The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, March 1, 2013 - 5
This show should be shot ... down.
'Ben Show' an
immature borefest
Party bus.
'Bully' offers a moving
reminder to stand up
Comedian
0 Ben Hoffman can't
deliver the jokes
By EMILY BODDEN
Daily Arts Writer
Ben Hoffman doesn't deserve
his own television show. Yet
"The Ben Show" debuted
Thursday, Feb.
28 at 10 p.m.
How the show
has made it to a The Ben
debut is a mys- Show
tery.
The format Thursdays
doesn't really at 10 p.m.
make sense. As
a combination Comedy Central
of "Tosh.O"
and "Da Ali G Show," "The Ben
Show" cannot compete. It lacks
the humor that Daniel Tosh,
while majorly offensive and a
bit of a dick, manages to find
in his commentary on the clips
he presents. And Ben Hoffman
is no Sasha Baron Cohen of "Da
Ali G Show."
Each episode follows Hoff-
man as he attempts to perform
a task interspersed with unre-
lated clips. For instance, in the
first episode, the plot follows
Hoffman as he decides whether
or not he should buy a gun. The
whole premise is ridiculous and
doesn't elicit laughs. Hoffman
asks for advice from a variety of
sources: a gun shop owner, his
dad and a penis enlargement
specialist. But he's neither sin-
cere nor sarcastic enough for it
to work. Instead, each interview
seems forced and uninspired.
While Hoffman boasts some
impressive credentials, he
doesn't deliver. He's had bit
parts in "New Girl," "Drunk
History" and "Arrested Devel-
opment," and has written for
some other Comedy Central
shows. So, the potential is there,
but it's just too deeply buried
beneath bad jokes and poor
taste to expose itself.
There is confusion about the
actual dynamic of Hoffman and
his guests. The interviews don't
flow naturally: He jokes with
some of the guests, telling them
to compliment his last sketch,
but instead of coming off as
endearingly geeky, his jokes
are agitating after the first time
they're said. It's unclear if the
interviews are scripted or if
they're just that uncomfortable.
Hoffman's dad is the sole
beacon of hope for the show. In
every episode, he and Ben Skype
to discuss that week's goal. His
father appears to be in his six-
ties and dons thick glasses
that cover half of his face. He's
sweet and a saint for having to
deal with his son's shenanigans.
With every prodding, he simply
laughs and shakes his head. His
father sometimes even plays
along. If anyone on "The Ben
Show" deserves to have his own
show, it should be Hoffman's
dad.
That being said, the only
laugh earned in the first two
episodes occurred in the first
episode ("Ben Buys A Gun"),
but was then cheapened by a
similar sketch in the second.
The scene involves a person,
who's probably classified as
morbidly obese, walking along
a crosswalk. With every step,
Ben plays a deep note on a tuba.
While childish and (quite hon-
estly) dumb, the sketch appeals
to immaturity and social inap-
propriateness. It lasts less than
a minute, which might prevent
the viewer from realizing how
cheap of a laugh it provokes. If
only the entire show could be as
short.
Perhaps the entire series will
follow this pattern as well and
get canceled. This show doesn't
cater to immature 12-year-old
boys, nor is it brimming with
intellectual wit for the, more
sophisticated audiences. Hope-
fully Ben Hoffman finds his
funny or else a second season
might not be in the cards.
By AKSHAY SETH
Daily B-Side Editor
I remember the smirk on his
face, that look of utter smugness
framed by arrogant eyes, breath-
ing malicious confidence into
everything he said. To be honest,
it didn't really matter what came
out of his mouth. Repetition's
deliberate pace had calcified
words like "fag," "cocksucker"
and "retard" into an everyday
reality. It was the way he said
them - with a sense of entitle-
ment weighted behind every syl-
lable.
The shoving didn't start until
after my brother tried to tell him
to back off. I guess it caught him
offguard. Did this "queer" really
think he deserved the right to
defend himself? How could he?
But a point had to be made. So,
the bully took my brother by the
collar, pressed his face against a
garage door and started punch-
ing. He didn't stop until there
were tears.
I just stood there.
As I watched my twin brother
walk home, cupping blood drops
from a broken nose, . a single
word blared through my head:
Coward - an expression put on
full, ugly display in Lee Hirsch's
powerful documentary, "Bully,"
which shines a much-needed
spotlight on the crumbling
school disciplinary systems and
weakening family dynamics
intended to nip these problems
in the bud.
