RIP John Pinette

He was the comedian at my company's conference last April. Funny guy. The 2014 conference is next week and Carrot Top will be performing. Insert your joke here.

 

Pinette was enormous (I'd say around 400-450 pounds) at the time of Seinfeld. He then lost quite a bit of weight (probably 150 pounds or so) when he was doing the touring production "Hairspray" (he played the mother role) in around 2003-04.

By the time I saw him live in 2012, he'd gained back some, enough that you noticed, but not enough that he looked as unhealthy as he did before.

But yeah, the travel (especially flying), the hours and the years of abusing your body adds up. RIP.

 

The same people must've written that who referred to Steve Landesberg as the "Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor."

 

I was dragged to see Carrot Top several years ago. I'm certainly not going to say he's a great comic, but he's a crowd pleaser. I had very low expectations, but he was very funny. I can't wait to hear what you think of his act.

 

I saw him a couple months before the Seinfeld finale. The show was sold out, which was pretty rare at this club for someone who wasn't a TV regular.

 

I'm hoping to get my photo with him. He's such a random celebrity that I think it would be interesting.

Also, when I saw Pinette at this time last year, he had slimmed down. He was fat, but not like his Seinfeld days.

 

I think Carrot Top is portrayed a bit unfairly because so many comedians are dumbfounded by the level of his success and he's such an easy target.

I get that. It's amazing that Carrot Top makes probably 10X what Dave Attell or Jim Norton (two of the best touring comedians, IMO) make, but that's the reality of it.

He makes top 10 money, but he's definitely not a top 10 talent.

 

It's interesting to note that one of the highest earning comics in the world is someone many folks --- even stand-up comedy fans --- have never heard of: Russell Peters.

But he has found a niche audience (in his case, Indian and other south Asian immigrants) and he sells out arenas all over North America, western Europe and Australia.

 

Russell Peters is hilarious. Jim Jefferies is another who is becoming pretty well-known over here, but sells out all over the world. He's also freaking hilarious.

If you had a list of the top 10 grossing standups from a year ago, I'd bet at least five of them would not be considered well-known.

One list had 13 listed: Seinfeld, Terry Fator (Vegas ventriloquist/comedian), Jeff Dunham, Peters, CK, Kevin Hart, Larry the Cable guy, Gabriel Iglesias, Ron White, Carrot Top, Bill Engvall, George Lopez and Daniel Tosh.

I'm surprised Seinfeld tours enough to make the list.

 

The Maron WTF episode with Carrot Top and his sidekick was hilarious. They'd describe some bit they were working on and talking about how hilarious it was, and you could practically hear Maron biting his tongue to keep from ripping it. The high point was when Carrot Top was talking about sometimes having a rough night on stage when you feel like you have to dig yourself out of a hole, and Maron asked "In your case, does that involve an actual shovel?"

 

The sidekick (who facillitated that interview) annoyed the shit out of me by answering questions that were directed to Carrot Top.

I've been a big Maron fan going back awhikle and he is the ultimate comedy snob. He's mellowed considerably over the years, but it's interesting to hear him interview prop comics and ventriloquists who are making crazy money and you have to know that some of it is killing Maron inside.

 

Remember seeing him doing his act at the comedy club at the Riviera (and then seeing him in the buffet line . . . doubly-hazardous duty, on so many levels). . . . he was definitely on the Mount Rushmore of "fat act" standup schtick purveyors . . . made me laugh, but you could see where it was all likely to lead . . . sad news.