i said breathe baby, breathe
See that man right there on the left? My icon? That's Denis Leary. And I currently may be obsessed with Johnny Depp, and I might love Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, and love funny movies and moving movies, and Wes Anderson movies, and love to write Sports Night fanfiction, and pontificate about fanfiction do's and dont's in The Book of Kelly, but nothing... nothing... will surpass my love of that man. It's always there, dormant or not, and nothing has ever come close to the love and adoration and admiration I have for Mr. Asshole himself, Denis Leary.
I first saw him on Remote Control, I'm sure, but where I remember him from is his black and white commercials on MTV (back when it was cool), where he smoked like a chimney and said 'okay' in a rapidfire manner that I'd never heard before, and haven't heard since. The first time I knew his name was when I saw Judgement Night (good movie, and also, Stephen Dorff... mmm), and since then I've watched for him.
When I fell for him was when I saw No Cure for Cancer though. Hands down, my number one, numero uno, one and only, favorite comedy tape EVER. I know some of you will say Richard Pryor, or Eddie Murphey, or Robin Williams, or any myriad of other comedians, but for me, that's prime example number one of My Kind of Humor. That's the humor I use, that's the humor I most like, and that's the humor that I will forever appreciate more than any other kind of humor I'll ever see.
My Dad raised me on humor. I can remember being a kid and watching funny movies with my Dad way back to probably when I was too young to even get anything that was being said. I guess my enjoyment came out of hearing my Dad's highly contageous dork of a laugh, which I still rate as my favorite sound in the world to this day. He raised me on Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphey, and Bill Cosby, and Lenny Bruce, and Good Morning Vietnam, and The Blues Brothers, and Caddyshack, and Animal House, etc, etc, etc. "Laugh or cry, I'm gonna laugh, and if you don't like it, suck eggs" has been my motto for so long I can't even remember where it came from, but I can assure you it's because of my father.
So when I found Denis Leary, it was like an epiphany. Because, he's got this real... well, REAL delivery. Real problems, real bitches, real simple. Just honest to God 'this pisses me off, and i'm gonna say so, fuck off if you don't like it' sort of anti-pc sense of humor that I just fucking crave. I do, I crave it. It's also sort of a 'gallows humor' type of thing, where it comes from a place deep inside of you that most people don't have the guts to talk about. The kind of humor where you see someone who lost an aunt to AIDS make an AIDS joke. Call me sick, call me twisted, but I've got that kind of humor too. I know I'm sick and twisted, and I love it.
A lot of people think Denis Leary is an asshole, and hey, I don't blame you. He makes his dough off of being one, and damnit, he's upfront about it. He made his fucking name off of the song "I'm an Asshole," what did you expect?!
Here's what you may not know about the man though. He's an incredibly good decent man. He's involved in charities, and not that 'charity du jour' sort of bullshit way either. In fact, I don't even think he donates to any charities. Here's what he does: he starts his own, heads them up, and is involved 100% in them. He does comedy shows to raise money for firefighters, cancer victims, college funds for inner city kids, and any number of other things I may not know about.
After September 11th, Bill O'Reilly (yes, that big blockhead) made a huge stink over celebrities not being involved enough in the charity thing for that telethon thing. He said the money wasn't going to where it was supposed to, and said celebrities should use their clout to force the charities to fess up to it and rectify it. Hate Bill as much as you want, but he called that one right. And he had Denis on about his charity, and Denis was the only one that Bill actually put his stamp of approval on. I'm not fond of that man myself, he's a big honkin' idiotic dickhead. BUT, he's hard to please, and doesn't say things he doesn't believe in, and he believed in Denis Leary. I already loved him by that point, but I found it impressive that someone as hard-nosed and unrelenting as Bill fucking O'Reilly would call him a good decent man.
Which actually might be reason in and of itself for those of you who don't care about Denis basecase to hate him, just based on Bill's approval. Your loss. LOL.
When The Job was on, I made a website for it... it's still up, actually, here... and I got an email from his brother. I won't go through the whole rigamarole about how I found out that it actually was his actual brother, but I did get definative proof. I'll go into it if you want me to, but I'm babbling enough as it is. His brother's a nice guy, and I don't bug him, but I just think it's really nifty that I've had this sort of half-assed contact with someone within the vacinity of Denis Leary. I also got a, supposed, shout out from Denis. Just a 'send her my love as well' type thing. Supposedly. LOL. John coulda just been being nice on that one.
So, Denis is my kind of guy. I've always said that if I were to ever meet ONE person that is a celebrity, it would be him. I think I've always maintained that, even with the other 'obsessions' I may go through, but it's just been pushed right back into the forefront with this new show he's got on. It's called Rescue Me, and it's on FX, and it's on Wednesdays at 9pm. FX is a wonderful network, and they give their shows time to flesh out and be what they want and stretch out, so it will work much better for Denis than ABC did for The Job, which was another wonderful show.
