# Whose success (or at least fame) do you simply not understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823 "2011-03-15T19:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/21 "2011-03-15T21:46:13Z")
Vince Vaughn. He has no range, just a terrible, annoying voice, with which he rambles on and on, saying nothing interesting. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/22 "2011-03-15T21:47:58Z")
I too am puzzled by the ‘reality-TV celebrities’. Still here’s an explanation of _Jersey Shore_ (from the NZ blog [dimpost](http://dimpost.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/on-the-cultural-significance-of-jersey-shore/))… > [@](#): > > There’s yet another level to Jersey Shore, best approached by describing the basic format of the show. Every day is the same: the cast wake up with hangovers, confront one another with the monstrous crimes they committed during the night and then scream and cry for a while. They devote the rest of the daylight hours to ‘GTL’. Gym. Tanning. Laundry. Night falls, they hit the cocktails and once they’re all blind drunk they stumble off to the clubs to hook up. Their favourite hangout is a place called Karma where they drunkenly grope strangers, get their phone numbers and make out with them, but just as frequently they storm out of the club in a rage, or they get thrown out, or they get into a fist-fight. The people they lure back to their house for sex are just as likely to attack one of the other cast members, or throw up everywhere and pass out as they are to engage in intercourse. > > The parallels with Buddhist theology are obvious. The cast of Jersey Shore are bound to the wheel of suffering and rebirth by their base physical desires. Each day Snooki, The Situation, DJ Pauly D and the rest of the cast chase the fleeting pleasures of the material world, and at the end of it they are punished and rewarded by Karma but no matter the outcome they are doomed to endlessly repeat the same mistakes. In his famous Fire Sermon the Buddha likens our lives in the physical universe to a vast and terrible bonfire being consumed by the flames of time; Jersey Shore makes the same point by showing us poor, lonely Snooki drunkenly cart wheeling around nightclubs while wearing a short skirt and no underwear. The medium is different but the eternal message is the same. You see - it’s actually an extended meditation on the cycle of samsara. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/23 "2011-03-15T21:57:52Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > But, others - like Rob Schnieder - I truly do not understand. I don’t believe they make anybody any money, really. Because there is not a large enough number of people who want to watch them. It seems that Adam Sandler likes to keep him around, but that’s about it. I have to think that Rob Schneider’s movies have made some money, right? I mean, they can’t be expensive to make and at least one had a sequel. Deuce Bigalow, as one point of reference, apparently made $65 million on a $17 million budget. That will make you some friends, eh? Vince Vaughan has rather obvious reasons for his celebrity - he has made some hugely successful movies. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/24 "2011-03-15T22:07:55Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > She, along with Agnes Gallin, wrote the 1973 TV movie, _The Girl Most Likely To_, which starred Stockard Channing, in the ultimate revenge movie. I’ve never seen it, and I’ve seen a lot of movies. > [@](#): > > That alone qualifies her for success 🙂 It would have to be _fucking brilliant_ to compensate for decades of bitter, vile unfunny from that evil harpy. > [@](#): > > Speaking of which I never understood, Joey Heatherton or **Charo** , except for the fact men like curvy women in skimpy outfits 😃 Heatherton was a singer and dancer. I don’t remember her being particularly talented at either, and I suspect her fame was from hanging around with the Rat Pack. Some are born great, some have greatness thrust into them. But Charo is genuinely talented. She was a protege of Andrés Segovia, and - according to [this link](http://books.google.com/books?id=HBog8AUkXRoC&lpg=PA42&dq=%22Best%20Flamenco%20Guitarist%22%20charo&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q=%22Best%20Flamenco%20Guitarist%22%20charo&f=false) which I will be adding to her Wikipedia page shortly - was voted “Best Flamenco Guitarist” two years in a row by _Guitar_ magazine. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/25 "2011-03-15T23:12:04Z")
[Related thread from just 2 days ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=600547) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/26 "2011-03-15T23:40:33Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [Related thread from just 2 days ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=600547) Not exactly. The other thread was about celebrities being forced upon us. I loath Joan Rivers, but she is usually easy to avoid. But even serious news programs, prior to the Japan earthquake/tsunami/meltdown/catastrophe, had a huge amount of Charlie Sheen. I’ve never watched _Two and a Half Men_ but he is, or was, a competent comedic actor. His earthquake/tsunami/meltdown/catastrophe was 24/7 news for no credible reason. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/27 "2011-03-15T23:49:46Z")
