10-04-10 "Oprah, AskRo, Bullying and I Am Comic"

In case you missed it...

GETTING RECOGNIZED, A CALL FROM OPRAH AND SHUTTING DOWN ASKRO
Rosie was glad to be back on the air today and expressed that she felt like the vacation was too long and that she didn't have much to do over the time she had off.  Janette used her time off to go on vacation to Sanibel Island, Florida.  Before she left she had mentioned on air that she was going to Sanibel and that she had once worked in a sea shell shop selling sea shells by the sea shore.  That statement is easier to type than say aloud.  So while she was in Sanibel she stopped into a sea shell shop named Tuttles.  The woman at the checkout asked Janette what her name was and after Janette revealed who she was she was SO excited to meet her because she and staff were HUGE fans of the show!  She showed Janette a sign they had by the register that said "If you're Janette say hi!"  They had heard Janette talk about the days she used to work at a sea shell shop and that she was coming to Sanibel and had put it there in the chance that she might stop in!   Jeannie was also recognized over vacation ina  nail salon while she getting her nails done.  She said there were two ladies staring at her while she was getting her nails painted and then they came over to her and whispered "Are you Jeannie Weenie?!"

Rosie had her own "fame moment" this weekend.  She said she was in bed after many phone-calls with her Publicist, Deirdre and her lawyer because of some problem with the release regarding her appearance on Ruby's show when her phone rang and the caller-id was blocked.  She assumed it was Ruby because her number is blocked and she answered it and the woman on the other end said "Hi it's Oprah."  She didn't believe the caller and thought it was someone playing a joke on her.  After much back and forth Rosie realized that it was indeed OPRAH on the phone!  She said once she realized it was her she felt like she was instantly in 8th grade again.  Oprah was calling to tell Rosie that she had done an article for Forbes magazine and they tried to make a controversy where there wasn't one, by releasing that she had confronted Rosie as to whether or not she was crazy.  Here's an article about the story they tried to spin into something.  Rosie said she was "flummoxed" by the phone-call (not because of the topic but because she was talking to OPRAH HERSELF!) and had to convince herself to calm down.  Rosie explained that when Oprah came to her house they had joked that Oprah was doing a "sanity check" before she hired her to do a show on her network.  Rosie said she still feels like she's the "freshman dork" and Oprah is the "coolest Senior in the school" that she just wants to be liked by.  She talked about how she had to convince herself to just be in the moment and not to live outside herself and what was happening.

Rosie said that she will be closing down the "AskRo" questions on her blog.  She said she doesn't want to do them anymore and she found herself picking only the snarky ones to answer.  She said, at this point the questions almost feel "too exposing."  Jeannie recommended that Rosie at least stop answering the AskRo's before the new OWN television show starts.  Rosie said she was chatting with her friend Natasha Lyonne who is starring in a new play called Tigers Be Still which Rosie is going to see again soon.  Rosie said she was expressing her concern about being thrust into the public eye again and Natasha reassured her that it's not going to feel like a "tidal wave" this time.  Rosie thought about it and agreed that she's older and that this time it will be different -her television show, the expectations she has, the environment she is doing it in, etc.  Janette suggested that there is a "burn out" factor with blogging and had experienced that herself with her own blog.  Rosie said that she cannot believe the meanness that she receives through AskRo if she doesn't keep up with the questions and said she can't deal with peoples' expectations of her.   Rosie said that before the radio show started she had the blog as a way to keep her "toe in the water" but now she has the radio show as her outlet to discuss what is going on in the news.  Jeannie said she will miss Rosie's childish remarks back to naysayers like when she calls someone a poopy-head.  Janette suggested Rosie just let it go dormant as she did with her own blog so she could come back to it.  Rosie said that when she started blogging, blogging was a rare thing and it isn't as interesting to her now that blogging is so common place. 

ROSIE LOVES THE FACEBOOK MOVIE BUT STILL DOESN'T HAVE ONE
Rosie said she saw and LOVED the movie The Social Network.  No one in the studio had seen it except Shoshana who also loved it.  Shoshana said she thought it was fascinating and is now obsessed with it.  Rosie is fascinated and equally obsessed.  They discussed the film without giving too much away and the actors in the film.  Rosie thought it was absolutely fascinating and said it gave her even more reason to NOT want to go on Facebook and to not even have a blog anymore.  She briefly remarked on the kind of damage one can do to others in a virtual world.    I agree.  Living in the virtual world that I live in I have been outraged, disgusted and horrified by what I've witnessed on the Internet but I've also been amazed, touched and inspired!  It's probably like anything else - too much of anything is not a good thing.  Unless it's my Rosie obsession which I've now turned into a mini-career I suppose.  :)

Janette was almost a victim of a phishing scam.  She got an email saying she had been reported to Facebook because of bad behavior and she needed to follow a link and enter in her information and passwords and apologize for it.  She didn't do it and hasn't been booted from Facebook so she's pretty sure it was a hoax.   Pete explained about phishing scams and how they often have attachments that are actually downloadable files that will install a virus onto your computer.  