But Rescue Me is going to be better than The Job. The Job showed promises of real emotion near the end of it's second 1/2 season (yes, the first season was only a 1/2 season, as was the second, so really, it was all one season, spread out into two), but Rescue Me showed us real emotion in it's first episode. It brought tears to my eyes at the end, and I do... not... cry for television shows. I don't cry for movies either. Not easily anyway. It's a thing for me. Maybe cause I'm Irish, maybe cause of my Dad's 'buck up or shut up' raising technique, or maybe because I've been hurt to much by real life, but very few things make me honest to God cry. Oh sure, bad days, period days, a hurtful word, but not honest to God, straight from the heart, crying.
And no, I didn't cry like that on this first show. But it brought a lump to my throat, and tears almost to the surface, because I can't help it if firemen have that effect on me. These people put their life on the line on a daily basis, and what the fuck do they get in return? Not much. They did for a little while after September 11th, but I've got family in NYPD and FDNY as well as in Long Island, and they deserved what they got in the months following September 11th their whole careers, not just for a few months while Self-Obsessed America felt like it.
And this show is pulling no punches. None. It's not PC. I'm sure it will offend half of the people watching it atleast once every single show. But, I can gauruntee that this show will develope the kind of fan-base that will be rabid. Not ya know, 'eh, I'll watch it if it's on' but 'It's on, I'm gone.' It's got me there, and I honestly think it would be if it weren't Denis. But, the humor, and the emotion, and the whole ambience of the show is pure Denis Leary, so, it wouldn't be the same show if it weren't Denis.
Let me just share a few lines from the show. (paraphrased, I didn't write them down yet.)
on why he and his wife are getting a divorce "She says I'm not emotionally available, I close myself off, blah blah blah..."
"The pussy I was getting after 9/11, I ain't gettin' that no more."
"You wanna know how big my balls are? My balls are bigger than two of your heads strapped together!"
his cousin was killed on 9/11 "And I walk down the street and see these guys I went to highschool with gettin' high and drunk and strung out on drugs, and I gotta get up every mornin' and see that on my way to work and wonder why they're there, and my cousin's not."
They've said shit, shithead, pussy, dick, asshole, ass, etc. I love FX for that. This is the real Denis. The Job was Denis, but a toned down Denis. THIS, is the REAL Denis. And I worship that guy.
I can't WAIT til next Wednesday.
When I found out about Rescue Me I made a website for it. Check it out if you want, it's really bare because I haven't done the whole 'search for articles' thing yet, and it just aired for the first time tonight. It's going to be all inclusive though, just like my Job site.
I first saw him on Remote Control, I'm sure, but where I remember him from is his black and white commercials on MTV (back when it was cool), where he smoked like a chimney and said 'okay' in a rapidfire manner that I'd never heard before, and haven't heard since. The first time I knew his name was when I saw Judgement Night (good movie, and also, Stephen Dorff... mmm), and since then I've watched for him.
When I fell for him was when I saw No Cure for Cancer though. Hands down, my number one, numero uno, one and only, favorite comedy tape EVER. I know some of you will say Richard Pryor, or Eddie Murphey, or Robin Williams, or any myriad of other comedians, but for me, that's prime example number one of My Kind of Humor. That's the humor I use, that's the humor I most like, and that's the humor that I will forever appreciate more than any other kind of humor I'll ever see.
My Dad raised me on humor. I can remember being a kid and watching funny movies with my Dad way back to probably when I was too young to even get anything that was being said. I guess my enjoyment came out of hearing my Dad's highly contageous dork of a laugh, which I still rate as my favorite sound in the world to this day. He raised me on Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphey, and Bill Cosby, and Lenny Bruce, and Good Morning Vietnam, and The Blues Brothers, and Caddyshack, and Animal House, etc, etc, etc. "Laugh or cry, I'm gonna laugh, and if you don't like it, suck eggs" has been my motto for so long I can't even remember where it came from, but I can assure you it's because of my father.
So when I found Denis Leary, it was like an epiphany. Because, he's got this real... well, REAL delivery. Real problems, real bitches, real simple. Just honest to God 'this pisses me off, and i'm gonna say so, fuck off if you don't like it' sort of anti-pc sense of humor that I just fucking crave. I do, I crave it. It's also sort of a 'gallows humor' type of thing, where it comes from a place deep inside of you that most people don't have the guts to talk about. The kind of humor where you see someone who lost an aunt to AIDS make an AIDS joke. Call me sick, call me twisted, but I've got that kind of humor too. I know I'm sick and twisted, and I love it.
A lot of people think Denis Leary is an asshole, and hey, I don't blame you. He makes his dough off of being one, and damnit, he's upfront about it. He made his fucking name off of the song "I'm an Asshole," what did you expect?!
