No, not how to look good shirtless. How to talk to, and about, working-class (and specifically white working-class) people.
Because Obama’s really screwed the pooch on that.
Mike Rowe hosts a show on the Discovery Channel called Dirty Jobs, in which he “explore[s] the country, looking for people who aren’t afraid to get dirty.” He’s been doing this since 2003 — and by his own admission, never expected the show to get past the pilot stage — and has done nearly 175 jobs at this point.
What’s very interesting about the jobs featured is that they’re a combination of pure blue-collar and multi-degreed scientific/engineering jobs. And one of the things that keeps the show going is that Mike, even though he’s had “six years of college” as he mentioned in a segment on septic-tank technicians* in Wisconsin, and has been a singer in the chorus in the Baltimore Opera for a few years, he (almost) never looks down on the people he’s working with (with a few exceptions, which always make for the most uncomfortable segments, such as Ruby the brick stacker). Usually, he makes himself into the fool, even if he spouts Shelley while doing so. And he’s gotten a really good reception from working people, who are eager to use his show to highlight how hard and/or dirty their jobs are in a way that doesn’t overly valorize them but also doesn’t condescend to them.
In other words, treats them like people.
Enjoy the following clips.
Yay! We love Bill and Mary and Bump.
The kid’s annoying, but hey! These are rural Pennsylvanians.
I love Ashley the green-haired Goth entomologist.
*The single greatest thing I ever learned on the show was that the septic-tank technician, Les, had previously been a school guidance counselor, but had “gotten tired of dealing with other people’s crap.”
One of my favorite moments is when he’s trying to get a vomiting baby bird out of a tree on Vomit Island and one of the scientists calls up, “Mike, do we need to send a girl up to help you?”
That and the woman shucking oysters who he pulls in front of the camera and says to her kids, “This is what your mom does all day. Don’t forget to thank her.”
What happened with Ruby the brick stacker? I don’t think I saw that one.
Thanks for the photo at the top of the post. I loves me some Mike Rowe.
I didn’t realize everyone else could see him. I thought he was talking to me. Directly to me and me alone. He’s so awesome.
He was kind of condescending to Ruby, who was not only the only woman in the joint, but also (from what it looked like) a dwarf. He made a lot of awkward jokes about how small she was, and didn’t really know how to handle it when she mentioned that she’d been a hairdresser prior to working at the brick factory.
I didn’t realize everyone else could see him. I thought he was talking to me. Directly to me and me alone. He’s so awesome.
And you questioned whether your son would want to see the gross stuff when I urged you to watch it several months ago.
Well, he never watches it. I watch it alone. In my room. With some candles and soft music…
A friend of mine had a truly interesting question about Mike Rowe: Would he consider “cabana boy” a dirty job?