A writing blog from Canada - 2005 to 2010, archived for whatever you may get out of it.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Comedy Wank Fridays!
JAIME WEINMAN'S minutae-chewing dissection of the type of "comedy writer" jokes he hates on the Simpsons is just too good not to call attention to here.
BTW, a good friend of mine -- and you know who you are -- is both a comedy writer, and a shameless whore for these kinds of jokes. And when he says them, mostly I laugh. Because I have weak sauce.
Aw, come on. There's nothing wrong with laughing at these jokes...
One thing I didn't get around to is that there's one Simpsons episode I really like even though it's almost nothing but that kind of joke, and it's "Lemon of Troy," the one where they go to Shelbyville. (It's season 6, the good years, so I guess there's the difference.) I laugh at it even though it's just wall-to-wall arch comedy-writer jokes like:
"This whole thing is as useless as that yellow lemon-shaped rock... wait a minute, there's a lemon behind that rock!"
"We're going to write 'Springfield Sucks.' That way, when they look into Shelbyville, they will realize that they suck."
"What's the matter, boy? Is there something behind that wall we should beat up?"
"Nothing is gonna stop me in the middle of this speech. You're gonna... lemon tree?!
"That's why we beat 'em at football nearly half the time."
And on, and on, all comedy-writer variations on old joke/line structures, all funny. So I'm not consistent.
Initially I thought Jaime's post was going to be about jokes on the Simpsons that are literally about comedy writers. There have been several. To wit: A gag from season 20 wherein Lisa offers various bland foods to Homer that she brought back from the school. The dishes all have amusing names (none of which I can currently recall) so Homer asks Lisa who came up with them. LISA: "Comedy writers. We have several working in our cafeteria." CUT TO: A bunch of out-of-work, middle-aged comedy writers stirring a pot. One guy says "Now, the one rule we had on Charles in Charge was, Charles always had to be in charge." The rest nod sagely and say "Good rule." Now THAT is a wank. Made me laugh, though.
'Lemon of Troy' annoyed a lot of fans when it debuted, because it certainly marked a huge shift in the show's type of humour. I love it too; I just don't want EVERY episode to be like that.
In the series' early years, there was a lot more experimentation in different tones. Some episodes were more heartwarming than funny. Others more political. Many fell flat, but at least when they did, that didn't mean you were in for more of the same.
'The Simpsons Movie' was a huge hit, but it doesn't take particularly close inspection to realize it was just repeating material from the show. And now the show feels a lot like that, too.
7 comments:
Aw, come on. There's nothing wrong with laughing at these jokes...
One thing I didn't get around to is that there's one Simpsons episode I really like even though it's almost nothing but that kind of joke, and it's "Lemon of Troy," the one where they go to Shelbyville. (It's season 6, the good years, so I guess there's the difference.) I laugh at it even though it's just wall-to-wall arch comedy-writer jokes like:
"This whole thing is as useless as that yellow lemon-shaped rock... wait a minute, there's a lemon behind that rock!"
"We're going to write 'Springfield Sucks.' That way, when they look into Shelbyville, they will realize that they suck."
"What's the matter, boy? Is there something behind that wall we should beat up?"
"Nothing is gonna stop me in the middle of this speech. You're gonna... lemon tree?!
"That's why we beat 'em at football nearly half the time."
And on, and on, all comedy-writer variations on old joke/line structures, all funny. So I'm not consistent.
Initially I thought Jaime's post was going to be about jokes on the Simpsons that are literally about comedy writers. There have been several. To wit: A gag from season 20 wherein Lisa offers various bland foods to Homer that she brought back from the school. The dishes all have amusing names (none of which I can currently recall) so Homer asks Lisa who came up with them. LISA: "Comedy writers. We have several working in our cafeteria." CUT TO: A bunch of out-of-work, middle-aged comedy writers stirring a pot. One guy says "Now, the one rule we had on Charles in Charge was, Charles always had to be in charge." The rest nod sagely and say "Good rule." Now THAT is a wank. Made me laugh, though.
'Lemon of Troy' annoyed a lot of fans when it debuted, because it certainly marked a huge shift in the show's type of humour. I love it too; I just don't want EVERY episode to be like that.
In the series' early years, there was a lot more experimentation in different tones. Some episodes were more heartwarming than funny. Others more political. Many fell flat, but at least when they did, that didn't mean you were in for more of the same.
'The Simpsons Movie' was a huge hit, but it doesn't take particularly close inspection to realize it was just repeating material from the show. And now the show feels a lot like that, too.
You kids today, hasn't anyone seen Road to Utopia?
Oh Dear, John, you did *NOT* just try to lay down the old movie maneuver in a thread with JAIME WEINMAN?
[DMc rushes to the side to get out of the way]
Let the smackdown begin...
You know, Road To Utopia may be pretty arch and fourth wall-y, but nothing compares to Crosby and Hope's "Road To Perdition".
It was almost worth it just for the "Road to Perdition."
But why would they put so much production value into it and not bother to shave off the beard?
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