Yesterday, I sat listening to Wally Wackiman's call from Tuesday's show. I was admittedly distracted, taking in the conversation but also doing some mundane work for my 9-to-5 job. As the call progressed, I found myself thinking the following types of thoughts - ones that I know many of you have experienced when listening to Wally's calls:
- "He is so stressed out that it's making me uncomfortable."
- "God, he is seriously defensive."
- "He claims to be nice but he clearly has anger issues, lashing out at other callers regularly."
- "He never says anything even remotely clever or funny."
But then I had the "other thought"...the thought that interrupts all previous thoughts; the thought that flips all of the other thoughts on their ear: "This is a puppet."
I suddenly find myself embarrassed that I held all of those previous opinions...or any opinion on the subject at all. Why am I getting mad about a puppet? And who am I getting mad
at? Who is not funny? Who is defensive? The puppet or the puppeteer? I get the sense that the puppeteer has all of these issues, but if it is indeed the puppeteer who is really unfunny and defensive, wouldn't he have left this game a long time ago? The pure tenacity has me thinking that there is a lot more going on there. And isn't the tenacity in and of itself funny? All of these profound questions about actions and agency...inspired by a puppet! The mind reels. It happens every time I hear him on the air. The moment I begin to judge Wally, I am forced instead to judge myself.
Let me go further. The only other showbiz personality I can think of who so successfully confused and frustrated people was Andy Kaufman. That's right, I just compared Wally Wackiman to Andy Kaufman. And I will stand by that. Would anyone argue that Andy said funny things when dressed as Tony Clifton or that his comments cracked us up when he went on his pro wrestling bender? I doubt it. What was funny was the tenacity and the absurdity, not any particular statement or pratfall. And like Wally, he always left me wondering; was the anger real or part of the gag. Much of the genius lay in his blurring of the line between performer and performance.
Other than the fact that his existence forces us to address difficult epistemological questions, consider some other points in Wally's favor:
- Has there ever been a puppet whose primary medium is the radio? What a wonderfully stupid idea.
- Unlike "Meet the Feebles" and "Avenue Q," Wally is subtle in his challenge to our preconceptions of puppetdom. He is a neurotic, defensive puppet who never says anything "traditionally" funny...and does not hang out with any other puppets! How grim.
- His location on Twitter is listed as "The bag." Not only is that the best location listed on Twitter, but it is rather existential for a purple puppet with Looney Tunes-like circles around his head.
So to Wally's detractors I say "have at it." Detract away as is your right. But please consider the points above, many of which we are all aware, but perhaps we do not revisit quite enough.
Maybe, just maybe, if the Apple "Think Different" advertisement is updated for 2011, in between shots of Einstein and Picasso, there will be a few seconds of footage of a purple puppet, turning towards the camera in slow motion, his eye falling out in the process.
Have a good weekend.
-Jon
