Should Howard hire a new head writer and fire Benjy?

Jackie represented the golden years and was professional comedy stand up and joke writer. He had tons of comedic street cred.

Artie had some big shoes to fill but was a veteran TV and move comic and stand up.

Benjy was/is a nobody with no professional writing or comedy background with no discernible talent. Is it a coincidence that the comedic level in the show started tanking when he was named head writer? This is amateur hour for such a big stage.

Besides everyone is growing weary of his shtick with his
attention whore girlfriend.

Is it too late to replace him at this point or is the show beyond repair?

Its a work in Progress. What do you do for a living? He wouldn't be there if he wasn't talented.

Should but won't.

The old Howard hung out in the K-Rock studio and wrote bits, songs and jokes with Fred and the Jokeman. Needs to happen again for comedy to return to the show. That or the return of Arthur Lange.

Benjy bought the Jackie chair by allowing Howard to keep much more gelt than Jackie.

The old Howard had no reason to go home.
Now he does.

I like Benjy. FUCK THE HATERS.

You can't hire TV quality writers for $40,000. Letterman/Leno/Seinfeld all have/had armies of writers. I've read that 22 minute sitcoms often have 12 writers. Not in the budget.

You need someone with a very special niche talent.
What comic do you know that is immensely funny just improvising off the cuff?

Jackie was great in that chair because he had "studied" joke books for all his life. I don't think you can find another person like that.

The potential content is more limited now, Jackie could always go for racial and gay subjects when he needed a line. Now much of that is censored off the show and the list of celebs that can be targeted is diminished.

I agree with everything you've said vis-a-vis Benjie, but let's not let ourselves get carried away with the greatness of Hackie.

Just listen to 5 minutes of Hackie's Joke Hunt if you don't believe me.

I think Benjy adds a unique element to the show but I would love to see someone else in there two, I love Shuli and think that he should have a bigger role in the show I am not sure how but I think that would be awesome.

Nobody here likes Shuli. Honestly. You must be Shuli.

I don't like Benjy, but the guy is a goldmine of material. You hate him? That's a response. That's all they are trying to evoke.

Shuli ????!! Please no ! I prefer a 4h AGT radio show or listen to Robin giving nutrition advices than Shuli in the studio.

Jackie is a harrable stand up comic, let's face it how many people can sit through an hour of one liners. However those one liners made him a perfect fit for the show. The hoots and cackling into background made it that much more hysterical. I miss him and the show was never the same without him. The younger listeners (those that jumped in during the satellite years) will probably never truly appreciate his brilliance.

Benjy may be coming up with all kinds of funny material that Howard will no longer use because Howard is trying to project a different image. The show has evolved.
So I'm not sure the blame falls only on Benjy. Also, comparing and contrasting Benjy to Artie is not all that fair. Artie was more of an on air personality. Benjy remains silent for the most part and that's the way it should remain. All I know is that I do not like the sound of Benjy's voice, I do not like his current bits with his girlfriend, and I wouldn't mind if he left the show for other things. Whether his leaving would make a bit of difference is another story.

For those who say, "Listen to Jackie's show that he does by himself. He's not funny." I say, listen to Howard's show that he now does by himself. He's not funny either.

That doesn't work either because they let Benjy on 2 HSS roasts and he was wretchedly unfunjy, and ALL written by him. MAYBE the worst performer in ALL the HSS roasts (no, fuck that, he was easily the worst), and he had MONTHS to write and prepare. In one of them he tried to do his awful Andy Kaufman knock-off attempt alt comedy and it was just repulsively executed.

Meanwhile a guy like Artie KILLED on every fucking roast, ALL written exclusively by him while he slings one liners effortlessly on the show itself. I hear him and Nick Dipaolo on their show nightly and I'm blown away (almost jealous) how consistently quick and relentlessly funny they both are. Ten minutes of their show is funnier than an entire week of Howard's these days.

Benjy is to Artie what Greg Ostertag is to Karl Malone.

One of my theories on why Benjy sucks so bad is he doesn't know shit about shit without looking it up on wikipedia. He's a know-nothing creepy perv shitstain that has no grasp or knowledge of pop-culture, sports, music etc etc. And meanwhile that's much of what Howard harps on (besides sex) during a HSS. So if he writes a "joke" it's completely unnatural or forced and the audience can see through it besides the fact it's devoid of any raw stand-up's vitriol.

Let's say Howard decides to comment on a story about Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) and now he wants to kick it in the ass with a few jokes; who's your writer...it's an unfunjy perv that doesn't know WHO Ron Artest is nor does he know anything about basketball. So by the time Benjy even gets to wikipedia Howard is on to another topic or bit.

If you look at most of the HSS staff they're all in one way or another passionate about other things besides getting laid (which is Benjy's only concern). They all have hosted shows with specific topics or themes in pop-culture or sports on the channels. But Benjy is actually UNqualified to be on shows like a GEEK TIME or FAST FOOD or FERRELL(sub for like Will and Hein have) etc etc. Which besides being colossally unfunjy I would think and hope it would make him completely UNqualified to write for Howard?? But Howard's into cheap labor and Jews so there he is, irritating the audience daily.

Why he's is IN the actual studio and on the WUS as hideous ON air he is another conversation entirely that I'm not sure I have the energy to hash out right now. Because that baffles and pisses me off as much as the writing slop. He's basically a less funny Ass-Napkin Ed that stepped in major pile of right place right time shit.

what writer would apply for a part time job?

Great post. Totally agree. If he was funny on the wrap up show (where he finally gets to speak, and could shine), then I would believe he was funny, but he just isn't. He's mediocre at best. Shit, some of my friends are funnier than that hack.

Obviously Benjy hates Stern and is sabotaging the show by giving Howard only his worst material, not that his best material is funny anyway.

Jackie.

I would prefer to see Shuli do standup on AGT.

I wish Shuli was funny and that he would stop that "Laugh/Talk" manner of speaking when he tells stories about the block parties.

Great post!! I wonder how many people "got" the obscure Utah Jazz reference.