Posted by
CyberMom on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 1:24:31 PM
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Yes - this blog's dedicated to government lies - and I tend to break the rules too often and stray from it - but Glenn Beck's pretty close to right on the money with this topic anyway.. so here goes - I'll rate this in the way I use to rate movies when I did so on another, old blog, using the good, the bad and the ugly!)
First - my rating: For a comedy show of this nature (explained in detail below), I give this a 10 out of 10 - and for anyone who has ever read my reviews, they can most assuredly tell you, I tend to be exceedingly harsh, use very strict criteria and will rarely, if EVER, even rate a 9/10 - even on comedy tours!!
The Good:
The Glenn Beck, "Common Sense," Comedy Tour aired live, last Thursday. It was my brother's birthday, I didn't have any money to do anything for him, and when the radio DJ announced the ticket giveaway on KBND - I didn't even bat an eyelash. I had heard the DJ talk about it and immediately began to pull off the road, my hand on the cell phone - I dialed - and I won! Woohoo! Two free tickets to Glenn Beck! YES! (although I appreciated the tickets, I'm sure Glenn appreciates the money generated from them, too!)!... Wait, my brother "wasn't" (although he is now, having seen the show), a Glenn Beck listener. I thought, "Oh man, great - I got him something that he'll be appreciative for because he's a good guy, but I'm sure won't really enjoy - great brother I am!" Boy, was I wrong. My brother laughed throughout and enjoyed the entire show (except for his confusion on the Whoopie Goldberg issue - and explaining it "after the fact," didn't much add to the comedy therein. Glenn Beck put himself before the world to be judged, and he delivered. The value of his show far exceeded the cost of any tickets (and turned out to be of extreme value and worth to my brother - which was awesome!).
So, I went, excited to see the 'live' showing (broadcast across more than 430 theaters I believe?), hoping to catch 'Glenn' when he makes any mistakes or trip-ups (when you enjoy someone's work, and you understand their value in what they do - and you mean it in GOOD humor - you might tend to find yourself looking for the little mistakes here and there for added, comedic value), hoping to have a laugh or two - and I was NOT disappointed. Mind you, as for a "comedy" show, it wasn't "chalk" full of humor - but let's face it, Glenn is Glenn, not Robin Williams, and he can't be held to the same standard (I suppose that goes along with the whole, 'common sense,' theme as well...). And, toward the last, maybe 30 - 45 minutes, Glenn really broke from the 'animated,' and 'lively,' routine he had been doing to become very preachy. Mind you, as a Glenn Beck fan, I enjoy his common sense banter and appreciate his insightful views into our current, political climate; so I was not put off by this at all. It even worked - in part - to 'wind' down the audience.
In fact, my brother turned to me at one point during the broadcast and asked, "They [the audience] do know that he [Glenn] can't hear them, right?" Of course, he was referring to the clapping and cheers coming from within OUR theater! What I thought was of key notice, was that the audience (full house) was filled primarily with an older generation of people. What that said to me was, the people who have been through this, the people who have been around and seen this Country's ups and downs, the people who are wizened and experienced, have come here seeking more insight (and humor - Glenn is a very animated character, and watching him is definitely entertaining). What does that say for Glenn's show? Well, I could spout on all day about my opinions of it, but I think the last two points I made speak for themselves: An audience of wizened and knowledgeable people, clapping and cheering at what they were watching, who found value and entertainment all-in-one! These are not teen-agers with self-indulgent values. These are not college-aged students with mixed, 'clueless' causes. And, these are not the same people that rush off to the Robin Williams comedy tour expecting some vulgarity, constant, outrageous humor and laughs galore (yes, Robin's awesome, too!).
These are folks who know what they're doing. A good portion of the audience included the middle to older working class - responsible Americans with high values. These are sensible, no-nonsense people who see that something's wrong in this country, and they are looking for confirmation, or an explanation, of what's going on. And, they got what they came for - as did I. Not only did I seek knowledge from Mr. Beck, but I sought confirmation of what I knew to be going on, and it was there. Albeit, it was appropriately mixed in with enough humor to keep me laughing through most of the show. Another factor to consider, is that Glenn is addressing a highly-sensitive, and not-so-funny topic. Thusly, I would more likely rate him against a comedian such as
Chris Titus. Titus addresses not-so-funny, and often times difficult issues in a manner that will keep you laughing, and yet, he still gets his point across (at times...). Glenn, not only did the same, but he addressed a topic of grave concern to all of America, and did so in a VERY, unbiased and [generally] non-partisan manner. That is what I REALLY appreciate about his work - it is such an unbelievably refreshing approach that this alone, makes his entire show worthwhile. He brings everything to the table. He does not generally tend to make half-cocked statements (note my previous blogs putting the responsibility onto the listeners to confirm facts and information for THEMSELVES) like so many other talk show hosts do, having only half the knowledge. This is the type of insight that has value. This is the type of input that "educates," people.
