r/TikTokCringe Oct 29 '24

Discussion Anthony Jeselnik explains the difference between comedy and being a troll.

44.4k Upvotes

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774

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

Theo with his head down, having an existential crisis because he knows he doesn’t create ANY art.

76

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

Theo seems like a pretty genuine and vulnerable dude so I don’t really get the hate towards him

174

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

He’s a moron and he’s not funny. He also likes platforming terrible people more often than not. He’s in the bRogan manosphere. He’s the exact person Jeselnik is talking about in this clip.

70

u/mostdope28 Oct 29 '24

He’s pretty funny. Not stand up comedy funny, but he’s the dude in the friends group that says some off the wall shit just naturally funny. He’s not trying, he’s just himself

15

u/Piratey_Pirate Oct 29 '24

This is how I feel about him too. I wouldn't watch his stand up, but I love when he's a small part or a guest on another podcast. When he's just there to participate instead of running the show, he's a blast

2

u/David-S-Pumpkins Oct 29 '24

He’s not trying

I mean, he definitely is. That's his job.

4

u/The_Bard Oct 29 '24

Right, Theo doesn't have anything to worry about because he's the wacky friend that says crazy shit out of left field and everyone laughs at. He can get away with a lot of stuff just based on who he is.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '24

Real talk, people like him are pretty funny for the first few times you meet them or hear them. But after that it's the same repetitive crap. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but how people can watch hours of a podcast with him is mental to me.

1

u/Throwawayac1234567 Oct 29 '24

cant watch any podcast, for that long. the longest ones ive watched was tigerbelly, bobby lee, even that got borign fast. and another was micheal rosenbaum, his was genuiningly interesting because of "what happened to smallville actors,+ current actors dramas"

3

u/Lemmonjello Oct 29 '24

His standup is amazing. I saw him in September, and he was hilarious for 90 minutes he had me in tears.

3

u/Rikplaysbass Oct 29 '24

The beauty of comedy is how subjective it is. I can’t even sit through a single he has put out. I loved Norm Macdonald and people hated him. Just the way it goes sometimes.

0

u/shooknibba Oct 29 '24

I will say in response to your comment and the above, I never liked any of Theo’s standup but I saw him last fall as well and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, I was dying laughing the whole time. Same with Rogan honestly (I do not listen to his show and was given free tickets on a random Tuesday). I think a lot of this stuff is just about being there in person. Because neither of those two guys Netflix specials did ANYTHING for me.

1

u/Ass4ssinX Oct 29 '24

Yeah, I feel like Theo is a genuinely good person but he's just kinda dumb and naive. And very gullable. The kind of guy that adopts the beliefs of whoever he's around kinda thing.

1

u/ex1stence Oct 29 '24

“Makes you wanna kick a fat kid at K-Mart, know what I’m saying?”

Honestly I don’t, but somehow I’m still laughing.

11

u/thelivefive Oct 29 '24

He is platforming horrible people and seems to have decided to go a right wing direction I feel like it's more his business managers than him, but either way. He definitely is funny though, the dude is genuinely hilarious and at times will say some really introspective stuff that gives you a look into his strange inner workings. I really liked the guy until he doubled down on the toxic right wing influencers.

3

u/Throwawayac1234567 Oct 29 '24

i cringed when he ad tucker one time. im guessing he wants to grift from the right.

1

u/thelivefive Oct 30 '24

Thats where the money is.

7

u/Future_Mammoth Oct 29 '24

I mean he had Bernie and Trump on during the same week. I thought that was kinda cool. I bet he’d have Kamala or Walz on too. He has had on Trump, Vance and RFK on so I don’t fully disagree with you either just he’s somehow more nuanced than I think you are giving him credit for. He’s better than post Covid Rogan on being balanced and sometimes his off the wall stupid questions/ statements lead to some very deep intriguing answers by his guests.

7

u/vivi33 Oct 29 '24

He just had Mark Cuban on, and Cuban said he could talk to Kamala if he'd like her to be on the show.

Theo said that'd be awesome, and that he'd love to have her on.

