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Post by msmystie3000 on Jan 3, 2012 18:23:56 GMT -5
I like most of these sketches, especially Joey the Lemur. I just watched SFO, and loved the Urkel stuff. I guess I just like callbacks. I'm a firm believer in the John Di Maggio theory that if something's not funny 9 times in a row, it'll be funny the tenth time, and then again for the 20th time. It's a close relative to anti-humor, which I also get a perverse enjoyment out of. When everyone turns on Mike after laughing for so long, I love it. It's a perfect reflection of what actually happens to one-note characters on TV when they get overexposed. Even the bad sketches are so relatively short that I just tend to forget them. I'm not a big fan of the Bobo/Brain guy era, but most of the memories I can recall off hand is funny stuff. Oh, wait a minute. There's the episode where Pearl is sick and keeps yelling "Clayton" over and over. I want to kill myself during those segments. Yeah, I'm surprised Dr. F didn't smother HER! However, Crow reading that erotic romance novel to Pearl was pretty funny. Sadly, most of the "Clayton & Mom" stuff was just pitiful. You feel bad for Dr. F. Also, "Timmy Bobby Rusty" was stupid. It's like the Brains Just Didn't Care! (reference to a very funny EYE CREATURES sketch). I've seen some skits that I thought were lousy at first but actually got funnier the more I watched them. "Orville Popcorn", "Hexfield Bruce", "Earl Holla-mania!" & "Soviet Cosmonaut, Sari Andropoli" come to mind (though Mike as a young Ruskie is very hunky, even if his character's a loser. That accent...ooh yeah...).
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Jan 4, 2012 13:39:46 GMT -5
Honestly, I loved Pearl and her little bell and her "CLAYTONS!" and the meatsa treatserati and Forrester just decompensating from it all and punching himself in the face. I laugh and laugh. Other peoples' frustration equals comedy joy!
My favorite skit of all time is the "Forrester and Frank at home" in The Beginning of the End. That whole Seventies Active Lifestyle With Touches of Yuppie Updated for the Nineties vibe just gets me where I live.
Oh wow, Vickie is on!
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Post by TheNewMads on Jan 4, 2012 14:27:04 GMT -5
wasn't it "Vicki," as in Vicki Lawrence, the Carol Burnett sidekick who ended up with her own short-lived spinoff show? Or am i dating myself? Again?
I also liked the season 7 stuff, esp. with Pearl secretly wishing Clayton had been born a girl, and getting along with Frank better than him. They had a pretty good dynamic going in Season 7, i thought, but apparently i'm in the minority.
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Post by deeephurting on Jan 4, 2012 20:28:42 GMT -5
The most uncomfortable moment I think I've witnessed is the host segment where the bots try to clean Mike's eyelashes. A lot of his segments have me cringing... especially the ones featuring Bobo.
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Post by ilmatto on Jan 4, 2012 23:05:48 GMT -5
The most uncomfortable moments I had were anytime Catching Trouble Ross comes within 50 feet of any animal. You just know the animal is going to start shrieking and struggling for its life. One of the times when the power to decide "who lives and who dies" would really come in handy.
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Post by msmystie3000 on Jan 4, 2012 23:21:44 GMT -5
The most uncomfortable moment I think I've witnessed is the host segment where the bots try to clean Mike's eyelashes. A lot of his segments have me cringing... especially the ones featuring Bobo. ARE YOU KIDDING?! The "GREAT EYELASH MITE WAR OF FOLICLE HILL" was one of the most hilarious bits ever!!!
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Post by brandonakaxerxes on Jan 5, 2012 11:57:38 GMT -5
The main difference to me though between the "Pina Colada" segment and the "Owner of a Lonely heart" segment, is the Pina Colada one was more fleshed out, and Servo and Crow's questions were legitimate. As nice of a song "Escape" (it's true title) is, there's still problems with it, and doesn't really have the "happy ending" the song leads us to believe. Also the segment overall is funnier, and I like the reference to "Timothy" (although Servo gets the lyrics wrong, but hey no one's perfect).
The "Lonely heart" one was kinda rushed. I know it had to be as it was an opening segment, but it seemed pointless. The song Lonely Heart doesn't really open it self to "interpretations" or questions or plot holes the way "Escape" does. It's just a song about a guy who got his heart broken. It's not some story song that's supposed to make you think about things.
BTW, if we can count riffs for cringe-worthy moments, Crow's riff from Horrors of Spider island, "Paddle with your panties or your breasts" makes me rub my forehead a bit. I just can't help but think they'd NEVER do a joke like that during the Joel-era, and it kinda shows you how ALMOST low-brow the show had come by Season 10 (at the insistence of Sci Fi executives).
