

oh scott then you missed
Al Sharpton dancing this week
on the damn good foot--

he NAILED JB,
sang "I Feel Good" like a god.
the rest, though, did suck.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:48 (twenty years ago) link

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