Comedy

  • Jesse and the NEA

    Lame DogComedy

    For the last few months, the Dog has been preoccupied with saving the world from the forces of evil.  But we should pause to commemorate a satiric anniversary.  Twenty-eight years ago today, Loudon Wainwright, III, released his single, “If Jesse Don’t Like It” – a devastating take down of the late Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

    The song arose in the contexts of Helms’ attempt to prevent the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from funding projects he viewed as “offensive, indecent, or sacrilegious” — a move critics assailed as an assault on free speech and artistic innovation. The cover of the single portrayed Helms punching his fist through a Picasso. The song later appeared on Wainwright’s album, “Social Studies.”  Here it is for your listening pleasure.

    The NEA controversy was triggered by two highly controversial grants. (more…)

  • The Berrymans — “All Because She Didn’t Eat Her Vegetables”

    Lame DogComedy, Folk

    This evening, the Dog is sharing a delightful bit of lunacy from a veteran comedy songwriting team.

    Incidentally, for those who do not know (which included me until I googled it), “Sally Ann” refers to the Salvation Army.  A bullhead is a kind of catfish. And Monona Bay is in Madison, Wisconsin — in the part of the country and the Berrymans call home and which has deeply influenced their particular brand of folk music.
     

    Lou (for Louise)  Berryman (nee Noffke) and Peter Berryman met in high school and were sweethearts in college.  Since they began recording together, they have released eighteen albums and written over two hundred songs.   Generally, Lou composes the music and Peter is responsible for the lyrics. When they perform, Lou plays the accordion and Peter plays the 12-string guitar. Perhaps their most famous piece is one you may have heard that contains the chorus: “We sit down to have a chat./ It’s F-word this and F-word that./ I can’t control how you young people talk to one another./ But I don’t want to hear you use that F-word with your mother.”

    This year, the Berrymans announced that after decades of touring the country together, they are retiring from doing so.  Who can blame them?  They are both turning seventy.

    One interesting aspect of their relationship  is that while Lou and Peter married in 1967,

    (more…)

  • Oliver Wallace — Fighting Hitler With Help From Donald Duck

    Lame DogComedy

    One day in 1942, Walt Disney approached a composer on his staff with a special rush assignment.  He needed a song for a Donald Duck cartoon intended to poke fun at the German enemy.  The composer, Oliver Wallace, had written scores for many cartoons as well as songs for the movie Dumbo.  But this time he felt stumped. That evening while biking to a store, he later recalled: “The music came to me in one flash.  It nearly knocked me off my bicycle.  My mouth opened in surprise.  There followed a second surprise.  Words came out of that mouth.” The result was “The Fuehrer’s Face,” which Oscar Hammerstein, II, later praised as the “great psychological” song of the conflict, as in psychological warfare.

    Before long, the zany bandleader Spike Jones recorded a version in which he used a “birdaphone” — a rubber novelty shop device — to punctuate each reference to “the Fuehrer’s Face” with a Bronx cheer.  The next year, the cartoon was released.  Unfortunately, the birdaphone was replaced with a trombone.  But the overall effect was such that it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

    The film can be seen on youtube.  But I prefer the superior quality of this clip, which is among the vast trove of interesting material available on the France-based website dailymotion. (more…)

  • Bloom Again — From Stealing Pets to Crazy Ex

    Lame DogComedy

    After releasing two comedy albums, Rachel Bloom, along with her collaborator Aline Brosh McKenna, began pitching an idea for a television series. Bloom wanted to portray a brilliant but unhappy Manhattan attorney who impulsively abandons her big firm career and moves to a boring town in California to pursue an obsessive crush on a hunky Asian guy. And it’s a musical.

    Unfortunately, Bloom was suffering from anxiety and depression. (Oh no! That topic has returned!) But she sought psychiatric help and, improbably, “Crazy Ex-Girfriend,” which is now in its third season, became a critically acclaimed success. In addition to her achievements as a comedy writer and singer, Bloom won a 2016 Golden Globe Award for best actress for playing the lead role.

    While I haven’t yet had an opportunity to watch much of the show, I’ve been enjoying videos of the featured songs. I’m especially fond of the following clip. Here, we get to listen in on the protagonist’s inner rap monologue as she employs her formidable social skills to impress her boyfriend’s parents (and reduce her romantic competition to “bupkis”). (more…)

  • “It’s the Seventh Grade Dance in the Shed” — A Salute to Rachel Bloom

    Lame DogComedy

    I think we could use a pick-me-up after that last post on depression. Anyway, I’m looking for an excuse to tout a comedy powerhouse.  Plus she just celebrated her 30th birthday (on April 3rd).

    Rachel Bloom grew up in Southern California but was something of a neurotic New Yorker at heart. In addition to a behind the scenes stint as an intern at Saturday Night Live, she cut her teeth with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, an improv troupe whose other graduates include Amy Poehler. Bloom first attracted widespread attention in 2010 with a rude song about wanting to have sex with the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. It was in poor taste as she was 23 at the time while Bradbury was 90. But I reserve the right to change my mind about that some day in the distant future.

    The following year, in 2011, Bloom hit her hit her stride with this video. Notice that she comes on like an (even more) over-the-top Rebecca Black before taking a bizarre turn:

    Behind the laughter lurked a shadow. Back when Bloom herself was in 7th grade, she was

    (more…)