PT Barnum: After securing the right vocation, you must be careful to select the proper location. ... When I was in London in 1858, I was passing down Holborn with an English friend and came to the "penny shows." They had immense cartoons outside, portraying the wonderful curiosities to be seen "all for a penny." Being a little in the "show line" myself, I said "let us go in here." We soon found ourselves in the presence of the illustrious showman, and he proved to be the sharpest man in that line I had ever met. He told us some extraordinary stories in reference to his bearded ladies, his Albinos, and his Armadillos, which we could hardly believe, but thought it "better to believe it than look after the proof." He finally begged to call our attention to some wax statuary, and showed us a lot of the dirtiest and filthiest wax figures imaginable. They looked as if they had not seen water since the Deluge. "What is there so wonderful about your statuary?" I asked. "I beg you not to speak so satirically," he replied, "Sir, these are not Madam Tussaud's wax figures, all covered with gilt and tinsel and imitation diamonds, and copied from engravings and photographs. Mine, sir, were taken from life. Whenever you look upon one of those figures, you may consider that you are looking upon the living individual." Glancing casually at them, I saw one labelled "Henry VIII," and feeling a little curious upon seeing that it looked like Calvin Edson, the living skeleton, I said: "Do you call that 'Henry the Eighth?'" He replied, "Certainly, sir; it was taken from life at Hampton Court, by special order of his majesty, on such a day." He would have given the hour of the day if I had insisted; I said, "Everybody knows that 'Henry VIII' was a great stout old king, and that figure is lean and lank; what do you say to that?" "Why," he replied, "you would be lean and lank yourself, if you sat there as long as he has." ... I called upon him a couple of days afterwards; told him who I was, and said: "My friend, you are an excellent showman, but you have selected a bad location." He replied, "This is true, sir; I feel that all my talents are thrown away; but what can I do?" "You can go to America," I replied. "You can give full play to your faculties over there; you will find plenty of elbow-room in America; I will engage you for two years; after that you will be able to go on your own account." He accepted my offer and remained two years in my New York Museum. He then went to New Orleans and carried on a traveling show business during the summer. Today he is worth $60,000, simply because he selected the right vocation and also secured the proper location.
PT Barnum - I have made a good deal, outside of my showbusiness, in real estate, much of it here in Bridgeport. I built up East Bridgeport, which, not many years ago, was all farms. I have put a good deal of money into enterprises for the encouragement of manufacturing, but they did not pay me. I always lost. I lost $100,000 in manufacturing in Waterbury and elsewhere before that wretched Jerome Clock Company business, by which I lost five years of the best part of my life and more than $300,000. Taken altogether, I have sunk at least $500,000 in manufacturing concerns.
Alexander Graham Bell: I felt then [back when I was trying to invent the telephone] that my difficulty was my lack of knowledge about electricity; but I now realize that I would never have brought forth the telephone if I had known anything about electricity, for no electrician would have tried what I tried. The advantage I had was that I had studied sound all my life and knew something of its nature, the shapes of the vibrations that pass through the air when you talk, and other facts about sound. I had to go to work, with the assistance of Mr. Watson, to learn about electricity by my own experiments. No electrician would have been foolish enough to attempt the ridiculous experiments we tried. [Sometimes our knowledge makes us narrow-minded. It's not uncommon for the less knowledgeable to make discoveries that evade people who know more about a topic.]
Andrew Carnegie: Mr. Kloman's ambition had been to be in the office, where he was worse than useless, rather than in the mill devising and running new machinery, where he was without a peer. ... He was perhaps flattered by men who were well known in the community; and in this case he was led by persons who knew how to reach him by extolling his wonderful business abilities in addition to his mechanical genius...
After Mr. Kloman had passed through the bankruptcy court and was again free, we offered him a ten percent interest in our business... [with] the condition that he should not enter into any other business or endorse for others, but give his whole time and attention to the mechanical and not the business management of the mills. Could he have been persuaded to accept this, he would have been a multimillionaire; but his pride, and more particularly that of his family, perhaps, would not permit this. He would go into business on his own account, and, notwithstanding the most urgent appeals on my part, and that of my colleagues, he persisted in the determination to start a new rival concern with his sons as business managers. The result was failure and premature death.
How foolish we are not to recognize what we are best fitted for and can perform, not only with ease but with pleasure, as masters of the craft. More than one able man I have known has persisted in blundering in an office when he had great talent for the mill, and has worn himself out, oppressed with cares and anxieties, his life a continual round of misery, and the result at last failure. I never regretted parting with any man so much as Mr. Kloman. His was a good heart, a great mechanical brain, and had he been left to himself I believe he would have been glad to remain with us.
