Party-Pooper

Last Friday comedian Louis CK abruptly pulled out from his hosting duties at the Radio & Television Correspondents' Dinner this coming June. There are conflicting reports as to why CK is no longer the host - one says he simply no longer wanted the job while another says there was a push to have him replaced. Reportedly, the one leading that charge to get him out was Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. Apparently, Van Susteren thinks CK is too vulgar and specifically objected to how he talks about women in his act and a couple of Tweets he made about Sarah Palin. Now, if you've ever read this blog before it won't take a lot of guesses about whose side I'm in this one - I happen to think CK is the best comedian walking the planet and find him hilarious specifically because he is so vulgar. Meanwhile I don't watch any 24-hour cable channels because I can't stand the fear-mongering and the batteries in my remote control work, so I barely know who Van Susteren even is. All I know is if someone presented me with option of having Louie CK at my party, but told me that as a result Greta Van Susteren wasn't coming, it is a pretty safe bet that Greta would be free that night.

Now, I have very little doubt that CK was asked to host because he is so controversial. Which means I also have very little doubt that Louie probably dodged a bullet in this one - controversial picks don't usually work at the Correspondents' Dinner. The people at these dinners want light poking at one another, not a comedian who is bringing out the heavy artillery, which is the only thing CK knows how to work with. While there is nothing as great as a room full of people laughing at once, there is also nothing worse than one person telling jokes to a room full of people who aren't laughing and award shows and dinners are the perfect storm for that kind of thing to happen. Everyone is already trying to appear too cool for the room and act like they aren't internally geeking out over the celebrities who were invited, which is not a good environment for comedy. And here you've got the political aspect, which means both sides of the aisle will be represented at this thing and half the room already isn't going to be laughing at every single joke because they just got made fun of. On top of that these are politicians and no politician wants to be seen laughing at the really vulgar stuff because it could offend any number of voters. The whole thing is a perfect recipe for polite applause and uncomfortable silence. When you add it all up there was a high chance it would not go well, which is what makes the story that Louie pulled out on his own entirely possible.

While that might be the case, I'm still annoyed that they announced CK's departure so soon after Van Susteren's complaint, because it makes it appears as though the organizers of this event caved under outside pressure. And as much as I hate it when the people in charge of events like this pick controversial comedians and then act surprised when a couple of people don't agree with their choice, I really don't like that they let one or two negative voices influence their decisions after the fact. If you made a choice you should be ready and willing to defend it, otherwise make a different choice from the start. (Although, we are talking about an event in Washington, D.C., so I don't know why I was expecting anyone with a backbone to be involved.) Still, I feel like Van Susteren is the real annoying one in this scenario. Now, I'm not even going to get into the political side of this fight, other than to say I find Van Susteren's position rather ironic considering she works for an organization which spent last week defending Rush Limbaugh. Instead I take my biggest issue with what she did for a very simple reason - she didn't offer to host in his place or even come up with a suitable replacement. I hate people who do that kind of stuff.

There is nothing worse than the people who shoot down ideas without offering alternative ones of their own. We have all worked with someone like this at one time or another and they never fail to drive me crazy. Does Greta have any idea what goes in to putting together a Correspondents' Dinner? Of course she doesn't, because she's never organized one before. I can only assume it would be like planning a wedding and the Oscars rolled into one. Her comments mean the organizers have to go back and take care of an issue they thought was done by now. Well, if Van Susteren wants to have a say in who the host is going to be she had better be prepared to start chiming in on seating arrangements, centerpieces and seat covers. Either you are all in or all out - you don't get to cherry-pick the issues which matter to you, offer nothing but negative comments and then leave other people in charge of cleaning up the mess you just made. Because I have news for Ms. Van Susteren - if she thinks she carries enough weight that her not coming to the dinner would even be noticed, she has another thing coming. (Hell, people might appreciate having a party without so much complaining going on.) The way I see it, unless a suitable host can be found soon Van Susteren better start coming up with some new material.