Nope. Anthony just bombed and can't come to terms with it. He didn't bomb on purpose and he isn't pretending he did well. He legitimately believes he was good. If he was doing a bit he would have played his whole set on his show (not just the 30 seconds that got laughs) and he would have explained how the jokes that fell completely flat were actually funny. He would have been defending his worst jokes.. not using his best jokes to explain why his whole set wasn't a bomb.

Jimmy is his friend. What do you think he's gonna do? If Anthony admitted that he sucked Jimmy would be honest with him but Anthony is insecure about his performance so Jimmy is being encouraging. Every time Jimmy would have a bad set or feel like he sucked on a TV spot or radio spot Opie and Anthony would always tell him he was great even when he wasn't. It's much easier to be supportive than it is to be honest.

So much of Jimmy's behavior is justified with "what is he supposed to do?" All that is fine but he's really not as honest as people say he is

Jimmy has always been a worm. I never looked at him as honest/principled. He told some stories about blowing his friends when he was a little kid so people think he is an honest guy but when it comes to putting his money where his mouth is he might be the least principled person of the 3. He talks the biggest game about free speech and artistic integrity and "we as a nation have become...." and then he proceeds to do everything he complains about all the while saying "yeah dude but it's different and you're being a child if you don't see that, baby boy!"

Why gently? For as tough as Ant talks and for as much as he bashed on Opie for being oversensitive, you'd think he could take some criticism.

I thought of that for a second too. But even if it was, it's still as fucking retarded & bad judgment as him saying he didn't bomb in the first place for real, so it doesn't really matter.

When you have a work, you need some things to make it happen. A heel & a face. There is just 1 dude there. So it's just 1 dude being an asshole

You then could do it by having a segment of your audience in on the bit. Like Phil Hendrie. The problem is, Anthony's entire audience is "a segment". His show is so exclusive that you can't have any kind of dynamic of "the real fans vs the rest". There is no "the rest". "The rest" would never subscribe.

So yea, if him denying the bombing is a work, he's still a retard.

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