Comedy is Hard…

I used to be funny… I think.It seems like a long time ago. Maybe it was. I haven’t lost my sense of humour in the traditional sense. I mean I still can appreciate what’s funny but I can’t seem to create it anymore. It was a gift, but I guess I didn’t appreciate it. Now I’m trying to get it back and it ain’t easy, if it’s possible at all.

I was never stand-up comedy funny. I tried it once and it scared the living shit out of me. I used to be funny on stage however, meaning I could act and had a good sense of timing. I could get laughs. I was reasonable at improvisation and took courses at Theatre Sports and Second City. I actually got asked to audition for the latter before I completed the first course (got a callback too. 2 actually). Like an idiot, which I was at the time, I stopped going because I was 20 something and thought I had all the training I needed.

 So I’ve been trying to stimulate my “funny”, as it were, by re-examining what makes me laugh. These are in no particular order of preference.

Laurel and Hardy: The rule with Laurel and Hardy is that everything they do will be wrong. It’s that simple and that complicated.You know the gag or stunt is coming. Everything in their character telegraphs it. You even know the reaction Oliver Hardy is going to have, but it’s still funny. Stan Laurel, who was the creative force behind the team, was a master of timing. L&H are all about timing (Actually all comedy like all life is about timing) Some may find it slow. But it’s deliberate. In the same way Hitchcock will  draw out a moment for suspense, the boys do likewise for laughs. I love the tropes. The escalating “tit for tat” bits. “Why don’t you do something to help me?” when we all know the result will be disaster. The contagious laughter routine and the musical interludes. They are beloved to an extent more than any other comedy team of which I’m aware.( I went to a meeting to a meeting of the “Sons of the Desert”, the official fan club that was founded in the mid-sixties, where they showed a print of a Laurel and Hardy short and a feature. It was great to watch them with a live audience) Last year there was a bio pic that mostly went unnoticed entitled “Stan and Ollie”, starring Steve Coogan as Stan and John C. Reilly as Ollie. Their portrayals were excellent, particularly Reilly who was buried under so much latex he could have supplied condoms for a small country. It’s worth a look. As for the Boys, they still make me me laugh out loud and that’s the highest compliment I can pay.

Chuck Jones:  So most of the classic Warner Brother’s cartoons we grew up with are like 80 years old (give or take). They started out as imitation Disney, as did most of the studios at the time, suffering from the terminal “cutes”. Tex Avery saw that there was no future in that approach, and started making cartoons that made him and and his cohorts laugh. Avery pretty much invented the Warner Bros. style. Grittier, more adult, faster, much like the studio itself. Under his watch the major Warner characters( Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny) were created and developed. Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett, were two of Avery’s animators who would become directors of their own units. And while Clampett would adopt Avery’s wild, anarchic style, Chuck Jones went for quieter more character driven cartoons. Some of his early work shows the Disney influence. In other words, It’s cutesy (Sniffles, the mouse). With confidence he began experimenting with the stock characters and developing their personalities and, as a result, made some of the best of the Warner Bros.classics. You’ve probably seen them.  “The Rabbit of Seville”, “Rabbit Seasoning”, and “Duck Amuck” to name a few. He also created the characters of Pepe Le Pew, Wile E.Coyote and the Road Runner, Marvin Martian and many more. Two of my favourites are Hubie and Bertie, the psychological terrorist mice, who drive Claude Cat off the deep end. Also “A Bear for Punishment” where Papa Bear is forced to celebrate Father’s Day against his will. The list goes on. And, if he had never made anything else, Chuck Jones directed “One Froggy Evening” arguably the greatest animated short ever, featuring Michigan J Frog in his one and only appearance.on the big screen. And if that ain’t funny, then I don’t know what is.

The Marx Brothers: Anarchy, in real life, is not that funny unless it’s in the right hands.  Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo (The title of a great book by Joe Adamson) are the right hands. I love the first five Marx Brothers movies. Particularly “Monkey Business” in which they run amuck on a steamship, having stowed away on same. Rather than maintaining a low profile they flaunt their presence to passengers and crew alike. Rules? What are these rules of which you speak?  Groucho breaks the fourth wall with “Well all of the jokes can’t be good. You’ve got to expect that once in a while” in “Animal Crackers”. He would do that a lot, my favourite being “I’ve got to stay here, but there’s no reason you folks shouldn’t go out into the lobby until this thing blows over”. Then there’s Horsefeathers which contains this song that might as well be the Marx Bros. anthem:

 I don’t know what they have to say / It makes no difference anyway / Whatever it is, I’m against it. / No matter what it is or who commenced it, I’m against it! / Your proposition may be good / But let’s have one thing understood: / Whatever it is, I’m against it. / And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it, I’m against it! / For months before my son was born / I used to yell from night till morn: / Whatever it is, I’m against it! / And I’ve kept yelling since I’ve first commenced it, I’m against it.

And I haven’t even discussed Chico and Harpo yet who are also brilliant in their own ways. Then there’s Zeppo…Well, three out of four ain’t bad.

Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd: Reams have been written about these 3, so I have nothing really new to add. Chaplin is the master of the progression exercise and transposition but so are Keaton and Lloyd. Keaton is ,arguably , the better film-maker of the 3, and is completely self taught, but one of his influences was Lloyd, and Lloyd started off imitating Chaplin. If I happen to have a personal preference it would be Keaton, but the difference between them is negligible. They all had demons with the possible exception of Lloyd who, from all accounts, was a successful business man and who also retained all the rights to his films. Keaton had a rougher time but finally has achieved the recognition he deserves. Chaplin was the first comedy superstar and is an Icon whether or not his personal and political life was a mess so , in that respect, he is untouchable. They’re still funny.

Martin & Lewis: Separately each of them is funny. Together, particularly in their early films when you get glimpses of their night club act, they’re a riot.

Abbott & Costello: Their vaudeville routines are classic for a reason

Rowan Atkinson:  As Blackadder he is sarcasm personified. As Mr. Bean he is a throwback to the best of the silent clowns. He’s a master.comedic actor.

The Three Stooges: Mostly for Curly

George Carlin: The quintessential (i.e. my favourite) stand up comic. 

Monty Python: No argument…

There are more, but those are the main culprits for me. You probably have your own top 10, humour being subjective and all. What makes you laugh? We all need something, especially nowadays. As panaceas go, laughter is as effective as many.

Cheap too.

~ by acrotwang on January 28, 2021.