So I just finished listening to the latest episode of WTF. For those of you not familiar with this podcast, I don't have time to keep bringing you up to speed with the goings-on of the twenty first century. Turn your computer off now.
Anyway, back to the reason I'm writing. I was particularly excited to give the newest episode a listen for a couple reasons. First, it featured someone I'm very familiar with; a person I consider to be a good friend and peer. Of course by now you may know it's Josh Blue. Josh has been a local celeb and Mile-High comedy stalwart since before he won Season Four of Last Comic Standing in 2006. Over the past few years Josh has been gracious enough to take me on the road with him several times and I feel like during those travels I've really got to know him on a personal level.
But familiarity wasn't the only reason I was excited to feed my ears with this interview. As much as I love and respect Josh as a human being and comic, I was excited to hear him placed in the hot seat and forced to face a seemingly inevitable barrage of questions aimed at the controversial choices he's made with his career and material. It would seem that in the eyes of Marc Maron, and his ever-present opinion on stand-up integrity, Josh had some long overdue explaining to do. Last Comic Standing?! That show fucking sucks. Cerebral Palsy jokes? That's a crutch Josh seems to be content leaning on despite supposedly not needing to.
Staying in Denver? Why would he do that?
I want you to know that I don't/didn't want to see a person I care about slandered and ripped apart; I just felt that after the numerous conversations I've had with Josh over recent years, he's fully capable of justifying and making others understand the motivations and benefits of the road he's chosen to take. If anything, this could only help a skeptical comedy community embrace a talented and thoughtful individual that I feel has
been somewhat misunderstood.
So when the episode was finally posted, I added it to my already full WTF folder, dragged it to my I-Pod, and listened anxiously for the prodding to begin. A prodding that never came. Instead what I got was a Marc Maron that appeared to have gone soft. It was as if I listening to a Midwest housewife interviewing a kid with Downs Syndrome in front of her "less-worldly" friends. Did weed help his mind or where he was at in his life? Are you serious?! Why not just come out and ask him if it fucking hurts to be retarded? God damn it I'm gassy from all the placation.
How many times did Maron dig into Joe Rogan for his choice to do Fear Factor? Josh was on Last Comic Standing! Willingly! That show was a violent shit factory. If Marc had done the research he'd know that Josh won the series. He'd also know that despite what Josh claims, those were not his best sets. The network sold the story and used that to create a star. We all knew it. Why not lay into him about that? If he had, I'm sure Josh would have told him, as he's told me, that's it's afforded him a good life. That the choices he made have allowed him to do what he loves every day of his life. That when all was said and done, he didn't go to Hollywood and milk it for everything it was worth. He bought a home and a place in the mountains, started a family, secured a future for his kids, and lives in the place he loves. Shit, if I was a comic or fan who didn't know him, I'd applaud that for sure.
Forget that last point. It's obvious that was just lack of research on Marc's part. But why not press Josh for his glaring hypocrisy in wanting to be seen as equal while freely admitting to using his disability when it suits his interests? Then poke around about his time on Mind of Mencia, when Josh and Brad Williams were part of a thinly-veiled attempt by Carlos to form a freak-menagerie?
Once again I want to reiterate that I love Josh. This is a truly hardworking, extremely talented, no-bullshit dude. A guy who has given me great advice. A guy who worries about his future. A mentor I learn from. A dickface. A husband. An ego. A father. An opportunist. A fan of the craft. A friend.
I'm saying all this because I see him as an equal, if not better. And he is deserved of equal treatment. And equal treatment for the physically disabled doesn't just mean access to buildings and restaurants or free refills at the bar. It also means being judged accountable for the flaws, contradictions, oversights, and self-righteous musings we're all prone to when in the midst of trying to entertain.
I guess I just feel like that in Maron's attempt to not seem ignorant and uninformed with the things he said, he came across as ignorant and uninformed with the things he didn't.
Lame.
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