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There is humour to be found in forcible rape and incestuous pedophilia? I understand why he performs for free. Most people whose jobs force them to experience, even vicariously, such things do not see much humour in them, nor do they care to dwell on them. He must be an exceptional human being. I do not know what "cringe humor" is, and if this is an example of the genre, I do not care to. |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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Two quick points.
1) This seems pretty cut and dry. There is a ton of precedent regarding conduct unbecoming, including police officers and military. It all hinges on whether the individual identifies himself in any way as associated with the police department (or whatever organization), which this guy never did.
We were told quite plainly in the military that we had the right to go to any political demonstration we wanted... out of uniform. To quote my drill instructor, "First Amendment even applies to useless little worms like you!" Again, it’s all about whether he identified himself as a cop.
(rhetorical) I wonder what the motive was for turning him in (/rhetorical).
2) George Carlin has a bit on how rape could be found funny. It’s offensive, but it’s a classic. It starts, "I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd." He then goes on to make good points, of course.
It is available here at #4 if you are interested. |
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Written By:
Wulf
URL:
http://www.atlasblogged.com
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"Most people whose jobs force them to experience, even vicariously, such things do not see much humour in them, nor do they care to dwell on them. He must be an exceptional human being. I do not know what "cringe humor" is, and if this is an example of the genre, I do not care to."
Excuse me? Having worked in and arund trauma medicine and search & rescue fr most of my adult life, I can assure you that 99% of the people I have met deal with the anguish of human suffering we witness with macabre humour. the fact that you don’t know that or even acknowledge dark humour as a means of venting impossibly difficult stress speaks volumes on your credibility and the validity of your viewpoint. You lose, good day sir. |
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Written By:
daveB
URL:
http://
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I think these special interest groups are pure crap. It’s political correctness at it’s worst. As long as Club Soda Kenny didn’t refer to himslef as a cop in his act, I see nothing wrong with it. This is like the Superbowl wardobe malfunction. over 80 millinon people watched that superbowl, and the FCC got complaints from a few hundred people and all hell broke lose. A few hundred? A few hundred people out of around 80 million, that’s such a small percentage but those people have more say than the rest of the people that didn’t seem to care? A few hundred people pushed their views on us, how we should watch TV. It’s the same thing as with this. He offended 1 person and they sent a CD to his superiors. ONE person. So how come one person can push their views on us, when the majority of us, don’t really care. I never even knew Kenny was a cop, I knew him as Club Soda Kenny when listening to him on Opie and Anthony. He kept his professional life in the closet when he was on the radio.
The bottom line is here, that a few people and a few special interest groups want to decide what you should listen to on the radio, what you should watch on TV and who you should see in a comedy club, becasue it offends them. I say tough, if you don’t like what you see, change the channel, turn the dial, or leave the comedy club. Don’t tell me how to live my life! |
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Written By:
Mike
URL:
http://
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There is humour to be found in forcible rape and incestuous pedophilia? There’s humor to be found in everything. The more morbid, the more extreme, the more we’re inclined to use humor as a coping mechanism.
Hell, there’s been a lot written about Holocaust humor — about jewish concentration camps humor. They coped by joking about their dire straits. It’s true what Carlin said, there’s humor in everything. That doesn’t mean it’s not also very serious. It just means we’re capable of pointing to the absurdities in the midst of tragedy. |
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Written By:
Jon Henke
URL:
http://www.QandO.net
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I heard about this case yesterday while listening
to O&A and although I find nothing funny in rape,
Bestiality or pedophilia I strongly believe in people’s right to choose. If something offends me
I am smart enough to turn the channel walk out. It makes me sick that we just bend over for all the whiners.
Kim (Canada Ontario) |
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Written By:
Kim
URL:
http://
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Let me throw out a different reason he shouldn’t have been doing what he was doing and why it may have been appropriate for the police department to suspend him.
A police officer should refrain from behavior - during and after work hours - that could cause a jury to question their ability/credibility to do their job and testify truthfully and impartially. For example, notwithstanding rights to free association, police officers can’t hang around drug dealers during their off hours.
There are other situations where one gives up ’rights’ they would have but for their job. The military ought to be able to discipline soldiers who joke about fragging their superiors. Doctors can be disciplined if they’re overheard joking about their patients. Businesses ought to be able to discipline managers who joke about sexually harrassing co-workers and subordinates. NASA ought to be able to take action against workers who joke about sabotaging the shuttle. The TSA ought to be able to take action against workers who joke about smuggling bombs onto airplanes.
