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Ugh!: Actors, Hosts, And TV Personalities You Just Can't Stand


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(edited)

Kristen Wiig.  She has the same personality in every part she plays, even in interviews.  She is not good at improv though she thinks she is as we saw in Bridesmaids.  She bugs me.  

Rachael Dratch mugs for the camera even in an interview.  She is always on.  

 

ETA.   Adding Leslie Mann

Edited by Wings
  • Love 9
3 hours ago, Wings said:

Kristen Wiig.  She has the same personality in every part she plays, even in interviews.  She is not good at improv though she thinks she is as we saw in Bridesmaids.  She bugs me.  

Couldn't agree more about Kristen Wiig.  I quit SNL entirely during her run because she was so in-your-face annoying and seemed to be in every single sketch.

  • Love 10
(edited)
50 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Couldn't agree more about Kristen Wiig.  I quit SNL entirely during her run because she was so in-your-face annoying and seemed to be in every single sketch.

I did the exact same thing!  I did not like the cast and she stood out as the most egregious offender.  I just started watching again recently.  Kate and News Update are the only things worth watching. 

Edited by Wings
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(edited)

Another thing that grates.   Everyone who is imitating Trump is actually impersonating Alec Baldwin and not Trump. Alec is not doing a good job but he has become the  gold standard.  There is a comedian out there who does Trump perfectly.  I wish I could remember his name.  I am shocked he is not front and center. 

Edited by Wings
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On 5/7/2018 at 2:46 PM, BoogieBurns said:

Yeah, he's one of those people that I would look at and think "this type of person will die off and then things may start to get better" I am the opposite of sad that he died. I feel as upset as I did when Roger Ailes died. Aka, enjoy your new hot home for eternity. 

Guess women can finally be allowed to be funny since Jerry Lewis died.  EYEROLL EMOJI

Didn't like him either.

 As long as we're talking classic 'can't stand', it would have been sacrilegious to have said so for many years, but I never could stand Bob Hope. Hammy, egomaniacal and stale in his comedy (not to mention somewhat bigoted) even in the earliest days of TV (e.g.   he drained all the fun from the I Love Lucy crew when he had them guest on one of his specials  and proceeded to tell rather meanspirited 'jokes' about Ricky's ethnicity) . Not to mention that his openly flirting and making rather lame cracks to decades-younger starlets when he made no secret of being married for many decades was somewhat offputting.  As much I'll always love Lucy herself, her constant support of him was always something that I had to 'learn to love her in spite of' rather than truly embrace about her. OK, I concede that he did bring entertainment to troops for many years in rather risky venues but that alone doesn't wipe out his glaring shadow side.

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On 2018-05-07 at 3:46 PM, BoogieBurns said:

Yeah, he's one of those people that I would look at and think "this type of person will die off and then things may start to get better" I am the opposite of sad that he died. I feel as upset as I did when Roger Ailes died. Aka, enjoy your new hot home for eternity. 

Guess women can finally be allowed to be funny since Jerry Lewis died.  EYEROLL EMOJI

For all of the Jerry haters, Martin Short did a great take-off on SCTV.  It’s probably on YouTube.

  • Love 4
(edited)
On 4/13/2018 at 3:20 PM, hoosier80 said:

 

My mom LOVES him, so I "got" to see him recently as she had the show on in her house.  He comes out with some mini monologue, not funny one bit.  He laughs at his own "jokes" like he's so funny.  And he has to bring up oh that wouldn't get by me (because I'm hood) or I grew up in the hood, then he told someone else he was country.  He said he grew up in West Virginia, but I know I watched a birthday show for him (oh he was completely surprised - right - he's the producer or exec producer of the show, so no way he was surprised, I bet he arranged the whole show himself), and his high school in Cleveland was featured, and they renamed a street for him (like a 1 day deal).  He changes his background to meet the immediate situation or so it seems.

 

He was born and initially raised in West Virginia, then later moved to Cleveland, and then had college stints at both Kent State AND WVU. So it's entirely possible that he feels strong connections to BOTH states and considers both West Virginia and Ohio to be home in different ways. I was born in Indiana and raised in Maryland, and consider myself to be connected to both in one way or another. It happens.

I often find him annoying, too, but this is one thing I'll give him a pass for. I know this feeling all too well. 

On 4/15/2018 at 6:47 PM, xaxat said:

I still can't believe some executive thought Louie Anderson was a good idea. 

I saw his interview on the show's E! True Hollywood Story in 2002, and he was nothing but extremely gracious and happy about the time he spent hosting the show, so even if he is behind Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, and (IMO) Richard Karn in terms of hosting abilities, l can appreciate his attitude about it, at least. 

