barbaragray:

I witnessed something really gross happen last night. Something I wish I’d never experienced.

I saw one of my heroes be a total asshole.

I was booked on a show called Odd Thursdays at the Palace, a Chinese restaurant in Los Feliz. There is a small upstairs room that has become home to a few…

Alright. I’ve been twittering up a storm about this, so I’ll write a little bit about what I think about all of this.

Patton was in the right on all of this. People are saying “It’s not about the fact that it’s being filmed, it’s how he responded!” but why isn’t it about the fact that someone is finally standing up (pun not intended) to people bootlegging their sets. From her response it doesn’t sound like she knew what she was doing was wrong. It is wrong, and people should learn that! I was at a talk that Sue Johanson did at my University and someone from a new station was filming her, she stopped the talk to ream him out about filming and her rights as a member of ACTRA. If I know anything about Equity and ACTRA, rules about filming performances are strict as hell. Even if you aren’t making money off of it, you are ruining the final product: In this case, Patton wanting to polish off new material for a new TV special. He wants new, fresh jokes for a new tour. He doesn’t want to rip of his fans by touring stale material… which it will be if someone puts it all up on YouTube.

As for the way he handled it, probably not the most graceful handling… but what can you do when you have to ad lib after someone has the gall to film without your permission. Do you stop and explain to everyone rationally how what the woman did was wrong, or do you make jokes at her expense so she doesn’t do it again? It sucks that stand-up comedy might have been ruined for her, but really… don’t be a dick, or the comedian is going to be a dick right back. You can have a good time without trying to talk to the comedian or filming it.

Stand-up comedy is hard. Comedians would just like a supportive ear and an honest reaction to their work. Preferably laughter, but silence is also an important factor in the process of writing and re-writing. That’s the deeper meaning in the phrase “Support Live Comedy.”

P.S. (My mean 3rd cent) I just think she was mad that Patton didn’t stick around to watch her set and sweep her off to the (semi-fictional) world of stand-up fame and fortune. When I’m doing new material I feel like I am going to puke all night and am not in the best mood for pre-show socializing. And if I had a show that I felt went poorly for some reason or another, I would want to get out of there pronto.