Whitney – Who is this chick, anyway?

Look: It’s a fact all comedians are funny in some way, shape or form. (Sure, there are comedians who may not be funny to you, but they will be to someone else out there.)

I thought Sam Kinison was funny. Denis Leary is funny. So is Lewis Black. I didn’t like George Lopez at all until I saw his HBO special which caused me to shed tears of laughter. Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers? Definitely funny. Bobcat Goldthwait and Gilbert Gottfried? Damned funny.

Margaret Cho? Not funny to me. Nor do I understand the comedy of Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell. (To this day, I haven’t seen a Will Ferrell film, I have no inclination to do so and I believe I am much better off because of it.)

But I wondered: What is all the hoopla surrounding Whitney Cummings and her titular freshman comedy on NBC? Because there’s been lots of talk about nixing the show for “the betterment of anyone who enjoys comedy” … or so I’ve been told. Why all the loathing? Why the hate? Is she that reprehensible? What gives?

I’ve given lots of different comedies, comedians and comedy shows a whirl. I’m one who says: “Only when you’ve tried it can you state whether you like it or not; otherwise you’ll never really know.” (Yes. I’m big on experience as a teacher.) It’s one of the reasons I delved into Two And A Half Men when Ashton Kutcher took over for Charlie Sheen for a couple spins. (By the way: Even though a jerk, Charlie Sheen in that vehicle? Pretty funny.)

So, just like Elmer Fudd, I figured “a hunting I would go.” (After all, I reasoned, if I could stomach William Shatner in Bleep My Dad Says, I could swallow 22 minutes of Whitney.) I decided it wouldn’t kill me to take in an episode to see what I could see.

I boned up a bit on the premise of the show and Whitney Cummings herself. From the get-go it didn’t seem either were my cup of tea. In fact it was postulated by my esteemed colleague (and arch-nemesis) An Nicholson, “It’s cool to hate Whitney,” something to which I had absolutely no point of reference. (Really? It’s cool to hate Whitney? Could it be that I’m simply out of touch with popular culture? Or that I’m really not “people” as some of my fellow writers have claimed? Naaaaaaaaah.) Here’s what I found out:

There’s a certain type of chicanery evident on the show that was rather pleasing. An was right in her summation it’s a bit Mad About You-ish. It is. And while I didn’t subscribe to that show all those years ago, I do see the comparisons. It harkens back to it most definitely.

Jumping into the show as I did, I was naturally afraid I would be lost in the telling — we have reached episode 19 after all. But that fear was groundless. The back and forth between Whitney and Alex kept me engaged overall. (Though, really: Does anyone use the term “Oh, snap!” anymore? Didn’t we lose that expression 5 or 6 years ago?) The supporting characters easily fit into my viewing without all their back history and I was indeed comfortable with them. As a matter of fact, I found the rest of the cast just as engaging as that of Whitney and Alex. They were fleet of word and agreeable to watch. In all the half hour of show, I was a bit surprised there wasn’t any feminist monkey business. I was prepared for such based on what An had stated earlier, but none reared its head. There was simply a contented feel injected with some rather fun assertiveness and snarkery, not at all disagreeable.

Am I going to actively seek out Whitney going forward? No. Because, as stated previously, it’s not necessarily my cup of tea. But I enjoyed it enough to have been glad to have given it a half hour of my time. I didn’t feel cheated in so doing and it was definitely worth it for the couple of guffaws that welled up in me. And knowing what I know now, I will catch it here and there on occasion.

I understand the show had its growing pains in the beginning, going through bouts of them in trying to find its footing. But from what I saw it seems to have found that footing and is coasting along on all thrusters nicely.

So … all that loathing of Whitney? Seems rather pointless from my point of view. She ain’t too bad a chick after all.

Quotes:

“Haven’t I mentioned Chloe? I must have mentioned her …” — Alex
“No. And I have a very special gift for remembering ex-girlfriends: Fiona, Jillian and Kiki the back-up dancer who still, to this day, is the only reason I go to the gym.” — Whitney

“Are you drinking while you’re working out?” — Whitney
“I’m stronger when I’m drunk.” — Mark

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Mar 08, 2012 @ 09:35 EST5EDT