5 May 2010

Just Deserts For Catherine Deveny

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Those of you may remember Melbourne ‘comedian’ Catherine Deveny’s mindless gobfest about Canberra that stirred up more than a little backlash on this site.

In a karmic twist, she’s lost her job at the Age over similarly useless attempts at humour at the logies.

It’s just nice to know that the wheel spins full circle sometimes. I just sent her an email expressing my vitiolic sentiment to cdeveny1 [at] ozemail.com.au. You could do the same for a laugh should you wish.

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Oh dear, we are overrun by humourless twats in this, the Age of Outrage.

The Chaser’s “Make a Wish” sketch was, in addition to being funny, apt social commentary.

Deveny’s crack about hoping some worthless celebrity’s new wife doesn’t die like his old one did is also funny.

I have no idea what her crack about Bindi Irwin was all about but I did see Bindi in a television advertisement the other night and she could certainly do with a lot more exercise than she’s currently getting.

Mr_Shab said :

The Chaser, despite being painfully undergraduate at times, did at least have the redeeming feature of occasionally being funny.

All of Deveny’s attempts at humour seemed to be along the lines of “aren’t bogans stupid. They’re so crass and tasteless and ugly. And stupid. Did I say stupid? But I can poke fun at them ’cause I grew up in the suburbs (rinse and repeat)”.

By representing herself as “edgy” and “progressive” she just gives more ammunition to tools like Andrew Bolt to tar anyone to the left of Ghengis Khan as a “latte-sipping inner city lefty wanker”.

Spot on!!! Great little article that says the same thing here:

http://newmatilda.com/2010/05/06/embarrassment-latte-belt

The Chaser, despite being painfully undergraduate at times, did at least have the redeeming feature of occasionally being funny.

All of Deveny’s attempts at humour seemed to be along the lines of “aren’t bogans stupid. They’re so crass and tasteless and ugly. And stupid. Did I say stupid? But I can poke fun at them ’cause I grew up in the suburbs (rinse and repeat)”.

By representing herself as “edgy” and “progressive” she just gives more ammunition to tools like Andrew Bolt to tar anyone to the left of Ghengis Khan as a “latte-sipping inner city lefty wanker”.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster5:34 pm 06 May 10

She is exhibiting the same type of “humour” as the Chasers did with their “Make a Wish” sketch. It isn’t funny, smart, satirical or cutting edge. This type of thing went out in the 1980s when the public were disgusted by the sick AIDS and Lindy Chamberlain “jokes” we were forced to suffer in various workplaces.

Gungahlin Al11:40 am 06 May 10

Some crass and very un-funny tweets in there. Chickens > roost.

Thoroughly Smashed11:05 am 06 May 10

Aurelius said :

Jim @ #22 – herself, presumably?
Deano @ #19 – Having never used Twitter (I think it’s an appalling product) I can’t be sure. But from my recollection of the Fake Stephen Conroy saga, isn’t it a breach of Twitter’s terms and conditions to use a pseudonym?

As with regular blogging the problem is not with twitter per se, rather the signal to noise ratio. On twitter I think it’s even worse though.

If it was personal then she should use a pseudonym like I do here to protect my professional reputation as a car salesman.

Don’t want your good image on RA dragging up your standing as a car salesman?

🙂

Aurelius said :

Jim @ #22 – herself, presumably?
Deano @ #19 – Having never used Twitter (I think it’s an appalling product) I can’t be sure. But from my recollection of the Fake Stephen Conroy saga, isn’t it a breach of Twitter’s terms and conditions to use a pseudonym?

Pseudonyms are okay (most people on twitter don’t use their actual names). There is an ‘impersonation policy’ however.

Jim @ #22 – herself, presumably?
Deano @ #19 – Having never used Twitter (I think it’s an appalling product) I can’t be sure. But from my recollection of the Fake Stephen Conroy saga, isn’t it a breach of Twitter’s terms and conditions to use a pseudonym?

gospeedygo said :

It really cheeses my pizza when people say “that wasn’t funny” or “she isn’t funny”. No. Humour is subjective and just because it doesn’t tickle you in that way doesn’t mean it was the same for other people. Saying that I though whatserface’s comments were funny TO ME (making sure there was nobody around me to hear me laugh) but obviously outrageously offensive. /0.2c

I dare you to find one person who thought she was funny, just one person.

But she is soooo out there – totally

Aurelius said :

Whatever one believes about this woman and her sense of humour (and I’d not heard of her until today), is it right to lose one’s job for what one posts to their personal Twitter feed?

When your job is in the public arena and you use it in your ‘role’ as a social commentator. Sh*t yeah!

Twitter isn’t personal. Never has been, never will be

Aurelius said :

Whatever one believes about this woman and her sense of humour (and I’d not heard of her until today), is it right to lose one’s job for what one posts to their personal Twitter feed?

But it isn’t her personal Twitter feed. She is a ‘personality’ who trades on the brand of her name. Anything she does under that brand is related to the service she provides and employers have to option to no longer engage her if they don’t like the brand.

If it was personal then she should use a pseudonym like I do here to protect my professional reputation as a car salesman.

georgesgenitals9:25 pm 05 May 10

If it’s being twittered, it’s public.

