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mattbesser

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Posts posted by mattbesser

  1. Posted

    Excellent episode! So glad about the return of case closed.

     

    I do have a question for Matt, after his scenario about the two inexperienced hikers getting into some sort of trouble. Since you have no empathy for these hikers who knew the risks of performing such a dangerous activity, how do you feel about the recent beheadings of Americans by ISIS, who arguably also knew the risks of what they were doing? Should America concern itself so much with those people when hundreds of other innocent people who live in Syria are killed every day?

     

    The case is closed but please don't think I have no empathy. I brought up hikers to try to show a sliding scale of empathy. Those reporters were doing their job like a fireman who dies in a fire. I have empathy for them for sure. A hiker carelessly hiking and putting others in danger gets less of my empathy.

    • Like 4

  2. Posted

    I'm not going to continue this debate here but you are all welcome to Case Closed.

    Here are my criticisms/opinions that you can debate:

    1. ML has repeatedly tried to parlay the Clinton affair into a career for heself.

    2. I don't believe that she is a completely innocent victim who is above public criticism. She doesn't deserve slut-shaming but I believe she knowlingly slept with a married man; knowingly did something that could jeopardize the presidency; and she is a fame-monger. I also think she is a phony and a liar. (like all politicians pretty much)

    3. Using her age as an excuse isn't an excuse.

    4. She wanted to keep the blue dress to prove to the world that she had slept with Clinton.

    5. Ultimately she is a bad choice to be the spokesperson for cyberbullying.

     

    * And just because I don't want Valerie to go to bed angry...when this all went down I was angry with Clinton too. Because he cheated on his wife who I love and also I believe the incident helped usher in the Bush era. But I think Clinton has regreted the incident and tried to leave it behind whereas I believe ML loves that it all happened as much as she says the opposite.

    • Like 3

  3. Posted

     

    Check your timeline Matt, she didn't ask to be famous. The criticism and straight up abuse she got didn't start with her media appearances. You think when the Starr report came out she thought to herself "Oh cool, now I can be a celebrity on TV" and jumped for joy? She was only in a position to be on SNL because she was already a household name in the first place. Going on SNL or Jenny Craig or doing a line of handbags did not make her a household name or more famous than she already was, it just put a little money in her pocket. And remember that she couldn't (and still can't) get a real job, no "respectable" employer would touch her with a ten foot pole. She's been Scarlet Lettered, and that's on us. You can empathize with both Lewinsky and Hillary without contradiction, they've both been wronged by Bill, the media, and the public.

    Check your timeline. The moment she decided to keep that cum stained dress is the moment she decided she wanted everyone to know she had an affair with Clinton. SNL, etc. just further proved she loves the limelight. If she was so hurt then why stay in the spotlight. Dont tell me being on SNL is a big payday. It's just fame.

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    The Lewinsky scene was funny as hell but Besser, why should Lewinsky have to suffer exile while Clinton gets to bask in continued popularity? Is this an Arkansas thing where you're just mad at her because you love Clinton because he's from Arkansas? Lewinsky didn't ask to become a household name and once she was she tried to take control of her own image and at least get something out of this horrible thing that happened to her. She's tried to get a normal job and no one would hire her, those stupid publicity stunts were her only way to make a living. How can you call that shameful? Where's your empathy?

    Actually she did ask to become a household name by going on SNL, by hosting a reality dating show, Jenny Craig. She clearly loved being famous and she had nothing to be famous for but being an adulteress and saving a cum stained dress. If she had stepped out of the public eye then she wouldn't had gotten as much "bullying". Not all criticism is bullying. She is not beyond criticism. I was never mad at her for telling on Clinton or blowing him. I never thought "That whore!" She's not a slut whore she's a fame whore.

    I'm not just an Arkansan, my family is friends with the Clintons. So where is my empathy? With Hillary.

    • Like 6

  5. Posted

    Boy, I really didn't like the discussion of Monica Lewinisky before the skit. Saying that she should be living in a shack and that she's getting appropriate criticism is totally buying into the narrative that bullies have written for her. It's the reason that she is right to do what she's doing now.

     

    Lewinsky was wrong to get involved with Clinton. That's true. But, well, take the worst sexual decision you've ever made in your life. Imagine that every person in America knew that about you, and that's all that they knew about you. That would be horrible, right? How many of your friends do you think have fooled around with someone else in a relationship when they were in their early twenties? How much criticism do you think they deserve for that? If every single talk show host on the planet started calling your friend a slut and started making jokes about how much she likes cum, would you think he or she deserved it and that it was fair criticism? Or would you think that there could reach a point at which the "criticism" became sexist bullying? Monica was a young girl who made a mistake, but holy shit yes, she was bullied harder than nearly anyone before her for what was a youthful mistake. (Not to mention, it's little more understandable for a young woman to get involved with some guy who approaches her if he's the PRESIDENT. If Clinton asked me to blow him and stick a cigar up my butt, I'd probably do it.)

