The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘An Aimless and Slovenly Disaster’

Posted on | April 11, 2011 | 6 Comments

The quote is from Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly reviewing Charlie Sheen’s Friday live show at Radio City Music Hall in New York. A great phrase, worthy of a book title. As to exactly why Charlie’s show sucked:

In the early stages of his madman meltdown phase . . . he created the sex-and-dope version of a Howard Beale mad-as-hell moment. He held out the prospect of danger, of saying the things that we aren’t allowed to say. . . . Which leads one to ask: What does a Howard Beale who has already had his mad-as-hell eruption do for an encore?

Sheen is an actor, and actors require a script, but Sheen is not a writer. A guy who made $2 million telling other people’s jokes can’t seem to understand that the joke-writers — who got paid a lot less than he did — were important to his success.

Besides which, a live stage show is not a TV sitcom, where you can do re-takes or add a laugh track. And deranged narcissism isn’t really funny.

Category: Celebrities

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