Tuesday, Dec. First
December 1st, 2009
Woke with a line in my head, culled from a dream. I was attending a seminar on humor, and saw fit to challenge the speaker.
“The essence of comedy in a sitcom,” I said – and there was great laughter, because the idea of comedy in a sitcom was so deliciously absurd – “is the juxtaposition of one ethnic cliche against another.” Hushed silence, anxiously awaiting my example. “So the ultimate sitcom joke would be a guy on a scooter delivering Asian food, wiping out when he ran over slippery lefse.”
Uproarious laughter! I woke, as if the full force of my insight had clobbered me awake, and considered the dream. I was on to something there.
Back to sleep.
Went to work with a song in my heart - unfortunately, it was one of those Fleetwood Mac tunes where Lindsay Buckingham just grinds his teeth and his guitar, because it’s a dull song he’s obliged to play. Everyone gets to write songs for the album! Yay. I switched to another channel, taking special care to avoid the Christmas music channel; need snow and a fortnight before I’m up for any reindeer games. Landed on “Tonight,” by Genesis. Now. I was a big Genesis fan as a sensitive youth, and will still defend much of the work as fascinating, complex nerd-prog for gloomy English majors, with excellent musicianship and remarkable passages of beauty and powers, but: Holy Jeezum Crow, did they turn out a metric buttload of pop dreck crap towards the end. If I can sum up the searching, yearning lyrics of “Tonight”:
Because Tonight Tonight
Whoa oh
I’m going to make it right Tonight tonight
Whoa oh
Because I call you and you’re not home
And there’s no one on the phone
And I’m in the Mountain Time Zone
Won’t someone get me out of here
Tonight
Whoa Oh
I detect the dead lyrical hand of Tony Banks in that one; men in his songs are always wanting someone to get them out of here, whoa oh. This was the extended uncut version, which suffers from bleeps and whoops and a long instrumental passage where the absence of a lead guitarist is most keenly felt. I should also note that Phil Collins indicates the possibility that he is coming down like a monkey. More than that I do not want to know. But I listened to the entire thing; it had been years, and I wondered if I’d ever listened to the song all the way through, ever.
Got into the elevator with a co-worker. Hey, how you doing. Well, she said, the specifics of the next layoff in their department will be announced today.
Oh. Urghm. Crap. Well, good luck. Seriously.
Doors closed.
Off to the daily video work – wrote copy for Newsbreak, where I managed to insert the fact that this year’s “Cyber Monday” participation of 98 million people was waaaay over the participation of 1989, which was ZERO. The more you know! Did the headlines, then set about writing other things. Paused over lunch to roll through the Deadpool on TechCrunch, reading about expired internet companies. Been a while. Most had to do with “social media,” and most got millions of dollars to produce a novel way where X could connect Y with P using Z, and then: profit! The names of these companies makes me weep:
Zopo, Lefora, Meetro, Ning, Sinopio, CapaZoo, Joox, Foonz.
These are not businesses. These are characters in a pre-school TV show. I have a tough time imagining a hard-nosed venture capitalist saying Well, it’s an interesting idea you have, and on behalf of my group, we’re willing to invest $12 million in Shagafumoo. What is it you do again? Right, viral tagging and social cloud-mashups. I take no joy in seeing these companies founder and sink beneath the heaving waves of contemporary economic reality, but I still long for the old names of companies that either had a founder’s name hammered in stone on the company HQ, or at least said what they did. United Copper. American Pigeon-Cage Works. Amalgamated Knob. And yes, I know I posted some old logos of products with strange names just a few days ago, so this isn’t a new thing – but the new “Web 2.0” just seem so infantile. That’s all.
Left the office with my briefcase in my hand; ran into the co-worker I’d seen in the morning. Gave a thumbs-up with a questioning look; she returned it. The Reaper had passed over her house.