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Post by deeephurting on Jan 5, 2012 18:51:24 GMT -5
@msmystie: I guess it's just a matter opinion. Now that I think about it, I'll change my answer to the "Hike Up Your Pants" song. It's beautiful in its own way, and I know it's a classic, but Joel just looks so doofy. He really can't dance. I laughed but I cringed.
@brandon: Was it the executives at Sci Fi who changed the comedy style? I figured it was just one of the "renovations" the show underwent because Joel left. Mike's comedy is dirtier anyway. Toobular Boobular is hilarious, but just hearing it makes me miss Joel.
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Post by inlovewithcrow on Jan 7, 2012 10:12:31 GMT -5
The weepy song thing that's supposed to be Barbara Streisand or Bette Middler in the Rose or whatever it's supposed to be. Gah.
Time doesn't do much for many of the joel-era sketches, for my money. I generally fast-forward over them now, unless it's a song or something with a diagram (for some reason, I find diagrams a great comedy aid). I particularly find invention exchange time unfunny--never did love it, and the fifth time of watching any one is...well, impossible, for me.
I'm not thrilled with the season 7 Mrs. F either, but the SciFi era one was hysterical, the Mrs F who threatened, "hey, do you want me to MARRY you?"
Some of what is named, I liked fine. 'Owner of a lonely heart" works for me because of the absurdity of the comparisons they offer up. I like Mike's eyelashes, too, the ridiculousity of little cans of stuff being stuck there after the mites are gone and the bots' disgust over his splashy eating habits. Any time the bots abuse Mike, I'm happy.
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Post by continosbuckle on Jan 7, 2012 15:26:46 GMT -5
As for cringe-worthy moments in the actual movie/short, I'll have to agree with Catching Trouble. I don't even watch that anymore.
As for a cringe-worthy moment for the Brains, I cringe every time I see the final skit that Joel and the bots do for Gamera Vs Guiron. Japanese sounds like nonsense! So let's do a skit where we sing a song from the movie, substituting Japanese lyrics with nonsense! Haha, it's funny! Even if it wasn't borderline offensive, it wasn't funny in the least.
Shame it was connected to the brilliant Michael Feinstein skit.
I have a bunch of minor cringes with Bill too. His Crow did seem to have a lot of riffs where he was simply calling up some negative stereotype.
"Yeah, I need that like I need another 3 inch wiener." "Great, now what are you going to do about the fact that you're FINNISH?" etc etc etc.
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Post by brandonakaxerxes on Jan 8, 2012 3:56:06 GMT -5
This riff from The Movie.
"Just like we left it, WITH THE USA IN CHARGE!!!!!!"
Of all the riffs Gramercy made them cut, or change, they decide, "This one's perfectly okay!"
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Post by msmystie3000 on Jan 9, 2012 9:04:09 GMT -5
As for cringe-worthy moments in the actual movie/short, I'll have to agree with Catching Trouble. I don't even watch that anymore. As for a cringe-worthy moment for the Brains, I cringe every time I see the final skit that Joel and the bots do for Gamera Vs Guiron. Japanese sounds like nonsense! So let's do a skit where we sing a song from the movie, substituting Japanese lyrics with nonsense! Haha, it's funny! Even if it wasn't borderline offensive, it wasn't funny in the least. Shame it was connected to the brilliant Michael Feinstein skit. I have a bunch of minor cringes with Bill too. His Crow did seem to have a lot of riffs where he was simply calling up some negative stereotype. "Yeah, I need that like I need another 3 inch wiener." "Great, now what are you going to do about the fact that you're FINNISH?" etc etc etc. I feel the same about the faux-Japanese "Gamera Song". I did like the "Different Musical Genre Gamera Song" from GAMERA VS. ZIGRA, however. Crow's rap is a scream, as is Joel's spazzy Eek-A-Mouse. The Feinstein bit was cute but it didn't get me ROFL, I still liked it though.
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Post by jkazoolien on Jan 17, 2012 19:23:44 GMT -5
Nothing makes me cringe. Every sketch is brilliant in its own way, and needs to be watched with that mentality in mind. It's unfair to compare a Sci-Fi sketch with a KTMA sketch, or vice-versa.
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Post by Comfort Fulton on Jan 26, 2012 21:28:36 GMT -5
The weepy song thing that's supposed to be Barbara Streisand or Bette Middler in the Rose or whatever it's supposed to be. Gah. Oh my goodness, I died of laughter at this skit. The longer it went on the more I laughed. Weird. When I first saw Mike as Janeway and getting into "Proud Mary".... I was a bit disturbed by that.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jan 27, 2012 16:27:02 GMT -5
This riff from The Movie. "Just like we left it, WITH THE USA IN CHARGE!!!!!!" i actually read this as making fun of the tendency in those movies to always put the USA dead center in their establishing globe shots, i.e., the dumb nationalism is the doing of the movies, not the riffers. but i could be wrong.
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