I’m not going to preface this clip with any intro because I want you to watch it and have your own reaction. The reaction I had was the same as the first commenter in line. The man speaking was a comedian on SNL in the nineties and clearly he wasn’t one of the people on that show who become cultural icons or went on to movie careers. I think that’s the basis for what he’s doing now.

This illustrates larger points about careers in entertainment/media, and also about the creatures who have crawled out from the woodwork in the era of Trump and run for elective office, become pundits, etc.

A lot of losers in Hollywood — or New York, hubs of creativity is my point — attribute their lack of success to the fact that their work is “too good” for Hollywood, that Hollywood is not on their level and can’t understand their perspective. Granted, Hollywood is strange and has a P.T. Barnum-esque aspect to it. As to New York, it’s by far the more intellectual sphere of the two, which means that there are always playwrights/comedians that think they’ve got some killer perspective on a subject and what they’ve actually cobbled together is something weird and boring. But even then, there’s a market for the weird and boring to some extent, just as Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a hit for spotlighting the worst of grade Z movies. Sometimes bad is good if it’s bad enough and we see that principle both in entertainment and in politics today, since it has become an arm of the entertainment industry and now our way of governance.

I think Jim Breuer is one of the New York types who thinks he’s got a killer act and at best it’s a novelty act that will appeal to a few. I can only conjecture from knowing some of these people myself from when I worked in the studios back in the 80’s that Breuer became bitter when he wasn’t more successful and so he’s taking his bitterness to the crowd that will love it, QAnon.

QAnon thrives by demonizing everybody, whether it’s the purported sexual aberrations of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Hollywood elites or the alleged evil doings of Dr. Fauci, or Bill Gates, just keep naming names. QAnon has “the truth” about them and it is a hateful truth. It is a truth based upon people in a global cult, who have somehow gamed the system. If they are successful, it’s because they played dirty, along with the other people who have played dirty in the history of the world, “going back to the Roman Empire” as Breuer puts it.  And what it all boils down to, it’s who you know. It’s not talent or ability which will get you someplace, and the QAnon types, like Breuer are convinced that they have plenty, but it’s who you know.

And Breuer is not the only one to crawl out of the woodwork of obscurity with minimal, if any, ability for the jobs they do, just riding the grievance wave into the spotlight. Look at what’s in Congress. Look at Matt Gaetz, look at Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the lot of them. These are all counter culture people. These are people who claim to have the inside track on what “real Americans” are saying and wanting, and all they are is a freak show. They’re professional trolls and doing a P.R. act. Even Mitch McConnell is disgusted with Marjorie Taylor Greene and her “loony” ideas, consider that.

This is America’s counter culture, fueled with anger. It is the culture of the know-nothings and it was spawned by the original know-nothing, Donald Trump, who came down the escalator with his line of b.s. and said that he was going to fix everything, he was the only one who could do it.

Trump’s ascension to power not only broke the laws of political physics but of common sense as well. How did somebody with no experience, no relevant background in politics and no successes in business, either, just a series of bankruptcies and cons, get so far? And the reason is, he’s the Loser Candidate. The man is a complete loser and a lot of losers identified with him and then went out and voted for him.

We have seen the truth of this. The couple that are in jail now, along with their 15-year-old son, who killed four of his classmates at school, the Crumbleys, are all Trump supporters. And they are total losers, by any reasonable yard stick, although they were doing well financially, curiously enough.

We were shocked in 2016 when Trump won because nobody knew until that time that a complete freak could win an office that high. We had seen celebrity governors before, but they had some legitimacy. Nobody denies Arnold Schwarzenegger his business acumen as well as his charisma. He’s a decent actor, too, certainly as good as Reagan ever was. And Reagan had some legitimate claim to politics. He started out as president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Trump had the charisma of these other politicians but the rest of it was lies. Nevertheless, he got 63 million votes in 2016 and 74 million in 2020. He literally baffled them with bullshit and he prevailed.

