No proper post this week. You might be interested in Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which I just discovered and find oddly entertaining. Some is hit-and-miss, but for the most part it’s good.
I’m not sure why, but I tend to like hearing comedians talk about their work—sometimes I prefer listening to them in more relaxed situations than doing what’s generally considered comedy. I prefer the prospect of watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee to the prospect of watching episodes of Seinfeld that I haven’t seen, and I’m not sure why.
You might also like Talking Funny, a discussion about comedy featuring Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Louis CK, and Ricky Gervais.
I watched the film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead this evening, first time I’ve seen it in years. It’s a good movie; while it’s probably a better play, I haven’t seen it on the stage. Language play is a significant part of it, as the titular duo attempt to tease out their situation in ways that generally end up confusing them. I hadn’t realized before that they’ve been the subject of more plays (outside of Hamlet): there’s a W. S. Gilbert play called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and there’s also a film called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead, which I absolutely have to watch[1].
For whatever reason, watching it this time reminded me of the classic “Who’s on First” sketch, my favorite version of which is presented below:
The plotline of that film reminds me of another of my favorite plays, I Am Hamlet, the 2002 Mark Jackson one-man play (and apparently not the same play as can be found at iamhamlet.com), which posits that (young) Hamlet’s ghost has been around for the last several hundred years, and is compelled to watch every production of Hamlet and read all the critical responses to the play.
It’s hardly an original observation that many of the doings of the Bush Administration have been so ludicrous as to be almost beyond satire. There are so many cases where a completely straight telling of their doings simply sounds like satire because of the content. Many commentators have made this point, as it’s one of the few ways the situation can still be satirized—the honest portrayal of ongoing shock. I’m sure that this has happened in the US before, and that a lot of people felt the same way during the Nixon years, but now it seems more extreme and more pervasive somehow. [more...]
I’ve always had a tough time with it. I can see that it’s funny, but it’s also just painful. I can only take so much of it before having to stop. [more...]