Make 'Em Laugh: The funny business of America to air on PBS!

[Ilikemuppets]

Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business Of America airing on PBS!

It airs January 14 and I want to watch this so badly!

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

 

[CensoredAlso]

I watched it, it was fun! Great analysis of classic comedians like Phyllis Diller, Robin Williams, Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman. They're going to be showing the next chapters over the next few weeks, on Wednesdays.

The PBS website has a poll on who your favorite classic comedian is (the Marx Brothers are #3, yay! : D)

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

P.S. Notice a classic comedy duo surprisingly left out of the poll?

 

[Winslow Leach]

P.S. Notice a classic comedy duo surprisingly left out of the poll?

Abbott and Costello? (my own favorite comedy duo)

 

[CensoredAlso]

Abbott and Costello? (my own favorite comedy duo)

Ding ding! Very strange oversight. I mean really doesn't, "Who's on first?" ring a bell? !

 

[Winslow Leach]

Ding ding! Very strange oversight. I mean really doesn't, "Who's on first?" ring a bell? !

LOL, I know...

I haven't seen the series yet; I first heard about it a couple of weeks ago when I was in Barnes & Noble. There was a nearly 400-page hardcover companion book to the special that was pretty interesting.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I haven't seen the series yet; I first heard about it a couple of weeks ago when I was in Barnes & Noble. There was a nearly 400-page hardcover companion book to the special that was pretty interesting.

Ooo, I'll have to check that out. This past Wednesday was about the nerds and underdog comics. Then there's other chapter on January 21st and 28th. The 28th is about the wise guys of comedy and the summary includes Groucho Marx which is great, though it does annoy me when people just talk about him and not the other brothers, hehe.

Btw, Winslow, nice signature!

 

[Winslow Leach]

Btw, Winslow, nice signature!

Thanks! It's from Animal Crackers.

 

[Drtooth]

I like how they seemlessly went from Andy Kaufman to Saturday Night Live to Steve Urkel. Can't say that wasn't an odd association.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Thanks! It's from Animal Crackers.

Capt. Spaulding: How much would you charge to run into an open manhole?
Ravelli: Just the cover charge.
Capt. Spaulding: Well, drop in sometime.
Ravelli: Sewer.
Capt. Spaulding: Well, we cleaned that up pretty well.

Can't really do better.

I like how they seemlessly went from Andy Kaufman to Saturday Night Live to Steve Urkel. Can't say that wasn't an odd association.

Yeah that was surprising, lol. I mean, I do like Family Matters and thought Urkel was a good creation for underdogs. But it's really touchy when you start calling things classic that aren't really that old, heh.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah that was surprising, lol. I mean, I do like Family Matters and thought Urkel was a good creation for underdogs. But it's really touchy when you start calling things classic that aren't really that old, heh.

I think they were basically trying to catch on a theme, and used it more as an example, since they did pair it up with 70's SNL clips. Of course, I have to say, I felt the Sitcom segment was truncated a little too much, and while The Simpsons and all the family sitcoms had that common thread of family, they went to Seinfeld almost out of the blue, like they were talking about another subject all together. Really seems like they needed 2 segments about sitcoms, one dealing with Families, the other dealing with other subjects... i would have loved to see something about Get Smart.

However, I just LOVE how they connected All in the Family to The Cosby show, using Cosby's vocal criticism of the show to seaway into his own.