Rosie said she was apprehensive about going to see the Facebook movie at a movie theater in NYC because of the stories she has heard about bed bugs in movie theaters.  They also got notification that there are bed bugs in the Sirius studio in NYC!  Janette was listening to the Howard Stern show and according to a bed bug expert he had on a lot of the bed bugs they are seeing are coming from South America.  Rosie found that when she was walking in the city there were a lot of mattresses out in the garbage.  They debated who in the studio was most afraid of getting bed bugs and Rosie said it was Bobby but Brendan said he would burn his house down if he got bed bugs!  He said that creepy-crawlies in general freak him out and the idea of a bug living off his life force completely freaks him out.  He's very worried about going back into the Sirius building and has been trying to figure out how he can work without ever having to go back there again. 

SISTER WIVES AND THE WORLD OF JENKS
Rosie, Janette and Jeannie admitted they all are mildly obsessed with the show Sister Wives on TLC.   Rosie said it is like a real Big Love.  Jeannie wondered about the benefits of polygamy for the women and only saw the benefits for the man involved.  Jeannie admitted she doesn't get why any woman would enter into it.  They discussed the show itself and the legal trouble that the family is now in.

Rosie also loves the show World of Jenks on MTV.  She announced that the show's creator Andrew Jenks will be on the show next week!  Rosie loves the show and said it's the best show on TV.  Rosie said she loves Andrew's spirit and loves how open-hearted and non judgemental he is.  Andrew is only 24 years old and at 19 years old he moved into an assisted living facility and produced a documentary about his time there.  HBO bought the rights to the film and released the documentary in 2008. In "The World of Jenks" Andrew moves in with a stranger each episode to experience a week in their life.  Rosie thinks he's something special.  Tune in for that interview!   

TYLER CLEMENTI

After the commercial break Rosie wanted to discuss the tragic suicide of the Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi and the role that the Internet plays in bullying.  James had done research on the story and explained what had happened and how his roommate secretly videotaped him having sex with another man and then tweeted about it and streamed it live on the Internet.  James said that the roommate was looking to humiliate him and he did.  Rosie said that in our society it was humiliation because his partner was of the same sex and said that it might have not been as humiliating if his partner had been of the opposite sex.  They discussed whether the roommate could have imagined the ramifications of his actions.   Janette doubted that he could have predicted the repercussions.  She said he was probably proud at the time to be as mean as he was in front of his Twitter followers but she bets he's in shock now that he's been charged with Invasion of Privacy and possibly a hate crime too.  If found guilty those charges could lead to 15 years in prison and she bet that he will see some prison time because of his actions.    James said that statistics show that more than 1/3 of the people in the LGBT community have attempted suicide.

Rosie really liked the video that author Dan Savage and his partner made for a series they called It Gets Better Project to try to help kids who are in the midst of figuring out their sexuality.  They played some of the audio from their video that they posted on YouTube.  Rosie said she spent a lot of time looking at the videos online and she tried to make one herself but she couldn't do it.  She said she didn't think it sounded genuine or authentic enough to post.  Shoshana said that Dan Savage said in a New York Times article that he didn't want celebrities to do it because their lives don't seem like an exception rather than the norm.  Rosie and the staff also played a clip from Ellen's video she posted about how it gets better.   

It Gets Better...

Rosie and James talked about being gay teens and said they were both never teased for being gay.  Rosie said the only times she was ever publicly criticized for her sexuality was one time when she came out of a movie theater with a girlfriend and someone called them "dykes" and a time when she was riding her motorcycle with a girlfriend and someone referred to her and her girlfriend as "dykes."  The first time she wasn't famous but after the second incident she took off her helmet and the man who called her a dyke suddenly recognized her.  Jeannie, who grew up with Rosie said that no one ever even thought Rosie could be gay.  She said that when she and the other girls were all making out with the boys Rosie simply played video games and no one gave it a second thought at the time.  James remembered one incident when someone called him gay and how that felt and said he can't imagine living with that kind of torment every day.  Rosie said that if the government doesn't give gay people equal rights how do we expect our kids to treat each other equally and not less than because of their sexuality?  Janette said she was bullied as a child but she wasn't living in a culture that allowed it.   

Rosie took some calls on Tyler's death and bullying.  She discussed with one caller about how being gay is not a choice.  Rosie then took a call from a listener who admitted to being a bully to one girl growing up.   Rosie asked the caller why she thinks she was a bully and the caller said that the girl was really nerdy and weak and the little things she did irritated her.  She said she preyed on that.  The caller is 40 years old now and has since apologized to the woman at a high school reunion.  The woman thanked her for her apology.  Rosie said that the caller, who was crying remembering her past, had to learn to forgive herself. 

