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Charlie Manson Explains Who He Is

I was surprised that I laughed when I watched this. Manson has a fine sense of timing as a lay actor, and a great sense of humor/irony, which together betray an obvious understanding of psychology and human behavior. In those terms, he is very much a shadow comedian, the comic’s evil twin, a real flesh and blood Joker who knows how to manipulate, shock, or even get laughs with a well-delivered punch that tells ironic truths…even as it’s breaking your ribs.

Each punch carries a double meaning; the faces he makes are a calculated critique of America’s media circus and its fascination with deconstructing him—but then—we remember what he is famous for, and so then comes the second meaning: a megalomaniac killer showing off—showing us he is unknowable because he is insane—a superficial act that plays the very circus he is simultaneously critiquing. For a moment we *think* we know him because he’s familiar…he’s been on TV…but then we witness just how at ease he is with what he is…a monster, there, sitting in his chair…then suddenly lunging forward. All hit at the same time. A “real” comedian playing for a paying audience couldn’t pull this off—not even close. Any subtle monsteresque threat a comic could muster would dissipate in the safety of the distance from the stage to the seats. After all, who really fears being murdered during a comedy show? (Ok, maybe the comic—ha). It would be Grand Guignol at best. It’s macabre to say it, but Manson manages to achieve a complex moment of comedy here that few others could…or would…or, shit, should.

15 Responses to “Charlie Manson Explains Who He Is”

  1. Crust in Underwear Says:

    This shit is older than the crust in your dingle berry laced underwear.

    Change this shit up, bitch. I’m tired at looking at freaky deaky manson. And joe k really does look like Eddy Van Halen’s evil twin brother who went into porn.

  2. NEWSHIT.com.oov.org Says:

    Dear Klecho, Gecko, Geico, Lover:

    You need to put some new shit on your site.

    And once in a while tap in on your ole buddy’s site as well. Once a month, please.

    OK Little Buddy?

    Sincerely,
    The Skipper

  3. Riffer Says:

    reformed.

    Actually saw some of his bits on you-tube. A great comedian; can twist and turn with the audience and can keep his composure.

    Do I still think you look like a cross between Evan Stone and coked out Eddy Van Halen, circa, late 1990′s – yes.

    But do you give good joke. Yeah.

  4. Riffer Says:

    Here’s a riff about the audience riffer JOE KLOCEK:

    He looks like a cross between Evan Stone (Famous Hetero Porn Star) and a bloated faced coked out Eddy Van Halen (late 90′s).

    Way to go the KLOCKER BOY! Let Evan stone Riff one right in your face, while Eddy V. plays one of those quick high pitched guitar riffs in the background. You know like cheesy porn music, while you get cheesed in the face by a dude!

    Yeah, Baby! Sex is Sex Joey. Don’t complain.

  5. No Sale, Here Says:

    On the S-W- Op Ed.

    Dear S-W-,

    Yes, I see what you mean. There is an uncanny weave that manson pulls off. unfortunately, i hate to give kudos to an evil man but he does have great comedic timing; probably, just one of the reasons why we like to watch this guy. collectively, people are drawn into the macabre that link to the Grand Guignol seems to show a historical nodal point of our nature to see society in its perversions and the promotion of it.

    In re Manson, yeah we not only go in for the macabre but his comedic timing. You make an excellent observation, because half of the draw to him is his history, and within that history we have receptively understood that he was able to play a performance to an audience on several levels – one being his comedic timing during an interview. I don’t think we realize that they may be half of the draw about him; it was an observation that you brought to the forefront. I guess because you are a professional comedian your eye and ear is trained to watch for timing, whereas a layperson watching him receptively sees the cogency in the corncucopic craze he emits. And within those emissions there are several golden lines and an elocutionary cadence that runs concordantly and uncannily on target with those lines. Good Observation, SW, unfortunately.

  6. No Sale, Here Says:

    Yes,

    I agree Tickle Me Elbow. It is the narcissistic but non-megalomaniacs who truly play the game of not wanting to get caught; they are truly the scariest people that plague our consciousness. They are scarier than a Manson.

