I put this is the news feed before, but I’m a little disappointed with Nerve’s list of 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies. Nerve’s a sex site, they’re not claiming to be experts on comedy. But still, it’s glaring that nothing from Mr. Show or Tim & Eric didn’t make it on there. Saturday Night Live has done some brilliant commercial parodies, but they don’t own the form as much as the list suggests.
Any future list writers should pick up the first season of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, which just came to DVD last month. Here’s a brilliant ad from their first episode called B’Owl, a Cinco toy. It’s #40 on that list at least.
Bob Odenkirk is a comedy writer I admire not only for his work, but for his unflinching words about his work. It’s in evidence in this recent interview with Bob (with David Cross) on Vanity Fair on their upcoming HBO sitcom David’s Situation. The interviewer brings up The Ben Stiller Show as a show – like Arrested Development or Mr. Show – that was canceled too early by the network. Odenkirk instantly objects, stating:
The Ben Stiller Show was a complete fucking mess. Watch that show. Just watch that show. Please!
and…
It was not a cohesive show. The voice of one scene was completely different from the voice of another.
and…
Look, I think the show was not completely realized, and we were all very young and we didn’t know what the hell we were doing. None of it held together. I mean, c’mon, what was your favorite moment of Ben hanging out with celebrities between scenes? Was that non-stop hilarity for you? People talk about that show like it was comedy genius, but in my opinion it never even came close. It had some high points and sometimes it could be offbeat, but it was mostly a lot of comedy sludge.
And generally you can trust his own self assessments. This weekend I caught part of the Odenkirk directed “Let’s Go to Prison.” I watched the first half hour and was pleasantly surprised how much I was enjoying it. I had remembered Odenkirk admitting some troubles with the film in an AV Club Interview. I had some run and ended up recording the rest on the DVR while I was out. Picking up where I left off, the prison setting started swallowing the humor, black comedy turning into bleak comedy. I had to go find what Odenkirk said in that AV Club interview. Sure enough, he described the film as lacking a target and ending up as “darkness to no end.”
There’s a reason why people think of Odenkirk as a premiere comedy mind. He doesn’t romanticize his own writing. He’s able to be unsparing critical and at the same time incredibly productive. So much of comedy - or any bit of creativity - requires some tunnel vision and denial just to get it done. How Odenkirk can create with such a powerful critic inside is remarkable. (Not that it saved Let’s Go to Prison, but you can be sure that he won’t make the same mistake next time.)
Not only are we in a renaissance for stand-up, but some favorites of sketch comedy gone through some incredible revival this year. And we all get to enjoy them on web video.
Kids in the Hall A version of this sketch was part of their Just For Laughs show. I’m not sure it’s still part of their current live tour, but they definitely go further here than they could on stage…
The State What’s a little pantomime between manly construction workers? This is from the UCB LA reunion show. No tour or other shows have been announced, but perhaps a successful KitH tour will inspire more from The State?
When the Dana Carvey Show went up on Hulu, it went up without the first episode. That first episode featured the infamous sketch with Bill Clinton suckling babies, puppies and kitties at his man breasts to show he could be both mother and father to the United States.
I wondered how anyone could think the first sketch of the Dana Carvey show was still controversial today. Particularly with Robert Smigel’s love of using live animals in sketches now being a much loved part of Triumph and TV Funhouse. Apparently they agreed, because the first episode of Dana Carvey just went up last night.
What a shot across the bow, huh? I’ve heard some people say you have to earn the audience trust to do a sketch like this, but I kind of love a show that says “This is what we think is funny. If you like it, stick around because there’s going to be a lot more of it.”
An interesting post about directing comedy from Cinemoose puts forward this Buster Keaton quote, “Tragedy is a close-up; Comedy, a long shot.” They argue that it still applies to comedy today. Why?
Long shots put the straight man in the scene, helping to both set-up a bit and also land the jokes with the straight man’s reaction, who subs for the audience.
Close-ups put you in the mind of the character, creating sympathy which destroys the distance necessary for comedy.
They use the old banana peel analogy, that cutting the viewers witnessing the fall would create laughter but cutting to the man who slipped would put our emotions with him.
I’m not sure this is true any more. Today’s comedy is a little crueler… allowing us to laugh directly in the face of a character’s pain.
Also, long shots aren’t really necessary to get the reactions in any more. Often that same thing is done in other ways - think of the quick pans in “The Office.” The joke is heightened because we get to anticipate what Pam or Jim reaction might be to the sexist/annoying thing that Michael just said.
There’s a trust today that the audience knows that this is a terrible funny thing, so we don’t need a straight man to substitute for us as much anymore. Often in sketches I kind of prefer it if everybody in the sketch buys into the crazy thing going on - it makes the sketch get funnier, rather than relying on a character saying, “What are you people doing?” for the jokes.
One trait of comedy that’s also very true today is mimicry. Not so much parody, but a scene needs to be done in the style of drama to make it funny. Besides the acting being played straight, the directing must be played straight as well. It makes the exaggeration all the stronger. Here’s an example, from Human Giant and their sketch “Sketch Artist.” Rob Huebel never breaks the senior demeanor of a cop haunted by his partner’s death and killer and neither does director Jason Woliner, making the arrival of the killer that much more funny.
After introducing the silly killer, they keep up the dark, straight part of the scene with Huebel bleeding. (Human Giant is possibly the bloodiest sketch comedy show ever filmed I think.)
So what do you think? Does Keaton’s maxim still apply?
Sometimes a blog post is held up around here because I can’t find exactly the right way to feature something I’m loving. I’ve been planning to talk about The Dana Carvey Show being available on the free TV site Hulu for about a week now, but I haven’t been able to decide which clip I want to feature. The talent involved in front (Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell) and behind (Robert Smigel, Louis C.K., Dino Stamatopoulos, Bob Odenkirk, Charlie Kaufman) made too many wonderfully absurd bits to choose from. So, do what I’ve been doing, start with episode two and work from there.
(Alas, episode one featuring Bill Clinton breast feeding puppies is not on the service. Still controversial today? Really?)
Reportedly: SuperDeluxe to be folded into AdultSwim. SuperDeluxe did some brilliant stuff - hopefully some level of web content will continue under the AdultSwim brand.
Comix publicist Kambri Crews foils a scammer posing as stand-up Todd Barry. Con man, as Barry, claimed he needed money to get his car out of the impound lot. Barry does not even own a car.
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