This is long and I am still editing and adding. It is meant to be cross-posted for a philosophy discussion. Thus the nihilism ;0) My HTML coding sucks. I hope this is presentable.
FU: Kaufman, Larry the Cable Guy, Lampanelli, Mitch Fatel: Dadaistic Persona and Nihilism
Andy Kaufman: Dada and the Self
Andy Kaufman – Man on the Moon – R.E.M.
Referred to by some as a dadaistic comedian, Andy Kaufman took comedy and performance art to the edges of irrationality and blurred the dividing line between reality and imagination. Born in New York City on January 17, 1949, the first son of Stanley and Janice Kaufman, Andy grew up on New York in the town of Great Neck. He began performing for family and friends at the age of 7, and by the time he was 9 was being hired to entertain at children's parties. After a year at a Boston junior college, Andy began performing his unique brand of stand-up comedy at coffee shops and nightclubs on the east coast. Discovered by Improvisation comedy club owner Bud Friedman, Andy quickly earned a reputation as a talented, yet eccentric performer. Impressed by his abilities, Lorne Michaels asked Kaufman to appear on the inaugural broadcast of Saturday Night Live (October 11, 1975). Best known for his work as Latka Gravas on the TV sitcom Taxi, Andy appeared in several TV shows and movies, on Broadway, did a one man show at Carnegie Hall, enjoyed a brief professional wrestling career and performed in concerts nation-wide.
Andy Kaufman on Taxi
Andy Kaufman reads The Great Gatsby
(cannot be embedded)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3Dp6Oh3Fw&feature=related
What does it mean to be a Dadaistic comedian?
Megge Hill Fitz-Randolph notes Carl Jung's concept of the persona plays key role in self development by protecting the ego and allowing full expression of personal identity . . .
The persona is the mask worn to greet the world. Optimally, this does not undermine the authenticity of the self. Its primary function is to navigate the space between the inner world of ego with its surrounding self and the outer world of values and culture. How these worlds rub up against one another is negotiated by the persona.
According to Jungian analyst Dr. Boris Matthews, “the persona is a functional complex… that operates as an attitude, or way of relating to, the "outer" world. It serves both as "interface" with the world and protection from the '"outer" world, depending on life experience including how one has been accepted, wounded or rejected when one has naively presented an authentic thought, feeling, or reaction.”
What Is the Persona in Jungian Psychology?: How the Authentic Nature of the Self Adapts to Wearing the Mask http://www.suite101.com/content/what-is-the-persona-a62236#ixzz1BUtJ9MVx
Alan Pratt explains in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Friedrich Nietzsche is most often associated with nihilism. For Nietzsche, there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it. Penetrating the façades buttressing convictions, the nihilist discovers that all values are baseless and that reason is impotent. “Every belief, every considering something-true,” Nietzsche writes, “is necessarily false because there is simply no true world” (Will to Power [notes from 1883-1888]).
For him, nihilism requires a radical repudiation of all imposed values and meaning: “Nihilism is . . . not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one’s shoulder to the plough; one destroys” (Will to Power).
The caustic strength of nihilism is absolute, Nietzsche argues, and under its withering scrutiny “the highest values devalue themselves. The aim is lacking, and ‘Why’ finds no answer” (Will to Power). Inevitably, nihilism will expose all cherished beliefs and sacrosanct truths as symptoms of a defective Western mythos.
Lisa Lampanelli: Dada of racism
From the less than venerable Wikipedia
Early life and journalism career
Lampanelli attended Catholic schools,[8]studied journalism at Boston College and Syracuse University,[7] and went through a graduate program at Harvard.[9] /pShe worked as a copy editor at Popular Mechanics and an assistant at Rolling Stone.[10] She was also a fact checker and the first chief of research for Spy magazine; a book about Spy describes her then as "your average decked-out-heavy-metal-head-next-door."[11] Speaking later to Maxim Magazine Online, Lampanelli remarked, "I was a real journalist for Rolling Stone, Spy, Hit Parader. I interviewed those fuckin' hair bands: Cinderella, Slaughter."[12]
Comedy career
Lampanelli began her stand-up career in New York in the early 1990s.[13]She made her break at the 2002 New York Friars' Club roast of Chevy Chase,[5] and went on to participate in the roasts of Denis Leary, Pamela Anderson, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, William Shatner, Joan Rivers, and David Hasselhoff and to serve as Roastmaster for Larry the Cable Guy.[14] Lampanelli is frequently on the dais for The Howard Stern Show roasts, including appearances at the roasts for Gary Dell'Abate, Artie Lange, Andy Dick, and KKK member Daniel Carver as well as A&E's "Gene Simmons Roast" in April 2008.
