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[bk]

Well, you've read the notes, and given that they are about time - the bitch goddess - isn't it high time you were posting?  Yes, the time is nigh, do you hear me?  Time waits for no man, so perhaps the women should start posting first?

[Tomovoz]

Not really a fan of film comedies these days. I still have no problem laughing at the favourites of my childhood though - Danny Kaye and Jerry Lewis. I also loved the "Carry On" gang - dreadful jokes and lines but perfect timing. Peter Sellers at his best would be my favourite.  I have never seen anything funny in The Blues Brothers.  Gene Wilder has given me laughter at times but probably not since his early films.  Lili Tomlin would be my favourite funny lady.  The last comedienne to really make me laugh was Ellen DeGeneres in "Finding Nemo". Almost forgot - Jacques Tati - brilliant.

[Jed]

Film comedians, eh?  I do like Steve Martin, just not so much his more recent stuff.  Favorites would be The Jerk and L.A. Story.  Also Woody Allen, of course, with Mighty Aphrodite being a favorite there, along with the standards like Annie Hall and Sleeper.  On the female side, I simply adore anything that Madeline Kahn did.  Such a funny, funny lady!

[Michael]

Mr. Laurel
Mr. Hardy
The Tramp
The Stoneface

Alec Guiness
Peter Sellars
The Carry On Gang
Monty Python
Lily Tomlin (Glenda Child of the 60's is a brilliant routine)
The Kids Down the Hall (the most recent comedians)
Danny Kaye
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner on their recordings. Mel Brooks for The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein

and stand ups
Lenny Bruce
Jackie Mason
Mort Sahl
Bill Cosby
Nichols and May
Tom Lehr (Love him Love him)
Joan Rivers (before she became her own worst enemy)

I never got Jerry Lewis. DR Francois I know you don't post anymore  but perhaps you can explain why the country holds him such high esteme. I just don't find him funny.

and Mr. Bruce Kimmel still makes me laugh when I watch The First Nudie Musical

[Michael]

I believe that the stars of many of the hit so called comedies in the last 20 years will be forgotten or be museum pieces. All the stars listed above will endure because they did not play to the lowest common denominator. The above people had played to (in the most part) children to adults and not horny teenagers.

Charlie Chaplin, Laurel Hardy, Buster Keaton can still make me laugh and some of the films are over 80 years old. Can one say that the films of Ashton Kutcher will be funny 80 years later?

My short rant

[DERBRUCER]

DEMISE OF THE BITCH GODDESS

Someone left the time out in the rain
I think that I shall mind it
'cause it took so long to wind it
And I'll never have that energy again
Oh, no!

der Brucer (Yes, I'm keeping the day job)

[DERBRUCER]

Tom Lehr (Love him Love him)

"Oh, soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife.
Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life. "

der Brucer (PS: It's Leher)

PPS: NO it ain't - see 6000 mile away correction below.

[Tomovoz]

And there I was thinking it was "LEHRER"!

[DERBRUCER]

And there I was thinking it was "LEHRER"!

And you were thinking right! I missed-named my Word file that has all of his lyrics and picked up the screw-up from there.

der Brucer (thinking he should pull a BK: go back and edit the post, then post a "I don't know what you mean" comment to Tom's post)

[DERBRUCER]

Favorites:

From early youth: Abbot & Costello

From Later Youth: Martin and Lewis

From Adult Years: Carol Burnett (with the essential assistance of Tim Conway, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence)

(Although one of her funniest sketchs was from either Carol & Company in 1990 or the Carol Burnett Show in 1991 when she was a grocery store customer and Richard Kind was the check-out clerk.)

From Second Childhood: The South Park crowd

der Brucer (who would vote for "Barefoot in the Park" as the funniest movie-ever: Mildred Natwick has one of the best entrances in history)  

[DERBRUCER]

News Flash From OZ:

Lawmaker Threatens to Take Fun Out of Australian Politics

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Instead of engaging in sober debate, politicians in Australia's oldest legislature have been accused of drinking too much and drafting laws with slurred speech and red noses.

Lee Rhiannon of the minority Greens Party says some members of the New South Wales (search) state Parliament are obviously under the influence of alcohol when they return to its debating chamber after taking breaks.

"After dinner ... things get a bit raucous," The Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday quoted Rhiannon as saying.
The august institution, set up in Sydney in 1822, has two restaurants and a bar as well as its own liquor store.

der Brucer (pleased that none of our politicians have a drinking problem!)

[elmore3003]

Good morning!  I can't shake off these lines this morning:

Time and tide and trouble
Never ever wait
Let the cauldron bubble
Justify your fate

Thank you, sirs Kimmel and Coward, for too early imagery!

