The End Of Fun

Two of the guys in the party that were berated by comedian Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory last week have now engaged an attorney to try to get a personal apology and "maybe some money" out of the beleagured comic. Maybe they'll get it, maybe they won't. One way or another, this incident will forever change the face of live standup comedy. As someone who's worked in the comedy industry for almost 30 years, I've seen many comedians have that "off" set that can sometimes result in losing it while attempting to win the crowd back. And although they may occasionally "walk the room" (have the audience leave before the show is over) or, heavens, insult audience members using racial epithets that comics of the same race can use with impunity, until now there was no easy way to capture the comic meltdown. Now, as the grainy video cell cam footage of Richards demonstrates, no comic is safe from the glaring mini-lens. So hello to more political correctness and goodbye to freeform, unfettered and, yes, occasionally too-outrageous spoutings by free-thinking comedians, the last bastion of live entertainment's free thought. Thanks to Michael Richards' cautionary tale, now only the most clueless laughmeister is liable to mouth off to a rude, unlistening and disrespectful crowd. For those of you keeping track, move your Constitutional markers up one square for Civil Rights and back two for Freedom of Speech.