I recently watched an hour full of Gallagher on The Comedy Channel. It was two separate shows, and holy christ, did it suck ass.
There wasn’t even a single point where I even moved my lips to even start a smile, let alone laugh, and the people in the audience were going NUTS for this guy. Now, granted, this was (guessing from the style of the crowd) early to mid 1980s, but I don’t know if that can be an excuse. Eddie Murphy’s routines from that era are still pretty funny.
Does anyone or did anyone here ever like this man? Please tell me why…
It’s a matter of taste. I love Gallagher, but never really cared for Eddie Murphy’s standup. I didn’t laugh once during Raw. I connect better with Gallagher’s comedic style.
Yea, I like Gallager. I mean he’s not roll on the floor laughing funny but he’s a pretty funny guy and I’ll watch him anytime I catch him on tv. Eddie Murphy, on the other hand…I’ve never watched his standup because his movies are so mind-bogglingly terrible. (Though I hear Raw references at least twice a week and I know I’m eventually going to have to watch it.)
Was this the watermelon-smashing guy? If so, I guess it would have to be the sheer glee involved in getting melon goo on your face (or at least, seeing someone in the audience getting gooped). Comedy, prior to that, wasn’t much of a spectator sport, save the hecklers – and not everyone is clever enough to be a heckler.
I think it was Raw – I was so turned off by Murphy’s preening that I was unable to appreciate what actual talent he has, for years.
I actually admit that I attended at Gallagher show when I was 14.
If my memory serves me correctly, most of the crowd sat politely through his jokes but we all just wanted him to get to the melons…
I only found one joke he told funny. “George Bush told us to read his lips…cos’ he knew he was lying out of his ass”.
I saw a Gallagher comedy special on TV once called Stuck in the 60s. I knew all about his watermelon-smashing mania, but … when it got near the end of the show, and he started dragging out those props … and the audience started excitedly going “Whooooaaaaa!!” in anticipation of “would he actually smash THIS?!” … there was one point, where he took out something that just seemed absurd to smash, and – he smashed it!
And much as I hate to admit it, I doubled over with laughter.
Maybe it was because it was late that night. Maybe it was because of the sheer absurdity of it. I don’t ever remember what it was he smashed that tickled my funny bone (it wasn’t a watermelon). I just collapsed into a paroxysm of laughter.
Jeez, I wish this guy would get away from the damn melon-smashing! I first saw Gallagher on late-night TV, probably Carson. I thought he was really funny - kind of a cross between Carlin and Steven Wright. IIRC, the melon-and assorted-foodstuffs-and-condiments thing began as a single closing bit, not two-thirds of the act. The thing was actually funny the first one, maybe two times, but I can’t watch mutch of it anymore.
I see two problems with Gallagher. One, his stuff is repetitive to the point where it defines a poverty of imagination. Two, the specials that are shown on Comedy Central are dated. I don’t know when he’s done his most recent show, but the specials that are shown are ancient.
Although, I think Comedy Central needs to move away from the concept of “heavy rotation” anyway.
Having worked as a parking attendant at a venue where he was “performing,” I had the misfortune to find out that the man doesn’t even have his own set up crew. So, instead of merely parking his victims in the parking lot, I had to be dragged inside and volunteered to double bag EVERY seat in the 2500 seat arena with plastic trash bags, while being assisted by only 4 other people, when I wasn’t even scheduled to work more than 4 hours. It sucked. Sucked harder than you can imagine. All because the fuckstump thinks it’s a good idea to squash watermelons for laughs. Ugh.
<mods, if this was too pitworthy, please edit it. Don’t send this wonderful thread to the pit just because of me. Please!>
I never got that excited about the melon stuff or the other prop stuff, but I seem to recall that he did some great wordplay and was actually a pretty clever guy.
I am well aware that there are many people who find Gallagher utterly unfunny. In some cases, I faintly detect the aroma of snobbishness, rather like Gallagher is somehow trailer-park, WWF, white trash sort of thing. There is also a distinctly populist, anti-authoritarian, left of center thrust to his humor, which the Minions of Darkness find offensive. And of course, there is the constant presence of the Humor Impaired (H.I.), poor dears.
As to the melon thing, I betcha he’s pretty tired of it too, but the people expect it. At least he doesn’t have to sing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” every night. That’s why Judy Garland took so much drugs.
My vote: cracks me up dependably, but not to potential cardiac like Pryor, or Wildcat. Good, hearty fare
My take on Mr. G is much the same as elucidator above. In fact, I’ll confess to owning a video tape completely full of Gallagher and Elayne Boozler comedy specials (taped a decade or more ago during “free preview” weekends for premium cable channels.)
I’d give him a solid B with occasional flashes of insightful wordplay. (He had a lot of fun with spelling conventions on one memorable bit, complete with a rack of letters to flip over).
And, yes, the smashing could be a bit tedious at times, bu there were some outstanding moments, too. (“You want that burger to go? – It’s GONE!”). And strobe lights. Definitely fun, there.
As elucidator so aptly pointed out, his work has a definite left-of-center tilt. He often talks about enviornmental issues (remember the visual grabber of the can of oil spilled on a globe?) and often in areas that one wouldn’t immediately think of as liberal. (At least one of his shows was taped in Texas, and he made fun - gently - of the gun-owning mythos of the place.)
Again, not the best of the best, but a solid entertainer for me. As always, YMMV.
I’ll second both those sentiments. I always appreciated Gallagher’s indictment of stupidity. Sure, he may not have been the first stand-up to rail against such things, but he was the first one I saw. He opened my eyes.
I also liked the way he saved the melon stuff for the finale, but always referred to it as “Before I start the show…” Like the first hour is just prologue.
Oh, and Mr. Melon just performed at the local state fair last week (didn’t get to see him, though). So he’s still alive – but science shows he won’t last much longer after such a gig.
Gallagher for me is one of those train-wreck celebrities, I don’t like him, yet I can’t stop myself from watching him in horrific disbelief. I mean I even sat through the entire E True Hollywood Story on Gallagher.
The real question is was there really enough of a demand to support Gallagher 2
BTW Wumpus, when I read you post, I thought you meant last night’s Fox episode where Homer is banned for life from Gallagher concerts for stealing his watermelon.