Hi! I googled Mel Silverback to find out who he really was. I TOTALLY
agree with what you
said! they were hardcore fans before he even opened his hairy
trap…and he was simply
not funny. at all. they like fell off of their chairs when he said his
girlfriend picked the
dominant male…?? why is that funny? its not. its only funny if you
are trying to kiss ass to
a higher power and hoping it will get your sad amateur judging face
onscreen somewhere
better-

i recognize the voice, but i can't place it. I guarentee you he is some
high profile
comic…WHO??!

let me know if you have any leads, good reporting!

susan

Well to understand the jokes he makes you got have first an education, second the basice knowleage of a gorrila, and third a sense of humor. I thinhk you guys are just dumbfounded cause you never seen someone do comedy in a gorrila suit

Hey Brennan, before you make a comment about someones education or lack thereof I would suggest doing a grammar check.

Actually, Brennan, "Mel's" routine showed his complete lack of gorilla knowledge, as I discussed on today's Huffington Post:

The Gorilla's Gotta Go

I agree with The Cheese.

Hey, Chesse Guy:

I completely understand the puzzlement that led you to proclaim "why all the fawning" over this Mel-the-gorilla guy. Upon cursory review, by the judges own basic protocols, this jerk should have been immediately blown-off the stage. It should have gone down something like this (from any, or all, of the judges):

"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!!!! Please, stop right there! This is not an elementary school holloween party. No funny masks, no dump costumes here. We all want to see the comedians, and then laugh at what they have to say — not at some cheap mask bought at Walgreen's. See ya!!"

But there is much, much, more here than meets the eye. Let us commence below a more cerebral analysis of our Mr. Mel:

Even before Mel reached center stage, the black judge (an accomplished comedian in his own right) on the panel muttered into the microphone, "Yeh, this is what I want to see!" What's up here??? Well, it's partially the "politics" of the stand-up comedy subculture, whether in Canada, or the US. It was clear to me that Mel had already established for himself a fan-following in the area, and,moreover, some considerable notoriety vis-a-vis his (attention-getting) expedient of doning a monkey mask.

But our Mel guy is no dummy — he is very, very clever. Foregoing the usual several seconds of initial nervous chit-chit with the judges & audiance, Mel fires-away with perfect timing, articulation, and otherwise execution. Despite what one may think of the content of his jokes, the form of his delivery is impecable — that's what made Jay Leno what he is today. Anyone who puzzles at Mel's success is simply not able to appreciate (for whatever reasons) the sophisticated nature of his humor. Mel's opening salvo:

"Hi, I'm Mel Silverback. I'm half Jewish, and half Mountain Gorilla." This unexpected juxtaposition of such two grossly-disparate concepts as a Jewish man and a Mountain Gorilla — somehow genetically cloned/hybridized together into one living entity — is immediately outrageously funny to intelligent/reflective people, like the panel of judges. Rednecks, deadheads, the common rabble, etc., simply don't get the worldly metaphors, symbolism, and otherwise allegory-plays of Mel's humor — but Mel does!!! Mel's next line:

"Jews buy tires at Walmart, and put them on their cars. I buy tires at Walmart, and swing on them!!" (At this point, the panel is on the floor in gut-splitting laughter. Seeing that, the audience follows suit, whether they want to, or not. But, the point is, again, that Mel is continuously juxtaposing unanticipated, outrageously-incongruous elements throughout his routines. And those have always been the key components in the equation and mathematics of comedy. So, we must look deeper, still, and do a cultural anthropologist's analysis of the entire symbolic spectacle that Mel creates onstage:

(1.) The Mask: Who is that masked man????? The original characters of Batman, Superman, The Lone Ranger, Spiderman, Darth Vader, (rock group) Kiss, etc., etc., etc., all took advantage — as did the ancient Greeks in their theater — of the immediate mystery associated with a hero (or comedian, or rock group) behind a mask. Who really is this Mel guy??? What does he look like??? Mel can get a lot of career mileage out of this mystery alone — especially with female fans. Indeed, this has never before been done in standup comedy. And it is simply brilliant. (With the feeble exception of "The Unkown Comic" of many years ago, who came out on stage with a paper bag over his head.)

(2.) The Gorilla: An endangered, exotic, exploited, and otherwise oppressed species, which has engendered much human interest of recent years. It's from Africa — another exotic element in Mel's clever formulation. And, since we all know it can be taught human sign language, well, than why not have it talk too??? (Seriously here, it is noted that, sooner or later, scientists will enable a gorilla to actually speak via either genetic modifications of his teeth/tongue/mandibular apparatus, or outright inter-species transplantation of human vocal apparatus.)

(3.) The Jew: Always major players and otherwise key participants in the comedy industry, the traditional concept/image of the worldy, intelligent, professional, successful —yet bitter, oppressed, persecuted, sarcastic, and jaded — Jew is a type of man well suited for cloning with the dumb, unproductive, yet equally oppressed Mountain Gorilla. Mel's mask of the blighted/persecuted gorilla — with an equally oppressed Jew beneath that mask — is loaded with exponetially far more cultural, psychological, social, and political imagery and meaning than a mere paper bag over one's head.

CONCLUSION: For all of the foregoing reasons, Mel Silverback will blow-away the entire international field of would-be/wanna-be standup comedians. All of the comedic faggots, queers, gays, lesbians, bull-dikes, etc., with their threadbare/dog-eared homosexual jokes; along with the ubiquitous quirky fat women, dweeby skinny women, and lonely ugly women, all with their unrelenting "Hi, well, I just got married … Hi, well, Im pregnant now … Hi, well, I have a brandnew bady now … Hi, well, I was never asked to my senior prom … Hi, well, I wonder what its like to go on a date" will all be rightly and resoundingly steam-rolled by Mel's patently-superior intelligence, sophistication, delivery, and stage dominance. It is no contest!!!!!

And that's the rest of the story! Hope what I have said has been edifying on your puzzlement over the looming international fame and fortune fated for Mel S. Thank you.

Mel was pretty funny to me his jokes were quick his delivery funny. I do like the smart comics and the ones that sometimes the crowd dont even get, Like my fav still is Mitch Hedberg. He told a joke and half the crowd didnt even get it but i loved it… hes like "Id be a terrible mechanic I know nothing about cars. If someone came to me and said Hey my car wont start, id say "Well maybe a killers after you". It was priceless. Mel also has an old appeal to the one line comics of yester year that most of these comics probably idolized its refreshing in a day and age where people are continually copying people like Mitch Hedberg, Dane Cook, Brian Regan, Richard Prior and the other greats like Carlin.

Eric, The thing is I do like Mitch Hedberg, he is one of my favorites and to compare Mel Silverback to Mitch is ridiculous. He is not in Hedberg's league. Mel is a hack!

You had a comeback to Eric's quick explanation as to why he enjoyed Mel Silverback. But you had nothing to say about Paul's detailed explanation. Did you understand it?

Sur Keener I understood it. Do I agree with it. In one word No. Mel is all schtick and his jokes are not remotely funny in my opinion.

Silverback lost me when he called murdered primatologist Dian Fossey a whore. Not funny.

I think Mel Silverback is the Howard Stern guy on that impersonation show on ABC… "the Next best thing?" you know what i'm sayin?

Gorilla funny, you stupid.

hahaha

I thought Mel was very funny. I thought the ape jokes were clever, fresh. For details on his alter ego, see this website:

http://www.danlicoppe.com/intro.html

Random…….Glad to read that I'm not the only one who believes that the man under the mask is Howard Stern.

http://www.danlicoppe.com/intro.html - Here's your monkey….

I'm so glad he didn't get pushed through to the top ten.

Wait, so just because someone suffers a tragedy means that no part of their life can be made fun of? That just doesn't make sense. If he had made fun of her death or the events surrounding it, that would have been inappropriate. Just poking fun at her relationships with the gorillas is just a joke. It's like making fun of Tammy Fay Baker's mascara filled breakdown. Just because she died of cancer (which is certainly a tragedy and a shame, don't get me wrong) doesn't exempt her from all jokes for the rest of time.

I can't believe you wrote an essay. You must really need a laugh.

He's automatically funny because he is Jewish. But honestly, he's SUPER LAME.

Mitch was awesome!!! But yeah, this Jewish Gorilla is the most lame comic ever. I can't believe he made it to the SEMIS!

I love my dog t shirt.

I love my dog t shirt. I love my dog casey. Dogster for the love of dog blog.