I notice that in all the discussions of celebrity smugness, musicians seem to largely escape the smug label. Gator6C mentioned Bono, and I’ll agree that Bono can come across as self-satisfied and bombastic at times, but he seems too sincere for smug.
Incidentally, I notice that comedians haven’t been mentioned much either. I know that Bill Maher considers himself a comedian, but I would argue that a.) he’s really more of a political humorist than a comedian, and b.) his stand-up is terrible. And to prove this is not mere political bias, I’ll add that George Carlin, Patton Oswalt, and Chris Rock are all very good political comedians. (I’m not sure that there are any right-leaning political comedians, actually.) Political humor is tough to pull off, which is why so many people who are funny on other issues totally flounder when it comes to politics. And by “so many people,” I mean Kathy Griffin. I’ll allow that Carlos Mencia is a comedian, in that it’s funny to me that he’s managed to forge such a successful career out of ripping-off other comedians and making thuddingly obvious and stereotypical race jokes. (My nomination for best and most insightful comedian on race: Dave Chappell.)
But getting back to musicians, I think that they tend to pretentiousness over smugness, though I concede that I have no idea where Oasis would have fit on this continuum. It’s like they weren’t pretentious but very much wanted to be. (My nomination for most pretentious band for right now: Radiohead.)
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