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The man has courage and
intelligence.
I've seen him at the
bookstores and comedy rooms in Hollywood and Santa Monica, and was
puzzled at first, then amused, and then more and more I started
laughing outrageously, at his nerve and his cleverness.
He is a comedian who is not
"settling" for comedy for today. He's creating comedy for
tomorrow.
He's a comedian with sex
appeal.
He's a comedian with the
soul of a poet, a pervert, a pirate, and a king.
He's raw and new and God
knows how good he may become.
I've seen him grow from a
former poet who enjoyed confusing people to savoring plain old
making people laugh. And yet, he is clever enough to be able to turn
off that cleverness.
He would not be good on the
Leno show. He's too extraordinary. Not many people know Eddie Izzard
or Emo Phillips in this country, but they have devoted
fans who don't like most modern comedy. Joel is in these newer
traditions.
In his earliest days, he was often compared to Andy
Kaufman, in both the good and bad sense. Gradually, he has gotten an
appreciation of many kinds of comedy-- that he is still in the
process of blending. From the World's longest fingernail to God
inventing sex, his topics are 'offbeat' and yet his handling is full
of heart and slapstick, as well as edginess.
If I wasn't enjoying watching
him so much, as a fellow comic, I could easily hate him. Catch him
when he's in town.
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