January 12, 2010Comedy Roundup
Simpsons, Scalia, and Snails, Oh My!
We are officially old.
We are officially old.
OK, a Tuesday roundup for a change. Classes are starting (blast those students and their demand for education!) and Sunday was interrupted by the whole Simpsons anniversary extravaganza -- the net effect of which was to make everyone I know feel old. As a friend lamented, "The Simpsons is our students' Gilligan's Island!" Too true. But the Morgan Spurlock documentary was great. My favorite parts? The many variations on the theme song in the beginning, and the dueling arguments -- presented by real Scottish dignitaries -- for which town Groundskeeper Willie came from.
I guess I'm technically supposed to care about the whole Leno/Conan/NBC fiasco, but I really don't. It strikes me as less about comedy and more about network politics and practices.
But I'm obsessed with the trailers for The Spy Next Door and Tooth Fairy, both featuring action stars in an ostentatiously wacky, kid-friendly type of situation. It's totally generic, almost like a parody you'd see on Family Guy: (in deep announcer voice) "And it's Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as...a tooth fairy?!" Except it's real. And not ironic. Speaking of FG, Adult Swim's rerun of "Big Man on Hippocampus" proved me right: Lois's original line (which I'd heard at Cherry Cheva's event) was "I want you to wear me like a pinkie ring!" And Adult Swim did keep in the funniest jokes, just as the joke predicted it would, but they added on a "But you're watching Fox on Adult Swim" ad right after the fake bump...wait, this is all getting a little too meta for me.
There was a snarkilicious tidbit in the news today, a headline reading: "Scalia (yes, Scalia) invokes foreign law in court" -- the repetition is a jab at his sudden turnaround on the issue. I love that snark is invading real news, and I look forward to the day when I don't have to deal with any information not filtered though comedy. If you read the article, there's a great little exchange between Scalia and Stevens at the end...sorry, I'm a sucker for legal humor. Also, even though Scalia is the funniest judge, a law prof I know convinced me he was an evil genius, so I like it when people make fun of him.
I caught John Oliver's special on Friday, and really dug the Mirman fella. I'm geeked to note that Mary Lynn Rajskub is scheduled for the next one. Not only is she from my home state (Go MI -- we grow good comedy!) but after I saw her turn as Gail the Snail on Sunny, I was dying to see her do more funny. Speaking of Michigan, I note that Mr. Oliver is himself scheduled to play Michigan Tech -- I wonder if he knows what he's in for? I've been to a few Winter Carnivals there, and the combination of engineers, alcohol, and killer cold is very...special. But given his great performance here, I bet it will be worth the price of admission to see him interact with the Techies.
Finally, the DS interview with John Yoo. So good, and so not "fake" journalism, is all I have to say. Which is why even Brian Williams had to admit that Jon Stewart is good for news.
Funny how things never change. I just taught Aristophanes today. I was trying to explain that funny could have a serious political point. Then I realized I didn't have to worry about explaining it -- Comedy Central has it covered.