I don’t get the Kardashians either. With the others mentioned (Lindsay, Paris, Britney), you could trace their rise to fame. Even Paris, who was at least nominally famous before the sex tape, came from a famous family. The first time I recalled hearing about any Kardashian was OJ’s lawyer. Then I forgot about him for like 10 years, as did the rest of America. Then I saw Kim’s sex tape. Then suddenly they got a show, the mom married Bruce Jenner, and they were regulars on E! TV. I don’t get how an unknown who’s dad once worked on a famous case over a decade ago somehow exploded in popularity after one sex tape. Is Kim really that hot? Am I just not seeing it? (I think she’s hot, but not THAT hot) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/28 "2011-03-16T00:49:08Z")
That guy who did redneck jokes, now hosting “are you smarter than a 5th grader.” “Comedy” is supposed to be when you are on stage telling jokes that you made up and practiced to perfect the timing, not a list of real-life facts. How funny would it be if I just talked about mosquitoes for an hour? “You know how you know you’re a mosquito? You drink blood.” “You know how you know you’re a mosquito? You got 4 wings. Not 3, 4.” ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/29 "2011-03-16T01:00:40Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Except the copy guy. Makes up for a lot. I agree. But not nearly enough. He’s still a trillion trillion trillion chuckles in deficit. He had that one humorous bit and after that he turned into the antimatter of humor. Humor and he cannot coexist in the same scene. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/30 "2011-03-16T01:05:15Z")
How the FUCK did an obese, divorced, serial adulterer like Dr. Phil become a respected authority on marriage, relationships, healthy lifestyles, etc.??? I would like to see him exposed for the smug, posing, attention whore that he and his entire family are, but of course that wouldn’t matter to the braindead housewives and elderly shut-in’s who make up his core audience. I would give anything to see him caught with a 19 year-old Ugandan Ladyboi, & a briefcase full of pure, uncut Afghani Devil-Shoogar at the Spokane airport Radisson. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/31 "2011-03-16T01:26:32Z")
Ashton Kutcher. He’s not even a little bit funny, and not only do I not find him good-looking, I think he’s actually hard to look at. He was _ok_ as a side character on the 70’s Show, but beyond that he has done nothing at all of value. He’s just a doofy mouthbreathing moron. I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/32 "2011-03-16T01:41:17Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > How the FUCK did an obese, divorced, serial adulterer like Dr. Phil become a respected authority on marriage, relationships, healthy lifestyles, etc.??? Oprah. Who at the last judgment will be shown standing at the left hand of Satan. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/33 "2011-03-16T02:07:14Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Oprah.. More specifically, Dr. Phil was her jury consultant on the 1st amendment trial Oprah had down in Texas, when she was sued by ranchers for disparaging cattle during a show on Mad Cow. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/34 "2011-03-16T02:23:05Z")
Wait. Dr. Phil is obese? You can’t be serious. Series adulterer? Where did that come from? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/35 "2011-03-16T02:50:03Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Wait. Dr. Phil is obese? You can’t be serious. Series adulterer? Where did that come from? He has got to be at least 50 pounds overweight, and his ex-wife has claimed that he was repeatedly unfaithful during their marriage, including with his current wife Robin. He has also been sued for sexual harrasment in Texas by a former employee of his—He can’t get a license to practice in Texas, because of the unresolved charges but apparently he still has a valid permit to be a smug asshole and faux Moral Authority to the naive and gullible. There is a damn good reason that Robin reportedly will absolutely not let Phil out of her sight; she cheated WITH him and she knows full well that he would cheat on HER at first pungent whiff of some willing strange. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/36 "2011-03-16T07:43:06Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > But, others - like Rob Schnieder - I truly do not understand. I don’t believe they make anybody any money, really. Because there is not a large enough number of people who want to watch them. It seems that Adam Sandler likes to keep him around, but that’s about it. > > I have to think that Rob Schneider’s movies have made some money, right? I mean, they can’t be expensive to make and at least one had a sequel. > > Deuce Bigalow, as one point of reference, apparently made $65 million on a $17 million budget. That will make you some friends, eh? And the sequel you mentioned grossed – what $45 million on a $22 million budget? Nowhere near as good as the $84 million grossed from a $22 million outlay for THE ANIMAL, but not too shabby compared to THE HOT CHICK grossing $54 million on a $34 million budget. ---