To me, this is nothing more than a case of someone taking a paycheck from an employer but being unwilling to live by the code of conduct established for their job.
Now, I don’t know the extent to which this officer had been made aware that behavior such as his would not be tolerated, nor have I heard his act so I can’t tell whether it truly crossed the line into unacceptable behavior to the point where his ability to do his job is open to challenge. But it’s one thing for him to claim that he was being judged according to some ’double-secret’ rules of behavior or that his superiors were overreacting to his act... but those claims are separate and apart from whether his superiors have the right to discipline him for actions he takes during non-work hours. |
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Written By:
steve
URL:
http://
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I have heard Club Soda Kenny on the Opie & Anthony show for years, back to the days when he worked as a bodyguard for Andrew Dice Clay. In all those years, I never knew he was a cop, or even that his real name wasn’t Kenny. He so completely separated his life as a police officer from his on-stage/on-air persona, that nobody even knew there was anything for him to separate. |
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Written By:
Matt A
URL:
http://
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Club Soda is freakin funny. He’s been working as far back as with Dice. Leave him alone and let him do his stuff. Now noone would have known he was a pig unless this story came out. Rape and incest are hilarious! |
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Written By:
Scott (Iamnotatool)
URL:
http://
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Let’s for the sake of discussion, say that the subject isn’t a cop, but rather a congressman, let’s say, Trent Lott.... and recalculate. What are your comments in that case?
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Written By:
Bithead
URL:
http://bitheads.blogspot.com
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I really hope he doesn’t lose his pension. He’s a terrific family man who had to deal with rape and pedophilia his whole career. There was nothing wrong with him venting for free at a comedy club. He wasn’t in uniform or even under the same name. This is absurd and it’s going to be a sad day if he loses everything over a couple of jokes that most likely bombed anyway. |
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Written By:
scottfrommedesto
URL:
http://
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," I can assure you that 99% of the people I have met deal with the anguish of human suffering we witness with macabre humour."
And do you share this humour with strangers? If you are venting in public perhaps you should seek counseling. I would distinguish between humour as a coping mechanism among peers and using the same jokes as general entertainment. For example, I have heard very few good holocaust jokes, although I am sure some of the camp inmates made them. Perhaps you would like to share some of your jokes here, to see if they are generally amusing. Do you come home and tell these jokes to your family? I think context is important in these circumstances. There are things that I have found rather funny that I do not think appropriate to share with a different audience, one that may not understand the circumstances and the absurdities. I would not tell war stories to children, for example.
Wulf
Thank you for the link. Having read it, I must agree with you. My assumption, perhaps faulty, was that his act went into greater detail and was more graphic. Then again, I find George Carlin amusing but generally offensive; I am more a Monty Python fan, so you may see my viewpoint. Morbid or gallows humour, like profanity, can be overused. |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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To Steve, timactual, and any other idiots who think stand up comedy is a reason to take a loyal, law abiding 22 year veteran’s pension away from his family one year before his retirement.
First of all. Comedians are not in any way comparable to drug dealers. They are performers. You shame yourself even by making that comparison. Regardless of any ethical or moral requirements that a police officer may have to live up to, comedy is nothing but art.
And associating with or being an artist to any degree is not a moral offense, regardless of whether of not other people like the art you produce.
If Mr.Feder had played a rapist in a film or play, would there then be a legitimate outcry to suspend or fire him? No. Instead he got up on stage (without getting payed for it, in a club far from his home town) with his friends for five minutes at a show for a very specific group of adults who were there to see a very specific group of people do a very specific type of act.
Does it really matter what "cringe humor" is? You may not want to hear it. You certainly may not like it. But in the end, none of that should mean you have a reason to take away a person’s job.
John Feder is a family man and an honest, hard-working person. I am ashamed to be a part of a society that would take a police officer’s pension away from his family over entertainment. |
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Written By:
Daniel Burk
URL:
http://
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"To Steve, timactual, and any other idiots who think stand up comedy is a reason to take a loyal, law abiding 22 year veteran’s pension away from his family one year before his retirement."
I would advise you to read my posts, but you obviously already have. In fact, you have overread mine, finding things that were not in them. Nowhere do I support the actions taken against Sgt. Feder. In fact I strongly oppose these disciplinary actions.
BTW
Here is a book I wager will never make it to the top of the NY Times best seller list;
"Keep A Stiff Upper Lip"
"A collection of hilarious, poignant, and sometimes educational anecdotes about the behind the scenes efforts of a mortician to turn closed casket ceremonies into open casket ceremonies.For the first time, morticians from all across the country share their funniest experiences with outsiders. A light-hearted look at a sometimes grim process."