The rest of the night was work of a different sort, the fruits of which you will see here, for free, and elsewhere, for money. If you wish. Although the PayPal thing is coming, along with an address for contributions; I mention this only because my zeal of working for nothing is somewhat diminished these days, as much as I enjoy all this. Tomorrow at the Strib blog, and explanation of this:
And of course Comic Sins, later. Have a grand day!
Posted in 43 Responses to “Tuesday, Dec. First”
Interesting sitcom joke theory and example. I came up with these:
A Black guy steals a pie from a white trash windowsill, only to find it filled with crystal meth.
A Jew stoops over to pick up a penny on the sidewalk, and is run over by a Chinaman in a Camry.
a) Web 2.0 IS infantile.
b) Genesis = B.O.R.I.N.G.
c) That is all.
Except this: Humor depends on surprise, mostly. Which is why 99% of sitcom humor isn’t. Stand-ups often confuse surprise with shock, which inevitably leads to diminishing returns. Now that is all.
I still long for the old names of companies that either had a founder’s name hammered in stone on the company HQ, or at least said what they did.
Before he was laid off, a friend of mine worked at Cargill doing speechifying writing, and he told me one of the things he loved about the place was how different departments there often had names like “Corn” or “Hogs” or what have you — names that referred to weirdly tangible three-dimensional things that actually meant something. I thought: wow, that is cool. Because I’ve never worked in a place like that.
WRT Genesis, you should give any of the the first three Marillion albums a spin, as they’re very much in the same vein (an ’80s version of ’70s Genesis).
“So the ultimate sitcom joke would be a guy on a scooter delivering Asian food, wiping out when he ran over slippery lefse.”
When he hit the pavement he cried out “Oy, do I felafel!”
(h/t Griffy)
I notice that despite his promises to the contrary, Phil Collins hasn’t fixed the world yet.
Gotta go with Peter Gabriel Genesis….
Comedy (as I learned in my Film Comedy class at the old U) is tragedy without the consequences.
I always thought the comedy formula was “(Tragedy + Time) x Self-Hatred = Comedy.”
I’ll be more than happy to contribute. In fact, if you’d set up some kind of subscription model, I’d love to do that. I’ve visited this site almost every day for over 10 years. The vast majority of sites aren’t worth the price of a postage stamp, but count me in here.
Another vote for Peter Gabriel Genesis. Even though the bandmates are basically the same, and the name is the same, they are really two different bands. While I enjoy some Collins fronted Genesis, after he he-hawed on Miami Vice, the tennor of the group changed to a more “look at me” tone (noting that all bands start with that, it seemingly became the primary purpose of the band after that).
And the song our kind host cites, Tonight, ended up as the padding for a Budweiser commercial. Nuff said.
As to the mention of TechCrunch, noted yesterday that the CrunchPad is dead due to another example of jackassery and betrayal by a development partner / investor. Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say
Ni at will to old ladies“we’re just going to steal all your hard work, you can talk to our lawyers” to eager creators of content/innovation. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even those who arrange and designshrubberiesinnovative redundant technologies are under considerable economic stress in this period in history.Why is it that during the reputed most joyous season of the year, so much dread and foreboding hangs over our heads like the Sword of Damocles? Good wishes to your associate that still finds herself with gainful employment. Hopefully the Holidays are a bit brighter for her now.
I remember Genesis (along with Styx and Asia and the Police) as the last of the huge, bland corporate bands. Then the Sex Pistols kicked that whole house of cards apart. I don’t like the Sex Pistol’s music one bit, but I’m grateful they came along.
I think Collins figured when he became Genesis’ frontman that it was about time they got very, very rich. Peter Gabriel eventually worked that out too, and had a nice little string of hits himself. Prog credibility is nice, but it won’t take you into a comfy old age.
And ending up in a commercial isn’t an indication that a song is bad at all. Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music,” the Beatles’ “Revolution,” even Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” have turned up in ads when the rights holders (generally songwriter and label) wanted another payday from some old warhorse. Pete Townshend, in particular, appears willing to sell any song to anybody.
