Monday, January 14, 2019

somehow escaping the #MeToo hate

I think comedian Craig Ferguson got out of the talk-show game just in time to avoid the witch hunt that is the current #MeToo movement. Watching clips of Craig on YouTube, I had to wonder whether he'd be able to get away with even a hundredth of the flirty banter he engaged in back in the day. With puckered-sphincter scolds and moral-panicky harridans on the warpath against any and all perceived disrespect of female flesh, Craig Ferguson's show would never have survived the time we currently live in. So: congrats to him for getting out when he did. He should consider himself lucky that none of his shenanigans has created any sort of karmic blowback. Here's a compilation of Craig Ferguson doing what would now be called sexually assaulting women, one after another:






4 comments:

John from Daejeon said...

I don't know about that. I saw many of his late-night episodes, and rarely did the interviewee ever seem aghast by his quick-witted shtick...well, except for one with the new British princess. So, unless he actually forced all his female guests to wear very, very short dresses, I think he'd make a very funny, and intelligent mockery out of the MeToo movement similar to Jordan Peterson's. Except that Peterson's is very straight-faced and serious without any humor.

Kevin Kim said...

I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with, here. My contention is that Ferguson is NOT sexually assaulting anyone. Being flirty, especially on a public stage, isn't actually tantamount to any sort of assault. A woman would rightly feel uncomfortable if a man came on to her in an office setting—asking her to take off her skirt, making allusions to excellent blowjobs, etc. But this, right here, is merely theater, and both Craig and the ladies know it, which is why everyone is so comfortable.

My point is that, in the current environment, the #MeToo movement refuses to see things the way I described above. Everything is assault with these people. Everything is some sort of violence. Craig's humor wouldn't pass muster these days: it would get shot down by the PC police.

John from Daejeon said...

Yes, I'm with you that his is/was nothing more than excellent, give and take, late, late night sexual theater, but I think he is both smart and articulate enough to get away with it even in 2019 on Showtime, HBO, or even FOX (with disclaimers that sensitive Snowflakes may agitate so violently that they internally combust and meltdown). Of course, there'd be some irrational blow-back from haters, but it'd probably elevate his stature even more into the realm of the likes of George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, and Tim Allen. Why Tim Allen? Watch the short clip from the episode of "Last Man Standing" that got the highly-rated series canceled by the liberal PC police on ABC only to be resurrected after a year by FOX where it is trouncing the ABC comedy that airs opposite it as well as the CBS drama. High ratings and increased advertising dollars can overcome hateful Snowflake calls for cancellation and Tim's support of President Trump even in Hollywood.

As an entertaining aside here's an interesting, and short, Japanese documentary about 11'8" aka the "Can Opener." Jürgen Henn is living the American Dream as he profits off of 11'8" porn (SFW). Tim Allen is right after all. America is the land of opportunity. And I believe your funny bone will find some situational humor in 11'8"'s latest victim/idiot. Watch the short YouTube video and then read
Bisqwit's comment underneath. I thought I laughed hard at some of Craig's humor, but Bisqwit's perfect comment nearly did me in.

Now, I'm wondering how the 11'8" was translated in Japanese, and if I have $45 dollars in my wallet for a piece of Americana art/junk.

Kevin Kim said...

Color me skeptical. With all the deplatforming on YouTube and all the shutdowns on Twitter, I think the country's media are in the grip of a cabal of humorless, unimaginative, repressive numskulls.

Even if I grant that certain un-PC shows are raking in the ratings, I'd take those shows to be the exceptions, not the rule. Major trends are all toward SJW-friendly programming. If the studios are supposed to learn a lesson from Fox and Tim Allen about what the viewing public truly craves, well... I don't think they're learning that lesson, overall. If they were learning it, there'd be far less talk of "liberal media."