Mark Edward: [As a clairvoyant,] You have to gauge the tone of a person's voice. If they are aggressive or laid back, in a hurry or skeptical. The first four or five words are important. ... All these things about yourself are relatable. Nine out of 10 times you will hit a nerve with them. Then I'd pause and let them jump in. People love talking about themselves and hear what you say about them. They like to imagine I'm in some far off convent, but really I'm ironing at home. And I'd try to be compassionate and sound as new age as you can. ... I would have note cards by my phone for specific answers. Pink for love. Yellow for travel. Green for money. Then I'd talk about a childhood memory of mine. Less is more. Eventually you will find something relatable. Just one or two firm connections, and you'll run with the ball. Once you make that hit, it pours out. And then you mirror. Let the person talk and then you listen and say, "I hear what you're saying is this," "I feel what you're saying." I fed them hope."
Tina Fey: There were many times in my nine years at the show [SNL] when I couldn't understand why [the showrunner] Lorne [Michaels] wouldn't just tell people to knock it off. Eccentric writers would turn in sketches that were seventeen minutes long; immature performers tried fits and tears when their sketch was later in the show than they'd like. My every terrible instinct would have been to pull these culprits aside and scold them like a schoolmarm. "Please explain to me why your sketch should get to be three times longer than everyone else's? Why won't you take the perfectly reasonable cuts I suggested? How dare you pitch a fit about what time your sketch is on? Some people didn't get to be in the show at all. Do you think you're working harder than everyone else?" ... Lorne has an indirect and very effective way of dealing with the crazies. ... Lorne knows that the most exhausting people occasionally turn out the best stuff.
Gil Greengross and Geoffrey Miller: The public perceives comedians as ostentatious and flashy. Their persona on stage is often mistakenly seen interchangeably with their real personality, and the jokes they tell about their lives are considered by many to have a grain of truth in them. However, the results of this study suggest that the opposite is true. Perhaps comedians use their performance to disguise who they are in their daily life. Comedians may portray someone they want to be, or perhaps their act is a way to defy the constraints imposed on their everyday events and interactions with others.
In ancient times, Mi Tzu Hsia became popular with the ruler of Wei State. At the time, the laws of Wei State stated, “The punishment for using the royal carriage without permission is a double foot amputation.” One day, someone went into the palace late at night and informed Mi Tzu Hsia that his mother was sick. Upon hearing this, he forged a fake request from the ruler in order to use his carriage, and then took it to go see his mother. When the ruler found out about this, [not only was he not offended,] he only had good things to say, and remarked, “What a filial child! Over his concern for his mother, he went so far as to risk having his feet cut off!”
Another time, Mi Tzu Hsia was walking outdoors with the ruler, and began eating a peach. Tasting how delicious it was, he offered the remaining half to the ruler, who remarked, “Your love for me is truly genuine!—so much so that you have put your own appetite aside, and instead concern yourself with offering me good food!”
But many years later, when Mi Tzu Hsia’s looks had faded and the ruler was not enamored with him anymore, a charge was brought against him by the ruler, who remarked, “Don’t forget, this is the same guy who stole my carriage and offered me his half-eaten peach!”
Although Mi Tzu Hsia’s actions remained the same, he was initially praised from them, and later charged with wrongdoing—and this was all because the ruler’s love for him had converted into disdain.
Tzu Chang was pulling a push-cart to go across the arch of a bridge, but was unable to bear the weight. So, he sat on the shaft and began singing. Meanwhile, the passers-by from the front stopped, and those from the rear ran forward to help him, until the push-cart reached the top of the arch.
Suppose Tzu Chang had no technique to attract people. Then even if he exhausted himself to death, the cart would not have been able to go across the bridge. The reason why he did not exhaust himself while the cart went up the arch of the bridge was because he had the technique to make use of people.
Tsao Fu managed four horses. He drove them at maximum speed, maneuvered them expertly, and could go in any direction he wanted. He could mange the horses in whatever way he wanted because he was in control of the whip and reins. But, when a jumping pig scared the horses, Tsao Fu lost control of the horses. This is not because the severity of the whip and rein decreased. This is because his authority over the horses was superceded by the impact of the jumping pig.
Long ago, Kung Sung Lung told his disciples, “I have no use for people without talent.”
