Toward the end of Comic Geek Speak's episode 368 (link below) the guys played voicemail from listeners, as they often do. The first one was from a guy calling himself Dr. Geoff Schlock -- he proceeded to do a four minute parody of my appearances on the show.
His attack centered on things that should not surprise anyone who has heard me. I DO rattle off my credentials too often. This is a vice I swear was exacerbated by watching too much West Wing, where they rattle off their accomplishments every chance they get -- at one point Danny takes his award winning article out of his pocket and Josh balks and Danny says "Please. When you won the Fulbright scholarship you stapled it to your forehead."
And I DO name drop like crazy. As a guy who grew up on Bloom I also grew up on a "great man" theory of history that went out of vogue with Thomas Carlyle in the Victorian era. On some level I can see that it is silly, but I sort of cannot help thinking like that.
I have to also admit that the caller did such a good job imitating my voice there was a debate among the hosts when the call ended as to whether that was me doing a self-parody.
On the message boards responding to the episode (the link to that discussion is on the episode 368 page, linked below) several people seemed to think the call was mean spirited, and there was a debate. I think it is best for me to stay out of it, since I was the guy being parodied. But I also thought it was silly to pretend it did not happen.
If you have not heard me on Comic Geek Speak before, you will want to go to the toolbar on the right, under Interviews, and hear one of my earlier appearances first. I recommend CGS 256.
The CGS guys and I are working on a new appearance by me, and I will let you know when that happens.
Click here for Comic Geek Speak 368 (the call comes around an hour and six minutes in).
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20 comments:
I thought it was a bit mean spirited, myself. I would have been better at half the length. I feel that parodies of this sort are kind of pointless. I would rather see what the parodier could do with their own work rather than mocking someone else. South park gets a pass though.
Was a bit mean-spirit by the end, but, and I love you Geoff, I thought it was pretty fun in some parts.
Fnord -- South Park is awesome
Christian -- Hey -- no reason to apologize for thinking it was funny. I laughed at parts myself.
MITCH SAID:
I just saw the South Park episode "Fun with Weapons" today, where they buy ninja weapons at a flea market and become anime characters. Hysterical.
As far as this impersonation goes,
any true Klockenite knows that you would NEVER name check Joseph Campbell in a positive light unless you were threatened at gunpoint.
In fact, that's a pretty good code if you're ever actually in peril and you can't say so on the phone or whatever. Just sat something nice about Joseph Campbell and we'll all rush to your rescue like ninjas.
...grrrrrrrrr...
Yeah, the Campbell comment was a dead giveaway. As soon as I heard that, I thought that this guy hasn't even read what Geoff has written.
It was just a weak jealous attack on Geoff for no reason other than to draw attention to the perpetrator.
CGS blacklisted Tim Callahan for diagnosing them as "bad readers". They need to ban this guy for trying to stir up shit for no good reason.
I'm behind on my CGS this week, I thought the guy started out funny but ran out of material about halfway through. Oddly enough, I'm the VM right after this talking about driving back and forth from Akron to take care of my grandpa who was sick and how much I appreciated listening to CGS for all of those drives. I made that call back in September which tells you just how far behind they are in voicemails or that they just play things at random. Anyway, I did think it weird that only Peter realized that it wasn't you.
Mitch -- thanks
Everyone -- from now on if you call me and I say Joseph Campbell is great, CALL 911
But Joesph Campbell IS great.
Geoff, do you have any writings where you talk about your views on Campbell?
p0w - It's a funny by-product of doing the podcast: your "ear" becomes attuned to voices you hear multiple times. And that voice was just not Geoff Klock.
Streebo - I know you have some kind of vendetta against us, but your comment about banning people is misinformed.
Geoff - can't wait to have you back on!
Peter: Vendetta. No. I still recommend CGS to people.
I'm not banned? Cool. I thought I was.
I'm glad that Peter immediately recognized that the caller wasn't really Geoff.
The other guys weren't very good listeners.
I too thought it was funny... for about 60-90 seconds... too bad the call went on (and on and on) for several minutes.
The caller resents you because you're smarter than he is. This is schoolyard bullying at its most vile.
Thing is, you're MUCH funnier just doing your own thing than any parody.
I like Joseph Campbell. He's not the be-all and end-all of everything, but he's an entertaining read.
Damn, I never listen to CGS (not because I dislike it; I just rarely have time for podcasts), but I might have to download this one and check it out. I did listen to the Klock/Fraction throwdown; that was fun, and it gave me a reference to see how close this guy is to Geoff's voice.
Also, Geoff, congrats for being a good sport and not starting a flamewar or something over this. It's always good to see maturity on the internet.
I'll agree with Ping, the call had me laughing for the first two minutes or so, then it wandered off. I really didn't hear anything malicious or mean-spirited in the call myself. It was a decent parody, kinda like an audio "Frekin' Sweer" strip. I'm looking forward to your next CGS appearance Dr. Klock.
Geoff you are doing great! Keep up the great references. I love your analysis of Grant's and others work.
One price of being in a public spotlight is that somebody is going to find something to poke fun at.
Just like being back in High School :-)
I'm pretty sure this means you're doing very well for yourself. Certainly most of us have never been parodied.
Congratulations!
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