Looking Into: Is Ben Wyatt Really a Stern fan?

Watch Clip Here

Part of what makes Parks and Recreation such a wonderful show is the believability, depth, and full-realization of the characters. However, upon being reminded of this clip of a drunk Ben Wyatt going on camera and mustering the Howard Stern salute of 'Baba Booey' I was left wandering if it really makes sense for Ben to be a Howard Stern fan.

Let's look quickly at another Baba Booey from NBC's Thursday Night Lineup: Dennis Duffy. I can't find the clip online but basically, Dennis is being awarded for saving someone in the subway-

Dennis: Thank you Mayor Bloomberger. I accept this honor on behalf of every… Stern rules! Baba Booey!


Now, Dennis is a  much sleazier guy than Ben. That should not distract us from each character's delivery of the message. Dennis is clearly the center of attention in his "Baba Booey", stopping in a middle of a press conference to fulfill some promise to himself about being on TV. Ben Wyatt on the other hand is  almost blackout drunk. In this state, after being in front of this TV crew for quite some time and having familiarity with them, we find Ben in a very relaxed state. Ben's "Baba Booey" is a more letting his guard down because this is him trying to be funny. Whereas a more classic Stern 'Baba Booey' salute is meant to be more at the expense of the media outlet, Parks and Rec deftly references uses pop culture to make a character more human.

So to answer the question- Is it believable that Ben Wyatt is a Howard Stern fan? Definitely yes. Ben Wyatt was a hot shot 18 year old who ran for Mayor. He is currently breaking a government rule and dating a co-worker. And now that they have introduced Ben's Stern fan side, there is a clearer picture of just how much darker, mellow, and real the character is.

It goes to show that you shouldn't be surprised that anyone ever likes the Howard Stern show. It's a smart, insightful, and very entertaining wealth of information. By being a Stern fan- Ben Wyatt went from 'kind of prudish' to 'guy who's just dealing with life'.  I don't believe we'll see anymore of Ben's Howard Stern side, I'd find it totally believable that that phase of his life is over (He does seem to enjoy Crazy Ira and the Douche though).

There is room for argument here: was Ben just saying 'BabaBooey' because he just knows thats what you are supposed to say to the camera? NO, I say. That's kind of bush league writing, aka something Family Guy has done in, of course, a throwaway flashback gag. The Parks and Rec team are too smart to toss just throw a moment like that.

There you have it: answering a question no one asked and providing a long answer while taking a quick dig at Family Guy. Welcome back, blog.

TV Mustache Week: Ron Mother Fuckin' Swanson

There's not much to say here. There is just reverence in the glory and the majesty of a man glorified by self-discipline, masonry, and a pyramid of other great things.

It's TV mustache week, and I'd be remiss to talk about the (if not the most) prolific mustache of recent tv. The Swanson mustache is intimidating, thorough, and necessary. It is both a stop sign and a proceed with caution sign. It encapsulates the confidence, grit, and essence of Ron Swanson.

Mustaches are inherently creepy/ dad-ish/ something-to-judge-someone-by. DUH: having a mustache is saying you have a mustache. Ron is a reasonable man. Nothing says reasonable like growing hair on your face with pride. Other characters we discussed this week (Officer Jay, Mike Watt) have mustaches as more affectation, where it highlights their serener side. Not saying Ron can't show emotion (not counting anger, Ron's relationship with Leslie is that of her earning his trust and him responding well to her work ethic and attitude). Ron Swanson is more brute, and his mustache is less affectation and more 'calling card'. It's a mustache that let's you know what you're in for. Be wary of the man who has grown this. Ron is the apex of the goofy cartoon character with a mustache (My Name is Earl) and the too serious to be nothing more than a mustache (Magnum PI). A fully realized character that every word he speaks and step he walks only adds to his legend.

Not only is Ron pioneering new grounds for TV character's to have mustaches, he is also stating those rules (via Pyramid):

"Facial Hair: full, thick, and square. Nothing sculpted. If you have to sculpt it, that probably means you can't grow it.

3 DAYS UNTIL THE PARKS AND RECS 1 MONTH TIL SEASON PREMIERE COUNTDOWN

Are you pumped? Ya pumped? Are all. of. you. PUMPED!

We are almost 1 Month away until season 3 of Parks and Recs is back on the air (Jan. 20th at 9:30 hey!). That's more Mouse Rat. More successfully marketed-to references about Tom's Wardrobe. More peer-to-peer relationship growing between Ron Swanson and Leslie!

NBC's stupid decision to give this show half a season has now been replaced by another stupid decision, and we can now get to know the town of Pawnee (Racist murals and Corn Syrup factory et all) a little bit more closely.

What's that NBC.com? You want to join in on the fun? THE FUN OF BEING EXCITED! THE EXCITED OF BEING FUN! Go right ahead, NBC.com:

NBC.com. You idiot. Her name is Leslie Knope. I will take another screen shot to show you:

Yeah, you did your job with the date. But... why don't you care about... yourself? I mean I love the show, and you're just not giving a fuck. Give fuck, NBC.com. Geezus Chryzb.