Comedians:
  1.  Buster Keaton
  2.  Bob Hope (the only film of Martin-Lewis is really like is SCARED STIFF, a remake of GHOST BREAKERS; when do we get CAT AND THE CANARY on DVD?)
  3.  Abbott and Costello
  4.  The Marx Brothers (this has to include Margaret Dumont)
  5.  Red Skelton
  6.  Lucille Ball
  7.  Ed Wynn
  8.  Whoopi Goldberg
 
Two hit-or-miss-groups:  The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges, but when they're on . . .

Other faves, although I consider them more actresses than comediennes
  1.  Madeline Kahn (I once worked with her; very interesting lady)
  2.  Edna Mae Oliver
  3.  Lily Tomlin (after NASHVILLE I refuse to think of her as a comedienne)
  4.  Barbara Harris

[Jenny]

Off I go on yet another class trip, but this one should be significantly more enjoyable than the other.  My Shakespeare class (A class I take with all those senior friends of mine) is going to see "King Lear" at Yale Drama.  I expect a fine day ahead of me.    

Thank you all again for the incredibly kind comments you made the other night.  You're all absolutely wonderful.

Yesterday, JoeSPiano said:
"And DR Jenny - It's kind of funny that your field trip today was to the Irish Famine Memorial...  I had never heard of it before I read about it in this month's "Gourmet" magazine - which is about all things New York City!  In any case, I added the memorial to my "list", and I will try to get down there when I'm up there this weekend. "

Despite my own experience there, it's an incredibly interesting memorial that I doubt is frequently visited.  The memorial itself is supposed to commemorate the Irish famine, and it truly does a shoddy job of that, but instead it makes a very interesting statement on progress, immigration, and the economy.  It's also less than a block away from Ground Zero.  I definitely suggest stopping by.

[Dan-in-Toronto]

Comedians? Here are the first names that spring to mind.

Mel Brooks
Danny Kaye
Charlie Chaplin
Leslie Nielsen
Groucho Marks


Judy Holliday
Elaine May (the nightgown seen in A New Leaf)
Madeline Kahn
Cloris Leachman
Rosalind Russell
Joan Davis

[Dan-in-Toronto]

Mildred Natwick [Barefoot in the Park] has one of the best entrances in history.

I agree. I started laughing just thinking about it.

[Ben]

My, what a wonderful and moving group of posts from last night. As another outsider (albeit one who LOVED school and used it as an escape from other parts of my life) I can understand so much of what was written yesterday. I was lucky in that my suburban high school was big enough (my graduating class alone had over 600 students) that I didn't run into the difficult people too often and I always had my theatre to fall back on. It was my other escape. I didn't realize it at the time, but as years went on I began to understand how my donning different characters and playing parts allowed me an escape from myself during difficult times. And some of those performances even earned me a grudging respect from people who might otherwise had punched me out in the locker room. I'm happy with myself and who I've become over the years so, as many of you said last night, it does get better. It may take a while, but it can happen.

[Ben]

I saw Wicked on Tuesday and really enjoyed it. Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel are wonderful, Menzel especially. I love the work Kristin does. She's a comic gem and the audience eats her up. They adore her. Popular is a huge success. To use an old saw, she could read the phone book and be funny. But the amazing work done by IM is beautiful and sustained and grounded (I hate that word) in something so real. Defying Gravity is such a wonderful number for her. I think, after seeing Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town and Ms. Chenowith and IM, that Menzel has a very good chance at the Tony this year. The score is, IMHO, good, not great. Popular and Defying Gravity are excellent numbers performed wonderfully, but on the whole, I think the score is the weakest part of the show. I read the book and adored it so I wondered how they would make it a musical theatre piece. The changes they made to be able to put the piece on stage, I think, were necessary and good. The empathy (talking about outcasts again) and caring for Elphaba is still there, although I did miss some of the more intense moments between Elphie and Fiyero and the changes made at the end help to bring out the honestly good side of Glinda. I would like to see the show again from the Orchestra (I was in the upper reaches of the Gershwin, another barn-like theatre) so I can see things without the aid of binoculars but that will take a while since the show is not at the half-price booth yet and the entire orchestra is either $100 or $90. Yikes!

Jose, thanks for the Barbara Cook quote. I think DR Kerry still uses it on his profile. It's such a lovely piece and holds such meaning for many of us at this site.

Well, back to work. Robert Wood Johnson calls.

[td]

TD: I just sent the transcribed lyrics to "The Last Great Waltz" to der Brucer.  Hopefully he'll be sending them your way as well, in some form.

Jennifer's singing on the song is exactly right.  As is her timing!

And now everyone else is going to be wondering "What the fu.....?"

