The Legacy of Tim and Eric

This, right here, is the only sentence to remind you about the just as amazing Tom Goes to the Mayor.

Tim and Eric's 5th and final season of Awesome Show, Great Job! debuts this Sunday night. It's not official, it's the final- just assumed. Assumed because I hope it is. Listen, I love Tim and Eric, and Awesome Show, Great Job! is a crowning achievement of the thought process. It ushered in a new era of comedy. One of concentrating on detail and reveling in parody. I am simply ecstatic at the prospect of their future. 50 episodes of Awesome Show are more than enough. Each season darker than the next. Tim and Eric don't fit into being described as weird, as that word doesn't begin to encapsulate the choices Tim and Eric have made. These 2 men were given a show where the could do anything they wanted, and with it, they chose to make polarizing humor based around public access parody, and subtle word play. I actually am tired of describing this. So example-fy: Eric takes too much wait mate, a drug designed to eliminate waiting, and is in a catatonic state of drugged up haze. Zan, the wait mate cure, is here to help Eric remember his life. Zan takes Eric to Tim's party, the reason why Eric took wait mate. Now here is the genius. That plot, hilarious enough with Jeff Goldblum parodying prescription drug commercials and Zan's remembering song and Eric's pleas of not being able to wait, is added depth by detail. For when Zan meets Tim, Zan's little moment of being caught off guard by shaking hands and saying , "yea ok" gives the audience such an in-depth look at Zan. Isn't he used to meeting people or is shaking hands simply just that weird to him? The answer to that question is: That's hilarious. Another great example is the run of guest stars they get. If you were famous enough and wanted to really push your comedic ability, you were on Tim and Eric's Awesome Show. Forte, Bamford, John Mayer- all bring their A game. The shining example, and the solidifying factor that he is king of 'man-child' acting, is Dr. Steve Brule played by John C. Reilly. This is so funny and the laughs come from some many aspects, that I refer to exemplary characters in movies as that actor's Steve Brule. For example- Julianne Moore's Steve Brule was Maude Lebowski. This is a title reserved for only the most important performances. Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job really offers such a depth of creativity, one liners, and visual jokes- that I just had to end this sentence this way. I feel talking about Tim and Eric only serves as not doing them justice.

So with that, I say that Tim and Eric will be around for awhile. They are respected comedians with such artistic integrity that working with them already validates an actor. They will have movies to much cult success. They will do other projects of cult success. That cult will only grow. It already is huge enough, but once modern humor shifts to a path blazed by Awesome Show, Tim and Eric will already be ahead of them. Ladies and gentlemen, this is like Monty Python in 1970. (I know I just dropped the Python bomb, but what other genre breaking, get away with anything show exists that came out of nowhere). We are in the midst of a renaissance of humor. One that capitalizes on what we think to ourselves, one that doesn't sell out from what it can achieve, one that when copied- isn't funnier- but still funnier if it weren't done the way that steals from Tim and Eric. I can't express how sad I am to see a show where James Quall is mined for every aspect of gold he offers. And yes, there is already a sadness in that, Tim and Eric have become such high figures of absurdist thinking. But then we have to remember: they have never disappointed us. They are still young men. They still can do whatever it is they want to do. The prospects are reason enough to get up in the morning. Tim and Eric, you have given me everything I want of current comedy- a goal to achieve. Your confidence in your abilities is legendary. Thank you and welcome to living eternally.

Recognition Hall of Fame: Matt Walsh

Character acting is a redundant term. People love to remember actors, so they give the name character actor to someone who does the same thing in every movie, so now the general public can say: "oh it's that guy. I love that guy." And that's a tricky business. You shouldn't love that guy, you should learn his name and love the person. Now people have made careers of being character actors, and that is nothing against them, because there is a beauty to one's personal stamp. To leave your own imprint on a film much bigger than your part, to add your subtle facial expression or witty commentary, to remembered as a force within your time. I lost my train of thought: Simply I am saying- sometimes these actors are more amazing than the lead actors, and their body of work more than shows for it. I simply want to pay a respect to ones people call that guy.

For the first time ever doing this, there is really only one choice: Matt Walsh.

Where do you know him from?: Well you should know him as a founder and resident genius of the Upright Citizens Brigade, but that was on cable. You'd recognize his doughy demeanor and dim, but lovable characters from: Conan circa '96-2002, Todd Phillips movies, a stretch of commercial in the mid '00s, the Daily Show, the referee in Semi-Pro, or Davith of Glencracken in Role Models. Sometimes he tends to play a straight-er charcter with rough Chicago edges that make hi vulnerable (see Be Kind Rewind or Father Pat in Semi Pro) which he ably does knowing the meat of the comedy is coming in part from his seriousness. That is because Matt Walsh is a comedic genius. Now anyone who knows anything about improv, I shouldn't have to tell you how deep his genius goes or what Matt Walsh is capable of doing. For those less familiar with Walsh, I turn your attention to the funniest, yet overlooked scene, from Elf. At the end where Charlotte the TV reporter interviews people outside of Central Park. Vintage Walsh. (note: 10 minutes of youtube searching- nada gulp). So, I hope everyone knows who Matt Walsh is, not for the betterment of his career or anything. But for me. If I have people who read my blog not know who Matt Walsh is, what hope should I have for my blog? Respect, Recognize.

A Call to Rise Up against Jokes made at the expense of Schindler's List

Not trying to offend any one here

There is a type of person who exists. That person, out of safety, refuses to expand their repertoire. They have found a gold goose, and yes they do use it sparingly, but deep down they know. They know they are cheating themselves. They know they can do better. I was once one of these people. This is my story.

