In all my complaining about my food poisoning and vomitatiousness this weekend, I neglected to offer a word on the death of Richard Pryor. I know - it borders on the ridiculous for a white guy from the suburbs to think he has anything insightful to say about Richard Pryor. And I don't really - I just thought he was a funny, brave bastard and I admired him a lot. Performers of all kinds - comedy, music, kabuki theater - could stand to learn from the way he turned his private pain into public laughter.
Now, that doesn't mean I would have wanted to hang out with the guy. From everything I've read about him, he was pretty awful to be around. Based out of his head, violent - he famously pulled a gun in a script meeting with Hollywood producers because they wanted to cut a joke. The same coin that made him edgy and hilarious had a dangerous flip side.
I was thinking similar thoughts when I was watching Walk the Line this weekend (excellent movie, by the way) and thinking - man, I love Johnny Cash's music, but... he was such a bastard. I certainly wouldn't be able to put up with him.
When I was younger, I used to want to meet the artists whose work I admired. Now, I tend to think they'll either be boring (like 99% of the celebrities I met when I was living in Beverly Hills) or giant raging pricks.
It's an interesting point of discussion: whose work do you really like, but NOT want to meet because they're probably insufferable assholes? David Cross and Jeff Tweedy top my list. I don't get the impression (based on documentaries) that either of them is super arrogant, suffering from ego trips or anything. I tend to think that part of what makes their comedy and music respectively so good is that they're probably pretty miserable creatures. In other words - great artists not so much fun at parties.
Anyone else think about this shit? Or is it just me?
Now, that doesn't mean I would have wanted to hang out with the guy. From everything I've read about him, he was pretty awful to be around. Based out of his head, violent - he famously pulled a gun in a script meeting with Hollywood producers because they wanted to cut a joke. The same coin that made him edgy and hilarious had a dangerous flip side.
I was thinking similar thoughts when I was watching Walk the Line this weekend (excellent movie, by the way) and thinking - man, I love Johnny Cash's music, but... he was such a bastard. I certainly wouldn't be able to put up with him.
When I was younger, I used to want to meet the artists whose work I admired. Now, I tend to think they'll either be boring (like 99% of the celebrities I met when I was living in Beverly Hills) or giant raging pricks.
It's an interesting point of discussion: whose work do you really like, but NOT want to meet because they're probably insufferable assholes? David Cross and Jeff Tweedy top my list. I don't get the impression (based on documentaries) that either of them is super arrogant, suffering from ego trips or anything. I tend to think that part of what makes their comedy and music respectively so good is that they're probably pretty miserable creatures. In other words - great artists not so much fun at parties.
Anyone else think about this shit? Or is it just me?
16 Comments:
I don't want to meet Manny Ramirez. I don't want to meet Jason Varitek for that matter either, because if he's not nice to me, it will shatter my image of him and I'll have to rename my son.
I don't know - I bet Manny's a blast at parties. I don't think I want to hang out with Schilling too much, though.
Norman Mailer. As for the reverse, I have a horrible, horrible, shameful feeling that if I were to meet George W. Bush out of context, perhaps at a BBQ, and if I could somehow forget who he is and what he has done, and if he didn't mention his Christian faith, that I would like the guy.
i like scamper's music and all, but i would never want to actually hang out with those dickwads...
I sing his praises all too often, but I don't think I'd really want to meet Donkey Kong.
The coolest run in I had with a celeb was with Timothy Hutton. A friend of a friend brought him to an impromtu get together at my brother's fraternity. I was a huge fan of the film Beautiful Girls at the time so it was surreal. He was just hanging in the corner by himself so I went over and hung out. We drank Keg beer, smoked cigarettes, checked out the girls and recited lines from Beautiful Girls... much to his and my own amusement. I thought it was cool that a rich, oscar winner, semi-heart throb actor would pound keg beer me.
Oh yeah... we both had crushes on Nathalie Portman at the time as well. Truly brothers to the end.
The coolest run in I had with a celeb was with Timothy Hutton. A friend of a friend brought him to an impromtu get together at my brother's fraternity. I was a huge fan of the film Beautiful Girls at the time so it was surreal. He was just hanging in the corner by himself so I went over and hung out. We drank Keg beer, smoked cigarettes, checked out the girls and recited lines from Beautiful Girls... much to his and my own amusement. I thought it was cool that a rich, oscar winner, semi-heart throb actor would pound keg beer me.
Oh yeah... we both had crushes on Nathalie Portman at the time as well. Truly brothers to the end.
ooops. Sorry for the double post. I liked my story too much. BC
one of my girlfriends last summer met tony danza at a party. she said he was hella drunk from margaritas and kept falling on her as he tried to grope her. one of his kids finally had to pry him away. i always thought tony danza was the greatest dad in the world. i secretly wished he were my dad when i watched "who's the boss?" i think my girlfriend was lying.
i love timothy hutton! that story makes me happy. haha
umm..i don't think i'd ever want to meet...johnny depp. i've had a crush on him for long over a decade. he just has such a cool vibe that even though i can tell he's just a chill boring artsy dude, if he didn't seem as cool face-to-face as he has for the last 15yrs in my head, i'd be a little bummed.
"I sing his praises all too often, but I don't think I'd really want to meet Donkey Kong."
Ha HA! Well done, Nate.
A buddy of mine was in a restaurant and Demi Moore came in with a 10 person entourage - demanded the tables near the windows, forcing people to up and change tables, sat down, swore like a trucker at full volume about the lack of good food on the menu and then up and left.
So that's pretty cool.
i wonder if "donkey kong" is still recorded on that picture frame?
It sure is :)
I really like hanging out with brendo. And trust me, the reverse of what he's saying also holds true, because man is that guy an untalented douche.
That's a bald-faced lie - there's no way you like hanging out with me.
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