Her style of humour was influenced most by the Dean Martin roasts that televised when she was growing up; she didn't start watching other stand-up comedians until she became one herself.[2][3]
Racial / ethnic humor is a large part of her comedy routine. Lampanelli explains:
“
I can get away with it because I'm a nice person, I have a warm personality, my intention is good behind it. The thing is, people sense when you have the least bit of anger or hate towards a group –– that's why you never make fun of people you don't like.[15]
”
She makes frequent references to her real-life relationships with black men.[16] In an interview with AskMen.com, she explained:[17]
“
...my problem is, I can't get a good-looking white guy anymore, I just don't have the looks to get that. I can get hot blacks, but also blacks are now starting to get uppity and go for the skinny white ones and the Asians, which is very offensive to me that they don't stick with their roots — the chubby white girl!
”
Books
Chocolate, Please: My Adventures in Food, Fat, and Freaks (2009). Publishers Weekly reviewed:
"After more than 30 pages on her search for the “perfect black man,” Lampanelli moves on to outline her standup career, from handling hecklers to doing the The Tonight Show... Seeking the roots of her humor, she recalls her childhood as an “attention whore”: “Eating to get attention is a behavior that I continued into my high school days.” She follows her memories of “fat rehab” with a variety of topics, from the Virgin Mary to vegans. Much is quite funny, and Lampanelli never pulls her punches. Despite her raw language and raucous writing, honest reflections and stark self-insights emerge as she probes her past."[19]
Lisa Lampanelli White Moms vs. Black Moms
Lisa Lampanelli on stage
The quality is very poor. I have seen her perform on stage and frankly did not enjoy it because she really is caustic and disturbing. However her stage persona differs slightly from her filmed persona.
Lisa Lampanelli Interview
Larry the Cable Guy: Dada of the Redneck
Larry the Cable Guy about Walmart
Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), better known by his stage name Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and former radio personality. He is one of the co-stars of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also includes Bill Engvall and Jeff Foxworthy, with whom he has starred on Blue Collar TV. Forbes.com claimed in 2007:
The highest-earning standup comic in the United States, Larry the Cable Guy (real name: Dan Whitney) toured relentlessly last year, grossing $21.5 million in ticket sales. He nets $3 million annually from his 'Git 'R Done' merchandise, plus another $2 million or so from CDs. Recent films include last year's Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector and Delta Farce, released in May. Look for him in next year's Witless Protection, to be distributed by Lionsgate.Greg Giraldo on Roast of Larry the Cable Guy
by Sean O'Neal January 5, 2011
Its recent foray into more or less abandoning educational programming for reality shows starring beefy, occasionally sleeveless guys manhandling old knives has paid off handsomely for the History Channel, so it only stands to reason that the network would continue that trajectory by filtering our nation’s rich past through the clogged PVC pipe that is Larry The Cable Guy. Only In America With Larry The Cable Guy has just been picked up for a 13-episode run debuting later this year, a show in which Larry, the Charles Kuralt of the Coors Light set, will skadoodle all over this great land of ours “immersing himself in different lifestyles, jobs and hobbies that celebrate the American experience,” all while revealing “bits of history” from whatever town he happens to be occupying, such as an anecdote about the time General William Tecumseh Sherman marched to Savannah because he really had to fart. He will presumably then end each revelation by exclaiming, “Only in America!” because truly, only in America.
Mitch Fatel: Dada of the Heterosexual
I think that's very dead on. This is my opinion about life. My opinion about life is that we're all kids. I think that as you get older you're told you have to act and feel a certain way. I kind of believe you're supposed to in daily life. You're supposed to be mature and treat people with respect and not talk about your penis and touch it all the time. But at the heart of it, we all remain kids. We all want our parents to be happy. We all want to be liked. We all want to make money to buy stuff to impress people. We're all still kids and I think everybody still has that kid inside of them. And I think what I do is I tap into the part of me that never grew up and I think that's the creative part of you. I think that there's always an adult in everybody and there's always a kid in everybody. If you were an adult all the time you would never have any fun. You'd be one of those people who gets so serious that they never laugh over stupid stuff. My best friend David, whom I've known since I was ten, when we get on planes together, all of a sudden we get in trouble like we were kids. We get yelled at because we start throwing food and stuff. I'm not saying that it's the right way to be, but I think that there's a side of you that needs to stay alive. I think when I'm onstage I try to channel that innocence from when I was a kid, and that's the creative part of everybody.
What can fans look forward to about the comic book included with your new comedy CD, Super Retardo?
MF:All I can say is this. There's an eight-page comic insert and it's very autobiographical. People ask who I am onstage and who that character is and where it comes from, if you read the comic of Super Retardo, you kind of understand exactly who I am. It was a very real comic when I wrote it. The one thing I'll say about me is sometimes people don't like me, they might not like my comedy, they might say it's too sexual, but the one thing I'm proud of, including the comic book, is that I'm real. It is really who I am.
Mitch Fatel is Magical “Chuck”
Mitch Fatel Interview
Photo Mitch Fatel provides on the comment card for fans at his shows:
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