His prerogative, of course, but it did set my teeth on edge when the great “Bargain” was used to sell trucks.
Do I sense some hostility to the Mountain Time Zone? You realize your desert idyll is in the Mountain Time Zone for some part of the year.
Ugh. Not the old tired “Phil=Bad, Peter=Good” analysis of Genesis. Phil was not the only member of the band that wanted to move on from 20 minute epics about elves and gremlins and school girls playing croquet with little boy’s severed heads. I like me some “Cinema Show” and “Suppers Ready” as much as the next prog nerd, but there’s plenty of Genesis-y goodness on the later albums, even if they are – GASP! – more accesible.
That said, “Tonight Tonight Tonight” is not very good. At all.
[...] Read it. The names of these companies makes me weep: [...]
United Pickle http://unitedpickle.com/
United States Leather Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Leather_Company
Ouch. What a terrible pun. I like.
Genesis took such a weird turn, from a prog-rock band for intellectuals (I’ve got 1 or two of their early albums — on vinyl) to a Phil Collins pop back up band.
As per “Revolution”, Michael Jackson outbid Paul McCartney for the Beatles catalogue. Memo to self, never cross Sir Paul.
Okay, I just have to chime in to defend my musical heroes for a sec. Is the song “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” (full title) plagued with everything thing that was technically bad about 80’s music? You bet! So was just about every other track on the album from which it was spawned (Invisible Touch). That being said, Genesis is described as a progressive rock band in the old definition of the term, which was that they progress. While today’s definition is thrown at metal bands that occasionally uses odd time signatures, the old definition was applied to bands who were constantly changing their sound and adopting cutting edge technology to do so. When Invisible Touch was released, the band was using equipment and making sounds that made other musicians jaws drop. Unfortunately, this said equipment was severely limiting when it comes to injecting “soul” into music. For Genesis not to have changed sonically, would have been for them to repeat themselves from album to album. Then they would have to change their name to something like “The Rolling Stones” : ).
Anyway, the song in question is actually about a drug user jonesing for his next score of smack. Keeping that in mind, the lyrics aren’t horrible. The bridge section that comes in after the long “bleeps and whoops” section is powerful to the order of what makes Genesis special. “You keep telling me I’ve got everything”. (That part).
Sorry to hijack the thread. Just couldn’t stand the injustice!
Comedy can rely on surprise but, there also must be a huge contribution by fulfilling expectations (In James’ example, the ethnic stereotype). In other sitcoms it is waiting to see how Kenny will die or when JJ will say “Dynamite” or how Larry David is going to p.o. Susie.
In movies, you have to see someone eating the banana and throwing away the skin before the old lady slips on it. Pure surprise seems whacky rather than funny.
I don’t know, I like trying to be humorous but, I would never be able to put together something as funny as even the worst Marx Brothers film.
@Bonnie_
I’ve never thought of the Police as a “corporate band.” Zenyatta Mondatta is a pretty classic album. Asia, on the other hand–ugh–was a contrived supergroup.
@Bonnie_
IIRC, Asia was a few years after the Sex Pistols, towards the tail end of the best years of the Hardcore Punk movement (which was big here in DCia). The older I get, the less I like listening to angry music.
But there’s still a soft spot in my heart for “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”, and who can forget The Dickies covering the theme song for “The Banana Splits”.
So what has happened to Mysteries #60?
http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=4589#comment-28852
Ah yes, it seems strange for the DK’s to inspire a soft-spot in a heart, but it does bring back old memories. There will always be a moon over Marin.
Collins’ soundtrack for “Tarzan” (Disney) is pretty good as far as music for an animated movie goes. I think his treasure has been fairly well looted-over by former wives. VH1 Classic had an interesting documentary on Gabriel and Genesis. His vision for art didn’t match the vision for money and fame from the rest of the group. They all eventually ended up with “Big Times” though.