**Author:** ![markm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/37 "2011-03-16T14:48:06Z")
Re: Jeff Foxworthy - He became famous for the “You might be a redneck if…” schtick, but he’s actually a decent comedian. It’s just that the fits-on-a-bumper sticker, can-be-forwarded-in-an-email observations are what people remember. You can’t really say something like “comedy is supposed to be made up blah blah blah” when that’s simply not the case. A lot of comedy is based in real life. At the time he made it big with the redneck jokes, observational humor was the hot thing. He just decided to turn it on its ear, and instead of going with “What’s the deal with airline food?”, he went with the redneck thing. Might not be your cup of tea, but at least understandable, and he did do something to become famous. To keep with the thread, I’d say a comedian I don’t get being famous, it would be Dane Cook. No original material, the material he stole wasn’t really even funny. All he had going for him was looks, especially in a career where most of the competition is a bit odd looking. Rob Schneider is also one I don’t get the hate for. He’s not the greatest actor and he can grate on you, but he does deliver the goods. Honestly, I couldn’t stand him until I saw him in The Benchwarmers, then I realized, “Okay, so that’s how he’s made it. He has talent, he just hasn’t been asked to use it.” Most reality show stars I don’t get their success, since it seems like they were chosen simply for being the dregs of humanity. The ones I absolutely don’t get are Spencer Pratt (what a fitting last name) and Heidi Montague (where’s a murderous Capulet when you need one?). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/38 "2011-03-16T14:50:37Z")
Charlie Sheen ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/39 "2011-03-16T15:37:56Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Speaking of which I never understood, Joey Heatherton or Charo, except for the fact men like curvy women in skimpy outfits 😃 Beat to it. Charo plays a mean guitar. I mean, I hadn’t seen or heard about her since the '70s, then last year some time got linked to a youtube of her playing guitar - holy fucking shit! (Okay, I’m not a guitarist, and not up on Flamenco guitar, but it impressed me.) > [@Hampshire](#): > > But someone please explain the Kardashians to me. How did anyone know who they were to begin with? Robert Kardashian, one of OJs lawyers? 70s olympian Bruce Jenner? These are their links to getting a show named after them? How does this happen? She had a bit of name recognition from Robert Kardashian and the OJ trial, and she had family money. Which is also how Paris got her start - name and money. [QUOTE=Superhal] “Comedy” is supposed to be when you are on stage telling jokes that you made up and practiced to perfect the timing, not a list of real-life facts. How funny would it be if I just talked about mosquitoes for an hour? [/QUOTE] Not always. Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck” schtick was observational humor. Observational humor is pointing out things that everyone knows but don’t realize, in such a way to emphasize the humor element. It’s similar to a lot of Seinfeld - hell, a lot of standup is based on it. Anything that starts with “Did you ever notice that…” is observational humor. “Did you ever notice that we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?” is observational humor about language. It’s just Foxworthy focused on one theme. He got one bit of his that popped and became popular for a while, because of it’s timeliness, the culture was ripe for it, the bumpersticker sound bite nature, etc. He just had the culmination of circumstances and that gig became a pop culture sensation, so he rode it for what it was worth. But that wasn’t his only material, and he’s a funny guy. My big one was Sally Struthers. Other than _All In The Family_, the only thing I know she’s done is hawk technical school (can’t remember which one). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823/40 "2011-03-16T16:09:21Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > How the FUCK did an obese, divorced, serial adulterer like Dr. Phil become a respected authority on marriage, relationships, healthy lifestyles, etc.??? She Who Must Not Be Mocked brought him upon us. It is best not to ask why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-success-or-at-least-fame-do-you-simply-not-understand/574823.md?page=3)