Bit of a kerfuffle last week when Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes Lot's of people found him nasty and boorish and a bit of a bully, others thought he was hysterical and the perfect antidote to Hollywood pomposity.
Individually I thought most of the jokes were great, but after a while the pile up became sour. One after another, after another, after another...... no room to breathe. I figure in the opening monolog, let 'er rip, anything goes- but when you start to insult everyone who comes out to present, that becomes a bit nasty. Like shooting fish in a barrel, you have a prepared barb and the poor schlump or schlumpette walks out already looking foolish. And then of course they have to deliver those horrible bits of forced banter.
To each his own, I guess.
Of course the greatest definition of comedy/tragedy comes from Mel Brooks; (I paraphrase) "comedy is if YOU fall into an open manhole and die, Tragedy is if I get a papercut" Ah, perspective.
I was thinking today about perhaps the greatest comic creation of all time; The 2,000 Year Old Man. Mel and Carl Reiner in a perfect duet of creation. To listen to those albums is like ..... (add your own superlative here) I'll choose , Like looking into the eyes of God. They are smart, and wise, and silly, and funny, and shocking and most importantly , they are joyful.
The more I think about art that I respond to, I find that a spirit of Joy is so important. The joy of the performers as they create and the audience as they respond.
There are two bits on those records that still give me goosebumps every time I listen, and I have listened hundreds of times.
The 2,000 year old man is asked what he thinks about Paul Revere- the response "Anti Semite bastard" The audience roars! What? He said what? The old man goes on to explain that Revere on his famous ride was yelling out "The Yiddish are coming! The Yiddish are coming" More laughs. When he is corrected, he says , without a seconds hesitation, "Oy, I have to write his wife a note"
The anti-semite bit is astounding but the detail of writing the note, for me, makes it more than just a bit of shock- it becomes a glimpse into humanity, good manners can trump hundreds of years of slander. Or so he hopes.
Brooks is fearless.
My other favorite, and when I play it for people they still gasp- Is a another bit of word association, Reiner wants his reaction to a list of famous military heroes, all Generals, The old mans reaction to each and every name, "a Fag!" and to Custer "A Fag! The Biggest" When informed that there is no record of these men being Homosexual, the Old man is taken aback. "Who said such a thing?" "You did, you called them Fags" "FAG- Federal Army General! I didn't want to waste time on the record."
Bliss. Track down those 2,000 year old man albums and give them a listen. There is talk of Reiner and Brooks getting together for one more album-that would be a bit of heaven.
But like I said they were funny and shocking but underneath there was always a little nugget of humanity, a not so hidden bit of wisdom. Here's one:
"We mock the things we are to be"
The Ol' guy is talking about his parents and how silly they were, Reiner says "They sound like you" .....Yes.
Many years ago my Dad's mother was staying with us, we had a huge Sunday dinner all on the table ready to go, "Nanny, come on sit down and have dinner" " NO, that's okay , don't worry about me, I'll just have a Frankfurter" With her brogue it sounded more like frank- a- fu-ter.
For years, This has been a family punch line and nobody liked it more than my mother. These days ,when I bring my Mom a glass of milk she'll say , "Oh no, that's too much, I don't need that Much" Or I'll bring her a blanket "Oh, that's too big, get me a smaller blanket"
I should be careful, We mock the things.......
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