The general decline in standards today

[Pompidou]

I have no idea why but I always tend to think of comedy as to individuals that lived a long time ago, such as Laurel and Hardy, or even W.C. Fields. They had it going on as far as comedy.

I recall a article written about W.C. Fields, he had a partner in a way in some of his "skits" if you want to call it that, Little baby Leroy, a child that seemed to always cause him trouble. He made the appearance that he hated children while on screen in his skits. So during an interview he was asked if he hated or liked children? His response was, "Children, why of course I love children, specially when they are well done".

We do have many greats that have performed comedy. Some more into our own time era, but if you sit and watch Laurel and Hardy, I myself tend to think they were the masters of it all.

I wanted to like Laurel and Hardy but never really got into them. Three Stooges, however, were a different story. Abbot and Costello, too - or at least, I thought Who's On First was pretty funny, but who doesn't?

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I wanted to like Laurel and Hardy but never really got into them. Three Stooges, however, were a different story. Abbot and Costello, too - or at least, I thought Who's On First was pretty funny, but who doesn't?

Yes they were a riot! Most of the Movies they made are very classics now.

There are some really good people in Comedy, that are here today yet. Blues Brothers, Eddy Murphy, George Carlin, and most of the Stars that have been in Mel Brooks movies. I enjoy a good Comedy.

 

[Viola]

I have a real soft spot for George Burns and Gracie Allen.

 

[Pompidou]

Yes they were a riot! Most of the Movies they made are very classics now.

There are some really good people in Comedy, that are here today yet. Blues Brothers, Eddy Murphy, George Carlin, and most of the Stars that have been in Mel Brooks movies. I enjoy a good Comedy.

I was always hoping for one more Mel Brooks and Leslie Nielsen collaboration like Dracula: Dead and Loving It, but sadly, it wasn't to be. Now I'm just hoping for one more Mel Brooks movie, but that's not too likely either.

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

"An emaaaaalgency"?

 

[adouglasmhor]

In Israel, everyone is required to serve in the military, and that training starts at a young age.

Not so, All Israeli Jews (but there are a few exemptions for some), All Israeli Druze men (except inner circle clergy) and Circassian must serve but there are border police, prison, police posts that are non military. Israeli Bedouin and Israeli Christian Arabs are automatically exempted too (but can volunteer).

 

[LizzieMaine]

So Beavis and Butthead is more intelligent than SNL. Got it.

Actually, yes it is. B&B is perhaps the most trenchant, relentless critique of 1990s popular culture ever to come out of that period. Judge is holding a mirror up to MTV's audience and saying "This is what you've become. This is what America has become." I've yet to see SNL ever come close to that level of insight.

There were a few decent bits to come out of the early SNL. I was very fond of those "St. Mickey's Knights of Columbus" sketches that Belushi and Ackroyd did because they were honestly-observed bits of genuine character comedy. But most of the stuff that's come out of that show over the years seems like it was written by stumbling drug addicts in the middle of the night. Oh wait, it was.

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

Drug addicts are funny too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have no idea why but I always tend to think of comedy as to individuals that lived a long time ago, such as Laurel and Hardy, or even W.C. Fields. They had it going on as far as comedy.

Interestingly, during the early 70s there was a huge wave of interest in classic film comedy, to the point where L&H, Fields, the Marx Brothers, and others of that era were mainstream again -- they were showing all the time on television, and they were lionized on college campuses -- Groucho, the last major survivor of the period, was making the rounds doing lectures, had a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall, and talk show hosts battled to have him on as a guest. Thirties comedy wasn't just a niche taste then -- it seemed to be genuinely undergoing a renaissance. When the Marxes' "Animal Crackers" was rereleased for the first time in decades, it was shown to great fanfare on CBS in a heavily ballyhooed prime-time slot, and got huge ratings.

Film historian Jim Neibaur argues that it was the rise of the SNL/National Lampoon style of comedy that killed this movement -- suddenly it wasn't "cool" to like those old guys, and the college kids dropped them overnight.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Interestingly, during the early 70s there was a huge wave of interest in classic film comedy, to the point where L&H, Fields, the Marx Brothers, and others of that era were mainstream again -- they were showing all the time on television, and they were lionized on college campuses -- Groucho, the last major survivor of the period, was making the rounds doing lectures, had a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall, and talk show hosts battled to have him on as a guest. Thirties comedy wasn't just a niche taste then -- it seemed to be genuinely undergoing a renaissance. When the Marxes' "Animal Crackers" was rereleased for the first time in decades, it was shown to great fanfare on CBS in a heavily ballyhooed prime-time slot, and got huge ratings.

I thought that the Marx Brothers' popularity along with the resurgence of interest in Humphrey Bogart stemmed from the fact that in their own ways, both were anti-establishment and seen as rebels of their age. Film schools were flourishing, so there was a platform to show off that Golden Age stuff in addition to the relative cheapness of being able to show it on TV all the time.

