Lisa Lampanelli says her one-woman show will come to Broadway, with John Rando directing- Page 2

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/28/13 at 7:51pm

henrik, if you compare her first TV special on HBO (I don't watch those roasts she does) with her most recent cable special, you will see the problem. Not that you care enough to do so--nor that you should--I'm just finishing my thought above.

The early work does have its moments (i.e., actual jokes), but it also doesn't leave her anywhere to go.

By the most recent special, she's mostly just reciting lists of offensive racial and sexual slurs (most of which even I've never heard before).

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 8/28/13 at 7:58pm

I don't actually think she is a racist. It's a gimmick. But she's shrill and obnoxious and worst of all, not funny.

Comedy that challenges racial and other stereotypes can be incredibly funny. Pryor and Carlin were masters and said some pretty outrageous things especially for their time but in addition to being funny and making you really laugh, what they were saying was insightful. They actually exposed the hypocracy of some of these things through humor. Her comedy is not nearly as clever or thought provoking let alone funny.

I just don't think "how many black guys (and I cleaned that up) does it take to clean a toilet" jokes are funny. It's lowest common denominator comedy. They're the kind of jokes 9 year olds used to tell each other at camp until they realized how stupid those jokes were. Yes, she has a fan base but so do the Kardashians and the Shahs of Sunset and Dog The Bounty Hunter. Not sure I want to see any of them on a Broadway stage any time soon either.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 8/28/13 at 8:53pm

I totally agree with TheatreDiva.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/28/13 at 9:31pm

You've always had excellent taste.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 8/28/13 at 9:55pm

I'm a fan of dark/offensive/subversive humor. Lampanelli was endearing on Celebrity Apprentice; she made me root for her. I forgot what crazy celeb she was dealing with, but she definitely appeared to be the reasonable one.

I get that her humor is low-brow and crude, and it is repetitive. That is why I would not want to see her in a Broadway show. Her jokes were funny, but I feel like it would be a night been-there, done-that jokes.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 8:29pm

I don't actually think she is a racist. It's a gimmick. But she's shrill and obnoxious and worst of all, not funny.

FishermanBob summed it up beautifully.

[Jane2]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 10:55pm

"Lampanelli was endearing on Celebrity Apprentice"

wow, you really are a fan! I hadn't known too much about her until I watched her season on Apprentice. That's when I saw how mean and condescending she was to almost everyone on the show. She was the epitome of bully and it appeared to me that she really was angrier with herself than with all the people she openly dismissed.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 8:59am

My problem isn't that she delves into racism and whatnot for her act. Comics should push the envelope, it's part and parcel of comedy. (I was one of those who found the flap over Daniel Tosh's heckler/rape comeback completely outrageous) My problem is that she does it in such a witless way, I sit there going "An 8 year-old could come up with this same material." There's no insight, no thought, no wit. There's nothing even remotely outré about her.

I don't predict this will do well on Broadway.

[artscallion]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 9:09am

it's one note. And the note is flat.

I'm not "too sensitive" and can certainly appreciate edgy comics. I'm a big fan of Tosh. But I don't see any depth, commentary, insight or irony to her act that would give the nastiness any meaning. It's just a looooong stream of "shock" with nothing to balance it.