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
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"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
July 05, 2009
Michael Palin On Laughing At The People In Charge
This is Michael Palin talking on the commentary track of Life of Brian. He's describing the scene at the end when the huge crowd of people ends up laughing at Pontius Pilate:
PALIN: This was an interesting scene because I had this whole big crowd out there. I tell you it's very very strange to be up there. You feel superior to everybody, literally because you're up above them, but also because you're surrounded by the army, you've got the best costume, you've got the lead role. And once people start laughing, you do get—it is a brilliant form of subversion. And it's something I think modern revolutionaries should remember. If you can make fun of somebody, it's often very much better and far more effective than shooting them or making a martyr of them. And that's what works so well here. And it was really very very unsettling to play Pilate to this lot, and find them in end literally rolling over, in huge numbers of people just jeering at you. There's nothing more guaranteed to put you back in your place. And there's nothing you can do against it, really. I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but...
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at July 5, 2009 11:25 AM1. Fill in the blank: Please complete the following sentence with the appropriate word or phrase:
I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but ______
Posted by: SteveB at July 5, 2009 02:19 PMbut they'll get the last laugh.
Posted by: smdqr at July 5, 2009 03:23 PM"I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but do you want to slay your audience?"
Posted by: Dennis Perrin at July 5, 2009 03:56 PM"I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but do you want to slay your audience?"
Posted by: Dennis Perrin at July 5, 2009 03:56 PMClearly, it's an important question.
Posted by: Dennis Perrin at July 5, 2009 03:57 PMAnyone notice that Palin (the other one) announced her resignation the day that a week and a half hiatus of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" began?
Posted by: darrelplant at July 5, 2009 06:11 PM"I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but the advertisers sure wouldn't like it."
Posted by: Mike of Angle at July 6, 2009 12:12 PMIs that when he decided to write The Omnivore's Dilemma?
Posted by: hmm at July 6, 2009 05:28 PM"I suppose you can kill people for laughing, but then sarcasm would come into common use, which would itself undermine loyalty to the state"
Posted by: Henry at July 7, 2009 01:08 PMSo, is this guy, like, related to Sarah?
Posted by: Duncan at July 7, 2009 05:07 PM
