I first heard this song on Dr. Demento, on WCOZ, in the early 1980’s. I didn’t know it at the time (I was a kid) that this was a satire of the spoken word poem Desiderata (Latin for “Things to be desired”), I only knew it was hilarious. Les Crane released it as a spoken word single which was a hit. I vaguely remember seeing posters with this poem on it, as a child in the 70’s, but I wouldn’t swear by it.
Melissa Manchester is the female singer on this, which is cool. If you know the poem being satired, then this may be funnier, but I think it’s still funny regardless.
This is the radio station I used to listen to Dr, Demento.
Ren & Stimpy were the progenitors of the absurdist animation of Adult Swim, which led to Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Harvey Birdman, The Brak Show… all those first gen Adult Swim master. Ren & Stimpy made it happen, and it was shown on Nickelodeon. Holy Shit.
If you’re a Gen Xer like me, or anyone else on earth, you know of Ren & Stimpy. They’re not forgotten. They just lasted a good season or so, because of the mercurial (difficult) nature of creator John K. Who cares? This is about happy happy joy joy and dark humor.
This is my hands down favorite episode ever of Ren & Stimpy. There is what is, quite possibly the greatest McGuffin of all time. The History Eraser Button. This episode is so funny, that back in the early 90’s, when we were all young, my buddy Eric called me long distance, from Florida, and played this entire episode to me, over the phone. I died. It was so funny. So watch it and share a flicker of happy happy joy joy. Or don’t.
As if Rick and Morty needed anything else to make it awesome. This show is a game changer, like the Simpsons were in the 80’s. I am probably super late to the party on this, but I was watching the recent Rick and Morty shorty I wrote about. The piece itself is hilarious enough, but seeing the nod to Futurama made me fairly burst with joy and good humor. A crossover episode would be as amazing as it is impossible. Nicely done.
I remember watching this on HBO in 1988 or 1989. I recorded it on my super snazzy hifi vhs recorder. I was all about recording back then. Boxes of tapes. Simpsons, The Young Ones, Blackadder, HBO comedy specials…. these are the days my friends. It could be Franky. It could be very fresh and clean.
… but I digress. The Appointments of Dennis Jennings is a bleak, stark, monotonous piece of dark humor, that has (unfortunately) fallen off the radar of pop culture. It’s a shame because it is brilliant. Grim. That is the vibe that carries through this piece. Funny is another word. It’s really, darkly, cumulatively so, but funny nonetheless.
“Why would anybody sleep with a parachute on?”
I hadn’t watched it in at least 20 years, maybe longer, but I was reminded of it and thanks to YouTube, it’s available for all.
Steven Wright does his whole monotone deadpan thing, to perfection. Laurie Metcalf, who was hilarious on Roseanne, and Rowan Motherfucking Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr. Bean) are brilliant. This film takes time to put together, but it’s really rewarding, and completely deserving of an Oscar.
It has the dread and unease of a Terry Gilliam film, like 12 Monkeys but with none of the danger, tension, or life.
Brazil sans whimsy.
It’s kind of like a mashup of the non scary parts of Jacob’s Ladder and The Lobster.
It’s absolutely worth the half hour to watch it. After all, it won an Oscar. 🙂
This 90 minute conversation between Mel Brooks & Conan O’Brien is pure gold. I love Mel Brooks. I love his movies (most of them), I love his humor… I love him! He’s wonderfully dynamic and energetic, even at the age of 87. He still is quick as a whip.
Serious Jibber Jabber is a web series done by Conan in which he does an old fashioned (think Dick Cavett, or David Frost) long format interview. No commercial breaks. No band. Just the subject and the host.
Thankfully we have a good host and a spectacular subject in Mel Brooks & Conan O’Brien. Mel’s career is long and legendary. He wrote for the Titan of modern comedy, Sid Caesar, in which he worked with Carl Reiner, Woody Allen, and other luminaries. THEN he wrote for Jerry Lewis (which I didn’t know until I watched this), and created the great spy parody series, Get Smart. So many funny!
Mel Brooks has been popping lately in my feeds, mainly due to the death of Gene Wilder, and is own 90th birthday. 90 is the new 70. Stan Lee is in his 90s and still working. In fact he’s in Portland right now, for ComicCon.
Yes, people are living well, and living well, into their 90s, but it still means that our time with them is short. Take the time to appreciate a man who honestly had a hand in shaping our culture. (for better or worse)
My dear friend Dale, with whom I write on MoviePilot, and share a blog, has a routine. Every Friday night he has revels. Revels means booze and bad things. This means that as payment for a wonderful night of debauchery, Saturday is a day or recovery.