    With the intelligence being more sophisticated on the ground level than it was 40 years ago (the FBI) one would like to think that a cult leader or quasi leader may have a file on his/her ass and can be contained. Meaning, if a dude in a ranch in So. Cal today was loafing around, strumming guitar, taking acid and shrooms, and having all day sex romps one would like to believe that local, state and fed authorities would have some sort of “eye” on a potential creep. I’m not saying take away his/her civil liberties but the law also has the civil liberties to find out what’s going on in its neighborhood w/o infringement on a “groups” civil liberties.

    However, what the FBI can’t see or doesn’t have a file on can FUCKING HURT YOU. And that is scary!

    Unfortunately, the NSA doesn’t try to keep track on the monsters that kill 15 to 100 people. They keep track on entities and people that run those entities that can kill tens of thousands of people within seconds and minutes. It would be nice if the FBI could have sophisticated intelligence to find and contain lone wolf’s who truly plan and obsessively think about ways on not getting caught. But, they haven’t invented a way to preemptively sieve out the 1 in 1,000,000 million predators that exist among us. It would be nice if they had that ability ( so we could feel safe at night ) and secondly, it would be nice that they could keep tabs on these animals w/o running over the line of a right to privacy.

    Honestly, the FBI just doesn’t have the man power and technology to prevent heinous crimes, only ways on finding predators after the fact – if they’re lucky!

  7. Tickle Me Elbow Says:

    I’m with you, No Sale. There’s no doubt Manson’s psychopathy was driven by his megalomania, just as it was for the Zodiac killer, the Unabomber, and other murderers who played coy to the camera, taunted the police, left bloody messages behind, bragged about how brilliant they were, etc.

    If you had to grade mass murderers and serial killers, these guys were just a few points above flunkies. Megalomania carries the seeds of its own destruction, because it requires an opponent to impress, and humans being imperfect, the time will come when you’ll leave an opening, blinded by your own sense of greatness, and your opponent will strike.

    Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy were much more successful because they didn’t have massive heads. They were narcissists, sure, but they tried to keep what they were doing a secret, and didn’t look for validation from an outside opponent, which allowed them to operate longer under the radar.

    The quiet ones who find self-satisfaction in their operation are far, far more dangerous and disturbing to me.

  8. Elmer Fudd Says:

    actually i’m 19.

  9. Elmer Fudd Says:

    You know at the end of a Looney Tunes Cartoon in which Elmer Fudd stutters and then says: “that’s all folks!”. This guy, Manson, doing the facial features kinda reminds me of how Elmer Fudd would look while he stutters right before he gets the complete line of “that’s all folks”

    I was born in 1990. What did this guy do that was so awful?

    Funny Observation. I was born in 1990, but know for a fact that Looney Tunes was around more than 40 years ago. Why do I know more about Bugs n’ Friends than I do of this Manson Dude. It’s not like the press is keeping him alongside the like of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Brad, Angelina and Jen Aniston. So, I don’t see how the press is keeping this guy around?

    Just cause this guy is in the bank of you-tube doesn’t make him a star of the press. Yeah, I’m 18 and go to University of San Fran so being a californian I should know about this guy but don’t.

    Can they bring him out of jail and put him in a six flags adventure park and make him wear a bugs bunny outfit on a hot september day in Souther California. I believe orange county has a six flags down there. Give the guy know water and have him running around in a Bugs Bunny suit like a crazed mother fucker without giving him a water break for 15 hours would surely get rid of this murderer for good. If he tires of running around in the suit, stun him. Now that would be a better than that sick ass coaster they got.

  10. WTF Says:

    Hey No Sale, Here,

    YOU ARE BEING WAY TOO PHILOSOPHICAL and long winded. This Manson guy is an evil guy.

    You said something that rings true. The press keeps this dick head’s voice alive. But going into such philosophical musings when you are describing a Charlie Manson is as irresponsible as the press. In other words, you accuse the press for being stupid by giving this guy a voice. I say you’re stupid for writing such a long winded philosophical whimsy of a portrait of a jerk off who doesn’t deserve such a lengthy post.