Edited by UYI
  • Love 6

Patricia Heaton. I like her as an actress, and I could tolerate her having a lot of different beliefs/views than mine (although in 2012 she had some really gross Tweets related to her views against a specific person she was forced to apologize for), but even without all that, she just projects "stuck-up bitch" whenever I look at her face in real life. Also, while I appreciate that she's been honest about having plastic surgery, there was a time during the Everybody Loves Raymond years where she seemed to be openly bragging about it that just felt weird to me. 

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1 hour ago, WarnerCL45 said:

Kathy Griffin.  I guess all is forgiven, because she's in our faces again.  She always reminded me of Joan Rivers, whom I didn't find funny, either.

How can we miss her if she won't go away?

Don't disagree for the most part but I happened to agree with her re Mr. Allen.

Oh, and what happened to Miss Rivers re her death being legally found to have been largely the result of someone taking a selfie rather than doing their job caring for a patient is rather infuriating- regardless of my views of her comedy (which was an occasional hit but mostly misses yet still far more entertaining than Miss Griffin ever has been , IMO)

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On 5/10/2018 at 9:43 AM, Blergh said:

Didn't like him either.

 As long as we're talking classic 'can't stand', it would have been sacrilegious to have said so for many years, but I never could stand Bob Hope. Hammy, egomaniacal and stale in his comedy (not to mention somewhat bigoted) even in the earliest days of TV (e.g.   he drained all the fun from the I Love Lucy crew when he had them guest on one of his specials  and proceeded to tell rather meanspirited 'jokes' about Ricky's ethnicity) . Not to mention that his openly flirting and making rather lame cracks to decades-younger starlets when he made no secret of being married for many decades was somewhat offputting.  As much I'll always love Lucy herself, her constant support of him was always something that I had to 'learn to love her in spite of' rather than truly embrace about her. OK, I concede that he did bring entertainment to troops for many years in rather risky venues but that alone doesn't wipe out his glaring shadow side.

I think Bob Hope was a polarizing figure for a long time, ever since he defended the Vietnam War. I didn't find him funny either, but I tell myself that's because I was first exposed to him on TV in the 1960's, when he was coasting on his name and his best work was already behind him. I've always been kind of "meh" about another old time comedian that I've never heard anything but adulation for: Jack Benny. Maybe because I had that classic "I'm thinking it over!" punchline quoted at me too often. He had three running jokes that I could see: being really really stingy, playing a mediocre violin, and never admitting to being over 39. None of these struck me as all that funny.

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As long as we're talking about old comedians, two I've never liked were Rodney Dangerfield (with Caddyshack being the only exception) and Don Rickles.  With Rodney, I didn't like his whole shtick and and with Don, I don't think I ever heard his comedy, I just got a visceral reaction every time I saw him.  Perhaps it's because he looked just like my grandfather's best friend and the best friend gave me the creeps.  I know that's not fair to Don, but there was something about him that turned me off and that's the only explanation I have for my reaction.

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2 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I think Bob Hope was a polarizing figure for a long time, ever since he defended the Vietnam War. I didn't find him funny either, but I tell myself that's because I was first exposed to him on TV in the 1960's, when he was coasting on his name and his best work was already behind him. I've always been kind of "meh" about another old time comedian that I've never heard anything but adulation for: Jack Benny. Maybe because I had that classic "I'm thinking it over!" punchline quoted at me too often. He had three running jokes that I could see: being really really stingy, playing a mediocre violin, and never admitting to being over 39. None of these struck me as all that funny.

I found a lot of early Bob Hope movies pretty funny.  Same with Jack Benny.  We listened to Jack on the radio (no TV, too far north) & his shows were funny.  Humour is very personal, I guess.

  • Love 2
2 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

As long as we're talking about old comedians, two I've never liked were Rodney Dangerfield (with Caddyshack being the only exception) and Don Rickles.  With Rodney, I didn't like his whole shtick and and with Don, I don't think I ever heard his comedy, I just got a visceral reaction every time I saw him.  Perhaps it's because he looked just like my grandfather's best friend and the best friend gave me the creeps.  I know that's not fair to Don, but there was something about him that turned me off and that's the only explanation I have for my reaction.

The odd thing about Don Rickles is that by all accounts, his "insult comic" act was just that -- an act.  On social media and in stories of real-life encounters, he was one of the nicest, most approachable people on the planet, and he himself never really understood why people would actually pay him just to have him insult them as if his insults were a badge of honor.

