March 27th
On HOMER SIMPSON
Okay, now it is time for my Top 5favourite TV comedy serieses of all time! These lists, from what I understand, are quite popular. No real surprises, I’m not a goddam TV archeologist.
1) The Simpsons
Parents of the world warned it against it, but it turned out to be hilarious. Thus parents of the world lost credibility. Family Guy is not as good, because it is like the Simpsons but with no soul. Futurama is too Sci Fi for my taste. South Park is sharp, but sometimes gives me a little scatalogical headache. No, Simpsons is the best – I own the first seven seasons and have watched all the DVD commentaries – very enlightening!
2) Arrested Development
These are all obvious, but some people don’t like this show because it is too cute and clever. If AD has a weak point, it is that, especially when Ron Howard’s narration gets a bit twee. Overall, though, dynamite., clever writing, characters you fall in love with despite their idiocy and despicability. Also, bad title. I wrote by first spec script on Arrested Development, and my favourite is the George Michael – Maeby forbidden romance. Now I want to wach this show again.
3) Flight of the Conchords
Is over!!! I am very sad. It was perfect? So relatable, especially as a wannabe performer sticking it out in the city. This one is too close to analyze, the series finale was last week. Matt and I just finished a spec script for it. Matt and I like to imagine we are like Flight of the Conchords, except without musical talent, but with hats. We’re a real hip duo, you know? Favourite song: Hurt Feelings.
4) Monty Python’s Flying Circus
This is the classic one. I haven’t seen all the episodes, and sometimes they can be hard to watch. Still nothing more challenging or more memorable on TV, always trying to stick a stick in your brain, and reality is always barely held together, sometimes not at all. They are my idols.
5) Saturday Night Live
SNL is also formative – it was fun to stay up and watch it as a kid, and my philosophy was always if it was good, it was funny, and if it wasn’t, I learned something about comedy. It’s the only TV show where you can watch people making mistakes. I don’t watch it much these days, since I went to comedy school and became a jaded insider, I’m too cool for the juvenile cast, and Kristen Wiig’s characters irritate me, and there are too many talk show sketches. And the best parts are all on video now (the digital shorts), so, not live. But great memories of the Farley era, the Ferrell-Kattan era, and the Horatio Sanz era. And Tracy Morgan. It’s like watching a reality show about comedy careers too, because you always hear about what’s going on behind the scenes.
Runners up – Late night: The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, both great and very complementary. Conan O’Brien. That’s about it really. I don’t watch that much TV.
Showing posts with label top 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top 5. Show all posts
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
On NEWS ANCHOR
January 22nd
On NEWS ANCHOR
The words ‘News Anchor’ immediately made me think of Anchorman, which I often cite as the Greatest Movie of All Time. I don’t know if it is, it’s something I say to get people to watch it. But it made me think of what could possible be my five favourite comedies of the last 15 years (since 1993). These are the ones that had the greatest influence on me, in no particular order:
Anchorman (2004)
Ron Burgundy was the voice in my head for several years whenever I tried to make anything funny. My sketch group, Players Players, also stole Will Ferrell’s baritone for our classic businessmen sketch. It was also a key bridge – the apex of the Will Ferrell era (which made all other Will Ferrell sketches and films forgivable), but also the start of the Judd Apatow era. Also my introduction to actors Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, who all have a spot in may heart along with catchphrases.
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
This movie, reviled at the time by reactionary middle class types who couldn’t imagine liking a film with this title, and loved by my generation of high-school geeks, was overall super hilarious, but what set it apart from also great and loved Jim Carrey roles in Ace Ventura and Batman Forever (a great movie whose reputation was sullied in retrospect by association with the vomitorious Batman and Robin) was my identification with Lloyd Christmas’s crush on Lauren Holly’s character. Through high school and university I had crushes on dozens of girls and my fantasy was always modeled on Lloyd’s dream sequence set to The Cowsills.
Office Space (1999)
Like most of the world, I first caught this on video. In university I wrote a major paper comparing its liberation ideology to that of Fight Club and American Beauty. Its empathy got me through and eventually out of the Scotiabank office years, and also inspired a desire in me to think and act independently, as the main character does in the movie, and I truly believed that the respect I would gain from being my own man would outweigh the benefits of sucking up to my superiors. I haven’t always been able to act on this belief, and it’s something I still think about.