Can I nominate her for a RiotACT Mully award?

I loved her attempts to “justify” herself by explaining to all us that we don’t actually understand the concept of social networking… um, okay.

Shame really.

Not that she’s been fired…that’s good. I think it’s a shame that she didn’t get fired for her ham-fisted and spectacularly un-funny writing and just faded into obscurity. Instead, she’s gone out on a wave of cheap sensationalism. It gets her in the news and looking like a martyr for “edgy humour”. Now she’ll end up an online celebrity.

Grrrr said:

Lots of things, but it depends on how long they’ve used it for:

Since the early 90s – “I am a Baby Boomer with some tech clue and too much money. I got on the internet early, and was happy to pay $5 per hour for it whilst anyone from Gen X was getting it free from their Uni. My email address hasn’t changed for 17 years, so the rest of you are techno-plebs.”

Since the late 90s – “I just picked a dialup ISP cause I’d heard their name advertised lots. I couldn’t be bothered with this Broadband thing that’s starting to gain traction, but I’ve got some money to spend on internet regardless. I want to make Malcolm Turnbull rich.”

The last few years – “I couldn’t be bothered getting a GMail address like anyone with a clue.”

Interesting comments there Grrrr. I currently have an ozemail address, which I have had for years (even though my ISP is now Internode) simply because it saves me the hassles of having to tell everyone that I have a new email address. I am happy to pay the extra money to keep my email address to save the hassles. Maybe I am just lazy but I am certainly NOT a baby boomer, I certainly CAN be bothered with Broadband and I certainly DO have a clue! 🙂

It really cheeses my pizza when people say “that wasn’t funny” or “she isn’t funny”. No. Humour is subjective and just because it doesn’t tickle you in that way doesn’t mean it was the same for other people. Saying that I though whatserface’s comments were funny TO ME (making sure there was nobody around me to hear me laugh) but obviously outrageously offensive. /0.2c

Bindi child porn jokes are just not funny. Ever.

Cath says her twatter was taken out of context. What a delusional cow.

Looks like the sh*t has hit Deveny’s one and only fan.

Aurelius said :

Whatever one believes about this woman and her sense of humour (and I’d not heard of her until today), is it right to lose one’s job for what one posts to their personal Twitter feed?

Twitter is private and personal in the same way as getting on top of a roof with a bullhorn is private. If you want your thoughts to be private, you don’t broadcast them. Absolute Zero sympathy.

Thoroughly Smashed5:06 pm 05 May 10

I just sent her an email expressing my vitiolic sentiment to cdeveny1 [at] ozemail.com.au. You could do the same for a laugh should you wish.

Stay classy.

screaming banshee5:04 pm 05 May 10

Aurelius said :

is it right to lose one’s job for what one posts to their personal Twitter feed?

My 2c, if I employed people I’d sack someone just for using twitter full stop. It would limit hiring opportunities but would certainly weed out the plebs.

The distinction between the public and private spheres isn’t absolute. In a position as a columnist for a media-organisation, one would be hard put to say whether the twitter feed was ‘personal’ or an extension of media-related activities.

I guess it is a question of whether her contract with the Age was exclusive, or whether she was free to “entertain” in other fora, and also if her contract had some clause about her bringing the publication into disrepute, such as many sporting personalities frequently have (and break).

Also I guess, if she had a contract at all, and wasn’t just paid per article.

The distinction between the public and private spheres isn’t absolute. In a position as a columnist for a media-organisation, one would be hard put to say whether the twitter feed was ‘personal’ or an extension of media-related activities. Her twitter feed was certainly used to push herself as a ‘media personality’: live by the sword, die by the sword.

Regardless of whether you think it’s right for her to be fired for the contents of a twitter feed, you’d be hard put to deny that she shouldn’t be fired for being terminally unentertaining.

Whatever one believes about this woman and her sense of humour (and I’d not heard of her until today), is it right to lose one’s job for what one posts to their personal Twitter feed?

“I’m edgy, I push the envelope”

Nope.

Wasn’t funny then, not funny now.

Which leads me to this – how do I get a job as a comedian at a newspaper??

Kazza said :

What does it say exactly if you have an ozemail address?

Lots of things, but it depends on how long they’ve used it for:

Since the early 90s – “I am a Baby Boomer with some tech clue and too much money. I got on the internet early, and was happy to pay $5 per hour for it whilst anyone from Gen X was getting it free from their Uni. My email address hasn’t changed for 17 years, so the rest of you are techno-plebs.”

Since the late 90s – “I just picked a dialup ISP cause I’d heard their name advertised lots. I couldn’t be bothered with this Broadband thing that’s starting to gain traction, but I’ve got some money to spend on internet regardless. I want to make Malcolm Turnbull rich.”

The last few years – “I couldn’t be bothered getting a GMail address like anyone with a clue.”

Woody Mann-Caruso – just out of curiosity, what is the issue with Ozemail? What does it say exactly if you have an ozemail address? Ta!

Woody Mann-Caruso12:54 pm 05 May 10

Ozemail? Says it all, really.

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