    I feel stupid by giving more than a few sentences on my irritations toward you about commenting about this guy. Jeez.

  11. No Sale, Here Says:

    Just saw some more of the interview on you-tube. Yeah, he’s still fucked and twisted. A few seconds of a pseudo reflection doesn’t make for a reformed man. No, this guy is still an asshole. I guess if you want to let go of the most destructive parts of one’s own ego idealization, then one shouldn’t commit destructive acts. A persona can be changed, but if heavy acts that are committed and can’t be returned a person realizes it must commit itself to that way of life, or can be honest and say to oneself that I was wrong and then the ego will flee to another persona – maybe one of repentance.

    This guy may realize that he’s nothing, and maybe always felt it. But, he hasn’t gotten rid of the wicked enigmatic persona. I guess he hasn’t realized the heinousness yet or doesn’t care to recognize it.

    Perhaps the press shouldn’t give this man a voice; meaning, a camera and a mic to show himself to the world. It can only perpetuate this persona. He’ll never be one who was given a chance to shed this wicked persona if we keep putting a fucking mic and a camera in front of him.

    Stupid of the press. But that is one thing we can rely upon – its stupidity.

  12. No Sale, Here Says:

    It’s funny. Since the time of the Sharon Tate murders that this douche bag orchestrated and his cult following carried out, he has with alacrity – over the years – kept up an evil twisted persona, until now? I know the above is a soundbite and I haven’t viewed the interview in its entirety, so I put my ass in a potential sling by even commenting on it – which I will in a second.

    However, before going commenting, let me set the background on how I have known of Charlie Manson – Mr. Helter Skelter himself. Over the years I have come to know the evil animal like everyone else in America – through documentaries of his court trial and sensational documentaries of his life and the murderous acts he committed. Outside of the documentaries he gave at least a few interviews since his murderous wrath with such people like Geraldo Rivera in the mid eighties that I remember watching as a college freshman within my dorm room. This interview was highly promoted as a 20-20 special program for at least 2 weeks before it aired. Within that interview he played up to the expectations of the masses: he played the madman that he has tried to terrorize for decades.

    This guy not only disgustingly committed an act of murder in the most heinous sense of the word, but he had a whole world philosophy on how he would create a war between the races and then finally lead the world himself. While he came up with these schemes, he and his followers would get high on hallucinogenics and have fuck orgies on a daily basis. Within these anti-halcyon days he was able to plop idealizations, and rationalizations of why and how they should commit murder. His followers, especially the women, carried out the most brutal part of his murderous plot on the Tate family.

    Back to the Mid-80′s: well, Charlie M. played his part on the Geraldo Rivera interview to a tee. He truly gave the public what they wanted – an evil, heinous madman with no remorse who commingled non-sequiters with a sprinkling of coherence when he discussed how the world should be overturned on its head. During his stage of coherent world disorder plotting, he mentioned to Rivera, for the audience to see and hear, that his world view was specific orders by him to his “Mansonites” who were still on the outside. Again, playing on the fears of the masses was his forte and he played it well during the Rivera interview.

    However, seeing this first part of the interview above, I see a goofy ex-alcoholic who either is 1) a reflective reformed asshole who has reflected on the stupidity of his crimes or 2) a sociopath who tries to show you in his eyes that he is a reflective man who has seen the error of his ways and realizes after several decades after his crimes that he has wasted his life and he is pretty meaningless. A nothing as he describes himself to this interviewer.

    What is one to think? I’ll admit, its a provacotive sound bite that S- W- has put on this site. At the first few seconds of the interview Manson’s eyes tell of someone who knows the truth about himself: a meaningless pitiful man. He then goes through his goofball routine, and then finally his eyes avert back to show a sobriety and truthfulness of his own lack of importance at the last three seconds of the interview clip.

    Let’s us not forget: Truthfulness can be faked even within the eyes. Actors get Academy Awards for doing this on screen. Plus, people in daily life are actors and play different parts and personas in different periods of their lives.

