Emo philips1/2/2023 ![]() ![]() In other words, Emo went right back to “doing” Emo. He quickly retreated to the safety of material and rote responses-and offbeat behavior, such as gargling with the water, ostensibly to help sooth his hoarse throat. On the other hand, he wasn’t exactly Dorothy pulling the curtain wide open, completely exposing the little man at the controls. Maybe there is an actual human being here, after all. Much less one that doesn’t exactly align him philosophically with the organizers of, say, Comic Relief. And I think that’s antithetical to the spirit of comedy, which is that you should be able to offend everyone.”Ītta boy, Emo! Not so much for promoting the right “to offend everyone” (his act is squeaky-clean and free of slurs anyway) but for cutting the-uh, corn -and stating a real-life opinion. “It’s like a leak in the boat-suddenly, there’s something you can’t joke about, and that’s whatever the benefit is (for). “Well, I think the spirit of comedy is antithetical to benefits,” he said, starting to fidget with his menu. I rephrased the question he did another joke. During the last couple of years, I’ve donated quite a bit of money to deprived inner-city youths. “True, I don’t do a lot of benefits,” he replied. I mostly wanted to broach the subject because, unlike many of his peers, he almost never participates in benefits. The night before our dinner, Emo had performed along with other comics and actors in a benefit for the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. The first chink in his batty armor developed during a series of questions about benefit shows. It turned out to be a mixture of the pretty much expected (he seems to be a somewhat insecure man, very concerned with cultivating a specific image) and the unexpected (he’s worried about ruffling certain show business feathers, and even more worried about money-especially surprising given that he’s probably pulling about $10,000 a week these days). And what happened? Well, Emo probably won on points, but I walked away with a decent consolation prize: clues about what kind of traits-indeed, what kind of person-lurks behind that goofy facade. And sure enough, every topic ended up verbal volleyball: Every time I’d ask him a straight question, he’d act as if I was just lobbing him a straight line, so I’d ask him again. ![]() ![]() What was important was staying with questions, resolutely, beyond his initial response, beyond the inevitable gag/pat answer. I had decided beforehand, though, that there was no way to deter him from tossing out his free-standing jokes. That line was an Emo hat trick: It’s in his act and in his bio, and he’s used it in countless interviews. Now I’m thinking: This is going to be a long night. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |