Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America

[ChronoGrl]

I'm completely geeking out over this comedy retrospective that's currently on PBS. I highly recommend it.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/makeemlaugh/

The first episode, Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?: Nerds, Jerks, & Oddballs covers everyone from Woody Allen to Steve Martin to Phyllis Diller and beyond. Fantastic documentary pseudo-biography coverage of the history of dorks in comedy and that left me giggling all the way through.

I think that Phyllis Diller stuck out to me particularly. While I've heard that name before, I had never actually seen her stand-up. What a brilliant, cutting-edge, before-her-time feminist. It's fascinating and inspiring to see a woman who, in an era where women were expected to play the little housewife, instead lampooned her deadbeat husband and her mother-in-law for a change.

And we get to see early Martin - You canNOT go wrong with that. Clips of him with Bill Murray and Gilda Radner on SNL as the iconic "geeks." What fun!

Though, for some reason, Urkle rears his ugly head... But that's OK. I forgive it.

If you have PBS, definitely check it out. It's a LOT of fun.

I am now watching the next episode Honey, I’m Home!: Breadwinners and Homemakers - Not as good as the first one, but I'm partial to the geek comics.

Has anyone watched this show? Anyone else here interested in documentaries? And if YOU were to write this documentary, who would YOU put in it? Who do YOU think are quintessential comedians of the world?

[Despare]

Great series, the five minute or so piece on Archie Bunker had me hoping everybody here had saw it before they voted out all In The Family. As for Urkle, he's a pretty iconic nerd I'd say... despite the flaws of the show.

[ChronoGrl]

That's good point. I can make an argument of how insipid the show was but he IS a true nerd icon and definitely deserved to have at least a mention.

I thought that the coverage on the Archie Bunker show was fantastic - I had honestly never seen the show and I had NO idea how must it pushed the envelop in terms of his bigotry and racism (and people say that Family Guy pushes the envelop - Well, here's its obvious predecessor and inspiration).

I'll have to watch the second episode again. I only watched the first half and then had to crash.

What DID come to my attention though was Seinfeld talking about the show and about how he and Larry Sanders would sit and talk about the show and talk about nothing... And the idea of Seinfeld and Sanders sitting in a room together talking about nothing... Good GOD that made me want to slam my head against a wall.

[Despare]

I think I'm going to pick up the DVD set, I never get a chance to catch it upon original airing.

[neverending]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

What DID come to my attention though was Seinfeld talking about the show and about how he and Larry Sanders would sit and talk about the show and talk about nothing... And the idea of Seinfeld and Sanders sitting in a room together talking about nothing... Good GOD that made me want to slam my head against a wall.

You mean Larry David. Larry Sanders is the name of the character Gary Shandling played on the Larry Sanders Show.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by neverending

You mean Larry David. Larry Sanders is the name of the character Gary Shandling played on the Larry Sanders Show.

LOL

Yes. Yes I do. :o