Joe Buck: Real-Life Funny Or Just Sports Funny?
HBO insiders said that the volatility of Artie Lange‘s appearance on the premiere episode of HBO’s “Joe Buck Live” sparked those involved to ditch the comedy portion of the show and retreat to the more vanilla format of the other HBO sports programs from Bryant Gumbel and Bob Costas.
It’s an odd decision all around. After all, the show A) airs on HBO, a channel known for not shying away from hot-button conversation from the mouths of controversial people (see: Maher, Bill), B) had only one episode and they’re doing away with the only thing people talked about from it and C) was touted as a forum to display Joe Buck’s long-hidden wit and humor.
The odd thing about this deletion of “blue” comedy is that it is what Joe Buck asked for, according to Lange in an interview with ESPN’s Michael Irvin:
Joe Buck came to me in the green room and said, “Listen, let me have it. You know what, you guys are here because you’re comedians.’” He said he’s a fan of mine, he knows what I do … and Joe said, “Let me have it.’” Ross Greenburg, the producer, said to me – and I regret this because I love Paul Rudd and Jason [Sedeikis] – he said, “Art, if this segment gets boring with these other two guys, you get in there and really inject some energy and go crazy.’” On HBO, you tell me something like that, I’m gonna … run with it.
The problem seems to be that Lange didn’t make or understand the distinction between HBO programming and HBO Sports programming (why would he?) and that Buck didn’t make the distinction for Lange. In a radio interview with Buck on the Dan LeBetard show, Buck corroborates Lange’s claims, clarifying that Buck hoped for a juicy PG-13 performance and got something much rawer, which has since led to the President of HBO banning Lange from making further appearances on his network. That’s one less person for Ari Gold to feel threatened by. From the LeBetard interview:
“It just got a little dirty, which is the problem I had with it. I swear to you, [Lange] gave us exactly what he thought we wanted, for that I don’t fault the guy. He was performing and I needed to be more specific on what we wanted.”
The two stories seem to match one another. Neither – if true – would explain why a show dedicated to utilizing Buck’s sports acumen and his humor would rid itself of one of those two things after one misstep. Buck doesn’t seem to have been penalized by HBO (unless you count having to do more shows in September as punishment, which I do). Isn’t this miscommunication partly his fault? And even if it isn’t, and Lange deserves his blacklisting, why scrub away the comedic residue away from the show?
Unless of course, Joe Buck realized that he’s not television funny, he’s just sports funny. You know the difference, I’m sure. Sports funny is like NBA stars Chris Bosh and Baron Davis trading video skits. It’s noteworthy because athletes are showing a different emotion other than boredom or intensity. It doesn’t take a whole lot for the media to get a kick out of certain athletes. Look at how much attention Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter page gets. Real-world funny is like Pryor, Rock, Carlin, Bruce or y’know … Bob Newhart (seriously, if you haven’t checked out Newhart, he’s side-splitting).
Honestly, who ISN’T funny when you sit him in a booth next to Tim McCarver? It’s like hearing about how Sen. Hillary Clinton has never had the chance to let her wit and humor shine through in public. Is it that she hasn’t had the chance or that she tries, but her wit doesn’t translate in front of a broader public?
I believe people think Joe Buck is clever (none more so than Buck himself, I’m sure), but a lot of this show was predicated on Buck being able to shake loose and get a little more relaxed in front of an audience. In his first show, he never did it. The only one who did is now banned and the producers are calling an audible on the show’s original philosophy.
That points to a gaggle of writers, producers and talent suddenly realizing they didn’t have a clear view of how to be funny or what funny looks like in a talk show format. It might not look like Artie Lange, but it sure don’t look like Joe Buck either.
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