Saturday, January 24, 2009

Much better parts 3&4

Make Me Laugh was much much better this time around. They honored Chaplin ... well deserved. But I was thrilled to see them give Laurel & Hardy, The Three Stooges and Harpo Marx their due. I watched Laurel & Hardy movies before I ever watched Chaplin. Their story is just sweet and heartwarming. Even after they retired, unlike Abbott & Costello, Stan & Ollie remained close friends and when Ollie died, Stan was there and was affected by his best friend passing for the rest of his life . I wish they would make a biopic about these 2. I can see Mackie from The Shield playing Ollie (he's already played Curley), not sure about Stan.

Anyway, The Stooges ... I used to watch The Stooges on Channel 32 everyday after school and on Sunday mornings with my Dad. The Curley's were the best and I still consider Disorder in the Court a master of words/cadence and pure slapstick.

Lawyer: Drop the vernacular
Curley: Vernacular? That's a doiby

Brilliance!

And Harpo ... I grew up watching Duck Soup every New Years Eve on Channel 9 (WGN). Harpo was the best and I don't mean that Groucho & Chico were slouches either. Groucho & Chico's monologues together are classics ... parachute, pair of shoes ... again, words & cadence. Harpo was a child, an ornery child who was a genius musician. I once gave a speech on how much Harpo Marx influenced my life when I was in high school.

Then onto a great segment. Political comedy. Lenny Bruce ... the man died so people like Richard Pryor & George Carlin could exist. Lenny's act now is tame ... said some bad words and I can't even remember how many times he went to jail ... 7 times maybe? And then Pryor. He made comedy personal. His material came out of his experience. He made growing up in a brothel ... FUNNY. He made torching himself ...FUNNY. He made having heart attacks ... FUNNY. God rest your soul Richard. Carlin. I got choked up because it's hard to believe that he's dead too. Sigh.

I also remember watching the Smother's Brothers and my Dad being ticked when CBS pulled them off the air. The thing I remember the Smothers Brothers for was Yo-Yo man .. hey, I was a kid!

Watched what may be a great show called Lie to Me. I love Tim Roth and he's the main character. He's a human lie detector. As I'm watching the show, I have to wonder how frustrating it would be to be on this show. The actors have to do certain movements and facial expressions to show they are lying. Ok ... say these lines and DO THIS with your face ... yikes!!!

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