     

    Then there's the self-promotion stuff, but remember this: Lewinsky was court-ordered to not say anything about Clinton for years and years. She had no voice, and she did not appear on TV for a long time, so comedians and late night hosts invented a whole persona for her that bore no resemblance to reality. All of her friends said they saw nothing of Monica in the popular conception of Monica. She lost control of her own identity, and that fake identity was the one everyone saw, so she could not go out for a coffee without the world slutshaming her and people on the street calling her fat. Her life was ruined, and she basically tried to retreat into a shack (like Besser says that she still should be doing), but that was impossible. Besser saying that "If you want people to leave you alone, don't go in TV; it's not like she was a celebrity before" is totally false and gets the order of events wrong. She was a celebrity without any self-promotion and could not avoid it. The whole country was baying for her blood, even though they only knew her as a cartoon. Monica tried to remain private, but privacy was basically impossible, so a few years after the trials she tried to reclaim her image while also paying off her legal debts. After all, she had millions of dollars in legal fees, and media execs were lining up at her door with million dollar contracts. That is hard to ignore. She turned down the really clownish ones like Celebrity Boxing, and instead did a few other gigs that paid enormously. I thought it was pretty hypocritical to hear comedians mocking someone else taking a well-paying gig on a reality show. Are all of you proud of every one of your past credits? You wouldn't host a reality dating show for millions of dollars when all other avenues of income were destroyed?

     

    Doubtlessly she found something a little thrilling about the celebrity she was receiving, but is that really worthy of criticism? It seems human to me. Not to mention, she was only about 25 at the time. Once she dipped her toe in those waters and got bullied even harder, she *did* disappear for a long time and tried to reclaim her private life. She's only now re-emerged, ten years later.

     

    Anyway. Watch her speech. It is great.

     

    I just read her speech. It is shameful. Cabin in the woods is too good for her. She needs to go to an igloo.

    You have been invited to Case Closed!

    • Like 11

  9. Posted

     

    Actually he said wonk, which means "A person who takes an excessive interest in minor details of political policy." I hear it all the time, but then again I watch MSNBC (yeah yeah liberal). Rachel Maddow loves that word, especially when reffering to Ezra Klein. Mugwumps is an interesting thing to bring up, but doesn't relate at all on this one.

    I was already knew the word wonk. I was trying to remember the word wump when I was saying womp.

    Actually as was pointed out to me by a humon on twitter today I was trying to remember the term "mug wump": a texas term meaning one who sits on a fence (ie his mug is on one side of the fence and his wump in on the other).

     

    So "mug wump" is a joke playing off the Civil War term "mugwump".

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    In regards to bands...I can understand the criticisms of why bands give the show a different pace but I'm okay with that every once in a while.

     

    In regards to analyzing lyrics...yes I like to talk about them too but that seems to lengthen the time between scenes even more so if a lyric is really sticking out I guess we feel it is fair game to start a scene.

     

    In regards to me being a pretentious asshole. I was obviously kidding about other hosts being phonies. As far as short form goes I fucking hate it. What can I say? That's my opinion. I've expressed it.

     

    And yeah my anger is kind of a character. I'm not really as mad about some of these topics as I portray in the podcast. I'm amping it up for the performance and for the sake of inspiring a source for the improv. If you think it's tired, then yes I guess you are tired of me.

     

    Who am I not responding to on Case Closed? You lost me there.

    • Like 3

  12. Posted

    A long form has nothing to do with how long it is. A long form could be one minute long. Our nine minute setup wasn't setting up the rules of what we were going to do. We were having conversation which is supposedly entertaining in itself. How much of Whose Line do you really think they are making up on the spot? Most of the games are meant to feed into the bag of tricks that the producers know the performers to have in their back pockets.

     

    I'm not just shilling for my book but if you really want to know what my feelings on this are then it is all in the book. Right now I feel like I'm trying to convince someone that cotton candy isn't a food while they are in the middle of having fun at the circus.

    • Like 2

  15. Posted

    A humon on twitter made the perfect analogy that I was searching to make during the podcast. Short form is to improv what karoke is to music. Sometime you'll see someone do karaoke and they kick ass and actually give you goose bumps. You are entertained and they are fulfilled as well. But how do you compare somebody covering a song in karaoke to someone performing thier own song with a band? If I consistantly kicked ass at karaoke I think I'd want to try out fronting a band eventually.

    Portland, I think you should do whatever makes you happy but I bet you'd get more satisfaction in every way doing a long form over a short form. I'd rather bomb at long form than suceed at short form. Climb the mountian not the rock wall because the journey is more,,,wait for it...pure.

