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Newsflash: I'm Not Normal
Feb. 16th, 2014 01:09 pmI think it's time that I need to accept that my sense of humor just isn't like other people's. Even when those other people are geeks like myself. I don't know; I try - I just don't find the same things funny. And I guess.... I don't want to say that's something wrong with me, but I suppose it *is* my problem.
Last night I went with a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tpau to see Alton Brown Live. We'd been looking forward to this for months, and I was incredibly excited to be there. And it was a lot of fun, and the show was awesome. Mr. Brown is an incredibly talented man, and he's intelligent and curious and imaginative and creative and he's loud and proud about being all of these things, which makes me love him.... and makes me expect better of him.
Better than what? Well, better than 'I hate my wife' jokes, for one. I really didn't expect an entire stand-up comedy riff on 'wives are shrewish harridans that men need to just give up and placate dishonestly for the sake of peace in the home,' or 'the secret to a happy marriage is spending a lot of time traveling apart.'
And better than 'humiliate and mock the audience participant.' I know that being an audience participant means opening yourself up to being a target of humor, and that some teasing is expected, but there's a line between 'teasing humorously' and 'mocking and humiliating,' and... well, the way he was treating one volunteer would have left me in tears. So I suppose it's a good thing that I didn't raise my hand, and maybe it's just my damage, but... I honestly didn't expect this sort of humor at his show.
(I'll also note, given the first point, that he was a lot harsher on the female volunteer that he called up than he was on the male one. Not enough data points to know if it's relevant, of course, but... just saying.)
Ultimately, these were just two sour notes in what was otherwise a truly amazing show. Alton Brown is awesome, the show was funny and clever and interesting and exciting, and I enjoyed it. And part of my disappointment with the few problems is precisely because I had higher expectations of such a geek icon. Still, it's a little bit disheartening to realize that someone you put on a pedestal is maybe not quite as awesome as you had imagined....
Last night I went with a
tpau to see Alton Brown Live. We'd been looking forward to this for months, and I was incredibly excited to be there. And it was a lot of fun, and the show was awesome. Mr. Brown is an incredibly talented man, and he's intelligent and curious and imaginative and creative and he's loud and proud about being all of these things, which makes me love him.... and makes me expect better of him.Better than what? Well, better than 'I hate my wife' jokes, for one. I really didn't expect an entire stand-up comedy riff on 'wives are shrewish harridans that men need to just give up and placate dishonestly for the sake of peace in the home,' or 'the secret to a happy marriage is spending a lot of time traveling apart.'
And better than 'humiliate and mock the audience participant.' I know that being an audience participant means opening yourself up to being a target of humor, and that some teasing is expected, but there's a line between 'teasing humorously' and 'mocking and humiliating,' and... well, the way he was treating one volunteer would have left me in tears. So I suppose it's a good thing that I didn't raise my hand, and maybe it's just my damage, but... I honestly didn't expect this sort of humor at his show.
(I'll also note, given the first point, that he was a lot harsher on the female volunteer that he called up than he was on the male one. Not enough data points to know if it's relevant, of course, but... just saying.)
Ultimately, these were just two sour notes in what was otherwise a truly amazing show. Alton Brown is awesome, the show was funny and clever and interesting and exciting, and I enjoyed it. And part of my disappointment with the few problems is precisely because I had higher expectations of such a geek icon. Still, it's a little bit disheartening to realize that someone you put on a pedestal is maybe not quite as awesome as you had imagined....
