Impressions. . .

... usually, I consider them a lowly form of comedy ..sort of a cheap cop-out alternative to writing actual jokes. But there are some exceptional ones that have cracked me up. It's the choice of subject to impersonate, and even more so, what they do when "in-persona". I've seen so many unimpressive impressions where the joke is "Ha, ha, listen to how much I sound like so & so.." and so they don't actually say anything funny, they'll just like, talk about ordering coffee like Christopher Walken, and proceed to do a coffee order.

I bring this up because... well do YOU ever get an impression stuck in your head like you do a song? Tonight I was doing jokey jazz-scat singing about stew (a side effect, perhaps, of quaffing 2 glasses of my homemade smack-ya-upside-tha-haid wine) and it was coming out a smidge like Will Ferrell's impression of Robert Goulet. Which I ADORE. I got to pondering that, and was compelled to track it down online. I'm pissed at NBC, because they don't have --in their otherwise very extensive video archive--this sketch. It's quite possibly the awesomest thing Ferrell did on SNL and they don't have it (probably due to repeated use of the N-word). And I'm sort of peeved at YouTube too, for only having one video of it, and a *really* shitty quality one at that.
I'm embedding it anyway, because it MUST be shared...me mucho gusto.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for crooner impersonations, because I love this too--

Also, Bill Hader does a fine impression of Vincent Price which I very much enjoy . Vinnie Price was such an intrinsically funny character anyways (I shall make with a link, I don't wanna be an embeddaholic). And I am incapable of seeing a hot tub or even hearing mention of one, without wanting to break out into "Hot Tub!! Wanna git in the wah-tuh!!"

So, audience participation time--what is your fave impression? If you don't have one, you can borrow one of mine. . .

Banal Interlude from my Workday 9/21/10

I had Bob from Development ask me if we had any whiteboard cleaner spray. I think he’s prepping for a presentation of sorts, probably for board members, as he does lots of those presentations. Anywhooooo, I said, I wasn’t sure if we had any on hand, I didn’t *think* so, but let’s check the sundry oddments shelf of the supply room anyway, just to be absolutely positive. Well-- there wasn’t any (though I swear that once upon a time, I’d seen some on the premises…y’know anything that isn’t absolutely and immediately essential, Larry is apt to cart off to our off-site storage place…a place I have dubbed “the scary cage” )

And, so I sez to Bob, I sez-- “ Gee, whiteboard cleaner. Isn’t that kind of a luxury?? Don’t you think the board members would be more impressed with you—and your resourcefulness—if you hocked a loogey on the whiteboard and used your tie for a wiper??”

Luckily Bob is a good egg…an amiable egg…with a sense of humor. There are some here I would NOT try that line on…

the final countdown

I love me a good pop culture countdown. The 50 Greatest Romantic Comedys or The 100 Best Ever Movie Quotes or some such shit. And, unlike a lot of schmucks out there, I do not read such things to get my argue on. Seems like everytime EW prints one of these articles, they have to do a whole follow up article, 2 issues later to give honorable mentions to all the movies or shows or whatever that they didn't include that rabid fans wrote in about. And these missives are generally accusatory, "HOW COULD YOU FORGET Mel's
Diner in your list of the Top 50 TV Eateries??" You sense that they feel this non-inclusion could only stem from a grevious (and moronic) oversight, and certainly *not * that the writer was of a different opinion.

So even though countdowns/lists tend to generate moronic, argumentative feedback, I still like such pieces. It is a good way to get introduced to a song/artist/ movie/show, etc that you had never checked out, maybe had never even heard of before.

A good example is Paste magazine's "Top 23 Sci-Fi Songs" that I mentioned a few weeks ago. I ended up buying 3 songs off iTunes that I'd discovered on that list!

Now , I may very well make some purchases off THIS LIST that I came across just today. If nothing else, y'know, one could be gettin' some literary-vicarious style. Bow chicka wow wowwwww.

Yesterday I took a gander at a list compiled by nerve.com : 'The Ten Strangest Celebrity Records of all Time" (check it out here) . Oh you had me at "strangest". That trumps finding the "cool new thang"--stumbling on to something odd & obscure. This (below) was on nerve's list & it for sure fits the bill for "odd & obscure" but also I find it inexplicably awesome. BEHOLD--

Ha, haa. "I hate you clown" Also, Phyllis Diller singing "Satisfaction" is not to be missed. The broad sounds like she needs an oxygeen tank...stat!