What was the major theme? Well, um, common sense, of course? I suppose that should have been, "common sense," to those who read the title of his tour. However, what common sense? The common sense not to stick your finger in the light socket (ie Titus)? No - the common sense to not let life continue passing us by, ignorant to the continuing decline of our government, which is reflected at an exponentially, much worse level in our economy, social lives, education and other areas of political/public crossover (a line which is very much becoming harder and harder to distinguish). Some people - will NOT like his show. Some people will not like what Glenn says because it's "true," or because it's "not funny enough," or because it's too "preachy." For whatever excuse someone makes for not liking it, in the words of Lincoln: You can't please all of the people, all of the time (a variant, of course, on 'fooling' the people as was actually said by Lincoln). For the rest of us, those that are looking for a good time, a quality show, valuable entertainment, enlightening knowledge, intelligent insight and equal and ACCURATE representation of the problems facing America today: This is the show to see.
The Bad:
A lot of preaching. It was like listening to Glenn's radio show (except this had a lot more humor, less interruptions and lively, animations from Glenn himself). That's hard on some people. It's the same for the poor folks who actually take the time to read my long-winded blogs - people read newspapers because articles are pithy - but these topics are not pithy topics - the points that have to be made can't be done in a few sentences, and in order to get the point across in a fair and impartial manner - it takes more space and time. So, the show went on in very LONG paths to try and make its points (again, albeit a necessary path). Otherwise, there was not really anything bad to say (as you can tell, I'm the 'old white party,'... hahaha... because the other side will have a LOT of negative to say, I'm sure), but for the sake of equal representation of good and bad, I'll add what I can:
The wig left on stage by Glenn was an annoying distraction. The audience member with his first beer was an annoying distraction (Glenn recovered VERY well - obviously a seasoned comedian who knows his gig because, as Bob and Tom note, the best comedians can be rated upon how they take the heckling of the audience). A couple of nitpicky items - when referring to Paul Revere, Glenn said: Benjamin Franklin (I believe), and when addressing the audience, he switched between Missouri and Kansas - so I felt a little out of place in Oregon!
The Whoopie joke was good - and added to the emphasis that Glenn made when finally discussing the 'real,' Whoopie Goldberg, but for those who didn't know the joke in advance, or weren't that interested in it, it drug on a little too much. It was a great insider joke for the Glenn Beck staff I'm sure, and it was awesome to know that "the View," was having conniption fits (I'm assuming that info btw), but it was hit on a little, too much. Leaving the audience members on stage while he did his "in-betweens," (referring to periods in between interacting with the people) that were necessary for the whole explanation (and it was the MOST brilliant example, to date, I've seen for a visual explanation of freedom), was a bit tedious to watch. I felt sorry for them after a while (that is, the face of the poor, confused girl just standing on stage made you feel sorry for her and think - c'mon Glenn - get it over with - they're dying up there!!). Finally, it's frightening how much Glenn and I are alike in our communication styles whether we are in agreement or not: we're both VERY easily sidetracked, and that can lead to a LOT of redundancy and lag!
The Ugly:
This one's easy - (ha, ha, ha - no - not the outfit!!): Glenn constantly referred to the importance of the American people 'waking up,' and 'fighting back,' against the system. I feel he did a brilliant job showing us just how the system is wrong and what needs to be changed (ie. throwing the whole cast and crew of American politics OUT the door), but what I feel was missed is an important point that I am going to go out on a limb here and state that I personally "believe," is what Glenn is trying to say without saying it (only because his views and mine are **almost** exactly parallel, especially in what he and I see coming):
As Glenn stated: we have to fight back. It's not enough to stand up. We HAVE to stop voting when our only two choices are 'bad,' and 'worse.' We HAVE to stop obeying stupid laws that are designed to harm us. But, how do we do that? I feel that the legal predicament I'm currently in originates from having expressed my solution in a previous blog when it was I who was writing (vs. now - with another who interfaces with the pc and writes for me - even if it's still my words). I stated that our fighting back can only come in one fashion - and that's where Glenn's "anarchy" vs. "king/empire," example comes in. Moving in between the two requires that anarchy also exists. There's no anarchy right now. There's no rebellion. People are afraid. Glenn spoke about the politicians threatening to cut the police and schools - but, in part, he was wrong. In most states, they've ramped up the police force - because they want to keep the people scared. Rebelling, in the current system, means cops hauling you off to jail or prison or even - falsely incriminating you and hurting the innocent (the peaceful, sit-down protest at Kent State anyone?). The real 'home-land' terrorist threat comes from within, not without - I'm sorry to say. But, I'll digress on any further opinions from me, and simply say that, the ugly is that there is now a riled up group of people (who will be joined when the show is re-broadcast, and if you haven't seen it - I'm recommending it to you!!), with nowhere to go. And, that's when that no-government, no-leadership, DANGEROUS, anarchy sets in...
The people need a leader, and after watching Mr. Beck's oratory skills; hearing his knowledge, wisdom and insight; and seeing that he has seen the dark corners that I have too; maybe he should put back on the founding fathers' suit and take charge (or was that a subliminal message to do that anyway? HAHAHAHAHAHA!).
Now, stop reading and go see it. Go on. Why are you still reading? I don't care if it's not playing yet - get off of here and go buy tickets - then go sit and wait for it! Sheesh!! Computers are bad for you anyway!!