    Veering off on a tangent, one can see that normal humans play different personas in one period of their lives, as well, just as if they were actors. With this statement, I guess one could say we lie to ourselves and lie to others. Meaning, perhaps we don’t know who we are because we play so many personas within our own lives. – A philosophical discussion for later.

    Back from my tangent! The eyes don’t always have to be the mirror of the soul. The mirror can be consciously changed to show remorse to an audience. Hell, our personas do this all the time. We show anger, when we aren’t really angry. We show love when we don’t love. We show hate when we don’t really hate. We show allegiance when its for our convenience. Oh, well I guess I went on another tangent.

    No, honesty is the way you lead your life. I don’t know what this guy thinks, and whether or not his heart has changed, and how he lives his life on the inside. I don’t read hearts or minds, though I try. Actions and intent don’t coincide; though they try, they fail most of the time. Intentions are really hard to read. Actions are not. They are definitive and are used as the final arbitrator of fact – at least on the temporal plane.

    I doubt his sincerity, but I also haven’t seen the fleshed out part of this interview either, only the sound-bite. He, Manson, has always played to the camera and the times. Maybe an old creep can pretend he isn’t a creep but still be a creep. Or, maybe he never was a creep, but was taken over by a persona he created so that his cult followers would follow. After the murders he engineered what other persona did he have to abide by in order to keep an equanimity of his own truth alive, within his mind’s eye. I believe that this may be the case. Anyway. One can escape a persona in order not to go down a path of orchestrating murder. In fact many cult leaders do just this – control people without having them murder.

    Is this new persona within the 24 second sound bite real? I wouldn’t know. I don’t know what his intentions are. Does he? Is he creating a new persona for himself or for others only? I don’t know. Doe he believe in this persona as a new skin, as what a snake does when it sheds a layer of skin? I don’t know.

    What I do know is that he created a heinous act around 40 years ago that can’t be taken back. An act so disgusting that I don’t dare write it. It was an act. His intentions weren’t pure then. Or were they pure? Does that matter,even? The act and behavior exists. We know them. That we can remember and point as a fact. There is no pretending that the act didn’t exist. It did. The world knows and remembers and so does Manson.

    And, if he is truly remorseful and reflective, then he should understand why he should stay in prison until the day he dies. If his intentions are sincere and he has reached self-actualization – good for him. Perhaps he can help other criminals find peace in prison. I think that could be a great mission for a truly repentant man and for someone with good intentions, don’t you?

    No Sale Charlie Fucking M. But I hope you can do good from the cell where you are living in until the day you die.

  13. MethCoffeeBoy Says:

    I never tried buying coffee over the “internets” before but I did about 2 weeks ago from your website. That coffee rocks. All natural shit. For a guy who pimps shit other than comedy, you picked a good product. All natural n’ shit, too. What’s that shit? Yerba Matte. Good. All natural. Caffeine and Yerba Matte. That shit cranks you more than 2 Mountain Dews, and you don’t get all the carbs. Not bad for a Comedy Pimp with a penchant for pushin’ coffee.

  14. Corky Copitus Says:

    Man. I’m now addicted to corky cop. I don’t give a shit about no Patton Oswalt are Charlie fuckin’ Manson. Give the people what they want S- boy…and that’s a retarded LA cop (is there really any other kind of LA cop) who taizers mother fuckers or gets free bj’s from black people.

    Ah, the good ole LAPD guys! And now you find an LAPD genuine tard who sounds like he has an accent of a second language learning Asian dude and you fill up the next to posts with a bore I’ve never heard of fucking C. Manson?

    No dude. Wrong play. I know you want variety and all. But, the votes are in. People want popularism at times, and Corky Cop or “Ponce” as he’s know fits the bill.

    The people vote for Corky Cop and insatiable lust for the black man’s penis.

    Just give the people what they want: We the people want to see some LAPD wanna be stun gunning or extorted bj’s from black people. Get with the show funny boy.

  15. ewwwwwww Says:

    CREEPY. The guy on the sticker is creepier, though. HA!
    Keep Rockin’ potty mouth boy! Keep Rockin! You are one funny fucker. Caught you at your last gig – fuckin’ cracked my ass up. Funny as shit.

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