Janeane Garofalo, British Columbia, Canada

BLAME CANADA

North Of The Border, Garofalo's Act Stumbles






As much as many Americans might love to see acerbic former Air America host Janeane Garofalo dumped across the border for good, it doesn't appear that Canadians are any more interested in the diminutive "entertainer".

The once- talented Garofalo, more recently consumed by unexplained inner rage, stumbled during a recent visit to British Columbia, according to the latest issue of the Georgia Straight, a weekly newspaper in Vancouver:

When it’s just not your night

By guy macpherson

Publish Date: 28-Sep-2006

Twelve shows over six nights might seem like an exhausting amount to experience in a week, but not when you consider the recently completed CanWest Comedy Fest featured 45 lineups with about 125 performers at 13 venues.

What was particularly interesting was experiencing the same comedians thriving and tanking on different nights with essentially the same material.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Janeane Garofalo’s shows. Her first set, with the Comedians of Comedy on September 21 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, was a huge mistake from start to finish. Many in the sold-out theatre bought tickets largely on her name, yet most sat quietly throughout her act.

Or should I say screed? She tried ingratiating herself with her Canadian audience by warning us of the evils of Stephen Harper and his neocon movement, but she wasn’t as familiar with her material as she should have been. Long meandering setups to bits on the day’s news bored us long before she arrived at anything remotely humorous.

Needless to say, I was skeptical about the choice to have her host the Best of the Fest showcase at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts two days later. But she proved to be a solid pro. Doing essentially the same material, Garofalo chopped away the fat and got down to the jokes’ essential elements (if what she does can be described as “jokes”). She lamented the fact that Canada, under Harper, is becoming more like the States. For years, Americans had an alternative: “If it gets too sh***y here, we can always move to Canada. Now you’ve denied us that option,” she said.

In lecturing Canadians on their own political affairs, isn't Garofalo engaging in exactly the kind of American imperialism she is normally so opposed to? Even if she did manage to recover during the second night, isn't it obvious she didn't know what the hell she was talking about?

With a moderate image, Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper took power in response the Liberal Party's horrible record of fraud, corruption and sleaze. Many Canadians refer to the previous regime as the Librano$.

Funny how she's opposed to that kind of dishonesty when she thinks it comes from the Bush White House.

Even more amusing, Garofalo's rhetoric could have played much better to the crowd in liberal Vancouver, if only she hadn't come across as such an ignorant, condescending and arrogant American imperialist.

Oh well, at least Americans got a short reprieve from Garofalo's brand of "comedic" misery.


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Garofalo image: Georgia Straight, Trump: David A Lunde

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