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| We Love Ya, Harry |
The Los Angeles Times (or as we call it in the hip world of news, “The L.A. Times”) features Harry Anderson post-Katrina.
As many loyal readers of Quinlan’s Inside Magic (or as they call it at The L.A. Times, “That Site”) know Mr. Anderson left the world of Hollywood for the only other place where there could be more parties, more booze, and more fun.
The French Quarter welcomed Mr. Anderson as a prodigal son. However a prodigal son would welcome someone, the Gospel wasn’t clear on that detail — it was more of the father and that indignant goodie-goodie brother welcoming the prodigal son back into the fold with a ring, new cloak, and fatted calf.
We digress but have done so in a manner to assure a higher ranking in Google when one is searching for “magic tricks and fatted calf.”
Right now, our sister’s site is a top that search result but only because of the rude comments folks leave on her message board about her legs.
But just as Mr. Anderson returned to New Orleans, we shall return to the point of our story.
The Big Easy — New Orleans not our sister — felt at home with a guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously, has geniune talent, thinks on his feet, and smokes unfiltered Camels. (And really, our sister isn’t that big — her ankles swell when she’s nervous.)
And if you’ve ever tried to shove a Camel through the eye of a needle, you know how much easier it it is without a filter.
Because The L.A. Times is cool and written for cool people who think they’re cool, it begins its trite throw-away article on a guy we really respect by explaining he was a bomb on stage during a recent appearance.
See, that’s because he’s not in L.A. where the cool people are.
The writer diagrams and analyzes Mr. Anderson’s well-established (and we think funny) opening line.
“That’s a lot of hoops for a one-liner, and in a crowd of 80, one man chuckled quietly. But that’s OK. With decades of magic and comedy behind him, Anderson, 53, isn’t trying to win over a crowd, not these days. He’s trying to help save New Orleans.”
The feature goes downhill quickly from the first critique.
It points out Mr. Anderson is trying to bring together those affected by Katrina to rebuild the city and culture.
Well, that sounds cool. So maybe the L.A. Times thought they were cool people. Nope.
They are “a motley collection of advocates wearing tattoos, nose rings and plumed houndstooth hats.” They are “a legislature of the strange and the dispossessed, and Anderson is the presiding officer.”
But see, it’s not like we should respect Mr. Anderson, says the L.A. Times. No, his work is not to help others but himself.
“Through it all, he’s trying to discern the future of a business empire that would only fly in New Orleans ? his club, his variety show and his two shops, the one with a statue of a guy in a lobster suit and the other decorated with the framed…
Continue reading Harry Anderson: We Like Him But We’re Not Cool
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