A guest came along wearing cheap clothing--and upon being interviewed, he said, “Your servant has the talent of being able to shout.”
Kung Sung looked him up and down and said to his disciples “Have we any criers?” “We have none,” was the reply, and thereupon, the King ordered this stranger to be entered on the register. A few days later, the disciples went to call on Yen Wang for consultation: on coming to a river, the ferry boat was found to be far away at the opposite bank. So the newly-enlisted crier was ordered to vociferate his loudest. The boat came, after he shouted once.
It is written that "The Sage does not readily overlook the service of anyone with ability."
Li Chu's vision was so good, that he could see a needlepoint from many yards away. And yet, he couldn't see the fish in a pool. [Master Musician] Shih Kuang was so perceptive, that he could distinguish the winds from the eight quarters and harmonize the five notes of the eight scales. And yet, his hearing wouldn't let him discern anything more than a few miles off.
What can be expected from one person should not be above what one man’s strength can bear. .... Each man is expert in his own specialty, and concentrates on that which he desires to be proficient in.
Yen Hsin Chu of Liang Fu was a bandit, but rose to be a loyal minister of Ch’i. Tuan Kan Mu was a piece-goods broker of Ts’in, and became the instructor of Baron Wen. Meng Mao married his sister-in-law and had five sons by her, but became the Prime Minister of Wei, pacified its turbulence, and dissipated the national troubles. Ching Yang was an unkempt drunkard and whoremonger, but as a General of Wei, he brought the Feudal Lords to their knees.
Pei Li Hsi was a cattle-broker, I Yin a cook, T’ai Kung was a butcher, Ning Ch’i a ballad singer--and they all went on to become great ministers we still talk about to this day. Before they rose to power, the public looked at their low, degrading occupations, and were unable to appreciate their general excellencies. ... It took the penetration of [Emperor] Yao to discern their merits, whilst they were as yet undistinguished. This is the way Yao knew [his successor] Shun. ... Most people can't duplicate Yao's discovery of Shun. They lack the acumen for discovering people. ... Mediocre princes and governors of the world are sometimes easily deceived by appearances.
The musician Han Tan composed a new tune, but told people is was the creation of [the renowned musician] Li Chi'i. Everybody strove to learn it. But on hearing later that it was not his creation, they gave it up. They really didn’t judge from its merit as music. ... They were enamored of a name. …
Hsiang T’o, a child of seven years, was a teacher of Confucius who paid heed to his words. A youth speaking to an elder generally gets his face slapped; but this boy was saved a castigation by the wisdom of his words.
His [Emile Bruneau's] first formal experience in conflict resolution came when he was 24 and volunteering at a summer camp for Catholic and Protestant boys in Belfast. In an effort to build friendships between the two groups, the camp organizer, an American nonprofit, invited 250 children between the ages of 6 and 14 to bunk together for three weeks, all in the same large room. There were no planned activities or events. One volunteer was an artist who wanted to help the children design murals; another was a jazz musician who offered music therapy. But mainly the volunteer counselors, all in their early 20s, were left to improvise. Everyone's heart was in the right place, Bruneau told me when I visited his office at M.I.T. this fall. But nobody had any clue what they were doing. At first he thought things were going pretty well. Some Protestant boys built what seemed like genuine friendships with some Catholic boys. But on the last day of the program after three weeks of nature walks, impromptu dialogues and trust-building exercises a fight broke out between two participants that quickly devolved into a full-scale, 250-child brawl: Catholics against Protestants. Bruneau was startled. He knew the children to be both kind and empathetic toward one another. But those instincts were overridden by something much more powerful. He left Ireland wondering if peace-building initiatives were doing more harm than good, and if there was any way to make them better.
Not long ago a young man whom I had not seen for several years called on me, and I was amazed at the tremendous change in him. When I had last seen him he was pessimistic, discouraged, almost despairing; he had soured on life, lost confidence in human nature and in himself. During the interval he had completely changed. The sullen, bitter expression that used to characterize his face was replaced by one of joy and gladness. He was radiant, cheerful, hopeful and happy.
The young man had married an optimistic wife, who had the happy faculty of laughing him out of his “blues” or melancholy, changing the tenor of his thoughts, cheering him up, and making him put a higher estimate on himself. His removal from an unhappy environment, together with his wife’s helpful, “new thought” influence and his own determination to make good, had all worked together to bring about a revolution in his mental make-up. The love-principle and the use of the right thought-force and had verily made a new man of him. (Peace, Power, and Plenty)
I know this lady. Her husband doesn't come to church with her. There are a lot of issues in her home she's been dealing with. For years she used to come down front for prayer. She had this list of all the things she wanted God to fix. And she didn't think she could be happy unless they all turned around. The main thing was her husband.