James admitted he was a bully in school and that he and his friends bullied a girl named Isabel who was very poor.  Jeannie once got in trouble for making fun of a boy with special needs.  She was with a group of friends and has been haunted by that memory.  As she has become older she wondered if the guilt from that memory played a role in the line of work that she chose to go into.  Jeannie works with children with special needs today.   

Rosie took more calls from listeners.  One caller maintained that for some people who are gay, it doesn't get better but you're able to deal with it better.  He said that if you're not in the entertainment industry or live in a big city it's still hard to be out.  Janette agreed and said that at an older age you realize that horrible things happen and that you can get through it and that maybe that is the difference.  She said when you're young it seems like it will never get better.  Rosie said finally that until our society accepts that all people are equal and our religious institutions stop demonizing everyone who is gay this will not go away.  She encouraged anyone who is contemplating suicide to call a Suicide Prevention Hotline or look into the Trevor Project. 

On a lighter note, somewhere in this conversation Rosie said that she saw the movie Easy A and loved it.

I AM COMIC
Rosie then introduced Jordan Brady and Ritch Shydner from I Am Comic.  In 'I Am Comic' filmmaker Jordan Brady takes a look at what it takes to stay relevant in the competitive world of stand-up comedy.
Rosie and Janette saw this documentary a couple weeks ago and loved it.  Rosie said it is a wonderful representation of what it's like to be a stand-up comic.  Ritch started comedy in 1978 in Washington D.C. and once worked with Rosie at a Ground Round in Jersey!  Jordan Brady started in comedy in 1972 and was once on the show 'Stand Up Spotlight' on VH1 when Rosie hosted.  He said that Rosie always gave away the best gifts to the comedians.  Rosie said that giving away free shit has been the secret to her success.  Jordan has directed commercials for years and people would often ask him what it was like to be a comedian. Then one day Amazon sent him a suggestion based off of his reading preferences and recommended Ritch's book I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics.  The rest was history! 

Rosie, Jordan and Ritch discussed many topics about stand-up comedians including that comics are addicted to laughs, the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse with stand-up comedians and why that is.  They talked about how stand-ups often have a lot of free time on their hands and how they often have personalities that are looking for instant gratification.  Rosie, Ritch and Jordan all have children and they joked about parenting teens.

Since the documentaries release Ritch has started doing stand-up again and is really enjoying it.  Rosie said when The Rosie O'Donnell Show ended she was asked to do 30 minutes of stand-up.  She kept saying no and turning them down and the money got more and more ridiculous.  Eventually she agreed and she said it was a huge error.  She didn't have any material, she had that crazy haircut, and public perception of her was in flux.  She said that people in the audience looked at her like she had become another human being. Rosie said she wasn't even funny, she was just ranting.  They discussed what it's like to become really famous and Rosie said that even when you're famous you still feel like you're two seconds away from becoming a hack.  She said even when you get "there" you never feel like "you're there." 

Rosie said she loves her life but that there is still a part of her that wants to do stand up and kill.  Janette said that anyone who has any interest in comedy should watch this movie  because it's so brilliantly done.  Rosie said 'I Am Comic' is a great movie and it will be available on DVD on October 12th!  You can visit Iamcomicmovie.com or RitchShydner.com for more!

JANETTE'S BIRTHDAY AND TONS OF TELEVISION SHOW TALK
The studio sang Happy Birthday to Janette because it was her birthday over the break even though she said she didn't want them to do anything for it and made Deirdre send an email to everyone telling them that they shouldn't.  Rosie said "too bad" and that they are not the boss of her and that she will do something for her birthday if she wants to!  Jeannie brought in a yummy vegetarian Mexican lasagna and Shoshana ordered all sorts of pastries and bagels for the celebration.   

Bobby and Rosie discussed 'Dancing With The Stars' and they both think that Jennifer Gray and Brandy are doing a great job.  Everyone thought that Michael Bolton was really bad and that Bristol Palin was boring.    Janette was surprised that David Hasselhoff was voted off first because he is such a train-wreck.  She thought they'd keep him for ratings.  Jeannie and Rosie both enjoy The Situation.  They said they will be watching 'Dancing With the Stars' and 'World of Jenks' tonight.  

No one thought that the show "Sh!t My Dad Says" was very good.  Deirdre loves the shows "Raising Hope" and "Boardwalk Empire." Rosie and Janette were bored and confused watching "Boardwalk Empire."  Janette likes the show "No Ordinary Family."  Rosie and Bobby still love Glee although they did not like the Britney episode.  Bobby said the Britney episode wasn't his favorite but he's not giving up on Glee. 

Rosie closed the show.

and that's what you missed -kw