  • Love 3
6 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I think Bob Hope was a polarizing figure for a long time, ever since he defended the Vietnam War. I didn't find him funny either, but I tell myself that's because I was first exposed to him on TV in the 1960's, when he was coasting on his name and his best work was already behind him. I've always been kind of "meh" about another old time comedian that I've never heard anything but adulation for: Jack Benny. Maybe because I had that classic "I'm thinking it over!" punchline quoted at me too often. He had three running jokes that I could see: being really really stingy, playing a mediocre violin, and never admitting to being over 39. None of these struck me as all that funny.

My personal dislike of Mr. Hope predates the Vietnam War (or at least the actions he did predate it even though I wasn't yet born for some of them).  IMO, even his earliest TV specials were stale, hammy and meanspirited (and I've detailed how he spoiled the fun for the I Love Lucy crew).

 Now, IMO Jack Benny was a cool cat but even I have to admit that seeing him in small doses suffices. However; he DID have talents that he somewhat kept under wraps and had the capacity for dramatic acting. He was all set to star the Sunshine Boys until his sudden death at 80 in 1974- which prompted his longtime bestie George Burns to pick up the gauntlet, do the role which gave HIS career a shot in the arm until shortly before his own death!

3 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

The odd thing about Don Rickles is that by all accounts, his "insult comic" act was just that -- an act.  On social media and in stories of real-life encounters, he was one of the nicest, most approachable people on the planet, and he himself never really understood why people would actually pay him just to have him insult them as if his insults were a badge of honor.

That's good to know.  It must be the creepy best friend thing then. 

  • Love 1
46 minutes ago, Blergh said:

My personal dislike of Mr. Hope predates the Vietnam War (or at least the actions he did predate it even though I wasn't yet born for some of them).  IMO, even his earliest TV specials were stale, hammy and meanspirited (and I've detailed how he spoiled the fun for the I Love Lucy crew).

 Now, IMO Jack Benny was a cool cat but even I have to admit that seeing him in small doses suffices. However; he DID have talents that he somewhat kept under wraps and had the capacity for dramatic acting. He was all set to star the Sunshine Boys until his sudden death at 80 in 1974- which prompted his longtime bestie George Burns to pick up the gauntlet, do the role which gave HIS career a shot in the arm until shortly before his own death!

You learn something new every day. I always thought it was Walter Matthau who replaced Benny and not George Burns. Turns out you were right--it was Red Skelton that Matthau replaced. I would have been curious to see Benny in a fairly serious role. I don't think Skelton would have worked as the acid-tongued and curmudgeonly Willie Clark.

  • Love 1
2 hours ago, Blergh said:

Now, IMO Jack Benny was a cool cat but even I have to admit that seeing him in small doses suffices. However; he DID have talents that he somewhat kept under wraps and had the capacity for dramatic acting. He was all set to star the Sunshine Boys until his sudden death at 80 in 1974- which prompted his longtime bestie George Burns to pick up the gauntlet, do the role which gave HIS career a shot in the arm until shortly before his own death!

Something else that most people don't know about Jack Benny is that his "stingy" act was also just an act. In real life, he was actually quite generous and willing to help out anyone in need.  He just preferred not to make a big to-do about it.

  • Love 2
2 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

Something else that most people don't know about Jack Benny is that his "stingy" act was also just an act. In real life, he was actually quite generous and willing to help out anyone in need.  He just preferred not to make a big to-do about it.

 Mr. Benny (born Kubelsky) also not only saw to it that his widow Mary Livingstone Benny   was generously provided for but also had it in his will that she was to have a single white rose delivered to her every single day the rest of her life!

 

 To keep this ontopic: I guess it should be said that Jack seemed to be one of the few folks who had much use for her due to rather insufferable snobbery on her part as well as mounting stage fright making it hard for others to work with her. FWIW, she legally changed her name from Sadye Marks Benny to the name of her iconic radio character in the late 1940's on the grounds that " even my husband only calls me 'Mary'"! While it seemed virtually everyone who personally knew Jack adored him, they more or less just tolerated her as long as he lived for to spare his feelings but most dropped her ASAP once he kicked the big one!

  • Love 2
2 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Mr. Benny (born Kubelsky) also not only saw to it that his widow Mary Livingstone Benny   was generously provided for but also had it in his will that she was to have a single white rose delivered to her every single day the rest of her life!

 

To keep this on topic: I guess it should be said that Jack seemed to be one of the few folks who had much use for her due to rather insufferable snobbery on her part as well as mounting stage fright making it hard for others to work with her. FWIW, she legally changed her name from Sadye Marks Benny to the name of her iconic radio character in the late 1940's on the grounds that " even my husband only calls me 'Mary'"! While it seemed virtually everyone who personally knew Jack adored him, they more or less just tolerated her as long as he lived for to spare his feelings but most dropped her ASAP once he kicked the big one!

