Published on October 1st, 2010 | by Sharilyn Johnson
0Film Vault Friday, the return: Greg Giraldo
Despite all the comedians I’ve met and interviewed over the years – famous and not – I’ve always shied away from approaching a comic cold just to say “I think you’re awesome”. If I have no business to do, or no substantial conversation to initiate, I shy away rather than risk the awkward lull that might follow. It’s ridiculous, I know. But it kept me away from even making eye contact with Todd Barry at Just For Laughs many moons ago (yes, Todd, I was once scared of you — laugh it up), and it kept me from stopping Sarah Silverman when I passed her on the street in New York last summer.
It also kept me from ever meeting Greg Giraldo.
So much has already been said about him since his passing this week. If you spend your life on social media, it’s as if the world stopped. Everybody in the business loved the guy, both as an artist and as a human being. I have no stories of my own to tell, and I regret that deeply.
Film Vault Friday feature (and a lot of this blog’s other content) fell to the wayside recently while I was adjusting to a new life of writing all day, every day. But it’s back, for good. Here’s what made me wish I’d walked up to Greg just once, to simply say “I think you’re awesome”.
About the Author
Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.
