Strange bedfellows
Category Archives: Yankee Swap
Christmas: The Final Clipdown
SNL might not have always been funny. In fact, it might have never really been funny. But it’s always been topical.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Just try to watch the first few minutes of the Community Christmas episode and not get into some (non-denomination) holiday spirit.
Vodpod videos no longer available.And before Dwight was Recyclops he would just come into the office with the Christmas goose. You know, before things got weird.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Merry Happy to all! And to all I’m off for buttermilk pancakes!
Christmas Eve Clipdown: Muppets. Killing. It. Christmas. Style.
On Christmas Eve My True Loves Gave to Me: One awesome Muppet video.
As if you didn’t know that the Muppets have just been dominating the last part of 2009, they dropped by Jimmy Fallon to put a festive exclamation point on what has been somewhat of a Muppet resurgence (it was a good year for The Roots and Jimmy Fallon as well, in that order). The Muppets have traditionally done some of their best work during the holidays, and this is no exception, recreating their classic collaboration with John Denver, the “12 Days of Christmas,” this time with Fallon subbing in for the late great Denver (and a few Muppet substitutions as well: hello Sam the Eagle, Pepe and Rizzo; goodbye Janis, Dr. Teeth and Stadler & Waldorf. Times have changed).
Vodpod videos no longer available.And in the spirit of the holiday here’s the original:
And because it’s the giving season, and I’m guessing you can’t get enough of the Muppets and Christmas, here’s some more Muppet holiday cheer: A Muppets Christmas – Letters to Santa, A Muppet Family Christmas, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and, for good measure, Jim Henson’s The Christmas Toy (which was arguably later ripped off by Toy Story).
Sidenote: At last night’s pub trivia the final question was “What are all the gifts from the ’12 Days of Christmas?'” Having just watched the Muppets and Fallon, I had an ace in the hole. I still could only name about 8 of the gifts (hey, what do you expect from a Jew with a terrible voice?), but thanks to Fozzie I knew that day 7 brought sevens swans a swimming. Much appreciated, Fozz!
Enjoy! Merry Muppet Christmas Eve!
Filed under Muppets, Nostalgia Corner, Talkies, Virulent, Yankee Swap
Christmas Clipdown: ‘Lil Pete & Rite-Aid Have the Same Goal
Was there a show more ahead of its time, more under-appreciated, than Nickelodeon’s Adventures of Pete & Pete? Freaks and Geeks, you say? Okay, maybe. But Pete & Pete is surely up there, and growing from a string of one-minute shorts aired on Nickelodeon during commercial breaks into a full-fledged 22-min series, it featured some of the most unique, quirky characters and stories on TV (back when being “quirky” was still a good thing). Even though it aired on Nickelodeon, and followed a set of young redheaded brothers, it was far beyond the traditional kiddie fare, attracting guest stars like Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Elliott and Bebe Neuwirth, and could be viewed as one of the first single camera, laugh track-free comedies. Perhaps you could even say that Pete & Pete paved the way for shows like Arrested Development. But, let’s not get off to topic, that’s a discussion for another day. Right now it’s all about Christmas.
Pete & Pete often traded in holiday-themed episodes, including Valentine’s Day, Halloween and New Year’s Eve (my favorite would be “Time Tunnel,” set during the Autumnal Equinox, which is not technically a holiday but worth including because of the Pete’s commitment to time travel, something that really hit home with me (make sure you consume plenty of riboflavin!)). Surprisingly, it took them until the third season to tackle Christmas, presenting us with “O Christmas Pete,” in which Little Pete (Danny Tamberelli, before he lost his boyish charm and went on to join All That), in typical Little Pete fashion, attempts to keep Christmas going year-round and battles the evil garbageman, a typical Pete & Pete villain (they loved to utilize their civil servants).
Keep it going with Part 2 and then the exciting conclusion!
Sidenote: About 7 years ago, after a Yankee game, I swear that I saw Danny Tamberelli outside the stadium. I yelled “Little Pete,” but he did not acknowledge me in the slightest. As a result, I’m positive it was him.
Seriously though, Pete & Pete is probably the best thing ever to air on Nickelodeon (and that’s no small feat (see: Rocko’s Modern Life, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, to name a few)) and probably deserved to be on network TV. And you can quote me on that (seriously, please quote me, I could use the traffic).
Filed under Count Bleh, Discos and Dragons, Good Humor, Nicktoons, Nostalgia Corner, Snick, Yankee Swap
Christmas Clipdown: A Seaver Family Christmas
Even though the cast of Growing Pains was made up of two Jews and a Canadian it contributed its fair share of Christmas themed episodes (likely somewhat due to the presence of at least one Jesus freak). To continue getting us in the holiday spirit we present “The Kid” from season 2, in which Ben, ever the lovable scamp, brings home a runaway for the holidays. Will she revert to her street rat tendencies? Or will her heart by warmed by the goodwill of the Seavers? Watch and find out…
Growing Pains would revisit this premise years later when Mike brought home juvenile delinquent Luke Brower. Of course, this particular hoodlum was played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and he’d stick around for longer than a very special episode.
What’s your favorite Christmas gutter punk memory?
