An outrageous stand-up act
There’s nothing wrong with a comic working some insult jokes and blue material into the act. But it’s probably not a good idea to try it at an afternoon sales meeting with a thousand or so attendees who just spent the previous 20 minutes looking at slides of Nielsen ratings data.
To say that Brad Garrett bombed at Fox’s “upfront” presentation to advertising buyers in New York on Thursday is not accurate. Spike Feresten, who hosts a new late-night talk show for Fox, bombed, and bombed in the conventional way of the audience responding with utter silence as he told jokes. It was pathetic and painful. (Some of the clips from his show, however, looked quite funny, even inspired, and that’s what matters, right?)
Garrett, star of Fox’s new fall sitcom “ ‘Til Death,” did something else entirely, and I’m still not sure if it was wonderful or foolish. He scandalized the people Fox is asking to pay for his show.
Garrett came onstage in the sweltering Armory near Gramercy Park and did a few minutes of aggressively obnoxious insult material that would fit in fine at the Friars Club but left the poor ad buyers quaking in their chalk-stripe suits. Large swaths of the crowd were -- I’m not exaggerating here -- gasping. I even heard one disgusted “Jesus!” come from a man in a seat behind me.
I was present when Gilbert Gottfried told the notoriously filthy “Aristocrats” joke at Comedy Central’s Hugh Hefner roast just days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, when New Yorkers had barely begun to grieve, and believe me, this reaction was worse. A lot worse.
It wasn’t that Garrett ridiculed the buyers; most of his material was directed at Fox, its executives and stars, although he started with a dig at Ray Romano. Remarking on Paula Abdul’s attendance, he quipped: “It’s nice to know Bellevue has a shuttle bus.” He played a videotape of Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori kissing one of his sitcom stars last year and then feigned disgust, saying: “I think we all know where Pamela Anderson’s mouth has been.” Garrett asked the crowd if they believed Ryan Seacrest is gay.
But content alone can’t account for such a visceral crowd reaction. What sparked the outrage was Garrett’s posture, the abrasive gravel in his baritone. He wanted to be off-putting and hostile, and he succeeded. After a week of listening to ratings spin and ingratiating double-talk from network executives, as well as canned “Thank you for your support!” speeches from frozen-smiled stars, hearing Garrett’s nasty stand-up routine was like having someone race up to you on the street, grab open your waistband and pour ice water down your pants. It’s outrageous, it’s uncomfortable, and you’ll never forget it.
Some people -- even showbiz people, for heaven’s sake -- just aren’t used to being talked to like that. As Feresten remarked during his own ill-fated monologue, what we call the “upfront” is anything but.
KTLA censoring
2 local websites?
Journalists usually espouse tolerant views toward free expression, but management at Tribune-owned KTLA-TV seems to take a different approach to the subject.
Bosses at the station are apparently restricting employee access to two websites that have recently featured critical reports about KTLA, according to one insider. When workers using a company computer try to access LA Observed, a Los Angeles-themed website, or Ron Fineman’s On the Record, a subscription site about local TV news, they are greeted with a page that simply says “blocked.”
The station has been involved in several ethical lapses over the years, the most recent involving a dining-room makeover for “Morning News” co-host Michaela Pereira. LA Observed and Fineman’s site have both featured items about the outlet’s problems.
Station spokeswoman Carolyn Aguayo did not respond to voicemail and e-mail messages left Thursday night.
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Channel Island is a blog about the television industry. For the latest posting, go to latimes.com/channelisland. Contact reporter Scott Collins at channelisland@latimes.com.
