After reading what the director wrote to that girl at whatever site, I'm not at all surprised this is Tucker's reaction. I am pretty sure this holds the key to why the movie was a flop, why Tucker doesn't like the play, why his friends do. Tucker, as a narcissist, sees himself as an irascible, yet ultimately correct and lovable scamp. He doesn't realize that he doesn't really come off that way to anyone except himself. To most people, he just comes off as an arrogant douche-canoe. That's how it played out in the movie, which he thought was spot on. That character was not lovable, scampish, or even really redeemable. He was viewing it through the prism of what he was thinking at the time, and so everything was reasonable, funny, even well-meaning. This play is Tucker interpreted by a non Tucker perspective, and that's gotta be a shock. Hell, I'd be very interested and not just a little worried to see myself from someone else's perspective. It would likely be worrying. I don't know his friends at all, but I'd venture to guess that it's like any friendship. You put up with a certain amount of shit from your friends in exchange for friendship, just as they do with you. But they already have this outside perspective on Tucker. They've just already lived with it and accepted it, so this doesn't phase them.
This is exactly what I was thinking. If all my friends told me that someone absolutely nailed my personality and it was completely different then how I perceive myself it would give me pause to think. Tucker thinks that his friends are just fucking with him. Complete denial. He mentioned that if he really acted that way he should have had his ass kicked. Reading his stories I thought the same thing. It reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Homer describes his night of drinking as him being suave and humorous, when the reality was he was a sloppy drunk who everyone tried desperately to escape. It's quite possible that what he perceived as an adoring audience laughing with him while he mocked and ridiculed strangers was actually people laughing at him and were good enough friends that stuck around to make sure he didn't get his ass kicked.
I really disagree, guys. Remember most of those stories took place when he was in his early/mid 20s. Lots of college students relish the opportunity to witness ridicule. It's a war of words and the crowd sides with whoever has the sharper tongue. Look back to the thread we're having on frats right now. No, Tucker and his friends weren't in a frat, but colleges are full of people like that, Greek life or otherwise. The RMMB was loaded with fans who literally did worship the guy. There were thousands of women throwing their vaginas at him. This, I'll never really understand. If I was woman I would have been paranoid he was going to jerk off into my ear while I was sleeping just so he could write about it, but hey, if you're into that. Insulting people has a lot of sexual pull on younger women and if you can convince them you're smart and funny too they'll flock to you. Tucker wasn't that dumb drunk in the room oblivious to what was going on. People laugh at him and with him all the time in those stories, and he's well aware of which is which. I only read IHTSBIH, but nothing in there shocked me, or alerted my bullshit radar. I don't know about the dialogue being intellectually honest, yet still I don't think those conversations were made up. As much as I don't like the guy I don't see the point in talking like he's some cast away loser who never realized the joke was on him. Also, it's a bit ridiculous to talk about what the play means when none of us have seen it.
Tucker needs to take that blog post to his therapist. It's a treasure trove of everything that is wrong with him.
Even in my twenties I knew that ridiculing complete strangers for the sake of inflating my own ego was wrong. Most people do. I had friends that would do similar things as Tucker and we would circle the wagons to make sure their dumb ass didn't get a beat down. The reason we did this is we knew they were not cute or funny, they were being belligerent assholes who truly deserved to get beat. The RMMB was filled with people who worshiped Tucker. Tucker's tunnel vision version of himself. The movie version of Tucker, who Tucker said nailed the part, not so much. No one liked that guy. I have nothing against Tucker, my interactions with him have always been civil and he's always come across during our interactions as a decent guy. He's always been great with his fans, so obviously he knows where his bread is buttered. He's not a stupid man in the least, but he may possibly be a wee bit delusional as to how awesome he really is. As far as women throwing their private parts at him...so? Apparently, Tucker is a good looking man and certain women with issues find that irresistible. I had a friend who was embarrassing to walk down the street with because girls were hanging out car windows yelling at him. He was a fucking idiot. And dumb as a post. But girls would fuck him because he was pretty. They didn't care if he was vomiting on himself or talking to cartoons on the TV, he was pretty and he was willing to put his dick in them.
No, for lack of empathy. You know what they call people who are completely unable to put themselves in the shoes of others, see things from their viewpoint? Psychopaths. I'm not saying he is one, but it (in my lay-opinion) does sound like there's something more going on than just his admitted narcissism. KT, I'm not saying anything in the book was false, or that the stuff he said and did wasn't funny. But I've laughed at the antics of D-bags before while still thinking they were D-bags. My point wasn't the validity of his stories, it was that he seems unable to understand how other people can see him in a way differently than he sees himself.
I don't know how you get from that blog post to this. Anyway, props to the guy for indulging in some much-warranted self-reflection, although I imagine he's probably done it a couple of times since his early 20's. And I am actually interested in seeing the play now. So there you go.