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
This movie epitomized the undergraduate experience for me in a way that Old School, a movie that I despised, did not, even though Huckabees was not set on a campus like Old School sort of was. The best part of Huckabees was how Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg (who, like Will Ferrell, have received criticism-free passes from me to do whatever they want in past or future because of this movie) float from idea to idea and are so galvanized by each one that the stakes of each scene go through the roof. Key moments: Scwartzman makes love to Isabelle Huppert in the filth, and Mark Wahlberg beats the fire truck to the fire with his fire bike (“I’m at the fire, where are you guys?”)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Far and away Chris Farley’s greatest achievement, he was a good to my high school friends and I. It was a major event when he died. He embodied physical comedy and giving everything to every moment. And he was perfectly contrasted to David Spade’s small sarcasm. One of the best comedy setpieces of all time: Chris Farley destroying a model car and lighting it on fire trying to demonstrate the importance of brakes. Reenacted by my friends and I dozens of times, this sequence is hardwired into my brain.
Honorable Mentions: 3 Wes Anderson movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, the Royal Tenenbaums), School of Rock, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Tropic Thunder, Josie and the Pussycats. Also Austin Powers, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.
On NEWS ANCHOR
The words ‘News Anchor’ immediately made me think of Anchorman, which I often cite as the Greatest Movie of All Time. I don’t know if it is, it’s something I say to get people to watch it. But it made me think of what could possible be my five favourite comedies of the last 15 years (since 1993). These are the ones that had the greatest influence on me, in no particular order:
Anchorman (2004)
Ron Burgundy was the voice in my head for several years whenever I tried to make anything funny. My sketch group, Players Players, also stole Will Ferrell’s baritone for our classic businessmen sketch. It was also a key bridge – the apex of the Will Ferrell era (which made all other Will Ferrell sketches and films forgivable), but also the start of the Judd Apatow era. Also my introduction to actors Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, who all have a spot in may heart along with catchphrases.
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
This movie, reviled at the time by reactionary middle class types who couldn’t imagine liking a film with this title, and loved by my generation of high-school geeks, was overall super hilarious, but what set it apart from also great and loved Jim Carrey roles in Ace Ventura and Batman Forever (a great movie whose reputation was sullied in retrospect by association with the vomitorious Batman and Robin) was my identification with Lloyd Christmas’s crush on Lauren Holly’s character. Through high school and university I had crushes on dozens of girls and my fantasy was always modeled on Lloyd’s dream sequence set to The Cowsills.
Office Space (1999)
Like most of the world, I first caught this on video. In university I wrote a major paper comparing its liberation ideology to that of Fight Club and American Beauty. Its empathy got me through and eventually out of the Scotiabank office years, and also inspired a desire in me to think and act independently, as the main character does in the movie, and I truly believed that the respect I would gain from being my own man would outweigh the benefits of sucking up to my superiors. I haven’t always been able to act on this belief, and it’s something I still think about.
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
This movie epitomized the undergraduate experience for me in a way that Old School, a movie that I despised, did not, even though Huckabees was not set on a campus like Old School sort of was. The best part of Huckabees was how Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg (who, like Will Ferrell, have received criticism-free passes from me to do whatever they want in past or future because of this movie) float from idea to idea and are so galvanized by each one that the stakes of each scene go through the roof. Key moments: Scwartzman makes love to Isabelle Huppert in the filth, and Mark Wahlberg beats the fire truck to the fire with his fire bike (“I’m at the fire, where are you guys?”)
Tommy Boy (1995)
Far and away Chris Farley’s greatest achievement, he was a good to my high school friends and I. It was a major event when he died. He embodied physical comedy and giving everything to every moment. And he was perfectly contrasted to David Spade’s small sarcasm. One of the best comedy setpieces of all time: Chris Farley destroying a model car and lighting it on fire trying to demonstrate the importance of brakes. Reenacted by my friends and I dozens of times, this sequence is hardwired into my brain.
Honorable Mentions: 3 Wes Anderson movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, the Royal Tenenbaums), School of Rock, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Tropic Thunder, Josie and the Pussycats. Also Austin Powers, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.
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