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Monday, October 1, 2007

“You Don’t Have to Be Ironic About It”

posted by on October 1 at 14:21 PM

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So reads my favorite line in the brilliant feature writer/performer/former Daily Show correspondent Lauren Weedman supplies for this week’s Stranger.

If you haven’t read it yet, you must.

RSS icon Comments

1

Also a train wreck.

Posted by Greg | October 1, 2007 2:44 PM
2

True dat. Sad how she basically imploded, cause she's always been (and is) one of my favorite comedians.

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 1, 2007 2:56 PM
3

Scary...if I hadn't known how the story turned out I would half expect Lauren describing what it was like to stand over Jon's mutilated corpse holding a bloody Emmy statue.

Posted by Time for a Handful of SSRIs | October 1, 2007 3:03 PM
4

I found the article very sad in an existential way.

I know nothing's permanent, but as someone who's been through multiple layoffs/downsizing/corporate reorganizations in the past, the whole "I'm checking my messages - who are you?" thing really made me wanna cry.

Also, Jon Stewart kinda came off as a neurotic dick, at least from Ms. Weedman's POV. Not sure why that's surprising, but there it is.

Posted by Original Andrew | October 1, 2007 3:21 PM
5

"Trainwerck"? "...imploded..."?

I haven't followed her career or personal life, but in the feature she comes off as smart, funny, neurotic, honest, original and rightfully perplexed by the circumstances she finds herself in.

Posted by homage to me | October 1, 2007 3:27 PM
6

"Train wreck"

Posted by homage to me | October 1, 2007 3:32 PM
7

@5: Thank you, You read the same article I did.

Posted by David Schmader | October 1, 2007 3:38 PM
8

I nearly spit my teriyaki fried rice all over Ballet at lunch -- right about the part where she starts pinching her nipples and asking Jon if he likes her.

It's like an episode of "The Odd Fellows," comedy-show style.

Posted by MvB | October 1, 2007 3:47 PM
9

I remember liking her when she was on TDS, and I enjoyed the article, but boy is there a whole bunch of crazy behind those eyes.

Posted by laterite | October 1, 2007 3:50 PM
10

Sorry, I vote train wreck. If this piece was supposed to make Jon Stewart look bad, it failed. The author came across as insecure and socially clueless, someone who thinks the only thing she has to offer the world is her sense of humor and who panics when it isn't received with wild guffaws. I would've reacted just as Stewart did. People like that make most of us terribly uncomfortable.

I did however get the feeling that she'd gained some perspective by writing this piece and maybe she finally figured out what she did wrong. I hope I'm right.

Posted by Jerry | October 1, 2007 3:51 PM
11

@7: David, I read EXACTLY the same article you did. Sorry. Train wreck.

I'm a Lauren Weedman fan. Seen all of her live shows. Was really sad when she was booted from The Daily Show.

But she went into a high stress environment, she wigged out, she bugged people, she got fired, and her article shows what is to me a very refreshing and honest appraisal of this.

Can't wait for her next show. She's really good.

- Jeff Vogel

Posted by Jeff Vogel | October 1, 2007 3:52 PM
12

This was a great piece and again it brings into perspective this whole world of celebrity worshiping. Just because Jon Stewart is cool on the tube does not mean he is a humble dude in real life. Like the great( and neurotic) Cintra Wilson said in one of her first books, " You never, ever touch the celeberities."

Whoever read trainwreck into this is nuts. This was some honest writing. Raw and personal. Very original.

Posted by SeMe | October 1, 2007 3:56 PM
13

I thought the article was eh, sorta funny but not really. I felt embarrassed for her more than anything else. Then I went and watched this interview thing with her RE: her new book, and found her not funny at all.

Posted by jameyb | October 1, 2007 4:12 PM
14

However, her article does reinforce the point that no one involved in producing comedy is actually a funny person.

Posted by laterite | October 1, 2007 4:13 PM
15

Sure, raw and personal.

And also a train wreck.

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 1, 2007 4:28 PM
16

I actually couldn't read that whole article, I found it way to embarrassing. And I normally don't mind watching/reading embarrassing things. I think it's a shame that so few women are in comedy and that she completely fell apart. Hey, it happens. And the fact that she could write about it objectively means that has perspective. But man did it make me squirm to read about it.

Posted by exelizabeth | October 1, 2007 4:38 PM
17

I got through it but it was difficult. Click here for Metafilter's reaction.

Posted by Ryan | October 1, 2007 4:41 PM
18

I'm with @10 and @11.