I saw her recently and she was just beaming with joy. She was more beautiful and more at peace than I had ever seen her before. And I thought surely everything must have worked out. But she said, "No, Joel. My husband is just the same. Still got a lot of issues. He hasn't changed. But you know what? I have changed. I don't let that frustrate me anymore. I don't let him keep me from enjoying my life."
What matters to most of those collectors is winning. When art becomes a competitive sport, all it takes to win is the guts and the money to go further than anyone else, and then, voila, you win. And winning feels really good. ... We're living in a world of funny money. And money is not really a measure of anything anymore because... it's thrown around in such unpredictable ways. - David Ross
The difference between wit that gets belly laughs and wit that gets bored silence is not only a matter of the style the material is both written and delivered in, but also a matter of the degree to which the audience cares about the subject. - Jay Sankey
(1862-1939) steel executive
That’s the way character is formed—doing callisthenic feats with obstacles and adversities. I tell you the hard knocks are the nest eggs of our fortunes.
The men that are not made of the right stuff go under with them and are never heard of again.
And there are the others who are soured and embittered by them, and they’re heard from eternally. They haven’t a good word to say for the world’s plan, because when it got a trifle complicated it baffled them. Those are the men who do more harm to the youth of civilization than its vices.
Then there are those who start out, sometimes with bare feet and holes in their trousers, bravely resolving never to let circumstances crush them, never to harbor bitterness over defeat, but to save their energies for the next encounter. These are the men hard knocks don’t hurt. They toughen them; they help them get ready for the next encounter. To these men, it’s only a question of sufficient hardship, and sacrifice, and battle, to make them proof against any onslaught. These are the soldiers, the victors.
There's a little Homer Simpson in all of us. Sometimes we have self-control problems, sometimes we're impulsive... Once we know that people are human and have some Homer Simpson in them, then there's a lot that can be done to manipulate them. - Cass R. Sunstein
People are certainly not sheep. Many of us display a great deal of independence. But most human beings, including many apparent rebels, are strongly influenced by the views and actions of others. - Cass R. Sunstein
A good way to create an extremist group, or a cult of any kind, is to separate members from the rest of society. This separation can occur physically or psychologically, by creating a sense of suspicion about nonmembers. - Cass R. Sunstein
Like-minded people tend to move to a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk. - Cass R. Sunstein
Extremists and hate-filled [web]sites tend to attract likeminded people who, if isolated, could come to their senses. - Cass R. Sunstein
Ordinarily it is not very difficult to find out what other people want and how they want it. All that is necessary, as a rule, is simply to keep our mind on the other fellow's problems instead of our own, to make a real business of studying his viewpoint. ... Only by approaching people through their own point of view can we hope to control them. - Ewing T. Webb and John B. Morgan
I have traveled the long road of life, experiencing hardship, difficulty, and I know the sentiment of man is often as thin as paper. I have seen corruption and those whose only concern is realizing their own desires. Because of this, I have striven even harder to live a practical life, willing to sacrifice even more for the good of the people. After the founding of the Republic [of China], I spent my time working in the streets as a doctor, treating anyone who came to me for help with wholehearted enthusiasm. When one finds happiness in serving others, one will be full of the spirit of life, seeing things as they are with a calm heart. Thus, one may reach the state where the spirit is preserved within, the body is healthy and the spirit full, the intellect wise, decisions made adroitly and reactions made spontaneously. Consequently, the life energy will be strengthened and increased while promoting the health and longevity of the body. - Wang Ji Wu
Fine dining cook here. 30% of your meal is butter. That's why it's so good.
The case [that I was involved in on the Judge Judy show] was real (I mean, I had to file at my local courthouse and send the paperwork to the producers; they promptly sent both myself and the defendant a form to sign that indicated we were dropping the case and opting for arbitration) but oh dear lord, was it ever exaggerated.
So: I signed up on the Judge Judy website in an attempt to scare my sister straight and make her pay me back some trivial amount that I had loaned her. However, after we were contacted by the producer and found out the both the trip to LA and amount owed would be paid for by the production company, we opted to go for it.
