From Weekly Volcano
by HEATHER ROBINSON
“Where are we?” Joan Rivers rasped from offstage last Friday. “The Pantages Theater in Tacoma? It’s come to this?”
So the icon kicked off a performance so politically incorrect it would make the diversity-minded cringe if they didn’t realize that it was all shtick. Emerging …
From Weekly Volcano
by HEATHER ROBINSON
Since her days on The Tonight Show in the 1970s, Joan Rivers has been a comedic icon. Now 78, Rivers, as captured in Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (last year’s film documentary about her life) seems to fear just one thing: …
From The Jewish Standard
by HEATHER ROBINSON
Ahead of her June 12 performance to benefit Gilda’s Club Northern New Jersey, the local chapter of a charity founded in memory of the comedian Gilda Radner to help those struggling with cancer, cancer survivors, and their families, …
And I gotta say, the guy made my day.
The funny thing is, I was seated on this flight yesterday - JetBlue #1052, Pittsburgh to JFK - next to a lady who was scared to fly. At the outset, she pulled out a rosary and started praying (that’s not unusual, especially on a flight from Pittsburgh, …
Granted, he’s no Ph.D. But then again, he calls ‘em like he sees ‘em and is not influenced by partisan politics or ego. Who knows what the future will bring, but with a severe snowstorm on its way to New York City this weekend, we are battening down the hatches …
I just saw Michael Moore’s new movie. Moore’s creativity and humor have decreased roughly in proportion to his ever-increasing dogmatism. A good comedian, after all, needs the capacity to step back and lighten up; genuine stridency and urgency to force a perspective is at odds with comedy.
He does manage a funny moment or two (not …
Back in 2003, I had the opportunity to interview then-author, now Minnesota Senator Al Franken. I found his take on America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia to be interesting; likewise he had some provocative things to say about how Arab governments have neglected the Palestinians. I recall that …
Gary Coleman, ’80’s Sensation, Deserved Better
From Jewish World Review
by Heather Robinson
As I started to write about the death, last weekend, of Gary Coleman, my pen leaked all over my hand. It seems fitting that, writing about this pop culture icon, I got a taste–albeit a tiny one–of bad luck.
In this age of psychology, when diagnoses substitute …