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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timactual-
I was being harsh, I see your point about my reading too much into your post. In my rush to get out a strong general response to the subject I was a bit too aggressive. |
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Written By:
Daniel Burk
URL:
http://
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Adult comedy, in an adult situation about adult topics. Comedy is not serious. It is not meant to be taken litterally. JOKES! I am sure there was nothing said that night that hasen’t been said in some shape or form before in comedy. Just because he is a police officer, he has restrictions on what can be said. Damn, we sure don’t live in the land of the free any more and the people who should be protecting our freedom are taking it away from us. Yeah I am proud to be an American. Land of the free my ASS! |
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Written By:
Selectivly free speach
URL:
http://
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Yeah I am proud to be an American. Land of the free my ASS!
Take a Chill Pill there, Hoss...Speech has consequences. Sometime not good ones. The whole "taboo and mores" thing comes to play here, too. You might have a RIGHT to speak, but if you say the wrong thing, well there will be consequences. So come on down off that High Horse, ’Ole Club Soda Kenny hasn’t been put down yet, and he might have just learned an important lesson.
And no, the First Amendment ain’t been repealed by this. People have been running into the differences between what you CAN say and what you really OUGHT to say for as long as there has been a First Amendment. |
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Written By:
Joe
URL:
http://
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Mr. Burk: I’ve never thought it proper form to call someone an idiot for something they haven’t done... you obviously think otherwise.
For example, I never said that stand up comedy is, by itself, a reason to take action. It’s the content of the comedy and the extent to which that compromises his ability to do his job that determines whether or not disciplinary action is warranted.
His superiors have a right to expect their subordinates to refrain from any and all outside activity that could call into question their sensitivity and dedication to the situation... and it’s up to them to make that call, not him. He’s up on stage (from what I’ve read) making fun of rape and other crimes that he may be called upon to investigate during the course of his job. Is that the type of cop you want talking to rape victims? Or abused little kids? How many parents of abused kids (assuming they hadn’t done the abuse) would want this guy anywhere near their kid? How about if he incorporated some racial/racist jokes into his act? How about some jokes about stealing cocaine out of the evidence room? How about jokes about framing suspects? Are you really arguing that a cop ought to be free to make jokes - whether on stage or in his backyard - about shooting suspects and still expect his superiors to welcome him on the force?
And what does it matter if he’s law abiding or that he was but a year away from retirement? Pensions and job security are dependent on following the rules and policies of the place you work, not just whether you do something to get yourself arrested. Being an alcoholic isn’t against the law, but it will get you kicked off an awful lot of police forces, it can cause you to lose a security clearance. And there’s no pass to start breaking the rules the closer you get to retirement. |
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Written By:
steve
URL:
http://
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steve unless he signed a morla clause there is no reason he should refrain from such activity and if he did sign the moral clause it has to stipulate that activities outside the scope of his on the clock hours are included inside the clause.. |
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Written By:
hellcat
URL:
http://
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Sgt Feder is off duty. He’s not identifying himself as a peace officer. And, he’s playing a a role—an act—as a stand-up comedian. This should not be the business of West Orange, New Jersey, or its political officials at all.
Disagree. This is something that can potentially taint a case or expose the city to a lawsuit. What, you don’t think some scummy lawyer won’t go through transcripts of his act now to try for any wedge he can get for his client? |
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Written By:
shark
URL:
http://
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I have heard his act. It is sick and not my type of humor.
BUT- He has EVERY right to perform!!
If he is penalized in any way for this (and that includes not reimbursing him for lost pay during this ’investigation’) I will NEVER set foot or spend a dime in NJ again.
If he wore his uniform or went by his real name, I might question his motives- but he DID NOT.
Leave the guy alone. And, whoever sent the tape in- if you were truly "concerned", why did you not give your name? |
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Written By:
shawn
URL:
http://
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So how far do we take it?? what if he was an author and he wrote a book about people joking about rape. It was an act, an act of fiction given that he doesn’t use his real name. Do you think Andrew Dice Clay really f’ed little miss moffet? Do you think Colin Quinn really wants to see women jumping out of burning buildings porn? Do you think Jim Norton really takes logs on his chest?? OK bad example, but stand up comedy is an art form, and his decisions as an artist, have nothing to do with his decisions as a police officer. PERIOD.
