Accents In Comedy

Accents are probably among the easiest things to make fun of especially since the English language is so very rich in them. Interestingly, the regional variation of accents is larger in the UK than in the US, take the Scottish accent for example and compare it to accents from England. A lovely parody of this accent was posted under Smith And Jones (Lighthouse sketch). Other than these, the social background may also have a significant role. The Cockney accent spoken by the working classes especially in the East End of London is also a frequent target for parody. The above little parody matches the Cockney accent mocking that of Janet Street Porter versus the Scottish accent of Billy Connolly. Interestingly, Connolly here is being interviewed by his later wife, Pamela Stephenson. And finally, the Yorkshire accent and mentality should also be mentioned here due to its not uncommon appearance in comedy. The sketch below from the comedy duo Hale and Pace (the former was born in Yorkshire) is a good example.

Star Trek Parody

A funny Star Trek parody from Carol Burnett. The crew passes through a mysterious cloud that changes sexes on the spaceship. Burnett is a marvellous Captain Kirk fake, with all the exaggerated mannerisms of William Shatner...

Private Emotion

I like this clip and song. I like the reverse sequence, and the symbolic ice and fire about that private emotion the song is about. It scans every intensity between the two extremes... As the ice melts there comes the flood of emotions... and now think that all this is backwards. I can feel the cold and the heat, the tension between the motionless and the dynamic... for me, one of the best from Ricky Martin.

Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Williams is one of the classic and most energetic figures of British comedy. His camp acting, his witty and rapid conversation style and arguments, ad-libs and characteristic nasal voice are perhaps most well-known from the Carry On series, in which he was a regular. In the beginning of his carrier he had serious roles in theatre, but later he totally shifted to comedy, a condition which he was not at all satisfied with. Other than his acting carrier, Williams also wrote books of various anecdotes and verbal put-downs, he was a very successful raconteur and frequent talk show guest and even host. In his private life, Williams had few close relationships, he was associated with playwright Joe Orton, who was later killed by his lover. He became more and more bitter in his later years, and died of overdose. His diaries released after his death became a best seller, commenting on many famous people Williams had met in his life. The first short clip is from "Carry On Cleo" (1964), where Julius Caesar played by Williams finds himself betrayed by his bodyguard. The "Infamy" line is voted the best comedy one-liner by a thousand comedians in 2007. Another very funny line of his is from a talk show, in which he discusses the specialisation of modern medicine. The third scene is from "Carry On Sergeant" (1958). I love the way how he outwits the officer by not falling in with his game in which he robbed the confidence of everyone before Williams' character. And finally a chat show appearance from Parkinson, in which he talks about his book, and relates some of the anecdotes in it, among others about Maggie Smith and Dame Edith Evans. I especially love the way he impersonates the latter...

Are You Being Served?

This is a very popular sitcom from the 70s. A parody of the British class system, it takes place in a department store, where everybody is hierarchically related to the other, from the company owner through the manager, the floor walker and seniors all the way to junior staff, and everybody is guarding what he/she thinks is a privilege due to their standing, be it ever so ridiculously minor a detail. In this episode that I am posting, the staff has to act in a commercial so that the stingy management could save money on hiring the more expensive professionals. In the second part of the episode, "It Pays To Advertise", every staff member has an opportunity to show their talents in roles they think they ought to play well, to in fact realise that their trust in their own performance was not completely well-founded... The moment when lovable old bartender Henry's courtesy is forcibly reduced to a more than lovable laugh, I have myself been overcome by hysteric laughter... Lovable old bartender Henry's (Arthur Brough) last appearance before his death not much later.

Bunny

Bunny - Blue Sky Chris Wedge (1998) Oscar Short... von andybe29

Bunny is a nice little short from Chris Wedge, from 1998. A bunny is disturbed by a huge moth, who never seems to give up to get closer to light. Eventually, it will bring her close to it as well... lovely...

Cavallette - Grasshoppers

Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto is well-known for his satiric cartoons. One of his most famous works is "Allegro non troppo" (1976), which is a parody of Disney's Fantasia. Cavallette (1990), the short I am posting here, is another memorable one of his works, it sums up thousands of years of human history in a few minutes. History is full of conflicts, but the aftermath is always overgrown by grass in the end, and in the grass you will always find grasshoppers doing what they are doing...

Inspirace

Inspiration is an animated short by Karel Zeman from 1948. It uses glass figurines to create a unique world of imagination. I especially like the idea of a whole world inside a drop of water, it makes me feel that even in a segment of the world that appears small to us there is still space for boundless variety...

