Droll

“Dude that was so droll!” “I went to the Chris Rock show the other night, it was the drollest show I have ever seen”. “I like Bill Murray but I was a bit surprised that he wasn’t a bit more droller in his latest movie”.

Do you use the word ‘droll’ when describing comedy? I think it’s a red flag if you do. The last two times I have read a review by Celia Wren (Washington Post) concerning Washington Improv Theater, she has used this word and only this word to describe a moment that was funny. Ms. Wren does not have to like improv, she doesn’t have to do anything; Ms. Wren, you could “live, die or grow mushrooms in your crack” (Ed O’Neil, Dutch 1991). I should take heed that it’s a red flag when I want to mock Ms. Wren’s articulate vocabulary and I quote the guy from “Married With Children”. I shouldn’t care. If I am a man that practices what I preach, it should be: do the work, keep your head down, and keep moving forward. It’s probably not the smartest thing to do, which is to call-out the critic from the same paper that brought down Nixon. Especially when it comes to comedy, in the grand scheme of things, I am the tiniest freckle on the smallest pimple of Gallagher's ass.

I just got done watching some clips of “Siskel and Ebert” on Youtube and I am reminded why we all do what we love to do and it’s not for those writing in the newspapers.

Ms. Wren has a job to do and its fun when the critics are tough, it really is. The best times I had playing ball were when we were getting hounded by the other team and their fans.

The Source Festival is charging $17 a ticket for the evening of multiple performances; and the folks that come to the theater deserve to have their time compensated with a quality performance. The job of the critic is to keep the artists honest and to give people an idea of what they will be getting themselves into if they choose to come.

I think I just felt like I had to stick up for my brethren. It’s hard for me not to be mildly irritated when the same said critic implied the other people you were working with were arbitrary; and in the past, insinuated that those who were enjoying the show must have been drunk. I’m sorry did I say drunk, I meant to say, “wassailing”.

Ok, that’s it though, I’m never responding to another critic again.