I am a big fan of sketch comedy. Ever since I lived in Germany and this nice geeky kid named Trevor introduced me to Monty Python, I have loved sketch comedy. Sketch provides a unique format in which to take the most ludicrous and over-the-top ideas and showcase them. So here are my top five favorites.
5) Saturday Night Live- The most famous, probably. It has launched more careers than American Idol and serves as the showcase of the some of the funniest things I have ever seen (Will Ferrel in the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches and as Harry Carey come to mind)
4) Mr. Show With Bob and David- An HBO comedy show starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross (amongst others). This show was great because it combined the alt comedy sensibility of Cross with Odenkirk's obvious love of the Monty Python-ish absurd. Featured appearances by great comedians like Brian Posehn, Dana Gould, Sarah Silverman and Tom Kenny (the voice of Spongebob)
3) The State- This may be the one I quote the most often. The members of The State went on to be responsible for fully half the original programming of Comedy Central from the 1990's onward. If anybody ever tells you that they want to dip their balls in something, this is what they are talking about.
2) The Kids In The Hall- The Kids embraced the more surreal and artistic sides of sketch comedy and their classic TV show remains some of the most bizarre and hillarious television available.
1) Monty Python's Flying Circus-Really the best there is. Not only because of the two brilliant films (and couple of pretty good films) they produced but because they BEGAN the sketch tradition as we know it. Sure, they were drawing on the British comedy tradition (most of them having been writers for British television) but they really created something so bizarre as to be that rarest of things, original.
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Quickly Now
This is going to be short because I had a bizarre web browser issue last night preventing me from posting and I just fixed it.
So let me just say that the few new comic movie/tv projects I've heard about have me very excited. In addition to Green Lantern movie there is going to be a Wonder Woman TV show (at least a pilot but I imagine the show will get picked up), Alias Jessica Jones (from the Marvel comic Alias, about an ex-hero turned private detective), a Green Lantern animated series and animated movie and an Ultimate Spider-man animated series.
It's a good time to be a comic nerd.
Learning Curve
Today marks the first day that I did the comic by myself. Prior to this, I had done the comic, colored it and sent it to my friend Steve Napierski (of Dueling Analogs) who put it in a panel and posted it for me. I now know how to do this so I am operating on my own now. The downside to this is that Steve would occasionally fix small art imperfections and other things for me, making the comic look better. I'm doing this on my own now so please be patient, as both my skills as an artist and as a user of Photoshop are in their fledgling stages.
A Different Kind of List
There are several actors and actresses who I just love. So, if I were making a movie. With about a hundred main characters, here is who would be in it:
Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Bruce Campbell, Kristen Bell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, The Avellan Twins, Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Robert Englund, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Josh Holloway, Donald Glover, Alyson Hannigan, James Marsters, Karen Gillan, Matthew Smith, William B. Davis, Zachary Quinto, Harrison Ford, Ian McDirmid, Nathan Fillion, Drew Barrymore, John Cleese, Dave Foley, Jorge Garcia, Lance Reddick, Seth Green, Kevin Nealon, Jeffrey Combs, Julie Benz, Jewel Staite, Mike Judge, Christopher Eccleston, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, John Barrowman, Rick Moranis, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Al Pacino, Jason Lee, Michael J. Fox, Daniel Craig, Nick Offerman, Johnny Depp, Amanda Bynes, Eddie Izzard, John Cusack, Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Woody Harrelson, Robert DeNiro, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mos Def, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Timothy Dalton, John C. Reilly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Jeremy Irons, Dominique Swain, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Colm Meaney, Scott Bakula, Gary Sinese, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Downey, Jr., Dana Gould, Meat Loaf, Tim Curry, Jessica Harper, Lauren Ambrose and Michael Keaton.
And if you think this kind of list is easy to make, you are wrong. Just wait until I cast the sequel.
All Stars
I am very much looking forward to the release of the animated 'All-Star Superman'. The comic was one of the best things I have ever read in any medium. I have enjoyed several of DC's straight-to-DVD animated features (most especially New Frontier, Green Lantern and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths). So in that spirit here is a list of other DC projects they should translate to the animated medium.
– Kingdom Come- The tale of the last days of DC's superheroes as Superman re-learns to put the 'man' back in 'Superman'.
– Crisis On Infinite Earths- Just seeing the 200-300 or so heroes all together would be awesome.
– Batman: The Killing Joke- Alan Moore's masterpiece and one of the works that elevated the Joker to his status as one of the greatest villains of all time.
– Batman: Year One- A gritty and realistic take on the Batman's first year as a crimefighter. And what makes it so great is that nothing here is unbelievable. Suspension of disbelief is NOT required.
– Batman: The Long Halloween- A masterpiece and if rendered in Tim Sale's art style I would literally offer to have this DVD's baby. Plus you could follow it up with Dark Victory.