Louis C.K. critically analyzes Clifford the Big Red Dog. Hilarity ensues if you’ve ever had to read multiple Clifford stories with your youngster. Not safe for work, little ones, or fans of big red dogs.
Comedian Dave Chappelle’s hilarious dissection of the classic children’s TV program “Sesame Street.”
OK … who out there remembers Michael Winslow? For those who don’t remember, he was the guy that became notorious in the 1980s for making funny noises with his mouth in countless comedy films, most famously the “Police Academy” series and a couple of “Cheech and Chong” films.
In case you wondered, Winslow is still around … and still doing some amazing things with his voice. Here’s Winslow doing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” for a Norwegian talk show called “Senkveld med Thomas og Harald.” Everything here, but the acoustic guitar is courtesy of Winslow’s mouth. Prepare to have your mind blown … seriously! Why someone hasn’t released this a single is beyond comprehension.
This is a legendary, nearly 3-hour interview with film director John Landis from the Kevin Pollak Chat Show that is one of the best and most candid interviews I’ve ever seen with a director. Landis directed some of the funniest movies ever made (“Kentucky Fried Movie,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “The Blues Brothers,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Trading Places,” “Coming to America”), some terrific documentaries (“Slasher” and “Mr. Warmth”), and arguably, the most famous music video of all time (“Michael Jackson’s Thriller”). Landis has so many great, oftentimes extremely funny, tales of a career that spans almost 50 years … one that started when he was a teenager. It’s a career that includes directing the likes of Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Don Rickles, and many others too numerous to mention. I don’t know if everything he’s sharing is the truth, but even if 20% of what he says is true, he’s lived a more exciting life than pretty much anyone reading this right now. The man is a great storyteller and this interview seems way shorter than it actually is. If you’re a comedy or film nerd, you must watch this.
For your consideration … here’s 20 minutes of Bob & Doug MacKenzie clips recorded for various “SCTV” episodes during the early 1980s. The origin for the MacKenzie brothers came from the Canadian government who insisted that “SCTV” broadcast two minutes of exclusively Canadian “content.” SCTV producer/writer/performer Dave Thomas was flabbergasted at such a demand, so he decided to give them the worst stereotype of Canada he could possibly think of. Thomas and fellow SCTV cast member / writer Rick Moranis gave them two dumb drunk Canadians who talked about nonsense for two minutes. Thomas said that all of their clips were made up on the spot and because they were recorded at the end of the day when everyone went home … they took full advantage of this time to … well … to unwind … meaning that beer they were enjoying was real. I think that’s called method acting, eh.
The irony, of course, was that this throwaway bit, done with as little preparation as possible, wound up becoming “SCTV”‘s most popular recurring segment, leading to a Top 10 album in the US and a feature-length film for MGM in 1983 called “Strange Brew.” I’m sure any similarity with the creation of the MacKenzie Brothers and Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled” is purely coincidental.
If you’re at all interested in the MacKenzie Brothers, “Strange Brew” or SCTV in general, you’re encouraged to check out the mammoth 4-hour podcast from the Projection Booth about all of these things. The podcast is hosted by Mike White, Skizz Cyzyk, and actor Craig Bierko (“The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “Cinderella Man”) and features interviews with Thomas, screenwriter Steve De Jarnatt, actress Lynne Griffin (“Pam”), and author Jeff Robbins. It’s a beauty, eh.
http://projection-booth.blogspot.com/2014/09/episode-182-strange-brew.html
One of the funniest and most famous prank call tapes of all-time were the series of calls made to the Tube Bar in New Jersey to the bar’s owner, a man known as Red. The caller would ask Red if certain patrons were available at the bar to talk. The names were usually plausible, but ultimately ridiculous names like “Pepi Roni” or “Mike Hunt” (say that last one to yourself a few times quietly, if you’re not sure it’s ridiculous). Sometimes Red would comply, shouting out the ridiculous names into the bar, but other times he would see through the ruse and let loose with some of the funniest profanity ever uttered by a human being. I realize being on the receiving end of telephone harassment isn’t funny, but when you’re not the one receiving it, it can sometimes be pretty f–king hysterical.
What’s featured here is the original Tube Bar tape set to visuals crafted by Film Threat editor Christian Gore, starring the late, great Lawrence Tierney as Red. Aside from Joe in “Reservoir Dogs” and his role as Elaine’s dad on “Seinfeld,” this may be Tierney’s finest role.
As you can imagine, absolutely not safe for work.
If you haven’t noticed already, this is the “inspiration” for Bart Simpson’s prank calls to Moe on “The SImpsons.”
From the 1983-1984 Cinemax-era in SCTV’s history comes their brilliant parody of the infamous Rolling Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter” … reimagined as a vehicle for Martin Short’s brilliantly obnoxious albino lounge singer Jackie Rogers Jr. called (what else?) “Gimme Jackie.” Only instead of the Hells Angels wreaking murderous havoc on the crowd, Jackie hires the Shriners … who prove to be an all-too-formidable and frightening security force. Watch closely and you’ll see many striking similarities between Short’s Rogers character and Mike Myers’ Austin Powers character that appeared over 10 years later.
This is a great example of why SCTV was … and still is … one of the most brilliant concepts in the history of world comedy. This was humor for very culturally savvy folks and you either got it immediately or you needed to do your homework. Brilliantly funny stuff.
As a bonus, the first minute and a half features Dave Thomas’s spot-on Mel Gibson impression … when Gibson was still more of a cult actor in Canada and the United States.
Frank Zappa’s biggest “hit,” “Valley Girl” came about because his daughter Moon, wanted to spend time with her father, who was either always on the road or sequestered in his home studio. According to Barry Miles’s biography of Frank, Moon slipped a note under Frank’s home studio door “addressed to ‘Daddy” (not ‘Frank,’ as he liked to be called). She introduced herself: ‘I’m 13 years old. My name is Moon. Up until now I have been trying to stay out of your way while you record. However, I have come to the conclusion that I would love to sing on your album … She gave the house telephone number and asked him to contact her agent, Gail Zappa, and suggested that she might do her ‘Encino accent’ or her “Surfer Dood Talk.’ ‘It was me saying ‘Pay attention to me!'”
Eventually, Frank woke his daughter Moon up in the middle of the night to record the conversations she had with her friends, phrases she picked up by living in the San Fernando Valley and going to various “parties, bar mitzvahs, and the (Sherman Oaks) Galleria.” Per Frank, the song was NOT intended to be a celebration of the Valley, but an illustration of how vapid and depressing the area was.
The song first became a hit on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles when the station played the song during an interview with Moon. The response from the public was phenomenal and the song was added to heavy rotation, prompting other stations to do likewise. The song became a national hit, going as high as Number 32 on Billboard’s pop charts and Number 12 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The song’s popularity was a thorn in Zappa’s side, because of the way people adopted “Valley-speak” and philosophy as a positive thing.
The clip here is Moon appearing on a pop music show performing “Valley Girl” with some dancers dressed in some hideous but spot-on 1980s style clothes.
Moon has a lot of great stories to tell, some of which can be heard in this interview she did with Marc Maron back in 2013.
Another wonderful moment from the stellar TV show “Freaks and Geeks” involving rock music. This is from the final episode, where Lindsay Weir, a high school honor student disenchanted with the expectations put upon her, puts on the Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” album and really connects with it, especially the opening track “Box of Rain.”
Dave's Strange World 