    To me one of the true tests of comedy is how does it hold up the next day. Can you recount the way a short form scene went? Rarely. A good long form scene is as good as a good sketch because it is one.

    Have you guys worked with our book? Try a form like The Movie! That's the most fun I've ever had doing long form and it has the perfect audience pleasing format.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    Matt Besser is passionate about what he does and that naturally leads to bitterness about more commercial comedy succeeding over the in depth stuff. But without his passion we would not get the quality comedy he provides us for free every week (more if i lived in the US but sadly here in the UK the only stuff i can get is through the podcasts, youtube etc.). I will defend short form as a legitimate form of entertainment, but i will never dispute the passion and anger that drives Besser and other long-formers.

    Correct me if i'm wrong Adair.

    T

    I'm glad you feel that way. Yes, we do run a school and just wrote a book about improv so I do have more opinions about improv than just about anything. Seems weird that I would not share that with my audience. I never named those guys or made it about them. Fact is I really don't think that short form is the same discipline at all. I never said anything about "purity" since I don't believe them to be the same. If I were to consider them the same discipline then of course long form is more pure. Short form provides each game with its own bells and whistles before the scene even starts. If you want to argue that then you are invited to Case Closed.

  17. Posted

    Bitching about what makes people laugh is lame. Putting yourself above other comedians as a judge of what improv may or may not be makes you look small. It carries as much weight as Jackie Mason complaining about "today's comics" or complaining about Carrot Top. Don't watch Who's line myself, but the criticism affects me conversely, as I'm less inclined to listen to I4H when MB adopts the whole "long form is pure" bull, attached to the "why aren't I on TV?" lament. Work hard and succeed on your own without tearing other people down and folks will be more apt to liking you, which could put you back on a show.

    I'm just being honest about a sentiment that is pretty universal about short form to long formers. I admited that I am bitter and envious of their success. I literally went to a pitch this week where the tv executive wanted i4h to be more like Whose Line. That affects my life and makes me bitter. And even besides that I find the set ups of short form to be ridiculous and worth making fun of. Actually I felt like I was holding back. I didn't even mention what's going on the show RIot. I could go on for hours about Wayne Brady. I also think Carrot Top is worth making fun of and he is not indicative of "today's comics".

    • Like 6

  18. Posted

    I would have no problem with German U-Boat. I don't have a problem with most nouns besides foods. It's when they say an obscure SAT type word like "percutaneous". Seems like more an effort to stump us than inspire us.

     

    If I had someone on from Whose Line, what is the topic supposed to be without me insulting them? I don't have anything against those guys but I just hate a million things about short form. The biggest being how it negatively effects my long form pitches to tv networks.

     

    I think it's good for college kids learning to be on stage and do "comedy" for the first time, but after that it's time to move on if you want to be a real comedian. To me it's no different than watching someone play pictionairy.

     

    Didn't I cover my (bitter) hatred of short form on one of the Ask the UCB episodes?

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

     

    Jesus christ, 'heavier.' Yeah, all of us enormous fatties over 100 lbs. I think dudes have no idea how much ladies really weigh. Also it's crazy how Matt's comment came about from discussing a male improviser's weight loss and that immediately turned into shaming an imaginary girlfriend for being fat.

     

    I have no doubt his comment was off the cuff and not malicious, and that's why it bothers me. It's such an automatic reaction to call a woman fat. I've never been overweight, but growing up I was a head taller than all the boys until 6th grade. I heard every variation of a fat slur, and I wasn't even fat. I can't imagine how much worse it is for someone who struggles with their weight. I would hope that someone with a daughter would learn some sensitivity to this, because this is one of the major areas of bullshit most girls face as they grow up.

    I'm sorry I said that. It was very howard stern show of me.

    • Like 10

  23. Posted

     

     

    Just to be clear I wasn't the original person you were responding to. I thought from your post you were just looking for suggestions/open to ideas from anyone. I didn't insult anything about your guests/tastes/friends. Just some ideas!

    Sorry I did assume it was same person. But I took your "support real music" seriously. I guess I think the guys I've had on the show represent the most righteous way to navigate the music industry. You can't get more real.

    • Like 2

  24. Posted

     

    You can put whatever music you want on your podcast but since you mention your punk inclinations in multiple episodes you might try bands from these different labels - sacred bones, hardly art or what's your rupture. support real music!

    So those are the labels your friends are on?

    Drag the River isn't punk? I just searched for Hardly Art music on youtube. The first two songs that come up are by Deep Time and Hunx. Never been a fan of really simple Ramones knock-offs. On Sacred Bones records first video that came up was by Folkazoid which sounded like wispey goth bullshit. DTR makes these bands look like weepy babies. The Men on Sacred Bones I did like but honestly they sound like a poor man's Hallelujah the Hills.

    Please give me a more specific example of good music before you insult the my taste and my friends.

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