From "Donald Glover Can’t Save You/The creator of 'Atlanta' wants TV to tell hard truths. Is the audience ready?" in The New Yorker.
I zeroed in on the Chevy Chase business (because we were just talking about his road rage problem), but there's also a man-in-shorts angle:
[Glover's character on "Atlanta"]... wasn’t a great manager or a great part-time boyfriend or, for that matter, a particularly promising human being. Curiously boyish in shorts and a backpack, he wasn’t even active, the minimal standard for television characters. He didn’t seem to do or want anything. He just watched and flinched and got yelled at to grow up....Here's a picture of him in shorts.
Comedy didn’t allow him to express the sadness he’d begun to feel—about race, about fame, about simply being human—so he turned to music.... [As Childish Gambino, he] offered earnest tracks about being bullied as a child and about suicidal thoughts—a counterpoint to rap’s hypermasculine mainstream. Fam Udeorji told me, “People thought Donald was a whiny dude who wasn’t into his blackness. And the shorts he wore onstage were so short they made my friends uncomfortable.”
_____________________
* The light was "human... almost too human." How sad is that?
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62 comments:
I am saddened to hear that Donald perceived me in that light
That's not funny!! I guess Glover is right.
Memo to Chase: Not every thing has to be commented on. If you're asked a question that shouldn't be answered, give a non-committal shoulder shrug.
Glover has talent -- Chase not so much.
My dislike for this smug, sanctimonious began the first season of Saturday Night Live. Once a jerk,always a jerk.
I agree that Chevy Chase seems like a deeply insecure person. Sounds like his character on Community (Pierce) was pretty much exactly how is in real life.
I've never seen Atlanta, but I find Donald Glover extremely talented and entertaining.
For some reason, I thought Donald Glover was the name of the shrink in the Halloween movies. But that guy was Donald Pleasance. There are very few Donalds anymore.
"sanctimonious Prick"
Glover quit in the fifth season, too bored to do it anymore.
THAT is the sign of a true artist.
The best part of Sunday in the Park with George is when Dennis decides to quit: "I'm going back to NASA."
"George ... I need to do something different."
Father Time in the world of comedy remains undefeated.
Chevy - you're not funny any more!
It seems whenever I hear a story about working with Chevy Chase, it invariably says he is an asshole. My guess is the stories are true.
Before clicking on the link my first thought was that Glover would be wearing Dolfin shorts.
Not a comment on Glover at all, but isn't everybody in Hollywood "immensity gifted"? It seems everyone is just incredible there. I never hear about anyone who is less than amazing.
"Chevy - you're not funny any more!"
I did laugh when he was knocked on his keister during the road rage incident.
Father Time in the world of comedy remains undefeated.
But Don Rickles was funny right up until the moment he died. He made Father Time laugh. I like to imagine Don Rickles in heaven, calling God "hockey puck," and God is doubled up in laughter.
Glover went from going by Don to Donald when he realized his twitter handle was @donglover.
Makes sense.
New Yorker does a long article on a celebrity. Yawn. And, God spare us, the creator of 'Atlanta' wants TV to tell hard truths. Golly.
"* The light was "human... almost too human." How sad is that?"
That's almost poetic, until you learn the context.
Today, I am going to strive to be "too human". Maybe even, "artificially human".
It's better in the original German
Menschliches, Allzumenschliches
Maybe the “light” Chevy zeroed in on was the “thrashing in the water” comment-slash-dig. He thinks he’s still hot stuff. -willie
At the waterfall. When we see a waterfall, we think we see freedom of will and choice in the innumerable turnings, windings, breakings of the waves; but everything is necessary; each movement can be calculated mathematically. Thus it is with human actions; if one were omniscient, one would be able to calculate each individual action in advance, each step in the progress of knowledge, each error, each act of malice. To be sure the acting man is caught in his illusion of volition; if the wheel of the world were to stand still for a moment and an omniscient, calculating mind were there to take advantage of this interruption, he would be able to tell into the farthest future of each being and describe every rut that wheel will roll upon. The acting man's delusion about himself, his assumption that free will exists, is also part of the calculable mechanism.
What happened to the kid who got arrested for kicking Chase?
Never heard of Donald Glover or any of his shows, but I did hear an interesting track yesterday by "Childish Gambino".
My kids liked Community for a while. It seemed to be hit with the young-teen-sleepover crowd.
Glover sounds like a smart guy, and I enjoyed his work on "Community." I don't watch his new show because pretty much I've had more than enough with the Atlanta ghetto and don't need to seek it out as television entertainment.
Chase always was overrated, and particularly by Chase himself.
Another Negro whining about the white man's microaggressions. What a shocker!
I'm surprised by how much hatred there is out there for Chevy Chase. Now don't get me wrong. I never much cared for him or thought he was reliably funny. But he had his moments. For example, there's that scene in Trading Places where he's dressed up like a hobo Santa Claus at the buffet table at the Union League and he makes off with the smoked salmon . . . HILARIOUS!!!
Howard said...
"The acting man's delusion about himself, his assumption that free will exists, is also part of the calculable mechanism."
Well, that's obviously true. Or else, it's obviously false. One or the other, certainly.
Posts like this make me realize just how long it's been since I've watched anything on network television.
For example, there's that scene in Trading Places where he's dressed up like a hobo Santa Claus at the buffet table at the Union League and he makes off with the smoked salmon . . . HILARIOUS!!!
Um, that's Dan Aykroyd. A true talent.
"that's Dan Aykroyd."
Chase's costar in Spies Like Us.
"These are the Yusufzai. They're Afghani freedom fighters. They're our allies."
"Oh. [Stands and waves.] We're Americans!"
cut to Aykroyd and Chase trussed up by their feet....