We were coached to roll our eyes, gasp and gawk, and speak out if the other party said something with which we disagreed. The producer also wanted to add some more "drama" to the case (it was, admittedly, pretty boring), so we made up an entire scenario about a shouting match and stolen jewelry (I nixed the idea of my sister calling CPS on me). The producer even had me create and print out fake documents to s to Judge Judy as evidence.
My sister and I had to practice our stories and make sure all the "facts" matched up, as we each had to sign a summary that the judge read before hearing our case. The day we went in for filming, we met with another producer who pretended to be Judge Judy and grilled us for about thirty minutes. I can't tell you how many times they told me to get "fired up".
The editing was surprisingly minimal; Judge Judy knows her shit. I believe they cut out a part where she asked my sister to repeat something, but that's about it. We were in and out of the courtroom in less than ten minutes.
We sadly were unable to meet Judge Judy, but I did win an extra $800 (on top of what was legitimately owed me) and a free trip to Los Angeles. My mom, however, was not too pleased.
And yes, I still keep in touch with my sister. We were both in on it, and didn't have any hard feelings prior to or following the show.
Before my wife and I moved in together she needed to "settle" up with her previous apartment which required her taking her old roommate to court. They both agreed to go on Judy. Both were very heavily coached and encouraged to scream at each other. Apparently the show never made it to air but they still paid for the flight out and the money owed by her roommate.
I was on Judge Judy and they didn't tell me to do shit. We went to the green room, they threw some powder on me and sent me out. I was hung over as fuck. She grilled my buddy and his sister who were suing me and then said I was guilty. Walked out with a $500 check and me and my buddy got a couple kegs. JJ paid for the damages I was getting sued for.
They [the TV show My Strange Addiction] portrayed me as a jobless, education-less shut-in who uses a mask to hide behind the fact that I cannot accept the death of my father as a reality. I was attending school during the time of filming, and while I am a bit of an introvert at times, I am in no way close to what they had shown. My father passing away does still put a heavy weight on my heart, but it does not inhibit my life in any way. I have never spent "countless hours" holed up in my room building costumes, nor do I "wear the costume to family events and cannot see myself in public without it." That was honestly the most shocking part to me, how they made it seem that I never took the costume off. Before the airing of the show, I had worn the costume twice, and both times were for fitting purposes. Every since, and up until this day, I reserve one weekend a year to wearing a fursuit; during an annual convention. I have a completely normal life outside of this; I have a job, a loving family, a boyfriend, a group of great friends and I am a musician and firearm freak more than I am a furry. It is merely a small hobby of mine, but they took what information I gave and ran with it.
I work at a Design and Branding firm, and we have had Marketing companies come in and tell us that they have 1000+ people across the world with 20+ twitter accounts each with very different personalities and tone. They charge one dollar per tweet to promote your product, and guarantee the results will look "organic."
For nearly half a year my internet has been painfully slow. Slow to the point I couldn't watch 10 seconds videos without it having to buffer every couple of seconds, so slow that 10 megabytes would take me 20 minutes to download.
I've called Verizon in the past and complained to which they said everything was fine and the connection speed was good.
They sent a tech to my house to check on everything and he said everything was fine.
Recently I began looking into getting cable internet so when I called Verizon to cancel my account they said they would increase the speed of my internet at no extra cost.
A few days go by and just this morning I was informed by Verizon that they increased my internet speed. I checked and yes it is in fact faster. Now I can watch 1080p videos on YouTube just fine, my downloads are faster and performance has improved.
So on the day I was prepared to cancel my service they decide that suddenly they can flip a switch and now my internet is actually good. I still feel like I was getting the short end of the stick so I'm gonna cancel it anyway.
The US military has a tradition where you spend your entire budget by Oct (the new fiscal year) or you risk losing that portion of your budget. I've been in units that would go out and purchase $200,000 worth of useless shit just to avoid having a budget surplus. Multiply by the number of units in the military (a shit ton) and you have all your fraud, waste and abuse.
Government bodies work ... are exceedingly good at and anxious to spend other government bodies' money. What I mean by this is that a city manager will be as frugal as possible and really vet every project that would use city funds. But if the state is picking up the bill, hot fucking damn, let's add spinners to the municipal fleet. Same with states and federal funds. If it would come out of the state budget, ehhh, we should be careful. If it's federal funds, let's do this thing. A great example of this was with This American Life's show several months back on SSI. When they moved welfare to a state funded program under the Clinton administration, states (Missouri specifically was the one profiled) spent a bunch of their own money hiring companies to get people that would be on their welfare rolls to be accepted on the federally funded SSI. End result to the taxpayer was that you still had more or less the same cost for the recipient (welfare/SSI money) plus a chunk spent by the state on a company that did nothing but facilitate a shell game. But, those state politicians are elected based on what they can say they did with the state budget, and they can say that they saved you money, even though that's not true in the fine print. They don't give a fuck about those federal dollars, even though it costs taxpayers more in the long run.
