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Paul Ollinger's avatar

his negative beliefs are preserving his poverty mindset to the point where he actually thinks he's poor while earning a shitload of money. But to your point, perhaps those negative beliefs are what his audience is buying into.

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Matt Ruby's avatar

1) Complaining about rich people can be a great path to mass appeal (see: Bernie Sanders).

2) I'd hesitate about taking all this too literally in a present tense way. For example, I think Rodney Dangerfield actually got a lot of respect in real life but found it to be a better comedic path to portray the negative parts of himself he identified with when he began doing standup because "I'm rich and get a ton of respect and have positive self-esteem" ain't always great for yuks.

3) For my money, Louis CK talking about being broke is the best bit about poverty I've seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-1l_SlA7c

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Paul Ollinger's avatar

1. True. 2. Rodney was a character like Larry the Cable Guy but with much better jokes (and cocaine). YouтАЩre probably right about taking things too literallyтАФIтАЩm a pretty rigid thinkerтАФbut I hold Gary to a very high standard because heтАЩs so fucking good. 3. That Louis clip is hilarious. IтАЩve never seen it before and of course I shouldnтАЩt be surprised that combines socio-economic analysis with anecdotes about shitting his pants.

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