Shaun |
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Written By:
Shaun
URL:
http://myspace.com/shutupstupid
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To: Club Soda Kenny
Good luck bro! |
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Written By:
Harvey_Birdman
URL:
http://www.wackbag.com
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leave the guy alone...he’s served the people of new jersey with honor for 20 years and deserves some respect.
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Written By:
jeebjeebjeeb
URL:
http://
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"There is humour to be found in forcible rape and incestuous pedophilia?"
It’s all in the timing!
I’ve been listening to O&A daily for six months, and I had no idea Kenny was a cop. This situation stinks, but on the bright side, maybe he can use the free time to work on his act. |
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Written By:
Jim Treacher
URL:
http://jimtreacher.com
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You know what? I think special interest groups are starting to offend me. Let’s shut them down and take away their livelyhood, and their pensions from their families because when they want to tell me what I should watch and listen to, that offends me. Them interfering with someones free speach and my right to view or listen to certain things offends me. LET’S SHUT ’EM DOWN!! |
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Written By:
Mike
URL:
http://
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"maybe he can use the free time to work on his act."
It sounds like he needs to. |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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Steve-
"How about some jokes about stealing cocaine out of the evidence room? How about jokes about framing suspects? Are you really arguing that a cop ought to be free to make jokes - whether on stage or in his backyard - about shooting suspects and still expect his superiors to welcome him on the force?"
Of course that’s not what I’m arguing. That’s completely off-base.
First of all, I’ve been aware of Club Soda Kenny for years. He’s primarily known as a freelance booking agent/bodyguard for certain comedians and other entertainers whom he has formed relationships with in the past. Never in the time he’s been associated with these people has he ever publicly made any mention of being an officer or used that fact for material. He would never joke about anything that has to do with his job. He’s never even used his real name.
But you make a point, to some extent (although it’s one I had hoped was already obvious). If he had made a habit of joking about "stealing cocaine out of the evidence room" or "framing suspects", he would not only be liable to get fired for it, he would deserve it. Because at that point he would be blatantly misrepresenting and potentially damaging the integrity of his entire department. That would be a clear case of a person breaking the rules and policies of the place he works.
He didn’t give up his basic civil rights by becoming an officer. He doesn’t go out and crack jokes on the job. He wasn’t in his backyard or on a street corner telling random people black jokes.
If he wants to get on stage in a very specific setting for five minutes and tell a few horrible jokes about raping his wife and kids, he should be able to. Regardless of whether or not anyone else finds that morally repugnant. It has nothing to do with his job or his ability to perform it.
I’ll quote you again:
"It’s the content of the comedy and the extent to which that compromises his ability to do his job that determines whether or not disciplinary action is warranted."
I agree. In fact, that’s the main point here. The content of the comedy had nothing to do with his job (beyond the fact that his years of dedicated service as an officer have probably contributed to his incredibly awful sense of humor), and has never itself compromised his ability to do it.
Only when somebody recently made the questionable and most likely quite vindictive (and cowardly, to say the least) move of anonymously sending copies of his performance on CD to various high ranking officers did it ever pose any sort of problem for him.
The only reason he’s in danger of losing his job right now is politics. If certain officials in his town don’t like his type of comedy (even though there was never any legitimate reason they should have been aware of it), the rest of them can’t ignore it at the moment. It’s simply an unfair and unsurprising situation, and it all boils down to an issue of political correctness.
"Being an alcoholic isn’t against the law, but it will get you kicked off an awful lot of police forces, it can cause you to lose a security clearance. And there’s no pass to start breaking the rules the closer you get to retirement."
Obviously. I see what you’re saying. But you still shame yourself by even implying that being a drug dealer or an alcoholic could or should ever be compared to being a comedian in any way, shape, or form. This type of thinking is what bothers me most about your comments. Here’s another example:
"He’s up on stage (from what I’ve read) making fun of rape and other crimes that he may be called upon to investigate during the course of his job. Is that the type of cop you want talking to rape victims? Or abused little kids?"
That is a completely asinine thing to say.
His material (although it was completely hacky, offensive, and unfunny) is NOT a reflection of what "type of cop" he is, or anything else about him (aside from the fact that he knows some bad jokes). It’s comedy. It’s just material. Nothing more. That’s a basic truth.
If you think that his act has anything to do with what type of police officer he is in everyday life, you are in fact, an idiot. And one with a very dangerous way of thinking.
"And what does it matter if he’s law abiding or that he was but a year away from retirement?"