My last comment was supposed to be for Wiredog. I’ll figure out the coding someday.
The Michelob Years! When Anheuser-Busch rented every pop tune containing the word “night,” regardless of whatever else was in it.
Even a junkie’s plea to his pusher to sell him more heroin. Which Genesis’ “Tonight” seemed to be.
[...] Lileks, Bleat, 2009-12-01 Comments [...]
One of my acting coaches in college would say “Comedy is the unexpected.”
By which he meant, if you can see the punchline coming (which you can in much of the sit-com world, “Seinfeld” being a rare exception), it ain’t funny.
Asia did indeed form 5-6 years after the Sex Pistols broke up. The Police also came after the Sex Pistols, though their formative period very briefly overlapped with the last gasp of the Sex Pistols’ lifespan.
I don’t think calling the Police a corporate band is fair, either. They had so many great songs (though I believe almost all of them are off Zenyatta Mondatta); I still listen to Man In A Suitecase at least several times a week.
Speaking as a former 80’s Genesis fan, I agree that Phil Collins “replacing” Peter Gabriel was probably a bad idea. Once I discovered the older Genesis material, with Gabriel in the lead, I realized just how awful the band had become in the 80’s. Somewhere along the way, Collins had the mistaken idea that he was some kind of pop-icon/actor/musical genius, and became the textbook example of a “sell-out”. Most of the lyrics that he wrote in that period, both for his solo career and while in Genesis, are pretty awful.
Asia did indeed form 5-6 years after the Sex Pistols broke up.
Yep, about that — the Pistols blessedly broke up in 1978, and Asia came lumbering onto the scene in 1982.
I’d also never considered the Police a “corporate band,” particularly, unless by that one means “successful.” I mean, everyone with a record deal is a corporate band.
But if there is a sound associated with the “corporate rock” label, I’d say it was more along the lines of the big loud metal popsters like Heart, Boston (grand as they were), Foreigner, and, of course, Styx (despite their mild proggy pretensions) and Asia. Journey would be the best expression of the approach, perhaps — big vocals, great musicianship, huge hooks, and consistently lamebrained music.
The Police grew pompous along with their frontman, but I don’t think they ever had that kind of highly produced, hook-driven approach.
Well, I think it was Mel Brooks who said, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open sewer and die.”
Madeline Kahn, who is from the Mel Brooks School of Comedy got into pretty bad trouble one time when she explained in an interview that “Comedy is pain. The more someone hurts, the harder we laugh.” (I paraphrase).
Bill McNutt
@Bill McNutt
So when Bill Clinton said ” feel your pain” he was laughing on the inside? whatta jerk.
Comedy is when I laugh.
Bob
Comedy: has to have an element of truth to it to be really funny.
One of my favorite jokes is from the Woody Allen movie Zelig. Woody is under hypnosis, and he explains that he asked his Rabbi what the meaning of life is. His Rabbi tells him, but his answer is in Yiddish. The Rabbi then tells Woody/ Zelig that he will give him Yiddish lessons for $600.
I have always thought this joke is transferrable- you could make it a physicist explaining the meaning of life with Quantum Mechanics, a Catholic speaking in Latin, etc. The element of the joke would still be true.
On the debate about prog rock versus “corporate” versus punk:
I don’t much care for punk–okay, so you’re depressed and nihilistic and the universe sucks so badly that you’ve taken to wearing black and mutilating yourself with safety pins to demonstrate how suckingly it all sucks. I get that part. What do you intend to do about it–other than complain, that is?
As for the rest of it, do I have to pick only one? Sometimes I want to put on the Moody Blues and lose myself in the mildly pretentious cosmic gradiosity of it all, man. Other times, I want to stick Tom Petty in the car stereo and go work on reducing my 0-60 time. Still other times, I want to put my higher brain functions in neutral and enjoy a little ear candy.
a true joke is always transferrable.
