Performance Art Taken to New Levels

The more I watch clips like Janeane Garofalo’s appearance on the Olbermann show, the more I’m convinced that its not real. That’s right. Allow me to introduce to the world a new form of “trutherism.” I have discovered a new conspiracy. I think leftist talking heads are faking it.

In the late 1970s the brilliant Andy Kaufman created an alter ego, Tony Clifton. Kaufman demanded that his “friend” Tony get a role on the show Taxi. He then proceeded to cause such a disturbance on set (including hiring hookers to accompany him) that his co-stars walked off the production. Not once did Kaufman admit or acknowledge that he and Clifton were the same person. He never broke character. It was a brilliant, immersive piece of performance art.

Kaufman’s legacy of blending performance art, comedy, and audacious behavior continues today. Witness Jon Stewart, Garofalo, Ed Shultz, Olbermann, Susan Roesgen, Michael Moore, Rosie O’Donnell and countless other performers. How else can you explain such over the top examples of derangement? What better way to distance yourself from the pack by espousing views and analysis that fly in the face of history and common sense? When Olbermann looks at the camera with a straight face and talks about Dick Cheney’s secret assassination squads, you have to admire his ability to not loose composure like Horatio Sanz in the middle of an SNL sketch.

How could anyone consider the philosophies of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, witness the awesome display of grassroots demonstration that is the Tea Party movement, and hear the pleas of average citizens to stop government spending and boil it all down to “racism”? You can’t. It’s a joke. An elaborate hoax. It’s funnier than Gallagher smashing a watermelon and more intricate than the Punk’d episode where Ashton Kutcher totally set up Frankie Muniz.

Actors also view never breaking character as a challenge of their thespian skills. A few years back, I had the opportunity to hang out and drink with Sean Penn. It was a blast. He was great.

I was dismayed when I read his New York Times op-ed about the Iraq war and downright disappointed when he took trips to Iraq and Venezuela. He really was “palling around with terrorists.” How, I thought, could such a fun, talented, rational guy do such a thing?

Then, I figured it out. Spicoli isn’t a terrorist appeaser, violator of human rights, and all around puppet for evil; he’s a SPY. What better way for Bush and Cheney to gather sensitive intel than have an inside man? My head filled with visions of Penn pretending to listen to Saddam’s boring tour while he placed tiny GPS targeting devices all over the royal palace. I mean, come on, he’s one of the greatest actors of our generation. He made me believe that he was the gay “mayor” of San Francisco, he could easily convince a Commie blowhard like Hugo Chavez that he was down with closing television stations and killing a few pesky protestors.

Just look at the new character that Jamie Foxx created for himself when he lambasted Miley Cyrus. Was it a coincidence that his remarks happened right before the release of his new film and right as her film topped the box office? I mean really, who pays attention to press kit interviews and behind the scenes clips when we can watch Jamie unveil a new personality who can pack enough insulting and hateful comments into one sentence to ruin Don Imus, Al Campanis and Michael Richards combined.

Making liberal comments like “Rush Limbaugh is a fascist” simply doesn’t generate the headlines that would revitalize a stagnant career. If Keith Olbermann simply reported facts and thought logically about what he was saying, his ratings would be a third of what Fox News gets. Wait. What? His ratings are a third of Fox News. Hmmm. Maybe he should channel Kaufman and bring some hookers to set. Oh, wait, Bill Maher already patented that routine.

Maybe it is just wishful thinking that some of the most charismatic personalities in entertainment are just trying to “Punk” the nation with outlandish comments. Maybe Janeane Garofalo really does think that Libertarian thought is a code word for racism. Maybe Rosie O’Donnell really doesn’t think that heat can melt steel. Maybe Danny Glover really likes Fidel Castro and wasn’t helping Dick Cheney make a 3-D digital map of Cuban military bases.

But isn’t it more fun, and a bit reassuring, to think that these people are uber talented and dedicated to their craft instead of intellectually lazy?