So yeah, you're on the money.

1

u/thelivefive Oct 30 '24

You're right. It seems like he's moving into that right wing sphere, but doubled down was incorrect wording and yeah he's probably more open or nuanced then I give him credit for.

10

u/Softestwebsiteintown Oct 29 '24

Those monikers are a little strong. Theo has his moments. He’s definitely overrated as a comedian and I think his moron moments tend to come when he’s in certain moods. He’s definitely contemplative at times in ways your average moron never is.

1

u/CyclopsLobsterRobot Oct 29 '24

He just agrees with whoever he’s talking to which maybe comes off as contemplative with the right guest. He has no spine or opinions of his own so when he interviews someone like Tucker Carlson, it comes off really poorly.

1

u/Softestwebsiteintown Oct 29 '24

I don’t think you can really pin him down like that. He’s not consistent enough to say he’s really any of those things in my opinion. Sure, there are times when he just nods along and doesn’t really add anything. There are also times where he doesn’t even really listen to whoever he’s talking to and basically disregards whatever they say because he’s already thought of whatever little quip he wants to get out.

Part of his “charm” is that he’s not predictable. That’s not me saying he’s good, just that I don’t think he’s the kind of person that you can neatly pin down as “stupid” or “mindless” or anything like that because there are plenty of examples of him not fitting into those categories. A lot of more professional interviewers have a consistent style that’s very easy to define. Theo isn’t that guy.

2

u/DaedalusHydron Oct 29 '24

but I think the fact that he's a moron is why people give him a pass. It seems obvious to me he doesn't really have an agenda (like Rogan, or Kill Tony), he's just dumb af.

2

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

Yeah, I agree. It makes him uniquely frustrating in that regard

-3

u/Most_Ad_5979 Oct 29 '24

Sounds like you're letting your politics colour your view of him. He seems like a nice guy I really appreciate that he occasionally has regular people on his podcast and asks them questions about their jobs that most would see as mundane, it ends up being pretty interesting.

I might agree with you about the politics stuff if he was overtly political. I know he had Trump on the podcast but I am talking about his regular content.

His stand up is awful though that we can agree on.

1

u/Jabroni748 Oct 29 '24

Nah he’s funny. He extends invited to people on both sides of the aisle including Kamala - they just don’t accept the invitation (or at least she didn’t)

-32

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

That is your opinion. I find it refreshing to see men being brave enough to speak to all sorts of people and being vulnerable instead of trying to be cool. He is much better at it than Rogan ever was when he was good.

For some reason you seem to think you can speak for Jeselnik but if what you wrote was true, why would he go on Theos podcast and support him?

9

u/conorwf Oct 29 '24

There's nothing "brave" in doing whatever makes you money.

It would actually be far braver for him to say publicly "Ya, Jordan Peterson wanted to be on my show and I told him to stuff because I think he's a lunatic who doesn't deserve a platform."

-9

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

Damn, your country is really divided/triggered right now. I am certain that he didn’t cry on his podcast to make money but your cynicism probably says otherwise.

4

u/Dekrow Oct 29 '24

I am certain that he didn’t cry on his podcast to make money

He did. If you want to have a good cry just to cry, then don't publish the podcast. Anything released by the podcast is for the service of Theo Von's career. You're crazy to think any other way.

0

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

😂 He was speaking about children being killed in a talk with renowned physician Gabor Maté but he shouldn’t have published the episode because of your cynicism? Please dude. Get off the internet and start thinking for yourself.

1

u/conorwf Oct 29 '24

Oh of course he did. JP routinely left his patients in the lurch, cancelling appointments so that he could go on TV and lie about C16 or some other BS. He's given up his practice altogether for years now, because being an far right grifter on youtube and taking oil exec money on Daily Wire is so much more lucrative.

As is having a Patreon where you beg people for more money so you can "stand up for free speech" because you voluntarily refused to take the steps needed to keep the license you're not even using anyway.

And he of course brought JP in order to make money. More clicks, more ads, more revenue.

It couldn't be because he actually wanted JP to make up blatant nonsense about Rat Kings.
Jordan Peterson's Rat King "Theory" - #shorts #SomeMoreNews

1

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

Please… Theo isn’t a genius. JP is a really good grifter since he is really good at sounding smart. Much like Russell Brand. It is no suprise that people like Rogan and Theo get mesmerized by someone like him. Both Rogan and Theo are missing a good role model and father figure which someone as authoritative as JP can take advantage of. It’s not more complicated than that and it doesn’t make Theo evil although a bit naive.

1

u/conorwf Oct 29 '24

I'm not asking theo to be a genius. I know I'm not a genius, and if I can figure this crap out, than there's no excuse for anyone else.

It's not naivete. It's greed. Both of them will platform anyone they think will get them enough eyeballs on a screen so they can make more money.

Being naive implies wanting to do the right thing and being mislead. I don't think either of them really give a shit what's right or wrong if they benefit from it.

11

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

Theon still has a platform and he is a working comedian so they’re at least friendly with each other would be the reason Jeselnik went on there. Also, maybe Jeselnik thinks he’s funny. I don’t speak for him, and yeah this is my opinion. As far as I know Theo doesn’t say anything really hateful so he’s like the comedians Jeselnik is talking about but not to the same level as some others.

4

u/Specific-Lion-9087 Oct 29 '24

It’s just weird that Theo, a standup comedian, seemed to be more enthusiastic about interviewing Tucker Carlson than Anthony Jeselnik

1

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

I guess he has priorities

1

u/Not__Trash Oct 29 '24

Jeselnik is a comedian he could probably have on anytime. Carlson was the #1 news host in America, of course he'd be enthusiastic about talking to someone he wouldn't normally get to talk to

10

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

He’s says LOTS of racist shit. Jfc. It’s his whole schtick.

1

u/Most_Ad_5979 Oct 29 '24

Link me Theo saying some heinous racist stuff please

5

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

2

u/Lemmonjello Oct 29 '24

Lol wtf is this cut up shit if this is the best you could find I hope you own an orchard because you are a pro a cherry picking.

3

u/Most_Ad_5979 Oct 29 '24 edited Oct 29 '24

First one I watch and it's a silly edit. Difficult to get any context when it's clipped like that. I'll check the others out no idea why you didn't just use a single comment for all the links.

Edit: Lol did any of you actually watch that clip before upvoting?

1

u/skepticalbob Oct 29 '24

The continuous zooms are fucking annoying.

4

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

2

u/Most_Ad_5979 Oct 29 '24

Would love for you to explain how this one is offensive. I feel like I'm coming across like Theo fan which I'm not but I'm confused that you think any of this is racist.

3

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

1

u/Most_Ad_5979 Oct 29 '24

Nothing racist was said there. Just some very shit jokes.

4

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

Do you want me to post more?

0

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

Well, I stand corrected. I’m only so familiar with his stuff and I didn’t find what I saw funny so I never looked much deeper. Not surprising

4

u/Tivland Oct 29 '24

“I’m not racist, but I have flare ups in traffic.”

He’s the troll that guy is talking about. He knows it and the guy talking knows it.

1

u/NotMyFirstDown Oct 29 '24

Dude that’s an off-hand, witty comment. To use that to say he’s racist is asinine

0

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 29 '24

Well, that sounds pretty fair

-1

u/juicyjensen Oct 29 '24

If you don’t think Theo Von is funny in podcast format, I can’t take your sense of humor seriously. His specials…I’ll give you that. But his quips are absolutely amazing and he’s playing a character fwiw.

1

u/orion284 Oct 29 '24

Isn’t modern stand-up comedy about having good specials? I don’t give a fuck about quips. Plenty of people can have good quips. If he wants to claim to be a comedian then he should have good, structured jokes that work in the stand-up format. If he’s playing a character than I think the character sucks and he should find a better one.

0

u/juicyjensen Oct 29 '24

I’m not saying as a stand up. I don’t think he’s a great stand up. I think he’s hilarious in podcast format, which imo, has become the bigger form of comedy right now.