Robotto Kānibaru - Robot Carnival

The idea of a mechanistic universe goes way back in history and it was probably the success of Newtonian mechanics that made it a dominant one for a long period to follow. In the 20th century, which one may fairly describe as the period when everything previously thought to be certain has earned a question mark of varying size, this idea has also become questionable in an "absolute" sense. Indeed, it is the "absolute" itself that has lost its earlier role. The world has become relative and uncertain, even on the level of ideas... This is perhaps why the idea of a robot, a man made creation only as complicated as its creator can make him be, is a fascinating one. If they are capable of becoming something more than they were "determined" to be that would not be without reflection on the human race either. And they can indeed become more in the world of imagination at least, in which way the human being may express where it differs from the mechanistic sum of its parts. Indeed, it is the way how the human arises or is expected to arise in robots that makes them so interesting. On the other hand of course, the imprisonment of the individual in a machinelike larger entity, the society, represents the transformation in the opposite direction. Art, science and philosophy have many times attempted to express the underlying ideas, and the success of such popular hits like the Matrix trilogy shows that these questions no longer belong to art enthusiasts or thinkers of ontology only but that the general public have become more sensitive to them by the end of the millennium.

"Robotto Kānibaru" (1987) is a collection of nine animated films which have the robot as the common topic. I will only post two here. The first, directed by Mao Lamdo, "Cloud" is really nothing but a walk of transformation, of life, a walk which one begins as a robot and through the storms of life one becomes human. Without conversation, this feature is just what I find often so impossible to tell, that feeling, which is neither sad or happy, and yet it is both, as the waves of emotion balance between these two ends. The feeling of life going along, and us trying to follow naively wherever it goes...

The other feature is titled "Presense", and was directed by Yasuomi Umetsu. In this story we get to know the creator through the process of creation. Why do we create? How are we related to our creation? It can be very scary if our creation suddenly shows signs of free will and therefore those of independence, especially if we create out of need, if we create the other in a relation. What if the creation wants to become a partner? Are we not afraid of getting what we long for? We may just try to destroy then what we wanted to create in the first place... The difference between what we long for and what can be realised haunts the creator until the very end to become dissolved in the fulfilment of a dream, a fulfilment that can only be brought by the very fulfilment of life...

Walkürenritt - Ride of the Valkyries

The best word to describe Wagner's Walkürenritt is perhaps 'monumental'. You have the feeling that something great is happening and get the do something yourself. To rent a chainsaw as Woody Allen put it, or to conquer the universe maybe... But it is also a song of joy and success. For me, it is a mixture of all these together...

Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer is a surrealist artist, most well-known from his animated films. He made several short films in his long carrier, and quite a few feature length ones. His work is definitely something that should be seen rather than described. He has interpreted many a famous literary work, including those of Poe, Goethe and Carroll, while he himself influenced such film makers as Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. "Zamilované maso" (Meat Love, 1988) is a visual allegory of a love affair that comes to a fast and hopefully tasty conclusion... "Možnosti dialogu" (Dimensions of Dialogue, 1982) discovers the (dys)functions of various types of dialogue, including the exhausting, the passionate and the factual. It is difficult to choose out of so many shorts, so I will leave it at that for now...

Jan Svankmajer - Dimensions of dialogue von popefucker

Grace And Favour

"Grace And Favour" is a 12 episode long spin-off series of the long running sitcom "Are You Being Served?" from Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. The original series told the everydays of the personnel of a department store and was very popular during its 13 year long runtime. In 1992, some of the original cast reunited to make Grace And Favour, in which the retired characters decide to run a country hotel after they realise that is the only way to access their pension fund. The first video contains the title sequence and some later scenes edited together. I especially like the character of Mrs Slocombe, played by Mollie Sugden, whose posh behaviour is sometimes so marvellously dropped should the proper situation arise... Two further scenes include one in the bedroom of this honourable lady and another one in which she is very much upset...

Enigma - Return to Innocence

Enigma is the musical project of Romanian born Michael Cretu which released its first album in 1990. It combines electronic music with Gregorian and Vedic chants. Return to Innocence is probably the most successful creation of the project from the year 1994. The music video was filmed in Spain, and it tells the life story of a man backwards, from his death until his birth, until his return to innocence. The song may as well be the first music file I downloaded from the internet and I still have it somewhere... It has a slow but powerful flow that never fails to carry me away...

Woody Allen's Die Hard

This is a MADtv parody of Woody Allen's style, and as some of it is based on Annie Hall, I thought it would make a nice follow up. If you are interested how Woody Allen would make a Die Hard movie then watch this flick. I love the scene with Arafat...

