So I was making the rounds of checking out my friends’ sites when I read the horrible news on Jose’s blogspot site. Such a shame, Richard Jeni had some genuinely funny stuff and I scored a CD of his best bits today to remember and share them.
It was pretty fitting to learn the news through Jose too. Back when I graduated, I was underemployed but I’d hang out his apartment because he was still taking the last semester of his senior year. Before DVDs existed, Jose had the largest collection of movies and comedy specials on tape at six-hour speed. One night in early 1991, he wanted to show me this Showtime special called Richard Jeni: Boy From New York City. Never heard of the guy, besides my tastes and Jose’s didn’t always coincide with comedians, I think we could only agree on old Eddie Murphy bits such as “Half!” Anyway, it turned out to be some pretty clever stuff and I always remembered that he hit a nerve on my immediate feelings about college. I had graduated at the end of 1990, there was a recession, what little money I made working at the Milwaukee Sentinel was very tight and the future looked really uncertain, thus college was a “waste.” Jeni stated to the crowd early in his special that he became a comedian because he couldn’t make a living after college with a degree in political science. So while he was younger and unemployed, he confronted his professor. This is a bit of paraphrasing.
- Jeni – ”You taught me this stuff, what should I do with it?”
Professor – “You can teach.”
Jeni – “And what will they do?”
Professor – “They will teach also.”
Jeni – “This isn’t college! It’s just Amway with a track team!”
Thankfully I didn’t have to take up comedy and matters worked out for both Jose and me with our diplomas in a few years. However, Jeni remained a favorite comedian of mine with his HBO special Platypus Man, his appearances on the budding Comedy Central network and his few cameos in movies, namely The Mask which helped make the annoying Jim Carrey a bigger star.
I hope in his memory there will be a renaissance of his material within a few years as there was for Austin favorite Bill Hicks. He was a great stand-up who didn’t have an annoying schtick (Dice), series of props (Carrot Top) or need to become a sycophant (Leno).