Anyway, I am super excited for Parks and Recreation to be back on the air (first 2 seasons streaming on Netflix- GO!). I'm going to write try harder and dedicate some blog time over the next Month-ish. So this whole thing was an announcement. To myself, really. Oh, and I did click on where it mentions 'parks and rec in 3-D'. Pretty good stuff. Here's a screen grab:

Review: 2010 NBC Thursday Night Season Finale

The Swanson on The Swanson

TV loves its season finales. Its' inherit epic quality and heightened emotional depth just plays out to the fan quality of the show while still setting up the something to happen for the future. What? I can't understand what I just said. OK- A lot of things happen to a lot of our favorite people. Easy enough. Anyway, this post is just going to take my favorite joke from each episode and dizcuzz it to some extent.

Community - Star Burn's Video Yearbook Comment

This joke comes in the PS of the episode. John Michael Higgin's professor was in this episode and Troy ate a giant cookie (remember Kramer's lollipop?), but Star Burns is always pure gold. Initially I thought the line read, 'I just want people to remember there was a guy with these things', making an amazing explanation for the existence of Starburn's starburns. But the real line is quote: "I just want people to remember theres a guy in between these things". Adding an emotional depth to a side character that we really don't care about? Awesome, as long as it's Starburns. The notion of Starburns is such a shallow man whose claim to fame and source for social acceptance are stars that are hair that are on his face. That is hilarious. And giving him a line revealing that he just might be more than that? Nice try, he's Starburns. Please note my inherit bias to Dino Stamatopoulos, one of the funniest people in known existence (Conan, Moral Orel, TV Funhouse, he wrote the Pre-Taped Call In Show on Mr. Show). I am all for him being everywhere anytime probably more than anyone ever, save for real life relationships.

Parks and Rec - Freddy Spaghetti Songs

You know what show nailed it this season? Parks and Rec. I think we'll be talking about the 2nd season of Parks and Rec way on down the line. It is well on its way to being an Arrested Development level of genius situational comedy. So many characters with so many layers of interaction between them. Best scene of the night: the Brandanowitz farewell. Kept it straight, and we really know what these two people feel about one another. My favorite joke from tonight's episode comes from the episode's namesake, Freddy Spaghetti. Not so much a joke, as an existence of character. Freddy Spaghetti writes children's songs to the tune of other popular songs (remember when John Redcorn did that?) but he also adds in a callback to his own name of Italian themed food. For example- "she made an itsy-bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot linguini". Kids entertainer's are always ripe for weird, creepy businessmen (see Krusty the Clown) and they established Freddy as in it for the money within his first line. The real payoff is that how lazy he is in turning a song about a bikini into one of his own. Kids don't know and shouldn't know that song, but Freddy is making money. "What was your favorite song?" Leslie asks. "Penne and the Jets". And wow- that song really is all about saying the word Benny, and Freddy Spaghetti is smart enough to rip that off for his own. His other song was also just a call and response with the audience where Freddy yelled: "Spaghetti! Fusilli! Egg Noodles!" O the last one always gets ya. Freddie was played by 'force of nature' actor Brian McCann who helped carry Conan O'Brien the past decade with such characters as Fed Ex Pope, Johnny G: a guy who thinks Max Weinberg is hilarious, Randy the Pyloric Sphincter and Preparation H Raymond. Now he's one of the great minute characters on Parks and Rec. Now go on and win some Emmys, you great massive show you.

The Office - Meredith's Van

As pre-established, I am a huge sucker for Dwight, and tonight we got to see him work. The episode was a lot of Jo and Sabre's interrogations of the employees, which I hope they have deleted scenes of the lot of them, but none of them would be able to outshine Dwight's. We also got to check in with 2 of our favorites via one joke each- Todd Packer making a prank call, and David Wallace using an opportunity on TV documentary he used to be on to talk about his new product, Suck It (of course the sweatshirt was yellow, its for kids). We were also treated to one of the finest scenes in The Office lore- the IT Guy scene. Just remarkable on all accounts- no one really caring, even insulting (accidently: Jim not remembering his just announced name. on purpose: "...they use it for games and porn"), sprinkles of character in Oscar's nodding agreement with Dwight's assessment that the old IT guy was a terrorist or Daryl's face when it was revealed he had Facebook. Andy also sang a Woody Guthrie song, and Michael made me incredibly sad at points. But for one joke that stood out: Meredith's Van. This is the place where Michael meets 'the leaks'. Meredith's Van is a safe haven, a secret place, even though it apparantly is never locked. It seats 4 people comfortably though. The joke plays out like this- cut to scene in Meredith's van: With hand full of yellow sheets of paper, Pam: "I've never seen so many parking tickets." Daryl, holding a parking boot he found in the backseat: "This is just messed up." Read into this: Meredith is a classic alcoholic and she drives drunk. She drives her mini van, which she owns because she has kids, drunk enough to accrue a pile of parking tickets, likely from many different violations, and, worse, she is legally allowed not to drive, but took the device of her car anyway. Was she smart enough to hide the evidence, no just lazy enough to put it in there. Meredith has a sordid life- her kid plays soccer and she frequently has group sex with any number of disheveled souls looking for anything. Meredith is a bottom rung kind of women, one who drinks at work and has shown parts of her body to everyone at work. She works at this place, this dark, deeply perturbed character is part of Michael and Jim and Pam and everyone's everyday life. I love that. And she wasn't even in the scene. Kudos.

