wog - Oct 5th 2009 @ 08:34 pm...99% of this hating comes from just not being familiar with others’ vibe…
My conclusion is that Jesse can be really obnoxious, and was more so this time because he is a horribly insecure striver who lacks much self-awareness (at least doesn’t realize how grating his behaviors are) and subtly diminishes people he is threatened by or jealous of. I don’t see how anyone can not hear that.
Wog, at this point my perspective is more than just a sense from listening to this episode. It’s informed by the fact that Jesse personally deleted the post I made on the maxfun board, and then he and I exchanged a number of pm’s that only betrayed the depth of his insecurity. Consider the Hate Mail thread on the maxfun board. The notes about Jesse’s personal anecdotes, interrupting, etc. are so on point… like this poster who wrote concerning Jesse’s other show - The Sound of Young America:
Finally, I will say that I do think the one hate mailer had another valid point in that you do often seem to interrupt the flow of your interviews with personal anecdotes which come across as nonsensical, again in the context of the professional entity which “The Sound of Young America” has become. I find myself cringing when you stop the flow of the interviews to tell stories about your own life, because that’s not what the show is about anymore. The show is about the people you interview, not about the host. “Jordan, Jesse Go” is a great place for that personal stuff and your dry humor about being a “Radio Sweetheart.” When interviewing these higher level guests like Terry Jones, however, it makes no sense to shift the focus from the guests to your personal stories or about identifying yourself every five minutes as a “Radio Sweetheart.” It shows a certain disrespect for the time these busy people have granted you for the interview process, and comes across as mildly delusional in that the listener who tunes in to listen to Maria Bamford is not going to want to hear about your personal experiences with unemployment or disappointment about your prematurely receding hairline.
So, yeah, not being familiar with JJGo is one issue, but I think the main thing people are bothered by is Jesse’s seeming lack of respect/obtuseness for something they are passionate about.
The thing about forgetting Seth’s name, and then even calling attention to the fact he forgot it in the beginning of the show could be dismissed as just what can happen with busy media personalities. But, I think most of us know that forgetting or not paying attention to someone’s name is a classic move by dicks who are trying to establish some kind of power dynamic.
And the thing about Jesse always espousing the virtues of dressing well, “like an adult”, “like a man” and giving Jah shit cloakjoke style about wearing a tee and sweat-shorts smacks of over-compensation for not feeling masculine enough himself. He’s always talking about what a pussy he is and how he has, and would run from any kind of physical confrontation. (not that I’m advocating violence, just that I think it’s lame for a self-described pussy to suggest to Jonathan that he needs to dress tweedy in order to be more adult/manly.)
To further illustrate Jesse’s bitchy-babyness, the thing I posted on the maxfun forum was (as clear as I can remember it):
Seth wasn’t given any space to Seth-it-up.
Didn’t really like this episode. made me tense. nervous.
JJGo is like my fat cousin, that I love and all, but I just felt weird when she made out with my cool friend.
that’s all it was.
And, rather than letting that post stand… for people to comment on, or tell me I’m an asshole or whatever, he deleted it and sent me a private message saying, “calling our show a “fat cousin” is totally innapropriate.” [sic]
Seriously???
After deleting it, he claimed the post contained “vitriol” and “personal attack”, but of course nobody could see it to confirm that.
I’m sorry, but all of that (and more stuff that I won’t quote from our pms) just demonstrates that there are some issues with that guy.
[I’ll add that I did feel like it was unnecessary to dis Jesse on his own turf. If a JJGo fan did that up in here, I’d hate that guy. So, I shouldn’t have even bothered registering a negative opinion over there and harshing their vibe, but it would have been so much to Jesse’s benefit to have let it stand and allow his minions to come to his defense and tear me up than to police the un-praiseworthy posts.]
If you can’t tell, I vacillate between being sharply, critically verbose and then feeling bad and being apologetically verbose. (have I beaten for short yet on sheer character count?)
I really don’t think there should be a UYD/JJGo rivalry though.
I think Adam Corolla is a fuckin dick too, and I’ll listen to his shits when I run out of everything else or I’ve already hit 4 UYD eps in a row. It was unfortunate that there were some uncomfortable moments in the JJGo show, but it still can be enjoyed… if for nothing else than to hear Jonathan and Seth make the best out of a weird set-up. And, even with the occasional annoyances, Jesse’s interviews with other comedians are really good and way more candid and revealing than you get from other interview formats.
Still, I kinda want to kick him in his wool houndstooth taco but whatevs