Illustration from The Home Decorator by Sherwin-Williams Co., 1936
I try to limit my non-music content to movie reviews here, but I wanted to write something about the passing of comedian Greg Giraldo. It might seem silly when acting legend Tony Curtis also passed away today, but I always felt a kind of kinship with Giraldo. I don't know if it's well-known that he was a Harvard law grad who had worked at Skadden, one of Wall Street's most powerful law firms. He dropped out of practicing law early on and started over as a stand-up comic. As a lawyer who has a general loathing for other lawyers, I could sympathize with this. I also sympathized with his love for his kids and his anger and befuddlement with the way the world works.
It's too bad that Giraldo is going to be remembered by many as an "insult comic" - he gained some popularity in recent years doing Comedy Central's Celebrity Roasts, but insulting people wasn't the strongest aspect of his comedy. I used to watch Giraldo when he was a regular on Colin Quinn's late-night political-comedy round-table Tough Crowd, and I was always impressed with his ability to debate using attorney-style repartee with well-written jokes sewn into it. One of the best exchanges is this exchange with Denis Leary over North Korea - the good stuff starts around the 3-minute mark. Giraldo was only 44 when he died yesterday of an overdose - I considered him a kindred angry spirit and I'll miss him.
"Very Funny" by the Magnetic Fields
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