Here's what you may not know about the man though. He's an incredibly good decent man. He's involved in charities, and not that 'charity du jour' sort of bullshit way either. In fact, I don't even think he donates to any charities. Here's what he does: he starts his own, heads them up, and is involved 100% in them. He does comedy shows to raise money for firefighters, cancer victims, college funds for inner city kids, and any number of other things I may not know about.
After September 11th, Bill O'Reilly (yes, that big blockhead) made a huge stink over celebrities not being involved enough in the charity thing for that telethon thing. He said the money wasn't going to where it was supposed to, and said celebrities should use their clout to force the charities to fess up to it and rectify it. Hate Bill as much as you want, but he called that one right. And he had Denis on about his charity, and Denis was the only one that Bill actually put his stamp of approval on. I'm not fond of that man myself, he's a big honkin' idiotic dickhead. BUT, he's hard to please, and doesn't say things he doesn't believe in, and he believed in Denis Leary. I already loved him by that point, but I found it impressive that someone as hard-nosed and unrelenting as Bill fucking O'Reilly would call him a good decent man.
Which actually might be reason in and of itself for those of you who don't care about Denis basecase to hate him, just based on Bill's approval. Your loss. LOL.
When The Job was on, I made a website for it... it's still up, actually, here... and I got an email from his brother. I won't go through the whole rigamarole about how I found out that it actually was his actual brother, but I did get definative proof. I'll go into it if you want me to, but I'm babbling enough as it is. His brother's a nice guy, and I don't bug him, but I just think it's really nifty that I've had this sort of half-assed contact with someone within the vacinity of Denis Leary. I also got a, supposed, shout out from Denis. Just a 'send her my love as well' type thing. Supposedly. LOL. John coulda just been being nice on that one.
So, Denis is my kind of guy. I've always said that if I were to ever meet ONE person that is a celebrity, it would be him. I think I've always maintained that, even with the other 'obsessions' I may go through, but it's just been pushed right back into the forefront with this new show he's got on. It's called Rescue Me, and it's on FX, and it's on Wednesdays at 9pm. FX is a wonderful network, and they give their shows time to flesh out and be what they want and stretch out, so it will work much better for Denis than ABC did for The Job, which was another wonderful show.
But Rescue Me is going to be better than The Job. The Job showed promises of real emotion near the end of it's second 1/2 season (yes, the first season was only a 1/2 season, as was the second, so really, it was all one season, spread out into two), but Rescue Me showed us real emotion in it's first episode. It brought tears to my eyes at the end, and I do... not... cry for television shows. I don't cry for movies either. Not easily anyway. It's a thing for me. Maybe cause I'm Irish, maybe cause of my Dad's 'buck up or shut up' raising technique, or maybe because I've been hurt to much by real life, but very few things make me honest to God cry. Oh sure, bad days, period days, a hurtful word, but not honest to God, straight from the heart, crying.
And no, I didn't cry like that on this first show. But it brought a lump to my throat, and tears almost to the surface, because I can't help it if firemen have that effect on me. These people put their life on the line on a daily basis, and what the fuck do they get in return? Not much. They did for a little while after September 11th, but I've got family in NYPD and FDNY as well as in Long Island, and they deserved what they got in the months following September 11th their whole careers, not just for a few months while Self-Obsessed America felt like it.
And this show is pulling no punches. None. It's not PC. I'm sure it will offend half of the people watching it atleast once every single show. But, I can gauruntee that this show will develope the kind of fan-base that will be rabid. Not ya know, 'eh, I'll watch it if it's on' but 'It's on, I'm gone.' It's got me there, and I honestly think it would be if it weren't Denis. But, the humor, and the emotion, and the whole ambience of the show is pure Denis Leary, so, it wouldn't be the same show if it weren't Denis.
Let me just share a few lines from the show. (paraphrased, I didn't write them down yet.)
on why he and his wife are getting a divorce "She says I'm not emotionally available, I close myself off, blah blah blah..."
"The pussy I was getting after 9/11, I ain't gettin' that no more."
"You wanna know how big my balls are? My balls are bigger than two of your heads strapped together!"
his cousin was killed on 9/11 "And I walk down the street and see these guys I went to highschool with gettin' high and drunk and strung out on drugs, and I gotta get up every mornin' and see that on my way to work and wonder why they're there, and my cousin's not."
They've said shit, shithead, pussy, dick, asshole, ass, etc. I love FX for that. This is the real Denis. The Job was Denis, but a toned down Denis. THIS, is the REAL Denis. And I worship that guy.
I can't WAIT til next Wednesday.
When I found out about Rescue Me I made a website for it. Check it out if you want, it's really bare because I haven't done the whole 'search for articles' thing yet, and it just aired for the first time tonight. It's going to be all inclusive though, just like my Job site.