30 Rock - "...the current tattoo situation in the NBA"

First I want to get the something off my chest. 30 Rock is insane and it really tried pushing the comedic envelopes and has been more closer to 12-16 seasons of The Simpsons but earns triple times the points for not being animated, and is truly in another category all its own in TV history--- so I don't care that you already used Will Forte already as Price Gerhardt's messenger. I don't care because he is an on screen darling, sucking the viewer in with every charming smarmy breath and movement and welcoming vulnerabilty that this man is (MacGruber IN THEATERS NOW). You already used Rachel Dratch multiply, so established semantics over. I would love to give my favorite joke tag to the Jenna Maroney walking in on him as Cher scene: "this isn't what it looks like." Or when he can't control his Cher voice, "that came out wrong." Those jokes work on so many levels, each one hilarious. Everyone did a great at being their characters and when Kenneth becomes so drunkenly depressed that he reveals his true feelings: "Kiss My Face"--- is a totally validating an existence of a character just so we can have him play out that wonderful scene. My favorite joke goes to something bias once again: Carol is just meeting Liz and divulges information about life as a pilot leading to the exchange of him saying, "I don't know what's wrong in this country." Liz: "I know. People wear flips flops to church. And the NBA tattoo situation is out of control." That situation is out of control! In the 80s, those were men playing a team sport. The 90s crept in some individualism (Rodman, pff) and now its just a matter of fact thing that NBA players have tattos. LeBron had them in high school. Our country used to have its star basketball players be respectful and endorse nice products, now they thrive on individualism and making asses of themselves via stupid tattoos that compromise why they are really out there. Sure there is a dress code, but they ain't making up for tattoos. Sure, be yourself- but dammit- you're an image to people. Dr. J didn't have any tattoos probably. (Even Fundamentals Duncan has a dumb tattoo!) Also, flip flops in Church speaks to the lack of conviction in faith based religion. Church is about simply going to church, not about sticking to any higher power code. So much context hidden behind so much funny in one line.

So cool, inherit bias all around. That's how you're supposed to watch TV- for yourself. Develop a relationship with the characters, and like in real life, you'll have ones you like better and marry one of them and watch them with her for just an enjoyable evening of yourselves. That actually made sense, and I am only half patronizing here. Look, great TV inspires, and this inspired me to try a little more. You could tell that by the length of this entry as compared to others.

Review: Last Night's Parks and Recreation "Park Safety"

I haven't mentioned Parks and Rec here before. This is mostly due to me trying not to make this blog a fanboy masturbatory bat cave of convenience and self delusion (ie see the website to apply for a Sears card). But Parks and Recreation gave us a little something last night. They had an episode, as much as they could, about their "schlemiel" and "schlimazel", Jerry. An episode centered around the prat fall character is an inherently special episode, thereby- thru redundancy- this is worth taking a look at. I compare Jerry to the great butt of every joke characters on TV like Butters from South Park, Geordi from Star Trek, and Jitters A. Dog from Bonkers, and well past that of a Tobey Flenderson, the Spanish Announce Team's table on WWF Raw or Lutz from 30 Rock. Bad things happen to Jerry- why? Because that's hilarious! So this song and dance has been working wonders for Parks and Rec ("your adoptive mother was arrested for Marijuan possession"... "I didn't know I was adopted"), so they cranked up that tune and turned it into a full on opera. We felt sad for Jerry- he was mugged after all- then we saw Jerry rip his pants and fart. Not only were we laughing at that, we were laughing at the office trying not to laugh at that. Turns out that Jerry wasn't mugged and it was all just a Jerry. Leslie puts Jerry's feelings over telling the truth to the government, which is a big step for her, therefore we can go back to laughing at Jerry and the way people treat him. Which is always a fun to have around. Ron Swanson accepts it, and Ron Swanson is god of Pawnee. Leslie always laughs at it, because it is always funny. Tom, April, and Donna always start it because they need a Jerry in their life- because they are strong willed and witty and because Jerry isn't. Acceptable Targeting, once it's known to be accepted- the more people start shooting at it. We are revealed that Jerry has a nice life and happily married, which is fine and all, but do we really care? We got so many Jerry jokes last night! That's the important thing: funny jokes.

Parks and Recreation gives us funny jokes and boy, do they sure know where they come from.

Also I didn't mention anything about Andy Samberg because I didn't think it was any good. Good episode overall though. Season 2 is usually the best seasons of shows, so wow- Parks and Recreation, congratulations on being the best sitcom on TV.