I'm a renowned chef (to an extent). I don't have my own TV show or anything but I have been featured on a few FoodTV shows as well as a few shows on The Cooking Channel. Anthony Bourdain has stopped by one of my restaurants in the early days of No Reservations.
My Secret: I absolutely HATE most of the food I cook. I cater to the rich snobby crowd and it's amazing how sheep-like these people can be. I could take a fucking pile of dirt but as long as I say it's been 'braised' and finished off with some 'truffle oil' served with a tbs of 'caviar', they'll "LOVE" it because of those random key words thrown in there.
These people are so pretentious. They only buy name brand items and their minds work the same way with food. As long as I've got certain key words on the menu and certain ingredients in the food they'll claim to love it. Most of these people who claim to have high class taste and an advanced palette are full of shit.
I'm trying to sell my share of my two restaurants to my business partner or other investors and get out. I just want to have a small joint making fried chicken wings, not goose liver and fish eggs.
I admit that this show [According to Jim] isn't good... The writing isn't sharp, the story is banal, it's full of cliches and the acting is not that good. However, I have to say that I loved this show. Not because it was good or exciting, but because it was warm, safe, comfortable. I know it sounds weird, but the family had great chemistry together, and while the acting wasn't great, it was, as someone already said, charismatic. The house was cozy and inviting. the stories were silly, but amusing. This show had a certain ressemblance with some family shows that I grew up with, such as Family Ties. Simple entertaining stuff that you like to watch when you're too stressed out or nervous. This show was safe in that sense, it used to give me a sense of security, due to its familiar vibe.
I first watched [Napoleon Dynamite] with my family. I just sat there, I don't think I really laughed at all. The whole time I was thinking, this movie is so dumb! But afterwords me and the family started quoting lines and scenes from the movie to each other I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. I have probably watched this movie 20+ times now and I still quote it 10 years later. A great movie is one that has an impact on your life. I have had so many fun times with my family just quoting Napoleon Dynamite. It's right up there with Anchor Man, Princess Bride and Forrest Gump. Movies that are forever quotable and will always bring a smile to your face.
I love James and AVGN. True story, I once worked 36 hours straight writing a scientific publication and the only way I got through it was discovering AVGN and listening to AVGN in the background, I watched nearly 100 episodes in a row.
My husband and I have mutually agreed that we immediately think a person is a tool if they mention enjoying NCIS. His childhood best friend is a big fan, and he still agrees that it's an accurate assessment.
I spent 4 years in the Navy, and never saw or heard anything as disgusting as Mencia. He has taken a subject which should be beautiful, and turned it into what you might expect to buy in a slum house of prostitution. Carlos is a deranged person who has no sense of comedy.
I'm still not overly familiar with him [Dane Cook]. A friend of mine LOVES him, thinks he is the funniest thing around. I have chuckled at the little bits I have seen, but nothing has made me search him out. Hell, my friend even gave my two of his albums to check out, and I ended up deleting them before I even listened.
I can't believe how bored we were after watching this unbelievable guy['s stand up comedy video]. I think we only laughed once. I thought is was because I wasn't drunk the first time I watched it, or maybe because I was alone, but after my wife sat down to watch it with me, and neither one of us laughed.
I've showed all of my friends Kevin Hart and the only ones that never fell out of their chairs laughing were the racist ones. The ones that grew up hating black people. I grew up in a country town like that. This isn't even an exaggeration either. I've probably shown over 15 different people this one comedy act, Laugh At My Pain, and every person save one or two racist fucks were dying by the end of this act.
I've never written a review on Netflix before but I felt obliged to say something after watching this. This guy [Aziz Ansari] is moderately funny. I was enjoying the show for a few minutes, but then I noticed that one of the buttons on Mr. Ansari's right sleeve was missing. Three buttons on the right sleeve, four on the right. To make matters worse, there's a bit a black thread where the button was. I tried to keep watching but the missing button is just so egregious that it's impossible to enjoy the performance so I had to stop. Also, his cadences are so similar to Mitch Hedberg's as to make listening kind of sad.