A look at comedians and humor in the Fray.

Is it easy to be funny or not? Reacting to Ron Rosenbaum's article on Seinfeld vs. Shapiro, "A Tale of Two Comics", JohnLee said,  "I rant in Shapiro's style every day, it's as easy as pie," whereas chance20-m  said that Shapiro's "funnier than me, but so are most people."  ClubhouseCancer decided to prove he was funny:

What if I went down to Rosenbaum's office and criticized him? He'd throw me out! You know, people don't throw each other out as much as they used to, do they? The old-fashioned throw-out? You don't see much of that anymore. I mean, are guys grabbing other guys by the scruff of the neck and just tossing them out? Not so much, I think. By the way, do you really need "of the neck" after "scruff?" Does any other body part even have a scruff? What is a scruff? What genius came up with this concept?

VTBiker posted a thoughtful analysis of Shapiro's take on the world:

Shapiro becomes disturbing, which, actually is in a way, beautiful and repulsive. It is beautiful to witness someone so willing, so open to communicating the demons in his head (which face it, are all in our head at some point to), and to openly discuss it with us. Perhaps it is therapy for him, which helps him deal with them. And hey, if you are going to have psychological issues, at least profit from them, no? But the other side of the coin is that you really feel that this man will never truly be happy.

Several Fraysters agreed that the best post title, from Amble, was "And you know who else sucks...Mozart!"—opening words, "Oh please, Salieri!"—while the line most in keeping with the Shapiro ethos was probably this from Rjamesyork: "I'm glad Shapiro no longer has to give sexual favors for heroin. However, he may have been more talented at that than he ever will be at comedy." MR … 10 a.m. GMT

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007

So you thought politics might be a hot number in Slate? You thought Fray types would be flocking to comment on candidates, spouses, and foreign policies 'round the world?

Wrong.

Try food for children. Mimi Sheraton commented on Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, and the floodgates opened. (Although in a response to a self-proclaimed armywife2001,there did come this: "Don't you have green beans to puree? Or a horrifying unjust and expensive (both in lives and in dollars) war to keep promoting?" from WordOfMouth.)

The arguments—which came overwhelmingly from women—covered lying to your children, whether this is comparable to pretending there is a Santa Claus, and many, many personal experiences. Many. At least two posters admitted that they could use Ms. Seinfeld's ideas to sneak more vegetables into their husbands' diets.