Good Riddance Writer’s Strike

It’s been over 2 months since the writer’s strike ceased, but it really hasn’t felt any different in my life until the last 8 days beginning with the season premiere of 30 Rock and The Office. 

30 Rock came back in fantastic form with the quick-witted humor that has made it one of the best comedies on TV.  After last week’s debacle with MILF Island, I was rolling on the floor with Jack convincing Tracy to become the celebrity spokesperson for the GOP.  His final commercial encouraging black voter to not vote is hilarious.  “…in the time you saved not voting, you could play 3 games of pool, 3 GAMES!!!”  Of all the comedies on the tube, I don’t think any have a more creative group of writers that take such consistent risks.

The Office started off last week with the greatest train wreck of a dinner party in television history.  You know they must have been thinking about that plot for months.  The highlight was Michael yelling “that’s a $200 dollar HDTV” after Jan threw a Dundee threw the screen.  This week’s highlight was Michael and Dwight visiting the random grave singing “American Pie” into the night.

“Yeah” for the writers!

Missing Chris Farley

As a pre-pubescent adolescent 7th grader behind the curve socially, I noticed my peers would make comments about “a van down by the river” and “that’s gonna leave a mark” followed by contagious laughter.  I quickly allocated all of my resource to finding out what the commotion was all about.  After a few weeks of religiously watching Saturday Night Live and half a dozen viewings of Tommy Boy later, I was in the loop.  Not only were my brainwaves malfunctioning from overexposure to a television screen, but I was now a life-long fan of Chris Farley.

I reminisce on such hilarity because I found Black Sheep playing and couldn’t tear myself away to get to bed at a decent hour.  This should be no surprise as this has become a regular habit of mine.  The comedic impact and longevity of Chris Farley is only matched by the greatest comedians in modern cinema.  He is one of only a few people that make me laugh every time I see them.  Whether it was an outtake, interview, sketch, or feature film, I was chuckling, smirking, and occasionally laughing uncontrollably.  What made him even greater was not just his ability to take over a scene, but how he made everyone alongside him funnier (think David Spade).

I arrived at school prepared to take my last final before Christmas break of my freshman year of high school and noticed that the conversations among students seemed to lack the content of geometry and physics as would be expected and replaced by the news that Chris Farley had died from a drug overdose.  None of us knew him, but we all understood that we were losing an icon of our generation.

It’s been over 10 years since his death and the comedic world hasn’t been the same since.  I sometimes wonder what he would have done if there was some intervention.  I wonder how he would have made us laugh and bring more joy to the viewing public.  These remain some of the things that we will never know, but his impact remains today.  With a new generation of people discovering his genius, the laughs continue as his timeless performances.  And for me, I’m just thankful I was there to see his short amazing run as the funniest man on earth.

Wisdom from “The King of Kong”

First things first.  If you haven’t seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, do yourself a favor and set aside a couple hours to be amazed.  The hit documentary is filled with many nuggets of proverbial wisdom as evident is the following inclusions.

Billy Mitchell: No matter what I say, it draws controversy. It’s sort of like the abortion issue.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Jillian Wiebe (Steve’s Daughter): I never knew that the Guinness World Record Book was so… I never knew it was so important.
Steve Wiebe: I guess a lot of people are… yeah, a lot of people read that book.
Jillian Wiebe: [while directly looking at Steve, her father] Some people sort of ruin their lives to be in there.
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Brian Kuh: If anybody wants to see, there’s a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up.
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Adam Wood: I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I play video games, which I think is a far superior addiction to any of those other ones.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Billy Mitchell: …but competetive gaming, when you wanna attach your name to a world-record, when you want your name written into history, you have to pay the price!

It’s just too good to pass up.  Go get it!

Stuff White People Like

I have a new favorite blog to frequent to quench my smug humor thirst.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Past entries included “The Idea of Soccer“, “Asian Girls“, and “Barak Obama“.

 Seriously, what’s not funny about that?

Are You Smarter Than an 8th Grader?

A few minutes ago, I walked into the 8th grade algebra class at our school.  While they were waiting for the teacher to show up from her last class, I asked them to give me a math problem to solve.  They gave me the problem in a language that sounded eastern European and I didn’t even know where to begin.  7 years after my last college math class, it turns out I’m not smarter than an 8th grader.

Church Humor

Borrowed from www.nakedpastor.com.  

Borrowed from http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/.

Fun Balloons

 Marko posted this on his blog (www.ysmarko.com) yesterday.  I think it would be entertaining.

Step 1. Tie balloons to car

Step 2. Drive like a madman

Step 3. Watch people freak out

Triumph the Insult Dog

Perhaps one of the best short runs by a comic in the past decade has been Triumph the Insult Dog (aka Robert Schimmel).  I still laugh out loud at this clip…10 minutes of gold!

So Good…

 I love this guy…much more at http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/.