Chevy had his moment and in that moment he was a bigger star than Glover. Something for Glover to ponder. Glover might be as much of the moment as Chevy was........Rickles, Bob Newhart and some of the other comedians had more durable careers, but Chevy was a movie star. That's a big deal that only a few comedians have ever reached. It didn't last, but it happened.
Speaking of racist, the entire time I was reading this post, I kept reading Danny Glover. I have never seen the show in question.
But he had his moments.
Vacation, Fletch, Caddyshack, and especially Funny Farm (not least because the character shared my last name) were some of my favorites growing up. And I actually enjoyed Memoirs of an Invisible Man, but I cannot think of a single film role Chase did afterwards that I would be interested in watching.
Eric the Fruit Bat:
"I'm surprised by how much hatred there is out there for Chevy Chase."
I for one don't hate him. At his best he made me laugh, a lot. I've rolled my eyes as he praised Castro's Cuba, but hey. I don't need actors to agree with me. Mainly I'm sorry to hear over and over that he's a dick in real life.
Chase is a nutjob. His name should be on the NICS list to stop him from getting a gun.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to end up in life, son.
I will say that Atlanta is freaking hilarious. Glover’s character is a perfect foil for all the craziness around him, and enough of a mope himself not to be self-righteous. Reminds me a little of Augie March actually. If you are a big snowflake about sometimes seeing white behavior skewered through a black POV you will of course dislike it. But it’s not preachy or sanctimonious about itself — the BET spoof episode, for instance, shows that the gimlet stoner eye points in all directions. Fun to watch in part just because unlike most tv you really never quite know where it’s going to go next.
Speaking of racist, the entire time I was reading this post, I kept reading Danny Glover. I have never seen the show in question.
Same here. Had to look Donald up in imdb.com
For what it's worth, the character Chase plays is a bigoted -- but lovable -- old white guy. Maybe Chase was just staying in character.
Chase was good in the eighties and early nineties in National Lampoon's, Fletch, and Funny Farm. But, did anyone else see that terrible talk show he tried for a few weeks? I know there must have been one or two people watching besides me. He was no Johnny Carson. All I remember was some stupid stunt where he through snowballs off the studio roof. Or was it watermelons?
Jared Kushner’s Security Clearance Downgraded
There goes peace in the Middle East. And, we were so close this time.
ARM for the irrelevant deflection! Well done!
After thinking it over, does this make you a Troll or a Moby?
A concerned citizen?
No. Talking point parrot.
Give me a whole bunch of Chevy Chase's costars.
Bill Murray.
Dan Akroyd.
Rodney Dangerfield.
Juliette Lewis.
Randy Quaid.
Chase was a marginal talent who did very well for a brief period. 1980-1985
The "Fletch" book series is a favorite of mine.
I was appalled at how Chase "interpreted" the character in the movies - he was nothing like the book's protagonist. I see now it was the only type of role he knew how to play.
Bitter, angry Tim.
Weird that beloved would post a deceiving story....
All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
The SCI acronym stands for sensitive compartmented information, a category of information that comes from sensitive intelligence sources and must be walled off.
The memo was not signed by chief of staff John Kelly, but it comes as the retired Marine general and other top White House aides are grappling with the fallout of a scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, which revealed that dozens of White House aides had yet to receive permanent clearances but nonetheless had access to some of the country’s deepest secrets.
“Bitter” and “angry” are just more talking points, BTW. I am pretty happy, actually, watching spring training baseball from my sumptuous digs. But it is also pretty funny that a purported Democrat thinks that American voters who feel like they are getting screwed by the “America is Already Great!” elites should be dismissed as bitter losers. What happened to a once great party?
“Bitter clingers!” Great followership Beloved!
The real story is that Trump didn’t play favorites among his staff, which was completely within his power. They are all following the same drawn out process.
So Chevy Chase lost his security clearance ? As if the guy hasn't got enough troubles. That's who we're discussing, right ?
Atlanta is very good I think. And I loved community but the Chevy Chase character was horrid. Not lovable at all but, at the time, they needed a 'Star' and I guess he was all they could afford
I just finished the article at the New Yorker. Very interesting. By the end, I learned that Donald Glover is a charismatic sociopath.
I still like his TV work, though.
From the article:
"...Glover explained, “Tay-K was sixteen and on the run for murder when he made this song. It’s a real Jesse James story.”..."
As Bob Dylan said, "To live outside the law, you must be honest."
Which is why Bob Dylan shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
Authenticity.
The Germans have a word for this.
Here are 70 Fun Facts About Chevy Chase.
A young actor/singer shaking their head at an old actor. On a Tuesday?!?
Also: This is the entertainment industry. Part of the equation is "publicity". I am 26% sure anything any celebrity says is temporary to the moment, and there is no problem in displaying an inconsistency if the objective is to retain spotlight. Could be that slagging C Chase makes business sense.
Also also: There's never any stories in the mags about how one custodian didnt really like working with this other custodian when they were both hired to clean the third floor. Had to do it for three years before moving to the building on elm st. (This goes back to trying to not care what hollywood types say about X. Its Lent!)
I seem to remember watching "Foul Play" at a friends house when vcrs first came out. My memory may be faulty, but I think movies back then liked to have more long shots where the dialogue occurred while the two script readers walked up a street, or washed the dishes, or climbed a ladder, etc.
Later, (90s?) more choppy cuts, and long dialogue occurred with people sitting, emoting. Might just be fake memory though.
That's who we're discussing, right ?
With beloved, the topic is always squirrels.
He made Father Time laugh.
Love the above.
This guy was funny back in the day …
did anyone else see that terrible talk show he tried for a few weeks?
We must have been 1/2 the audience. I recall he had a monitor in his desk and would stare down into it as part of a "bit". Unfunniest late night show I'd ever seen.
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