by Johnny Guatemala
Sept. 4, 2007
NASHVILLE-- Local bartender P.J. Vander Zee, 27, has progressively made an ass out of himself by constantly making taboo jokes about dead celebrities, according to his friends.
"It's partly our fault, because he had some good one-liners after the whole Steve Irwin thing with the stingray and all," said Kevin Dempster. "Hey, it's fair game as far as I'm concerned. An inappropriate joke here and there is great. But he just keeps on doing it, hoping to get the same response. It's sad..."
Dempster also detailed Vander Zee's obsession with celebrity, including an unbased "hatred" of New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush and actor John Cusack, despite both maintaining low-key profiles and avoiding traditional "annoying celebrity" fodder like Kaballah or Scientology.
"One time P.J. and I went to see the (National Hockey League's) Predators and he got on the Jumbotron for awhile. After that, he said it was awesome. Sure, of course it is. But then he said something about 'being famous now.' It was...offputting. I started to put two and two together after that. He probably takes potshots at dead celebs because he's bitter about what he cannot become. Maybe he actually has a problem," said Dempster.
Others are growing weary of Vander Zee's scraping the bottom of the dead celebrity barrel, as A-listers seem to keep living at the moment.
Even lesser-known celebrities like Tom Snyder, the veteran television host who succumbed to cancer in July, could not escape Vander Zee's crosshairs. Although not old enough to remember Snyder's extensive career, the fleeting knowledge did not deter Vander Zee from making an ill-researched and consequently unfunny remark, according to friend Gary Winston.
"It's obvious that P.J. only knows about him from the short-lived Late Late Show that came on after Letterman in the mid-90's. And there was nothing memorable about the show except for Snyder's bellowing laugh. So you can guess what his unfunny joke was. Something to the effect of, 'HA-HA-HA! I'm dead now!' Unbelievable. It was so unfunny that I said, 'Yep,' and let an uncomfortable silence show my displeasure," said Winston.
Winston added, "Frankly, I'm just glad that he didn't know who Richard Jeni was, or that he committed suicide," referring to the brilliant-but-troubled comedian who took his own life in March 2007.
"HA-HA-HA! I'm dead now."