Punchline Magazine Tears Variety's Primetime Stand-Up Analysis a New One

Last week Variety columnist Brian Lowry deigned to publish an op-ed about the state of stand-up comedy where he waxes rhapsodic about the days when Bill Cosby, Tim Allen, Seinfeld and Roseann ruled the airwaves. Using the dubious standard of "Does s/he have a successful sitcom?" as the canary in the mineshaft for comedy in general and stand-up in particular, he goes on to generalize:

"The comedy biz‚Äôs bedraggled state can be tacitly seen in two programs that premiered in March — 'Lewis Black‚Äôs The Root of All Evil,' on Comedy Central; and DirecTV‚Äôs 'Supreme Court of Comedy,' hatched by the Laugh Factory‚Äôs Jamie Masada.

"In my 'Root of All Evil'
review, I likened the net effect to a 'full employment act for
second-tier comedians,' which predictably did not endear me to the
second-tier comedian community."

As a fan of such "Root of All Evil" counselors as Patton Oswalt, I'd like to extend a flying middle finger to that assertion. But for a response that's more lucid, furious and informed, point your browsers at Dylan P. Gadino's response in Punchline Magazine:

"Lowry might submit that his piece, 'Why stand-ups are sitting out
prime time: Comics choose game shows instead of sitcoms,' simply
explores a specific phenomenon, the shift in where comics fall in the
current TV hierarchy. It’s true that there’s been a rise in well-known
comics snagging game-show jobs recently. But Lowry stretches the facts
and his point too far.

"To pretend that this phenomenon is indicative of a failing, irrelevant art form is embarrassingly inaccurate and offensive.

"Lowry describes the state of stand-up as 'bedraggled' and remarks
about established comics 'scurrying back' to comedy clubs after their
sitcoms founder. He chooses the word 'relegated' when describing
comedians’ roles in current game shows. The rhetorical device of using
negatively loaded phrases is effective if it’s used to further drive a
point that’s already been established with logic, reason and facts.
Without those components, they are just words — empty words that
camouflage a poorly thought out argument.

"So I ask Lowry: The entire state of stand-up is bedraggled because our nation’s sitcoms aren’t drowning in comics?"

You can find the full read here.