And now I just learned something new about him. I had no idea that he and "Mary" were married in real life.

Topic?  Nothing new at the moment.  Maybe after the Tonys tonight someone new will piss me off enough to vent about it in this thread.

  • Love 1
11 hours ago, WarnerCL45 said:
14 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

I think Bob Hope was a polarizing figure for a long time, ever since he defended the Vietnam War. I didn't find him funny either, but I tell myself that's because I was first exposed to him on TV in the 1960's, when he was coasting on his name and his best work was already behind him. I've always been kind of "meh" about another old time comedian that I've never heard anything but adulation for: Jack Benny. Maybe because I had that classic "I'm thinking it over!" punchline quoted at me too often. He had three running jokes that I could see: being really really stingy, playing a mediocre violin, and never admitting to being over 39. None of these struck me as all that funny.

I found a lot of early Bob Hope movies pretty funny.  Same with Jack Benny.  We listened to Jack on the radio (no TV, too far north) & his shows were funny.  Humour is very personal, I guess.

I also grew up in the Vietnam era disliking (being creeped out by, really)  Bob Hope.  "Coasting on his name" is probably an overstatement but his movies and TV specials from that time period are painfully unfunny.  I was shocked when I saw his earlier movies from the 30s and 40s and realized he really had been genuinely funny.  

Jack Benny's radio show is still incredibly funny - much funnier than his work in TV or the movies (although To Be Or Not To Be is one of the greatest comedies ever made - if you haven't seen it, you should).  I love old radio shows, but most Golden Age radio comedies don't hold up for me -  his show absolutely does.

6 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I also grew up in the Vietnam era disliking (being creeped out by, really)  Bob Hope.  "Coasting on his name" is probably an overstatement but his movies and TV specials from that time period are painfully unfunny.  I was shocked when I saw his earlier movies from the 30s and 40s and realized he really had been genuinely funny.  

Jack Benny's radio show is still incredibly funny - much funnier than his work in TV or the movies (although To Be Or Not To Be is one of the greatest comedies ever made - if you haven't seen it, you should).  I love old radio shows, but most Golden Age radio comedies don't hold up for me -  his show absolutely does.

The bolded above is exactly why I said that his TV work in the 60's wasn't a good intro to him. I did enjoy him on The Big Broadcast of 1938, where he first sang "Thanks for the Memories."

As for Jack Benny, I'm willing to admit seeing him on TV in the 60's wasn't a great intro to him either. I see a couple of his radio shows are on YouTube, so I'll give them a listen. Netflix doesn't have To Be or Not To Be, but I may be able to locate it at a film library.

Come to think of it, 1960's TV was a terrible way to see old time comedians for the first time. I couldn't believe Milton Berle was once someone people planned their evenings around. And Lucille Ball became more and more unfunny as comedy tastes changed and she didn't.

Just now, GreekGeek said:

The bolded above is exactly why I said that his TV work in the 60's wasn't a good intro to him. I did enjoy him on The Big Broadcast of 1938, where he first sang "Thanks for the Memories."

As for Jack Benny, I'm willing to admit seeing him on TV in the 60's wasn't a great intro to him either. I see a couple of his radio shows are on YouTube, so I'll give them a listen. Netflix doesn't have To Be or Not To Be, but I may be able to locate it at a film library. I've also heard that he was generous and kind in real life (as was Don Rickles), so none of my reservations about him are due to his being a bad person.

Come to think of it, 1960's TV was a terrible way to see old time comedians for the first time. I couldn't believe Milton Berle was once someone people planned their evenings around. And Lucille Ball became more and more unfunny as comedy tastes changed and she didn't.

8 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Jack Benny's radio show is still incredibly funny - much funnier than his work in TV or the movies (although To Be Or Not To Be is one of the greatest comedies ever made - if you haven't seen it, you should).

I've seen To Be Or Not To Be - loved it.  Check out A Horn Blows At Midnight, too.

1 hour ago, GreekGeek said:

And Lucille Ball became more and more unfunny as comedy tastes changed and she didn't.

I found I Love Lucy pretty good, for the most part.  She stopped being funny when Desi wasn't there.

12 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

Come to think of it, 1960's TV was a terrible way to see old time comedians for the first time. I couldn't believe Milton Berle was once someone people planned their evenings around. And Lucille Ball became more and more unfunny as comedy tastes changed and she didn't.

Couldn't agree more.  Thank god for Turner Classic Movies and the various retro TV channels.  And Golden Age of Radio shows.