Ah, let  'em wonder!  I was going to 'splain, but careful note readers will remember the conversation from last week regarding song interpreters.
I'm looking forward to those lyrics; I've even had my mom & pop record shop put out an APB on that Mason Williams album, since I had no luck Kazaa-wise.  Strange, but Kazaa is where I found all of my Tom Lehrer songs. . . .

TOD:
Chaplin - I recently saw A KING IN NEW YORK and liked it, too.  For interested parties, Ms. Shani Wallis appears in this film.
Keaton - both Diane and Buster.
Judy Holiday
Katharine Hepburn - I know, her comedies were few and far between, but she was cherce.
Streisand in WHAT'S UP DOC, THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT and ALL NIGHT LONG
Barbara Harris in NASHVILLE, OH DAD POOR DAD and WHO IS HARRY KELLERMAN.
Harold Lloyd - love THE FRESHMAN
Jerry Lewis in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and WAY WAY OUT, to a lesser degree 3 ON A MATCH.
Gracie Allen - tops in my book.  Does anyone remember a George Burns special where Bernadette Peters did a remarkable Gracie with George?  The did a routine about Gracie's day at the return counter of a department store. . .
and of course, I love LUCY.

[William E. Lurie]

I think film comics are only as good as the screenplays they have to work with.  Jerry Lewis, for example, is very funny in some of his films but not funny at all in others.  Actually, I prefer actors who do comic roles.  Leslie Nielsen in the AIRPLANE films is funnier than many so-called "comics".

[Noel]

The page, yesterday, that contained the posts by Emily (meeting the Secretary General) and Jenny in Battery Park, was unbelievably compelling, just the sort of thing I tune in to HHW for.  Did anyone else notice the irony in Jenny's stating that her post wasn't eloquent?  My foot, it wasn't!

Writing this means I'll be late for work, as I must leave by 9:30.  Schoolmates ridiculed me mercilessly every day of elementary and high school.  Eventually, I got so tired of not being invited any place, I started inviting people over myself.  That improved the situation.

But I was spat upon, bullied, punched, called "faggot" and ostracized for a variety of sins, including getting A's, wearing green pants and being from New York.   I believed, as a child, and as a teen, that young people are cruel.

Jenny may not have a friend in her class at school, but she has plenty here (some in New York, even).

[Jennifer]

Hey everyone!

DR MBarnum: I'm back now.

DR George: Sorry about your loss.

DR WFO: Your posts made me cry.  I'm so sorry for all you are going through.

DR Jenny: Your posts also made me terribly sad.  It is unbelievable to me how people can act that way.  I think what Panni said about them being jealous is probably correct. But I think it's also that you are just so totally different from them (in a GOOD WAY).   You come across as intellectual, kind and mature beyond your years.  And they just want to act like immature spoiled brats.  Be strong, and thankfully you don't often have to do things just with these people.

And re: American Idol: I hated it.

I was so mad that they cut the 4 on Tuesday.  I was happy that John Peter Lewis was the fan choice.

I hate that the judges got to choose 3 to go through.  I wonder how it works.  Do they get to see who America chose? And then the judges discuss it? Or do they simply do it the way it was done on the show. One judge goes first and picks whoever they want, and then the next one chooses from there?

Me, I would be second-guessing the other judges to try to get all my favorites in! (for example Simon would have picked Jennifer Hudson, so why did randy choose her?).

[PennyO]

WFO- so sorry for your loss. No solace, probably, in reading this, but Community is where we get through this stuff alone. Solo journeys, all, but it sure is nice to have traveling companions.

BK - I reviewed yer book on bn.com

Funny:
the Marx Bros, of course.
The scene in The Man Who Loved Women, with Burt locked in the closet with the dog and the superglue, and all the rest of that sequence. I laughed so hard I hurt myself.
I was in love with Jerry Lewis as a kid.
Meryl Streep in Postcards made me howl.
The Marx Bros, minus Zeppo.
Early Woody A.
Kevin Kline in Soapdish.
My Favorite Year.
Bill Murray with whatsisname who directed Groundhog Day... what's his name??? more coffee is needed before I proceed. Jeez, what's his name?

[MBarnum]

Welcome back Jennifer!

Jenny, my early high school years were not particularly happy years for me either...and like you I had no friends in my class, all of my good friends were in grades above or below me. Once I got involved with theater things began to look up and I found people I could identify with, but I was a scrawny 99 lb. weakling back then and got picked on a lot. I was also quite shy. Actually I was probably picked on more because I was shy then for being 99lbs.

Things will get better. My life is so different now, and yours will be too someday! Just be sure to also focus on the positive things in your life. Your health, your friends, and all the things that make you happy....particularly remember that high school will be over with some day soon! LOL!

