Thursday, June 13, 2019

Quote of the Day - Hannah Gadsby

Los Angeles Times ran an interview with comedian Hannah Gadsby about her new show, "Douglas." I recommend the entire thing, but it's especially worth it for her take on Louis CK:
You establish the comic tone early in “Douglas,” saying you quit comedy the same way Louis C.K. said he was sorry.

He is a joke now. And I think it’s important to keep making that joke. This is dangerous to talk about, but I’ll give it a go. What the issue is, for a long time Louis C.K.’s comedy platform was that he was this hopeless guy bumbling through the world. And at some stage, he was no longer that, but that was still his voice. And I think he still believes that. He has not reassessed his position of power, and that is why he was able to abuse it. It’s difficult to see a shift in your own power and privilege. It’s not something we’re trained to do. He still honestly thinks he’s the victim in all of this.

That comes through clearly when he’s performing. There’s a real anger there now in his delivery.


He’s saying the same kinds of things. The material hasn’t changed. He’s just angry and bitter. I always struggled with his work because I’m a visual thinker. And there’s just so much semen. So I literally couldn’t see the humor in this waterfall of body fluids. That’s my issue. I never blamed him for that.

But then I think, “Gosh. That’s on his mind a lot too.” The guy clearly had an issue. And that’s sad for him. So why are we trusting a man who has a compulsion like that where it diminishes the humanity of people around him? Why do we care what he thinks about the human condition? He needs to worry about his own condition a bit. Just sit quietly.
Yup.

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