(two) (guys) walk into a (bar.) (bartender) says, “what’s with the (pig) on your (head?” first (guy) says, “(it’s his turn tonight.)” (pig) says “and don’t think I’m happy about it, either.”
Good point.
Just to add to Baby M’s comments, it also doesn’t help the punk view that it comes from the very young. All that angst just tells me you don’t have a clue.
On other music, I’ve noticed I like a number of pop tunes from the 70’s and 80’s that I use to hate when I heard them 20 times a day. A tune like Rubber- band man is hardly a great song, but it’s enjoyable.
I appreciate the work you’ve put into this site over the years for nothing but our enjoyment, but since you still have a roof over your head, my spare Dollars are going to MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity) instead, because the job reaper you speak of hasn’t passed everyone by.
After all these years (I’ve been a reader since the ‘Backfence Days’ of 2001) I’m sorry to hear your zeal has diminished, but perhaps that’s a sign to shutter the windows and turn out the lights, not contemplating a financial incentive to reinvigorate your interest, even if it’s a voluntary one.
PS: If it fits your drivetime/radio listening schedule,tune your XM/Sirius dial to Buried Treasure – it really is!
EmGee — zeal comes and goes. I do like grabbing the DVcam and doing a video thing now and then. I used to really like it when it was a Frezzolini-modified Auricon pulling core-load film, and I had to send it off blind with a script to edit to, possibly a tape track to run underneath it. calling out the scenes from memory in the script because I knew what I wanted, and pretty much remembered what I’d shot.
then it was back to 45 pounds on the shoulder for the camera, and 30 pounds around the waist for the battery belts, and 50 pounds over the other shoulder for the U-vision portable video deck, and edit the tape back at the studio. zeal started to diminish when there were 5 or 6 outings a day, in whatever weather every other state/nation had rejected.
there aren’t now, but it’s harder to get back to the Mac and edit, even though the DV tape is already digitized onto the 400 GB disk.
but after 20 years, I missed it enough to find an excuse to buy the camera and edit software.
I’ve learned to never say never.
uh, that should have read “after 30 years.” us old phartes forget, sometimes.
I had the “Invisible Touch” album. Phil Collins was alright back in the day for teen aged and slacker angst. Tonight and In the Air tonight are what happens when you let the drummer front the band. When he went solo–that’s when you got real krep out of him. I remember one year seeing him pick up an Oscar for some dreadful theme song he wrote for a children’s movie. Even he looked embarassed.
I had forgotten you liked Genesis, James, though now I remember you mentioning using the M-Tron to play the intro to “Watcher of the Skies,” so I knew you must be a fan.
I’ve been a fan for years, and while the Gabriel years are overall my favorite period, I still say ‘A Trick of the Tail’ is my favorite album. “Mad Man Moon” is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, by anyone, anywhere. Early Collins-era Genesis is a lot like the Gabriel-era material, and Banks’ Mellotron work is simply stunning on this album and the follow-up, ‘Wind & Wuthering.’
After that…well, ‘Duke’ was still a great album. Beyond that, the material was admittedly very pop-focused. That said, I would much rather 80s pop music all sounded like 80s Genesis than like 80s pop music.
The usual accusations of Genesis becoming “sellouts” might have some merit (sort of like that boxer who should have retired four fights ago), but I don’t think anybody could tell me with a straight face that Genesis could have survived producing Gabriel-era-style progressive rock anywhere past about 1978. They would merely have faded into obscurity. That we got two fairly proggy albums out of them–’Trick’ and ‘Wind’–after Collins took over is quite astounding. Steve Hackett’s departure didn’t help–I don’t hold him up to be the god some people do, but the group pretty much abandoned prog rock after he left.
Phil’s divorce probably didn’t help, either. Why do rock musicians marry? It just ruins them when it inevitably fails.