Annie Hall

The great thing about a Woody Allen movie is that it probes deep into life and yet it manages to remain light and easy with marvellous humour. "Annie Hall" (1977) is often considered Allen's best film, it excels in everything we love a Woody Allen movie for, from its vivid depiction of a relationship to its neurotic as well as romantic humour. Maybe Allen is the director to whom we can say that humour is romance with him, because it manages to mix the two together so that they strengthen rather than extinguish each other. Annie Hall is a stream-of-consciousness tale of a relationship, and how life is formed from these temporary building blocks that yet have such long term effects on the final construction. We jump from one memory to another, often the scenes are just connected by one minor detail that may often play a completely different role in the different contexts of subsequent scenes. Characters enter the thoughts and memories of their own and other characters, stay there and observe, and guide the viewers of the movie in the cavalcade of their personal world. All in all, we end up observing the lifespan of a relationship from different points of view, often breaking the fours wall while characters address viewers inviting them to join in. In many ways, Allen's work is Avant garde, as he extends reality to express himself, and does so in a very smooth and continuous manner. An example is a much quoted scene from the movie below; if I had to give a title to it, that would be "If life were only like this"...

Smith And Jones

After Not The Nine O'Clock News, two of the cast members, Mel Smith and Griffith Rhys Jones made their own sketch show, "Smith and Jones", closely following and extending the style of the successful predecessor. The show run in ten series between 1982 and 1998, and therefore it is extremely difficult to select. I have finally decided to include four of their many sketches. The Predictable Lighthouse Keepers is the first one, and I think no better summary than the title is possible for this one. Somehow this sketch reminds me of Ibsen, I am not sure why, but that was the first name that came to my mind when seeing it... Then a nice little sketch, Survival, about the circumstances of an aircraft accident. The next one shows you how far we can go to avenge ourselves over some "small" offence. And finally, you may participate in a frantic ceremony of a family dinner in Holy Satan... There are much more that I like and would like to include, but... let that be enough...

Steve Oedekerk

Steve Oedekerk is a comedy writer and director, among his most well known works is "Kung Pow" (2002), a parody of Chinese kung fu flicks. Above you will find the famous kung fu cow scene from that movie. The movie is a dubbing parody of a Jimmy Wang Yu film mixed with some extra footage to give it a plot of its own, and Oedekerk himself plays the main role. A sequel was announced but was never made. Oedekerk is perhaps most known after his thumb movies, one of which is "Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle" (1999), which he also directed. In this parody of Star Wars, animated thumbs play the main role... See for yourself below.

Bara prata lite - Lukas Moodysson

Moodysson, Lukas - Talk (Bara prata lite) (1997)

Hochgeladen von lapuertadebabel. - Komplette Serien und ganze Episoden online.

"Bara prata lite" (Talk) is a short film from 1997, described by its director, Lukas Moodysson, as the Swedish Psycho. A tale of loneliness and isolation, in which a retired man seeks desperately to establish a connection to somebody, or indeed, anybody in his surroundings, talking to people whom he has no business with. Most people ignore his plea for human contact, until one day someone wants to talk to him by her own free will... What happens if you crave for a little talk for so long, and when you seem to get it, they suddenly want to cut it short never to start again?

Tim Burton

I think I have posted enough of his films already so that now I should post something about Tim Burton himself. I chose the funny "ten decades" interview with Burton and Depp about the production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (2007). I think other than the fact that the interviewer's mistake is hopelessly funny, such occasions are to be treasured, as unexpected situations always reveal something more... It also illustrates well the humour that is always there in a Burton movie, inseparably fused together with the eerie bits. Sweeney Todd is a remake of Stephen Sondheim's musical about a homicidal barber, a Victorian urban legend who appeared in penny novels of the late nineteenth century and revived in the musical in 1979. As in so many Burton movies, Johnny Depp takes the lead role. I also included a trailer from Sweeney Todd here.

Other than the films already mentioned before some further titles I feel obliged to mention are "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992), "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and more recently "Alice in Wonderland" (2010). I also anticipate his future "Dark Shadows", a vampire legend with Johnny Depp based on a BBC series, scheduled 2012. All these have that silverish dark Gothic environment, Burton so much excels in creating. I have also decided to include something from Batman to the end of this post. Now, that Nolan's series is out, this topic is even more interesting. I like both adaptations, as they show two different sides of the same story. One of my favourite characters, the Joker, the epitome of madness, is especially interesting for me in both adaptations, and I think I will come back to that in a later post. But here, I will just post a short scene of the fabulous Jack Nicholson playing the role of the Clown Prince of Crime. His performance fits into Burton's half humorous half sad gloom, and indeed in only forty seconds, you are convinced that Nicholson's Joker takes the fun of killing seriously...