  • Love 1
On 6/10/2018 at 7:42 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

Jack Benny's radio show is still incredibly funny - much funnier than his work in TV or the movies (although To Be Or Not To Be is one of the greatest comedies ever made - if you haven't seen it, you should).  I love old radio shows, but most Golden Age radio comedies don't hold up for me -  his show absolutely does.

I love To Be Or Not To Be.  I also love The Horn Blows at Midnight.

The full To Be or Not To Be

  • Love 2
On 5/7/2018 at 4:01 PM, Wings said:

Kristen Wiig.  She has the same personality in every part she plays, even in interviews.  She is not good at improv though she thinks she is as we saw in Bridesmaids.  She bugs me.  

Rachael Dratch mugs for the camera even in an interview.  She is always on.  

 

Whenever I hear about Wiig being in a movie, my first thought is: "Starring Kristen Wiig as...Kristen Wiig!"

I also agree about Dratch. I read she was supposed to be Jenna when Tina Fey created 30 Rock, but NBC said no. Makes me feel sort of bad for her, but I can understand it.

  • Love 5
3 hours ago, WritinMan said:

Whenever I hear about Wiig being in a movie, my first thought is: "Starring Kristen Wiig as...Kristen Wiig!"

I also agree about Dratch. I read she was supposed to be Jenna when Tina Fey created 30 Rock, but NBC said no. Makes me feel sort of bad for her, but I can understand it.

Actually Dratch was Jenna in the (original) pilot but the audience really didn't like her and had Fey recast the role.

I kind of feel for Dratch, though.  I listened to her memoir (which is actually fascinating if you compare it to Bossypants and Yes, Please!) and, sadly, she's never going to have the career that her SNL colleagues have, but she does have grit.  She's also very talented as sort of a character comedian, which will probably never lead to the success that Fey and Poehler have achieved.

  • Love 2
18 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

Actually Dratch was Jenna in the (original) pilot but the audience really didn't like her and had Fey recast the role.

I kind of feel for Dratch, though.  I listened to her memoir (which is actually fascinating if you compare it to Bossypants and Yes, Please!) and, sadly, she's never going to have the career that her SNL colleagues have, but she does have grit.  She's also very talented as sort of a character comedian, which will probably never lead to the success that Fey and Poehler have achieved.

I hated “Bossypants” and “Yes, Please!” was horrendous.  I hate to say it, but Rachel doesn’t have the looks for tv.  She was funny as Spence’s girlfriend in “King of Queens” tho.

Jeff Lewis from Flipping Out.  I've always found him annoying, whiny and unwatchable, but his comments about the surrogate he and his partner used are obnoxious.  I don't know whether she agreed to be filmed or not, but saying that she's "muddling a beautiful experience" with her possibly true claims, after having made bad misogynist jokes about her vagina during the birth, is really shitty.

  • Love 10
2 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Jeff Lewis from Flipping Out.  I've always found him annoying, whiny and unwatchable, but his comments about the surrogate he and his partner used are obnoxious.  I don't know whether she agreed to be filmed or not, but saying that she's "muddling a beautiful experience" with her possibly true claims, after having made bad misogynist jokes about her vagina during the birth, is really shitty.

I don't know the guy but looked him up, and he looks smarmy.

  • Love 3
On 6/10/2018 at 3:01 PM, Blergh said:

My personal dislike of Mr. Hope predates the Vietnam War (or at least the actions he did predate it even though I wasn't yet born for some of them).  IMO, even his earliest TV specials were stale, hammy and meanspirited (and I've detailed how he spoiled the fun for the I Love Lucy crew).

 Now, IMO Jack Benny was a cool cat but even I have to admit that seeing him in small doses suffices. However; he DID have talents that he somewhat kept under wraps and had the capacity for dramatic acting. He was all set to star the Sunshine Boys until his sudden death at 80 in 1974- which prompted his longtime bestie George Burns to pick up the gauntlet, do the role which gave HIS career a shot in the arm until shortly before his own death!

The Sunshine Boys lists a release year of 1975; George Burns didn't die until 1996. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "a shot in the arm" (I understand that part) "until shortly before his own death" (unless I've forgotten if he slowed down physically or professionally before he died, this part puzzles me).

Yes, he was 100 years old when he died, but I thought he was still pretty active until he died; the cause of death being cardiac arrest, which is sudden & not anything lengthy & debilitating. He lived, & continued to work, for 21 years after The Sunshine Boys was released. His Wikipedia page says he was professionally active 1902-1996, the year he died (which was in March that year; his 100th birthday was in January).

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