This isn't actually a story, that line is just great for transitions. The type of person in question is: People Who Use Schindler's List for an easy laugh. A quick joke, nothing too elaborate. Easy laugh stuff. Like:

"Let's watch something fun, and light hearted"

"How about Schindler's List?"

Haha Haha Ha.

"What is that one movie where Julia Roberts can't seem to find the right guy?"

"Schindler's List"

Haha Ha Haha.

Two examples. Yes, that joke can be funny because it is funny to say something out of context and catch someone off guard with it. But c'mon. That's too easy. Schindler's List? Just because you grew up in the 90s doesn't mean you have to limit yourself. I get it, I get it. I was there. It's not that you can't think of any other depressing movies, it's that you're afraid people won't get the reference if you choose another movie. Schindler's List is classically depressing because even if you haven't seen it, you were told it was. I'm concerned about the joker's health. To have such a gut reaction joke in your hands is always disconcerting ground, especially if you use it more than once. But to have that joke based on something so easy as Schindler's List? That's right- it's an easy movie to reference. And you know what- its earned that right. Titanic, Star Wars, Godfather, hell- we are currently in the golden age of Avatar jokes. And all these jokes have been done to death, but you think- surely not Schindler's List. No one makes fun of that because of its sensitive matter. No- no one parodies it because holocaust parodies are done before. You are making FUN of it by applying it to your slick sense of humor. Make FUN, don't continue previous fun. In those 2 examples, the high road to take would be to attack the words of what the person is saying. "Fun and Light Hearted- you just described literally half the movies in the world." "I don't know, I only saw the Julia Roberts movie where she gets fist fucked." See? This isn't just a plea specifically not to make Schindler's List jokes, but to not repeat them. You know who you are. The best part of making fun of something is the actually making. The fun comes naturally to it.

The Skunk in Bambi; The Skunk in us all?

His eyes are bigger than his hands.

We all can recognize a famous skunk when we see it. There really is only three or four- Pepe Le Pew, the purple one from Tiny Toons (Fifi LaFume? someone check that), Faizura Balk, and this little mother fucker right here. His name is Flower. And that should be point number one in a statement I'm about to make. Flower, the skunk from Bambi, is a civil rights leader for non-gay effeminate men. Effeminate men are often classified as gay, but that's just not true. A man can be anything he wants to be. He can hang out with other men with gay names like Bambi. He can teach butterflies to land on his nose. He can even learn from an owl that he isn't gay, that love will find him, and then rebuff that owl, only to go fuck someone nary 5 minutes afterward. I think I just gave you his whole role in the movie. (Research: in Bambi 2, Flower had a fear of skunks and yes, her name was Fifi La Fume). But lets think here. Disney totally told us this was a male character, then made it seem nothing but a girl. Big blue eyes! You know who else has those? Ariel the mermaid (and everyone). Men aren't supposed to be this shy, or wave like that. But Disney say something more in its audience. They saw they were ready for a non-gay effeminate character, because they weren't ready for a gay effeminate character, or even a gay butch character. Should we applaud Disney for making such a brave choice or simply stop and think about it even further? Further: Flower was just a relief character to distract us from mother's dying. He was a skunk- so already we're in for some laughs (coincidentally, he didn't make me laugh), and his effeminate nature surely was there for little girls to have something to do while Mother's die. Maybe this skunk isn't worthy of any 'exasperating upon' and is just another character lost in the sea of Disney buffoonary (along with the hummingbird in Pochahontas, Happy the Dwarf, Zazu from Lion King). But what is this we find? Animation gold- (quit watching after about one minute ten seconds):

That kiss, that kiss. It not only lets us know he is not gay, it let's us know he's a guy. And man, did he go stiff. You can read into that because you're older than 10 and perverted, but it's just a tremendous effort of imagination in animation. And that's why flower exists- that one of joke was good enough to validate an existence.

Milk, just like Doug Martsch

Talk about white on white violence! Seriously it is something we should talk about.

Not the metaphor. The actual tears created by the realness of having milk and then having that milk ruined by touching something other than a container through an accident and becoming unusable. Crying Over Spilled Milk. Waaah! Like that. Like that waah. Crying over spilled milk shouldn't be advice giving out or a lesson learned. It should be an excuse to cry. Why? Because then simply add some almond pulp to your tears and now you've got a replacement milk! Don't be dumb- think outside a box. I would never go inside a box to think. I don't think this even applies to me because I don't like milk. Hmm. It is used a lot in cooking, and we buy soy or rice milk which is more expensive. But that's adding words to a saying I don't already say. "don't go crying over soy or rice milk". Nothing doing. It's a good choice of words- over. Over the spilled milk. I imagine a house wife, about 6'1" 130 pounds, standing on top of a fresh pile of floor milk, while wielding an expensive knife she bought off the TV, flailing it wildly as she cries and screams, "You were right, Mother! I never had it in me to hold milk! To hold milk the way you did! Are you happy?!" and then her mother's ghost would appear in the milk and say "why are you wearing a skirt when you are home alone? I can see your knickers, Deirdre." Then the housewife stabs the floor repeatedly. Her husband then comes home, drunk off his ass. "Honey" he'd call her, "I need some milk based food." What will she do? Will she take her anger out on him? Will he cry and relate to her on a spilled milk level? Will they go to Dairy Queen? I thought you said this wasn't about the saying? In closing, there is some use in crying over spilled milk- if I saw someone crying over spilled milk I would totally forget about the milk being spilled and make fun of that person's fragile state because there is no use in crying over spilled milk. Or we can all use a milk vacuum and only drink spilled milk. The Milk Vacuum: for people who want to eat their lesson! That should hold you.