Comedy Changes Everything

I could, I suppose, start by saying that it's a truism that comedy changes everything. However, it's not a truism, but perhaps it's true. And, by that statement, I mean that, when we see something as comic, or have an association of it that is related to comedy, we see it in a different way -- inevitably somehow or somewhat comical, regardless of what it may intrinsically be. This is, albeit, a result of our own associations (and certainly this is true for me), but, in my experience, that's how it is.

Here's why I say that: I recently saw the James Montgomery Band perform (and they were awesome, by the way). During the show, James mentioned ZZ Top. I found myself unable not to think of Jon Glaser and his I-don't-even-know-how-to-describe-so-you-should-just-listen-to-it bit that relates to ZZ Top.

It reminded me of another experience, one which I now have when I see Hamlet (which, being me, is pretty often). A few years ago, I saw the Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at Shakespeare & Co. In it, Josh Aaron McCabe played Gertrude in the abridged Hamlet and was, to put it simply, brilliant. He played Gertrude as a kind of raspy-voiced grand dame of Miami Beach with a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other (mimed). Ophelia's funeral, since it was this ridiculous version of Hamlet, was dropping a "body" through a small trap door. When he, as Gertrude, uttered the famous line, "Sweets to the sweet," he mimed flicking cigarette ashes into her grave. This was, for me, the absolutely funniest moment of what was a very funny production. It made such as strong impression on me that (and you probably now know where this is going) whenever I see Hamlet, I -- seemingly uncontrollably -- think of this moment. I even kind of chuckled under my breathe at this moment during a professional and quite good production of it that I later saw.

So, that's my point: if one has a comic association with something, it sticks. Not as brilliant as I thought, but there it is. I'm not sure what it means or if it's a big deal, but there's definitely something to it as a theory, since I've seen in practice.

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A Thing You Need: Instant Rimshot

I found this recently:

http://instantrimshot.com/

I feel as if I should say something about how wonderful this is, but also feel as if anything I say would be superfluous. It "speaks" for itself.

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Shatner: the introduction

As boy, I was a big Star Trek fan. I watched the show every night, I read and owned a number of books, I went to conventions (and asked George Takei a question), I shopped at the Federation Trading Post, and was so vocal in my enthusiasm that one inscription in my sixth grade year book (from someone who had noted certain aspects of the show) said "Capt. Lubarr to the bridge, beautiful girl to make out with."

I still enjoy the show (mostly just TOS), but, now, my tastes have changed. Now, it's so often about William Shatner. Why? Because of episodes such as The Enemy Within. Or this. Or this (with masterfully arranged images). Or this.

But lest you think I only like Shatner at his goofiest, I will tell you this: I think that the single best bit of acting on the original Star Trek is the stoic sadness on his face as he walks through the Enterprise at the very end of Balance of Terror. And, believe me, I have watched a lot of Star Trek.



 
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Public Acknowledgement That I Am At Least Somewhat Funny

I just learned (and I mean less than two minutes ago) that my play, Who Stole the Christmas Spirit?, was a semi-finalist in the 2015 McLaren Memorial Comedy Play Writing Competition. See http://www.mctmidland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-Current-Standings.pdf for details. While I would obviously have liked to have been a finalist or zee beeg wiener, semi-finalist is not the worst thing that ever happened. So, yay!

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Favorite movies – The Pantheon
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Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com

The End of Dave, Actually the End of an Era

I've been surprised to find myself sad about David Letterman's retirement, but I am. I have vivid and fond memories of watching him in the late 'eighties after Carson, particularly of a moment when he walked up to the camera, rapped on the glass, and told us -- all of us, the viewers of America -- to pay attention. At this point, it's a truism that he re-created the late night talk show, but there's something about the way he undermined norms that was part of a larger shift. He sort of did for TV what Spy magazine did for graphics -- not just that what we take for granted now was quite radical then -- but that he and they brought a kind of smart, mischievous tenor to the table. I guess it's what we could have expected from people raised on Mad magazine (speaking as someone raised on Mad magazine), though the meta quality was and is of a different order. (I'm reminded of a Top Ten list which they interrupted to discuss the predictably variable quality of the jokes at different positions of Top Ten lists.)

A couple of thoughts about his last show (5/20/15) -- it was nice that he stuck to mostly the usual format; I remember wishing that Johnny had done that for his last show. Also, his show on Tuesday (5/19/15) had a montage of Rupert Jee that had some of the funniest bits I've seen in a long time.

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The places to hear from me:
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Politics – Progressive Politics (per Josh Lubarr)
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Favorite movies – The Pantheon
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Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com

I Didn't Know There'd Been a Change to the Bill of Rights

In case you were concerned that the Internet was just a pile of useless information (for example, this blog), I learned something verrry useful while wasting time looking at a real estate listing: apparently, the right of assembly has been rescinded. In a listing of recent police activity, I saw the following:

Now, there may be other explanations:

• It's actually been the right to free speech that's been rescinded, not the right of assembly. (After all, the right of assembly was always one of those C-list rights anyway.)
• The speech was so bad that it was prosecuted as literally an assault on the audience's ears.
• The L is a typo and it was an indecent exposure arrest.
• There were a bunch of people in one place, so they had a cop around. Most likely, but not very interesting. After all, what would Alex Jones say?

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The places to hear from me:
Food – josh lubarr food stuff
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Movies – Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
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Favorite movies – The Pantheon
Places – Good Things around Boston, and Elsewhere
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Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com

George Carlin in the National Portrait Gallery

So, the Public voted to put George Carlin onto the Recognize wall at the National Portrait Gallery (which is part of the Smithsonian). Here's the picture:



When I heard, I was happy to know about it, though I was hoping for a very large, warmly hued oil painting of him in a t-shirt.

What I found out more recently is that this was based on voting between this image of him, and images or Ellen DeGeneres, and Groucho Marx. Now, I have enjoyed many of Carlin's albums for many years -- in fact, the first time I'd heard Class Clown for a long time, I was driving and had to pull over because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't keep my eyes open. Further, if I had to pick which of these images I liked the best, it would certainly be his.



However, it makes me sad that it's not Groucho, even though I don't much like that picture (and the one of Ellen looks like it's from some kind of ad). Here's my question: why do we have to choose one? Can't they all go up there? In fact, I think they should have a comedy wing. They already have Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Harold Morris in Sneaking Through The Sound Barrier at the Air and Space Museum.


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The places to hear from me:
Food – josh lubarr food stuff
Geekiness – geekiness(josh lubarr)
Movies – Old Movies and New with Josh Lubarr
Politics – Progressive Politics (per Josh Lubarr)
Silliness and comedy – Le Repository du Silliness, avec Josh Lubarr
Favorite movies – The Pantheon
Me generally – Josh Lubarr’s web site extraordinaire
Also also – Josh’s Part of lubarr.com