Barbra Streisand's Class Act

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006
Streisand Has Outburst at NYC Concert

NEW YORK (AP) - The most riveting moment of Barbra Streisand's Madison Square Garden concert was one of the only unscripted ones.

So why do people pay so much to listen to her perform, anyway?

Streisand endured jeers as she interjected a political skit into Monday night's show, exchanging zingers with a celebrity impersonator playing George Bush as a bumbling idiot.

Ooh, so funny! Wow, Barbra, you should go into standup comedy! That's such an original shtick you found there!
Did you warn your paying guests ahead of time that they were going to have to listen to some humorous propaganda, or was it a free extra?

Though most of the crowd offered polite applause during the slightly humorous routine, it went on a bit too long, especially for those who just wanted to hear Streisand sing.

Clearly, it was the hit of the night, if it was all just polite applause at the slight humor. I'll bet people loved shelling out big bucks to hear Barb yukking it up about Bushitlerburton.

``Come on, be polite!'' the well-known liberal implored. But one heckler wouldn't let up. And finally, Streisand let him have it.

Can you see the hypocrisy here? She pleads with a heckler to be polite, so that she can continue on with her impoliteness. Most of the audience was not there to hear her unhinged haraguing, I suspect, but they also didn't pay big money to listen to other audience members heckle.

``Shut the (expletive) up!'' Streisand bellowed, drawing wild applause. ``Shut up if you can't take a joke!''

Well, so much for the party of tolerance and progressiveness. I suppose Barbra can't take a joke either, so why should her audience?

With that one F-word, the jeers ended. And the message was delivered - no one gets away with trying to upstage Barbra Streisand, especially not in her hometown.

Good guess, anonymous AP drone...but perhaps what people were REALLY clapping for is that the "humorous" bit ended and the concert continued, which is what they paid for...