Maybe school officials and
parents suffer from the same
paraly
that gr
brothe
in fro
respon
in-han
a chil
respon
self to
ultima
In a
a sch.
confro
boys,c
other:
the te
princil
is aski
fully s
and ac
happe
accept
ment"
stickin
princil
tence.
shatte
child's
apathy
zing bout of hesitation the problem is no different.
ipped me asI watched my "Bully" has been criticized for
r being physically abused zeroing in too heavily on victims,
nt of me. But there's a school officials and the parents
isibility that comes hand- of deceased and living victims.
id with being trusted with There's not a single interview
d's future. To shirk that with a bully, and no effort is made
asibility by allowing your- to understand what makes chil-
succumb to denial is the dren turn on each other in such
:te act of bullying. a strangely savage manner. Is it a
pivotal scene of the film, result of a troubled home life? A
ool principal resolves a vehement need to assert author-
ntation between two ity? Too many violent video
one of whom accuses the games? I have a single, unwaver-
of inciting a fistfight. I use ing response to these questions,
rm "resolve" lightly. The and I'm not apologizing for how-
pal's idea of a resolution ever shallow it may seem: Fuck
ing the two boys to duti- the bullies.
hake each other's hands No shit there's something
t as if nothing significant wrong with a middle schooler
ned. The presumed bully threatening to rip off someone's
s the principal's "punish- arms. And, yes, figuring out the
without a second thought, "why" is necessary, but should it
ig out his hand before the take precedence over helping the
pal can complete her sen- kids who have to endure mean-
As a horrifying sense of ingless abuse every day? By giving
red trust floods the other viewers an intimate look at con-
face, the implications of sequences, Hirsch offers a reason
become evidetnt. to recognize that the problem
exists and clues us in on a seem-
ingly obvious starting point: Iden-
irs ch' tify the bullies and separate them
from the kids they've been put-
)cumentary tinginharm's wa y bote
tninhr' um n a As an 11-year-old, my brother
wrals imn act was a loner, the type of kid fre-
pa t quently seen targeted in "Bully."
of silence. He's a different person now,
practically incomparable to the
scrawny, bespectacled kid in our
family photos. I can't help but
arent who'd rather tell a wonder if he wanted to change,
"stick up for himself and or if it's a result of that summer
:ack" than to try and take day. The day a bully made a cow-
Is-on approach to tackling ard out of me.
L
d
After long hiatus, Ribo Kiley
makes some noise
Ap
kid to
fight b
a hand
By PAIGE PFLEGER
DailyArts Writer
When I began listening to
Rilo Kiley, I immediately added
it to the list of bands I needed
to see in concert. I was accord-
ingly heartbroken - like a small
kid after his dog dies - when
heard the band had broken up,
and Rilo Kiley was no more.
No more?! How could it be!
No more soulful riffs from
Jenny Lewis? No more twangy
guitar solos? No more charming
duets with vocalist Blake Sen-
nett? No more breakup songs to
sing in the car too loudly on the
way to high school?
Sennett even admitted in
a 2011 interview that if Rilo
Kiley were a human being, "he's
probably laying on his back in
a morgue with a tag on his toe.
Now, I see movies where the
dead get up and walk. And when
they do that, rarely do good
things happen."
I gave a silent eulogy for the
loss of the excellent Rilo Kiley
and tried to move on with my
l life.
Well, until Feb. 19, when a
miracle occurred. The once-
dead Rilo Kiley clawed its way
out of its grave and declared that
the band would indeed walk
again. Not only are the band
members making music, but
they're releasing a new record,
Rkives,
a hodge- First seen on
podge of -the filter
old and
"Follow us to the after party."
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new
from t
er.
And
immer
that s
ite de
"Fran]
and th
ozone
was rij
bits of music assembled was totally wrong in predicting
he band's 10 years togeth- that nothing good could happen
with the resurrection of Rilo
I I was filled with an Kiley. The song is everything
nse sense of joy, as though that Rilo Kiley has done right
mall kid got his favor- combined into one ballad that
ad pet back in a non- seems to take a listener back to
kenweenie" kind of way, a 1960s Sadie Hawkins dance.
te sun came out and the . "I'm sorry for leaving," Jenny
layer rebuilt itself and all Lewis croons. "No matter how
ght. cruel I've been, L.A. you always
let me back in."
And the entire the indie world
Le're back.. cries back, "OF COURSE WE
FORGIVE YOU, RILO KILEY!"
kind of. Because when it really comes
down to it, how could we not?
-- The original version of this
article was published on The Fil-
song released, "Let Me ter, the Daily Arts blog, on Feb.
In," proves that Sennett 21.
Th
The
Back
A