Freedom And Order

Ok, just another scene from Sátántangó. Director Béla Tarr very much likes long monologues. I mean we all know that in a similar everyday situation there are likely to be short(er) contributions to a conversation from either parties, which can be, depending on the situation, down to the fact, or more emotionally heated, but rarely a concise statement of the standpoint or philosophy of a party on the matter at hand. But these monologues give you the feeling of such situations, because they relate those thoughts, perhaps only recognised by an outside viewer, that are there but are never pronounced. Here an artist can use his refined skills in rhetorics and turn even a drunkard into a Cicero of his own existence. The scene here is when the main characters, Irimiás and Petrina, are told that they have no choice but to cooperate in police activities. And while doing so, the police captain starts a monologue on order and freedom. Is it only me, or here and there he does seem a bit drunk...? Anyway, to me the most interesting part of it all, is the one about people being afraid of freedom despite the fact that there is nothing frightening in it, and kind of expecting order from authority despite the fact that there are many frightening things in order. I believe there is some truth to this. On an individual level, we may all look for our own solutions to a problem like that. What this is on a social level, if there is any satisfactory, is or should be open for argument. But the "beauty" of a situation as the one in the clip is that you cannot argue or even defend your individuum because you have no choice but to cooperate! When expected norms which should make living together easier intend instead to determine you, be it in the name of any ideology, I believe that is alarming...

Enrico Caruso

Enrico Caruso (1873-1921), the well-known Italian tenor was one of the first opera singers to recognise the possibilities in sound recording. His recordings cover most of his 25 year long carrier, a not unrelated consequence of which is the fact that he still has admirers, among others myself. It is difficult to choose from such an amount of material. Finally, I have decided to post two recordings, the first of which could easily be the first I heard from him, his definitive performance of the traditional Neapolitan song, Santa Lucia. In the case of the second recording, I have passed the decision to Woody Allen. Allen has used opera themes in many of his movies, so it came as a pleasure if not a surprise when I heard Caruso's voice in Match Point. The haunting recording that recurs many times during the movie, is his that of "Una furtiva lagrima" (A furtive tear) from Gaetano Donizetti's opera, "L'elisir d'amore". Caruso's untimely death was preceded by a rapid deterioration of his health after he suffered a throat haemorrhage on-stage. He was previously declared fit to perform by his doctor. Less than a year later he died at the age of 48.

A Puzzle Classic

I have recently come across a discussion of the famous Smith, Jones and Robinson puzzle, while looking for something to read in the library. When I solved this little puzzle, I remembered what I was told as a child: in mathematics, every word matters... I thought I would share this problem here, perhaps others may get tempted too, and do something completely different when they were supposed to work... :)

On a train, Smith, Robinson and Jones are the fireman, brakeman, and engineer, but NOT respectively. Also aboard the train are three businessmen who have the same names: a Mr. Smith, a Mr. Robinson, and a Mr. Jones. Here is what we know:

1. Mr. Robinson lives in Detroit.
2. The brakeman lives exactly half way between Chicago and Detroit.
3. Mr. Jones earns exactly $20,000 per year.
4. The brakeman's nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.
5. Smith beats the fireman at billiards.
6. The passenger whose name is the same as the brakeman's lives in Chicago.

Who is the engineer?

Methocha

Another video from Life in the Undergrowth. This time an ant hunting beetle larva vs. an ant looking wingless wasp, methocha. Looks like all hunting techniques have their disadvantages... Surprise for the larva, relief for the ants, and motherly pleasures for methocha...

Vincent

"Vincent" (1982) is an early stop motion short of Tim Burton, about a boy, whose childish games involve imagining himself as a Gothic hero, another Vincent Price. For one reason or another, we have the feeling of Gothic around us, and some are more sensitive to it than others. I imagine Tim Burton could have had similar childhood games... He had become one of the most talented directors to express the sort of feeling since then, and still you have to say at this point that he appears a quite cheerful fellow in his interviews. In fact even in this short you can sense the sort of humor he usually hard-wires into his stories. Acting out this darker side of our inner selves is perhaps sometimes the only way to also maintain an everyday life more approachable to our environment. Similarly, Vincent Price, who also happens to be the narrator of the story, was probably one of the happiest horror actors ever, his "secret" being as he often explained is taking it as a game. There were of course examples of horror actors becoming depressed, but if we go down on this lane, I think it is perhaps more interesting how many comedy actors ended up tragically, I would guess much more of them than horror actors...