or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 12, 2008
Our Control Of Hollywood Is About To End
I (along with thousands of others, I assume) just received this email:
From: Jeff Hunt <***@americancarol.com>
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 8:24:18 AM
Subject: You've controlled Hollywood long enough...We’re taking it back.
I'm guessing this will be a comedic success on par with the 1951 Soviet romp, "Abot And Costollo Meet The Bloody-Handed Capitalist Warlords."
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at September 12, 2008 09:47 AMActually, this may not be anti-semitic; they are probably excited about that new David Zuker's movie, An American Carol.
Posted by: abb1 at September 12, 2008 10:52 AM"Zuker". Is that a Jewish name or a German name? Just asking.
Posted by: Bob In Pacifica at September 12, 2008 11:04 AMWow.
My first thought, after about 30 seconds of the trailer, was "Why did they digitize Chris Farley for the Michael Moore character? They couldn't find a living actor?"
Then I realized it was Kevin Farley - Chris's brother, I assume, and a dead ringer (if you'll pardon the expression) for the late comedian.
Other than that: meh. David Zucker on his own isn't that funny - I'm convinced that Jerry got most of the creative genes in that deal.
Posted by: jp at September 12, 2008 11:24 AMAbot And Costollo?
I don't believe that the Soviets were much for comedy. I wonder why? Is social realism at odds with comedy? Is comedy the product of intentional distraction? Is satire, very bad for the health in the Soviet Union?
Some of their other movies were pretty good in that stilted, foreign, and overacted way -- Potemkin, Nevsky, Grozny, etc.
Posted by: Labiche at September 12, 2008 12:42 PMhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_Raikin
Arkady Raikin. Not bad, reasonably good comedian.
Is social realism at odds with comedy?
Comedy and dogma don't go well together, whether left, right, or other. P.J. O'Rourke is funny when he is being a person; when he's being a Republican (CEO of the Sofa) he's unreadable.
