Posted by NYC XYZ on 02/28/06 01:27

helenuhm wrote:
> TV execs ask/pressure comedians to do lot of things to gain audience
> when it comes to sitcoms, and I guess Cho wasn't strong enough to stand
> up to them. With that said though, the show wasn't very funny.

Well, that's just her claim, that they reworked all her ideas to the
point where it failed, and failed miserably -- a textbook case of not
compromising, no matter what, as an artist: better to fail on your own
than under another's direction. That's the ethos I've always brought
to my own work as a writer (not of comedy)...that rotten tomato ought
to have my name on it, at least, and not someone else's.

> I
> remember it was a top rated show when it made its debut so America WAS
> ready for Asian American sitcom - it just wasn't very funny. Lot of
> sitcoms are based on the comedian's stand up act, and back then, Cho
> really didn't have any funny material except making fun of her
> immigrant mother which got old really quickly.

Yes, I've got her two DVDs, the "concert" ones, and that was the only
remotely funny material (and it's already old to us Asians, so I really
do think her audience is that liberal white yuppies-with-an-edge
crowd).

> To put things into perspective, however, majority of new shows gets
> cancelled after a season, and Cho's show was no different. With
> everything she knows about the industry, I am not sure that her show
> would have a different fate if she had another chance at another
> sitcom.

I agree on this. Frankly, I don't know of any funny Asian comics.
Interestingly, "Big Mountain Dan," a tall white Canadian, is one of the
biggest draws over in mainland China. He's a rock star over there,
though I have no clue what his material is.

I mention him 'cause I basically don't know what's funny...I seem to
like Jewish comics, but I don't get most black ones...not that I tune
into comedy a lot, but when I do, I just don't get black stand-up
comedy...like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, I don't get none of these
guys...they seem to just scream a lot.

> I have to give her credit where credit is due - she's a funny comedian
> with an edge, and I love her politics. She has some strong opinions
> about number of issues, and I love that she called Anne Coulter "Cunta
> Kinte".

See -- I don't get that. What's so funny? Is that some kind of
African reference?

I think Garrison Keillor is funny most of the time (though it's not
stand-up). But what's with this kind of stuff that relies on blasting
others bloody? I have to admit to howie stern being funny -- but in
the same way I confess to eating McDonald's once in a while.

My Ex, now she was funny. Didn't have to get nasty at all -- just
really cute, cute humor, not the kind that needs to put down someone
else. A recent study found that most guys don't like women who are
funny. I couldn't imagine why, since I loved my Ex so much precisely
for her great sense of humor -- but now I'm thinking, hmm, maybe
'cause, well, if humor is typically of the sort which is so sarcastic
or otherwise negative, yeah, sure, I can see how a guy can be turned
off by that...you laugh 'cause it's funny, but you seriously wonder
about someone with that kind of a mentality.

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