I will usually get a text mid afternoon Saturday saying, “My hangover is vast.” Then he orders a floppy pie (pizza) and comes back to the land of the living.
This time I went another way with it and Dale went with me. Good stuff.
I am one of the zillions of people who love Rick And Morty. In my opinion this show is as revolutionary and next level, as the Simpsons was back in 1987. It’s so brilliant, poignant, brutal, and FUNNY, that it became insanely popular almost instantly.
The entire universe awaits Season 3, which is set to premiere around the end of the year (hooray). Production has progressed to the animated sketch stage (I’m sure there’s a term for this level of animation.), which is what we were shown at Comic Con. It shows Rick being Rick.
He apparently has to ‘evolve’ back into a human body, climbing the hierarchy from bug, to rat, to …. what next? Something horrific no doubt.
Totally Improvised Rick and Morty Mini Story
The universe sees that we hunger and lust for Rick and Morty season 3, and she bestows upon us this off the cuff, improvised live episode like manna from heaven.
I don’t know the context of this little slice of fried gold, but it seems like the cast and writers just threw it together. It feels live not contrived.
One thing I love is watching Justin Roiland voice both Rick and Morty in real time. The guy is talented. Dan Harmon is like the Dungeon Master, as he throws out information and scenarios for the cast to respond to.
The Summer of Summer
Guess what? Summer goes to Harvard, Morty amputates his legs and has jets on his stumps (poop is involved), and Summer shoots John Lennon. Yeah. Wubba lubba dub dub, indeed. It’s pretty funny, and I actually prefer this to the pencil sketch preview of Rick the Roach.
Both videos do succeed in making me hanker for Rick and Morty Season 3 all the more hungrily.
I never thought I would be writing this, but I want you to watch this video of Norm Macdonald hitler jokes.
I never really cared for the comedy of Norm MacDonald, but there was one night while I was gaming, with YouTube playing in the background. The Christopher Hitchens debate ended, and Norm MacDonald fired up on auto play. I was busy gaming so I went with it.
Call it Stockholm Syndrome if you must, but after awhile I just busted out laughing. It wasn’t the Hitler jokes, it was a truly filthy conversation with Gilbert Gottfried regarding Angelina Jolie.
Give it a look/listen. You can totally just listen to this as you toil. I was surprised how much I laughed.
This is what I enjoyed, legally and with the full blessings of the Creator
This is a crosspost from another blog on which I write. This version is better.
Last evening, upon returning from Friday mass, I was moved to pray for the fine people of our great nation.
Not really. I got home super late last night, and it being Friday, I decided, “Fuck it. I’m going to get insanely high anyway.” So I did, and it’s legal here, so I’m not only a hero, I’m a great citizen.
So, a candy, a crazy potent brownie… (I’m not kidding. 500 mg THC brownie the size of 2/3 of a credit card. I have been nibbling it like a little mouse all week), a couple bowls of Animal Cookies weed (see the leafly review), AND infinite hits of the vape pen later (no half measures for this man)… I was super high.
I was so high that I decided to watch some crazy YouTube videos. I ended up watching/listening to old Fleetwood Mac songs. Old ones, from when they were a hard blues band, all the way to the fluff of the Rumours era. It was lovely. I dozed, I floated. I lucid dreamed Stevie Nicks vs the Green Manalishi… it was lovely. THEN the above video played (the blessing/curse of autoplay) and I was ripped from revery, and faced with this guy.
Crazy YouTube Videos = A Metaphor For 21st Century Life
Ok. Watch this video while you read this. This guy, Marvin Fleer, is so amazingly information rich…. it’s like Finnegan’s Wake on drums. Here’s why.
His drum setup is insane. Look at all the cymbals.
His drums seem wedged between a built in china cabinet and… another built in china cabinet?
I don’t know how, but I am sure that his mom is no more than 10 feet away
Little Lies? You’re going to live drum to an 80’s pop song from Fleetwood Mac? That’s your showpiece?
He’s not great
He’s not terrible
He has shared this with the world.
Half a million people have watched this
Despite half a million in the audience, our man is obviously very alone (mom doesn’t count)
We have only been able to share videos of ourselves doing shit like this for a few years. This is a new phenomenon.
Marvin Fleer, you are the shining exemplar of this day and age. You are the zeitgeist. Go forth and drum forever. There can be great wisdom in crazy YouTube videos.