This is the state of our nation today. The fringe lunatics are coming to take over and the GOP is happily enabling them for the most part. It’s a well known fact of history that whenever there is societal upheaval, through war or social revolution, new opportunities arise and people take advantage of them. Prohibition, for example, made many people fortunes. The Kennedys were among those people. Social upheaval allows the street smart to do very well. Some of those people have other smarts and rise in society. Other people are simply cunning, with no skills, and they do alright when the social pot gets stirred up as well.

In this era, the likes of high school dropout Lauren Boebert has a seat in Congress. And her other colleagues at the Explore Talent agency have also done well. There is no way that that could have happened in a normal, sane social structure, but it can happen in this one. It’s been said that the difference between animals and humans is that animals don’t let the stupid ones lead the pack. You might let that one sink in, because in this era, that is exactly what is going on.

QAnon is a big part of Trump world and Trump world is about grievance. And behind the grieving masses are the forces of evil who are only too eager to unite the masses and take over this country in a fascist coup. And I hate to say it, but there are enough stupid people in this country now, that that is a real possibility.

Happy Monday.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. I’d completely forgotten this guy. Can’t remember the last time I thought of him since I don’t watch SNL or re-run stuff unless it’s one of the classic clips. I can’t say I’m happy to be reminded of him either because back when I did see him in some stuff it was apparent why he became as you put it “a FORMER” comedian. He wasn’t funny.

    Having been both a ballplayer who by the end of my senior year basketball season had become admired, and from experience in performing arts where I played everything from bit to starring roles I’m familiar with the adulation that admiring crowds can provide and frankly, while I appreciated acclaim at the end of a game or performance it also made me uncomfortable. It can be like a drug, and I don’t need to go listing examples of famous sports or entertainment figures who have sadly worn out their welcome because they can’t stand not being in the spotlight.

    That goes for politicians too.

    Gingrich blasting his way back into the spotlight is a perfect example, and the biggest attention addict of them all (Trump) who can’t stand anyone else getting attention but gets REALLY pissed about Republicans stealing any probably wants to throttle ole Newt. However, getting back to the point of your piece there are sadly a lot of once semi-famous people who weren’t all that talented but were in the right place at the right time and not only got a dose of applause, but got hooked on it. Like crack whores they will do anything including courting the MAGA/Q crazies to get it.

    You made me think of a fifty year old musical and the title song – the Tony Award winning Applause. The “Gypsie” (a term for dancers/singers/extras who scrape out a living going from show to show) character played by Bonnie Franklin (older folks might remember her more for her TV role as the mom in One Day At A Time) came to mind when I thought about what you wrote. Applause is what assholes like this guy miss, and will do anything to get again.

  2. I watched a middle-aged male MAGAt being interviewed at Trump’s recent Arizona hillbilly rally.
    The interviewer asked him what he loved most about Trump and the MAGAmoron said “I love hearing him talk. I don’t care what he says exactly, I just love to hear him.” The interviewer asked “Why?” Answer: “Because he talks just like me.”
    This is what happens when education fails a populace and Fox fills the void.

  3. I don’t know who this guy is at all (I was working graveyard shift during his tenure), so I “wiki-ed” him. He apparently was employed enough to enjoy an upper middle-class life. But in 2020, during the pandemic, he moves from NJ to Naples, FL. If he did this for tax purposes, maybe makes sense. If he did this to join the MAGA gravy train, not sure it’s going to work out for him. There are so many grifters already on that train, don’t think there is room for more.

  4. We can’t dismiss all the normal Republicans who voted for Trump. They voted for him because he was the R nominee and that’s the only reason. They were so brainwashed by years of being told that social programs were being paid for with THEIR tax dollars and anyone receiving them was lazy and only wanted a handout – never mind the fact that the majority of our national budget is spent on defense (Pentagon, weapons, wars). There are the Catholic and Evangelical R’s whose only focus was to end abortion and Trump promised that. Many, many of these people aren’t losers but they felt they had no other choice. That’s the sad part.

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