Posted by wench | October 1, 2007 4:43 PM
19

I have seen her autobiographical live performances and she doesn't come across as so much of a train wreck as someone unsuited for a job that requires
daily attendance. She is highly intelligent and quite gifted as a comedian and writer. She also drinks, does coke and doesn't meet her deadlines. Train wreck seems too catostrophic for what are pretty mainstream foibles and failures.

Posted by inkweary | October 1, 2007 4:48 PM
20

I vote not Trainwreck. Weedman's hilarious! Anyone who has experienced her shows firsthand knows that her material mines her own personal humility, and usually that's what makes it so great. Weedman crashed a boy's club at the Daily Show and it's resident hero didn't quite know what to do with her. Sad, but telling about something you wanted so much to work out but didn't. And especially in a live TV environment where you know your worth yet have a hard time convincing those around you (and maybe the nation at large) of it...
Weedman's live shows convey a larger theme of Failure and Hope (sometimes in that order, sometimes not)...

Posted by yerbamatty | October 1, 2007 5:17 PM
21

I thought the article depressing.

First of all, I'm disappointed that The Daily Show appears to be another old boys' club which is traditional with comedy shows. SNL, for instance, is supposed to be a horrible place for someone new and/or female.

And Jon. My Jon. I can't stand the thought of him being anything like the way he comes off.

But here's something that's key, I think. The author does blurt out things that seem - what? - inappropriate and kinda unprofessional. So maybe it's a culture clash/payback kinda thing?

Posted by Bauhaus | October 1, 2007 5:23 PM
22

Can't imagine anyone would find the the memoir published by The Stranger to be funny, or that the writer could be remotely funny onstage. (Guess I'm wrong about that part.) The piece in the Stranger sounded desperate and agonizingly self-centered ... a train wreck indeed.

Posted by Ronald | October 1, 2007 5:29 PM
23

mmm, yeah.... i wouldn't exactly call her a *complete* trainwreck, but come on girl - what part of "don't try to be funny" do you not understand? jesus - just shut the fuck up and do your job.

Posted by brandon | October 1, 2007 6:27 PM
24

Jewish performers like Jon Stewart are sparks of divine light in the dark world of the goyim. If Lauren Weedman is not Jewish it doesn't suprise me that she's not funny. Most goyim are not.

I love Jon Stewart and Sacha Baron Cohen, they are the top Jewish celebrities in the world today and both are observant. I hope The Stranger will have the courage to allow it's Jewish writers to write more about the importance of getting to Temple and keeping halaka.

Posted by Issur | October 1, 2007 6:32 PM
25

I've seen Lauren live only once, and thought she was one of the best performers I've seen in my life. Fantastic. Original. Difficult. Hilarious.

That said, TRAIN WRECK. C'mon, y'all. Those who say NOT train wreck are not actually reading the article. Some of you are reading this like it's journalism - that this is an accurate account by a third party who had access to video of the encounters, because she describes it with such detail and puts quotation marks around the things people say.

This is her subjective impression of a difficult time, and, wow, does she make herself out to be a basket case. That's not an accident. That's her performer's prerogative. Someone else might have taken the same set of incidents and turned it into some kind of sexual harassment warning.

She clearly freaked out, and was willing to write that she did. But I found the account disturbing, and upsetting.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman | October 1, 2007 7:13 PM
26

I agree with Glenn @ 25. It's a story of a trainwreck, and it's masterfully told. My bristling at those dismissing her/the piece as a trainwreck came from the sense that people seemed to think they were diagnosing something in LW that she hadn't already diagnosed in herself, explicitly and eloquently.

Responding to this piece with one word--trainwreck--is like watching La Boheme and saying "opera." Duh.

Posted by David Schmader | October 1, 2007 8:14 PM
27

How many times can one person trot out the same story? I've heard from Lauren what seems like a dozen times, why she didn't make it on The Daily Show.

Now she gets an article and a whole set of new excuses. The truth is she wasn't funny on that show, and when someone isn't funny in a comedy environment. Things get real awkward, real fast.

She's still a great solo performer! Get over it Lauren, and get some new material, no one even remembers that you were on the Daily Show.

Posted by Mark | October 1, 2007 8:27 PM
28

@27: Goody for you.

I, however, had never heard Lauren's Daily Show story, and am really glad she wrote it down.

Posted by David Schmader | October 1, 2007 9:59 PM
29

@26

Thank God I responded with four words, or you'd have really thought me a Philistine.

Posted by Greg | October 2, 2007 9:19 AM
30

I would have to agree with Mr. Schmader.

Posted by BillyBob | October 4, 2007 12:23 PM

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