Things like Holiday, where Cary Grant's character says "When I find myself in a position like this, I ask myself what would General Motors do? And then I do the opposite" probably spoke just as much to late '60s counterculture types just as it did to radicals and disenfranchised people alike in the 1930s. In fact, it should be speaking volumes now, as well...but the short-term memory of the masses is even more limited than what it was decades ago. Odd, considering we now have the technology and means to explore the stuff. But then high technology and access doesn't seem to equal intellectual curiosity.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Not so, All Israeli Jews (but there are a few exemptions for some), All Israeli Druze men (except inner circle clergy) and Circassian must serve but there are border police, prison, police posts that are non military. Israeli Bedouin and Israeli Christian Arabs are automatically exempted too (but can volunteer).

True.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I thought that the Marx Brothers' popularity along with the resurgence of interest in Humphrey Bogart stemmed from the fact that in their own ways, both were anti-establishment and seen as rebels of their age. Film schools were flourishing, so there was a platform to show off that Golden Age stuff in addition to the relative cheapness of being able to show it on TV all the time.

Things like Holiday, where Cary Grant's character says "When I find myself in a position like this, I ask myself what would General Motors do? And then I do the opposite" probably spoke just as much to late '60s counterculture types just as it did to radicals and disenfranchised people alike in the 1930s. In fact, it should be speaking volumes now, as well...but the short-term memory of the masses is even more limited than what it was decades ago. Odd, considering we now have the technology and means to explore the stuff. But then high technology and access doesn't seem to equal intellectual curiosity.

I myself have never got into the "whys and hows" of what has come and gone in the movie industry or on stage. I take things more or less on face value of how I appreciate or find something worth watching and that is all that has ever mattered to me.

I guess many people miss the older movies and that includes comedy and it does add to the popularity of some channels like TCM that show all the more "vintage" programs.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I have a real soft spot for George Burns and Gracie Allen.

Me too! I think they delivered their act with real class and charm. I have a book some place that is like an Autobiography of them, been so long since I have read or seen the book, but it was a riot to read.

One part of this book discusses how people would just show up at their home, and how they would be kind to them, as like if they were in the back yard with the B-B-Q going, they may share food with a total stranger. Further, they were so loved by everyone in the entertainment field, and would be involved with all the really great stars of their time.

 

[rue]

^ Me three As you can tell by my signature

I have four of his books and all of them are hilarious. I just finished rereading Gracie A Love Story.

 

[Viola]

It's odd, perhaps, but Gracie Allen's most equivalent entertainer today is, I think, not a comedienne at all but I see shades of her in Dolly Parton. I just get that sort of wry semi-innocence from Dolly. Dolly strikes me as a throwback to vaudeville in some ways - and yes, she definitely has made a career of dressing like a superannuated cheerleader - but in today's entertainment industry, she's a bit of a lady.

I've never heard anything mean about her, either. Seems to like to spend money on silly Dollywood type stuff, but also on a lot of charities.

Just me who sees that?

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I myself have never got into the "whys and hows" of what has come and gone in the movie industry or on stage. I take things more or less on face value of how I appreciate or find something worth watching and that is all that has ever mattered to me.

There's a gag from the old Woody Allen comic strip where Woody and a girlfriend are at the circus watching the clown car routine. The girl says "I always wonder how they get all those clowns into that one little car." Woody replies, "That's the difference between us. I always wonder why."

It's odd, perhaps, but Gracie Allen's most equivalent entertainer today is, I think, not a comedienne at all but I see shades of her in Dolly Parton. I just get that sort of wry semi-innocence from Dolly. Dolly strikes me as a throwback to vaudeville in some ways - and yes, she definitely has made a career of dressing like a superannuated cheerleader - but in today's entertainment industry, she's a bit of a lady.

Jean Stapleton's Edith Bunker of All In the Family was for my money the closest approximation of the Gracie Allen persona. Sweetly innocent, but dead-on in her seemingly oblivious honesty.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What's your take on the SOUTH PARK series, Lizzie?

 

[LizzieMaine]

As I said above, it's like a monkey flinging poo -- it doesn't discriminate between worthy targets for satire and targets that don't deserve it. My belief is that satire should be used for a worthy purpose, not simply to get cheap laughs at the expense of someone you think is beneath you. They're capable of doing some insightful work -- but the fact that they "treat everyone to equal abuse" as has sometimes been said says to me that they simply don't understand the difference.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

As I said above, it's like a monkey flinging poo -- it doesn't discriminate between worthy targets for satire and targets that don't deserve it. My belief is that satire should be used for a worthy purpose, not simply to get cheap laughs at the expense of someone you think is beneath you. They're capable of doing some insightful work -- but the fact that they "treat everyone to equal abuse" as has sometimes been said says to me that they simply don't understand the difference.

Exactly.....

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I had some friends who were big fans of South Park and were constantly raving about it. So one night I sat down with my dinner to check it out. It was an episode featuring Mr. Hanky (enough said about him). Needless to say, I lost my appetite. *yucky* :yuck: