I was on YouTube the other day and somehow got into a Reggie Watts rabbit hole. For those who don’t know Reggie or his work (you poor things), he is a comedian known for bizarre improvised musical pieces.
In the rabbit hole, I stumbled across one of his many fantastic appearances on Conan. I’ve seen all of his appearances before, but for some reason my YouTube habits consist of watching the same 200-or-so videos in a 6-12 month cycle. I don’t know why I do this but it for sure ain’t healthy.
Anyway, this particular performance of Reggie’s was one I hadn’t watched in a long time. Immediately upon casting my eyes over the video thumbnail, a cosmic switch flicked in my brain. It was a kind of epiphany; two independent, dormant bits of information coming together like broken jigsaw pieces fusing in the haunted toy chest of my subconscious.
Yes, unbeknownst to me until now, Reggie had ignited my love of ugly golf sweaters.
It wasn’t actually this exact performance that had first introduced me to Reggie Watts. The first time I encountered Reggie and his ugly golf sweater was on the stand-up section of Russel Howard’s Good News. I remember stumbling across it at some point about 10 years ago and being blown away. Almost as blown away as Russel Howard’s audience, who it appears were reduced to stony-faced incomprehension, collectively realising for the first time what talented comedy performance looks like. (If you can find the performance anywhere I implore that you watch it. And keep an eye out for the emotionless reaction of the crowd which is deceptively inter-mixed with edited laughter to make it appear like Reggie’s talent is registering with Howard's lamebrained fans.)
I think my first ugly golf sweater [the original ugs.] was purchased within three-ish years of my discovery of that performance. I can’t remember if Reggie’s wardrobe influenced me consciously or unconsciously, but if I had to guess I’d say I then went on to actively search for ugly knitted sweaters just like Reggie’s.
Unfortunately for Reggie Watts, for comedy, and for humanity as a whole, James Cordan happened, and Reggie went to join his chat show as bandleader. It's there where he remains to this day, his raw originality and talent underused and underappreciated. A great, great shame.
But most importantly for me, Reggie’s influence and impact back then was enough to cement his place as a legend forever. His showmanship, energy, swagger, voices, dancing, imagination, and fashion sense all engrained themselves deep inside my brain. Thank you for that Reggie, you fucking cool ass man.
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