Richard Vos was appearing over the weekend at a comedy club in Winnipeg. For some reason he began directing remarks at a table of Indigenous women, suggesting they were drunk and he hoped they got ticketed on their way home. The group at the table left, and he apparently said « They should all go back to their f——— wigwam, » at which point more audience members left. He was also reported to have used the word « gay » in a derogatory sense.
Sounds like another Michael Richards “comic” - reward his own audience who are paying for his appearance by making racial attacks on them.
[Moderating]
Fixed. And wow, that was a much easier bit of moderation than I was expecting, from seeing two flags crop up so quickly on a thread about racism.
I’ve never heard of Rich Vos and it looks like I won’t be ‘enjoying’ any of his comedy. Is he even funny? I did a quick search and two things stand out… his podcast called My Wife Hates Me and a movie (I think) called Women Aren’t Funny. Seems to say everything I need to know about him.
He’s very funny. Tastes being subjective of course. The titles of his podcast and the movie don’t mean what you think they mean. He’s married to the very funny comic (and Canadian) Bonnie McFarlane. The podcast is the two of them bickering at each other but in a way that only professional comics can. He’s the butt of most of the jokes. The movie is his wife’s documentary and the title is meant to be ironic.
True – right at the moment it’s the #1 most popular story on the CBC News website. But it’s not positive publicity. The manager of the comedy club says Vos is not going to be invited back, and other clubs and individuals probably feel the same way. Getting a reputation as an offensive ass isn’t a good career move. There’s a big difference between being creatively edgy and just being an obnoxious boor.
Eh, there were a lot of clubs that wouldn’t have invited him before, just because they never heard of him. And now everyone’s heard of him, and the vast majority of clubs won’t invite him because of this… but the small minority who wants offensive comedians might still be a bigger market than he had before. Sadly, this might actually turn out to be a positive career move for him.
There is no reason why anyone not tuned into the stand up comedy world would have heard of him. There are many other more successful comics that you probably never heard of if you are not tuned into that world. Vos is a club headliner and has been for many years. He is well known in comedy circles especially in the northeast since he’s a New York City/ Comedy Cellar based comic.
He headlines at Uncle Vinnie’s in Point Pleasant and at the Stress Factory once or twice a year. I knew him from years ago on the Opie and Anthony Show. That show wasn’t its best when they did the shock jock thing. It was great when they would fill the room with NYC comics both well known and new and let them roll. Vos was on a lot with Patrice O’Neal, Bill Burr, Robert Kelly and Jim Florentine. I’ve seen him at clubs but I’ve never been to a headlining gig of his. I did run into him at my gym once.
The Michael Richards incident was a shock, because no one had previously expected such a thing of him. I’ve been seeing Rich Vos on TV for years (mostly on Touch Crowd with Colin Quinn and Last Comic Standing, and he was always the biggest asshole in the room. I’m not surprised at all.
Yeah, he’s one of those guys (like Colin Quinn, I guess) who has the reputation of being highly regarded by fellow comedians, but I have never found him funny, and his jerkishness was always at the surface.