It matters because he’s put in 22 years of service to his city as an honest police officer, and has been risking himself working there half his life while raising a family at the same time.
Unless you’re a very cold person, you probably recognize that this should entitle him to some respect in this situation on a basic human level.
He didn’t do anything all that bad, and he certainly didn’t do anything bad enough to justify taking his job and his pension as he’s sending his children to college.
I can’t change any of the details of his contract, or of any codes of conduct he might be obligated to stick to. Our arguing about whether or not the exact conditions of his employment say he can be fired over this isn’t going to change the actual chances of it happening.
Here, it’s a matter of whether or not you, as a human being, feel the situation is right or wrong. And if you can’t see that the way John Feder and his family are being treated is not right, I have to question your principles on a very fundamental level. |
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Written By:
Daniel Burk
URL:
http://
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The bottom line is these PC scumbags are trying to take away a hard-working guy’s pension from him, his wife, and children. They need to be stopped. His life/job as a police officer was kept completely separate from his persona as Club Soda Kenny, sidekick and occasional standup comic. Even the most hardcore fans of Opie and Anthony, the related comedians from the show, and consequently Club Soda Kenny never knew he was a police officer. And we still wouldn’t if it weren’t for this PC garbage. |
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Written By:
John
URL:
http://www.wackbag.com
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For all you sympathizers out there. Club Soda Kenny is not a cops cop. He has more skeletons in his closet than Jeffrey Dahmer had in his bathtub may he rest in peace. There are people out there that know what I am talking about. Club Soda Kenny is notorious for his inane scrutiny of other brother officers both on and off the job. He should be held to a higher standard than most and Police Officers do not joke around about pedophilia and necrophilia plain and simple. There are however many people who know what he does for a living. Ignorance is no excuse. He is getting what he deserves. |
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Written By:
Chester Copperpot
URL:
http://
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Chester-
You’re obviously either a misguided fan of some kind trying to be clever, or you’re associated with some scumbag cop who got what he deserved when Kenny was called upon to investigate him.
Ignorance is no excuse? Excuse for whom? The people who wouldn’t have known what he does for a living if some crooked cop like you or your friends hadn’t tried to get him in trouble for being an honest guy and getting them thrown off the force?
Who exactly are these people who knew he was a police officer? His family? His closest friends? Other cops? Of course they did. But the comedy fans who were aware of Club Soda Kenny never had a single clue.
It doesn’t matter if he’s a "cop’s cop." He’s an internal investigations guy. He’s not supposed to be. His occupation, which by all official accounts he has done quite a commendable job at over the past 22 years, is to make sure that police officers who really do something wrong get what they deserve.
The type of police officers, I’m guessing, who are just like you or your friends. And I’d also bet they’re the same people who "know what you’re talking about."
Well "Chester", if they’re the type of people Sgt. Feder gets paid to go after, I don’t think anyone needs to hear a thing they have to say.
"He is getting what he deserves."
You come off as a rather bitter person. |
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Written By:
Daniel Burk
URL:
http://
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"maybe he can use the free time to work on his act."
It sounds like he needs to. Yeah, his material is pretty good, but his delivery could use some work. |
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Written By:
Jim Treacher
URL:
http://jimtreacher.com
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just something for everyone to think about. he is the internal affairs sgt.that means he is the one that makes judgement on other police officers integrity on the job(and off).what would you think if your daughter,wife or sister said a west orange police officer sexually harassed her or assaulted her.she then goes to the wopd and makes a complaint,which sgt feder investagates and finds no wrong doing on the officers part.knowing what you know about him now can anyone honestly say you would trust his judgement?
how about you applied for a job with the west orange police dept and you are a minority or a female.sgt feder is the one that does your background check and you are turned down for the job. what is your thought on that? i’m just playing devil’s advocate here..... |
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Written By:
Danni
URL:
http://
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The whole point about his stand up was not that these things are particularly funny..
THE WHOLE POINT OF THE SHOW IS THAT IT WAS A "CRINGE HUMOR SHOW",everyone going to the show should have been very aware of the type of comedy they were going to see..
he wasnt not trying to make funny jokes he was trying to make people feel bad "cringe" becuase THEY will find them self finding humor in what he was saying.. HE never identified himself as a police officer and actually didnt even go by his real name..
another thing that is being mis represnted here is that kenny IS NOT A COMEDIAN, he has been a body guard from many comedians and semi celebrities most recognised would be andrew dice clay..
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Written By:
JJ
URL:
http://
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Written By:
OOOYY
URL:
http://
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