[MBarnum]

Funny movie poeple:

Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton
Abbott and Costello
Edna Mae Oliver
W.C Fields
(the early) Little Rascals
The Three Stooges (all of them)
Harold Lloyd
Jerry Lewis (sometimes)
Steve Martin
Ellen DeGeneres
Eve Arden
Marx Bros.

[Matt H.]

The only "modern" comedians that I like on any regular basis are Steve Martin (especially in ALL OF ME) and Woody Allen in many of his films.

All my other favorites are from long ago, and as others have said, they stand the test of time marvelously:

Charlie Chaplin
Buster Keaton
W.C. Fields
The Marx Bros.
Mae West
Betty Hutton
Judy Holliday
Madeline Kahn

[Matt H.]

First, wasn't Leah Labelle's reprise of her song excruciating last night! I honestly had to hold my ears it was so terribly offkey, off rhythm, and unpleasant. She has to be the worst singer ever to go through to the finals.

DR Ron was right. I will be shocked if the final two aren't Latoya and Fantasia. Of course, over the course of weeks, people can improve dramatically with the daily rehearsals and vocal assistance from professionals. Perhaps one of the others will be able to surprise us.

I bought used the American Idol Season 2 - World's Greatest Love Songs CD and have been playing it this week. On record, every one of the finalists had a pleasing, ingratiating sound. Don't know how much studio manipulation it took for them to achieve this since many of these sang offkey live last year under the pressure of TV lights, cameras, and a huge nationwide audience. But on the basis of just those songs, any one of last year's finalists is easily better than all but maybe three of this year's. Amazing.

A final note about Ruben Studdard's performance last night: uncertain pitch, cracked or unreached high notes, and a total lack of stage charisma. Maybe these finalists aren't so horrible after all.

[Panni]

Good morning. Has anyone mentioned Carole Lombard yet? And Jack Benny in TO BE OR NOT TO BE.
Many faves have already been mentioned several times, so I'll list some that haven't... Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
Cary Grant - one of THE best screen comedians. Made the tight rope walk of romatic leading man and comic look easy.
It's twue she's been mentioned, but Madeline Khan makes me laugh from the gut.
John Cleese (A FISH CALLED WANDA. And although it's TV - FAWLTY TOWERS)
The Keaton twins - Diane and Buster
Danny Faye, Bob Hope, Harold Llloyd, Laurel and Hardy (to this day I think of them as "Stan es Pan" which is how they are known in Hungary)
That's it for now. More later, perhaps.

[Ron Pulliam]

I saw Wicked on Tuesday and really enjoyed it. Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel are wonderful, Menzel especially. I love the work Kristin does. She's a comic gem and the audience eats her up. They adore her. Popular is a huge success. To use an old saw, she could read the phone book and be funny. But the amazing work done by IM is beautiful and sustained and grounded (I hate that word) in something so real. Defying Gravity is such a wonderful number for her. I think, after seeing Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town and Ms. Chenowith and IM, that Menzel has a very good chance at the Tony this year. The score is, IMHO, good, not great. Popular and Defying Gravity are excellent numbers performed wonderfully, but on the whole, I think the score is the weakest part of the show. I read the book and adored it so I wondered how they would make it a musical theatre piece. The changes they made to be able to put the piece on stage, I think, were necessary and good.

I'm sincerely glad you enjoyed it.  I think you'll find, over time, that "The Wizard and I", "I'm Not That Girl," "I Hope You're Happy" and "For Good" will be the songs you most often listen to.

"I wasn't born to the rose and the pearl....he could be that boy....but I'm not that girl."

And "For Good" breaks my heart every time I hear it!

[bk]

Good comedy choices, thus far.  I agree about Mildred Natwick's entrance in Barefoot in the Park - such huge laughs in the theater you missed half the dialogue.  She was also wonderfully funny in The Court Jester, which is my favorite Danny Kaye film.  I am a huge Chaplin fan, a Keaton fan, a Harold Lloyd fan, a Marx Bros. fan, a Jack Benny fan (especially To Be or Not To Be),  and so many others.

[Matt H.]

I didn't mention my favorite film performances of my choices:

Chaplin - I think for hilarity, THE CIRCUS. (CITY LIGHTS is a more affecting dramatic and comedy performance inside a masterpiece)

Keaton - SHERLOCK, JR.

W.C. Fields - IT'S A GIFT

Marx Bros. - HORSE FEATHERS

Mae West - I'M NO ANGEL

Betty Hutton - DREAM GIRL

Judy Holliday - THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC

Madeline Kahn - WHAT'S UP, DOC?