Filed under Growing Pains, Yankee Swap
SNL & James Franco Hit Christmas Break Early: You Can’t Squint Funny
It’s getting harder and harder to write these SNL commentaries; not because I don’t have anything to say, but because I’m afraid that I’m going to sound redundant, as it seems that I have the same reaction almost every week. Occasionally there’s a funny, or at least a buzzworthy, sketch, or a Digital Short that goes viral, or a host that either succeeds beyond expectations or crashes spectacularly, but for the most part, week in and week out it’s becoming the same show. Starting to feel like a broken record.
James Franco had a fairly successful debut as host last season (although I can only seem to remember the glossy Gossip Girl send-up “Murray Hill“), but in the period leading up to this weekend’s show (indeed since Franco was announced as the anchor in the Blake Lively-Taylor Lautner-James Franco hosting triumvirate) it seemed there was a feeling that Franco was going to be some sort of SNL savior, that he’s developed into a comedy wunderkind. Now, his turn on General Hospital may be generating laughs, but it’s not necessarily comedy (in fact, if you listen to Franco, it’s “performance art“). And the very reason he was hailed for his comedic performance in last year’s Pineapple Express and his subsequent SNL hosting gig was precisely because he was playing against type. Before that time he was identified more with his previous characters: the quiet cool of James Dean, Freaks & Geeks sensitive bad boy Daniel Desario, and petulant, moody Spider-man friend turned enemy turn friend Harry Osborne. Franco was so successful in Pineapple Express because it was somewhat unexpected. However, now it seems that he’s planted himself in the comedy camp, or at least as some sort of genre chameleon or Renaissance Man, moving between comedy, serious drama (Milk), daytime soap operas and Columbia University. And with this shift, we’re now less surprised with Franco’s comedy aptitude, and then perhaps set the bar a little too high for his second SNL go-around.
Which is not to say he was anywhere near January Jones territory, not even in the same stratosphere. He was enthusiastic, confident and capable. But he also spent the majority of the broadcast squinting severely which gave off the impression that either a) he was struggling to see the cue cards without the use of prescription lenses, b) his eyes are particularly sensitive to the bright studio lights, or c) he was really, really high. His giggly demeanor and off-beat rhythms didn’t help dissuade the viability of option C. During the monologue if felt like I was looking at French Stewart, not James Franco. But he clearly felt very at home, and up for anything (including making out with Will Forte).
Keep reading: Greatest Hits, the return of Fart Face and belated thoughts
Filed under Analysis, Discos and Dragons, Saturday Night Live, Yankee Swap
H(appy + anukkah)!!!!
Sorry about the title, just took the GREs and I must have factoring on the brain.
Anyway! Happy Festival of Lights! Hope you have your menorah ready to light, latkes ready to burn, dreidel ready to spin, and Hanukkah gelt ready not to eat and eventually just throw away a month from now. It’s the most wonderful time of the (Jewish) year! As such, enjoy this clip of Stephen Colbert listening to the merits of Hanukkah, and, ultimately, deciding it’s not for him:
Vodpod videos no longer available.For night #1 I received socks, which might sound hackneyed and lame but is actually a gift I look forward to every year. Cause, hey, who can’t use a good pair of socks once a year?
But I received an even better gift later in the night:
Turns out that Community‘s Alison Brie is a member of the tribe! (for those of you who eschew for those puerile 22-minute network comedies you might know her better as Mrs. Pete Campbell on Mad Men) And don’t worry, I cross referenced with IMDB and Wikipedia to make sure Brie, and not just the character, is Jewish. And it turns out that as a child she performed at the Los Feliz Jewish Center, just a hop, skip and a jump down the road from here!
Boy, they didn’t have girls like that at Temple Beth Shalom.
Filed under Woody Allen, Bar Mitzvahs & Bagels, Yankee Swap
Way to Ruin Christmas, ‘SNL’
So maybe now we know why SNL seemed particularly Kristen Wiig-light this past weekend.
She must have been working on new Gilly material, as the Washington Post reports that Wiig, as Gilly, will host a “brand-new”* two-hour Christmas** special entitled “SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas.” Which basically translates to “SNL Presents: A Series of Repetitive Bits Sandwiched Between the Same Christmas Sketches We Have Been Showing for Twenty Years.”
We really have no problem with replaying the Christmas classics, but hosted by Gilly? In Seth’s Meyer’s own words, really?!?! I had begun to think the tide was turning against Gilly (and somewhat against Wiig as well, which is unfair, because one should not confuse the character for the performer), but apparently she’s as popular as ever (or at least NBC and/or SNL thinks so). It’s just hard to imagine what kind of “new sketches” they’ll develop for the special. As the article notes, “A Gilly sketch is a very structured thing. It’s always set in a classroom where an uncertain teacher (Will Forte) questions his students (Kenan Thompson, Bobby Moynihan) on the source of some trouble making;” this passage is just intended to describe the sketch to the uninitiated, but it’s also achingly true. It’s just a carbon copy structure with all the same set pieces, just rinse, wash and repeat. Of course, there will be some Christmas themed Gilly-antics, but don’t expect her to improve upon her already limited vocabulary (but maybe expect someone to get impaled by a Christmas tree?).
Well, at least with this special there’s no danger of the host coming out as the Love Guru.
Set your DVRs for Dec 17 at 8pm. Regardless of what I said here, I will.
Filed under Bad Humor, Saturday Night Live, Yankee Swap
Jumped The Snark 