The Classic Comedy thread

So what the hell is "classic comedy"?. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun arguing that in the years to come, but for now the requirements are, 1) it has to be funny, and 2) it's pre-Seinfeld and Simpsons, at the very latest (no way I'm not including Letterman's '80s show on NBC).



http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/a...-creator-of-modern-comedy.html?pagewanted=all

Fred comments on -- and during -- the opening credits of his only film vehicle, It's in The Bag:



Biography In Sound -- a radio documentary on Allen, produced shorlty after his death and featuring interviews with many of his contemporaries

https://archive.org/details/BiographiesInSound561218APortraitOfFredAllen

 

Classic comedy? Vaudeville, Buster Keaton, Keystone Kops, Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, Abbot & Costello, The Three Stooges.

 

Benny Hill.

 

Kinda hoping people will link to examples or give opinions rather than just listing names.


The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short Pre-Code feature film from Paramount Pictures, made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. The film was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release.

The film includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.

The film is known for a six-minute segment starring the Marx Brothers, with Davison Clark playing "Mr. Lee, Theatrical Producer", intended to promote their forthcoming film Monkey Business (Clark later played the role of the frustrated Passport Official in Monkey Business).

The segment, containing material which was never included in any other Marx Brothers film, is a re-working of the first scene of their first successful Broadway revue I'll Say She Is (1924), which Groucho considered to have been the funniest work in the Brothers' career. Except for a few name changes and additional gags, the scene is almost completely the same as the script used for the stage production.

Some of the gags from I'll Say She Is were worked into the lobby scene in The Cocoanuts (1929), and a bit involving a series of Maurice Chevalier imitations was incorporated into the script of Monkey Business (1931).

 

Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello and the Marx Brothers used to play regularly on local TV in Chicago when I was very young (0-5 years old). That was what I thought of as "classic comedy." Later I discovered the Little Rascals, and later the Three Stooges (who became a big favorite). I remember feeling slighted because (at that time) the Stooges didn't often get recognized among the "great" comedy teams. That has since changed, though I personally would not place them at the same level as Laurel & Hardy.

It's weird for me now to hear co-workers talking about some film being a "comedy classic," and they're talking about an Adam Sandler movie or something.

 

I'm old enough to remember when Groucho was alive -- his appearances on talk shows like Dick Cavett helped revive interest in the Bros. I saw some of the MGM films on TV and -- the big deal -- the theatrical rerelease of Animal Crackers. But I did not see the other Paramounts until the next decade and the era of the VCR/cable.

I never really saw Laurel and Hardy until the '90s, when they were shown on CBN. Still haven't seen many of their silents.

I don't really care for Abbott and Costello. Something about Lou Costello puts me off. He's acting like an overgrown child, yet he gives off a gangster vibe. He reminds me of that guy in the Godfather yelling "That's an infirmnia!" (or whatever he says)

II think you have to see the Little Rascals when you're in single digits to have any real interest in them. I didn't see them until I was in high school, and by that time they had no appeal for me.

It was around that same time (c.1980) I first saw the 3 Stooges. This was when the 2nd Stooge revival was just starting, and they were beginning to replace the Marx Bros in the public consciouness. As I result I was kind of resentful toward them,and went all film-snob as far as they were concerned. Today I can see their skills at slapstick and laugh at individual bits, although they never really put together a great single film.

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I sometimes go to another web forum, for a large university and its sports teams. Most of the posters are twentysomethings. You'll see threads with titles like "Best Old Sitcoms" and people will nominate Fresh Prince or Friends.

You don't even wanna know about their music threads...

 

Ernie Kovacs, anyone?
I believe he gets a bit of the shaft, when it comes to being remembered!

 

A major reason is because his best stuff was done for TV, and isn't widely seen now.



The second silent show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqJMPLcNDs4

Note: Ernie hoped to make a feature film with the silent Eugene character, starring not himself, but... Alec Guinness (the two became friendly shooting Our Man In Havana). But Ernie's death ended that project.

A brilliant sketch from his live variety show in 1956:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUz201xWzKE

The camera bit reminds me of Monty Python. I wonder if they were familiar with his work?

One of the greatest trailers ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnyCX9C-_KY

Greatest adlib ever?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcefuoS_1ko

 

I would LOVE THIS on a T-shirt!!!

 

The original cast Saturday Night Live

 

Who photoshopped Bill Murray into there?

I remember when WGN in Chicago was running a one-hour version of SNL in 1981-83 (reruns from the first five seasons, promoted as "Saturday Night").

They ran a TV guide ad with "all eight" original cast members, and I assumed it was a composite picture. Later I saw the same photo in a book on the show and learned it was from the first time Chevy Chase returned to guest host, in 1978. One of a very few times those eight people were all present for a SNL show.

 

Benny rules!

 

Fred had a pretty significant role in a fairly obscure movie "O'Henry's Full House". It was a series of five of O'Henry's best short stories. Narrated by John Steinbeck.

 

Interesting show with Fred Allen's insight and humor!

• Living 1949 49-01-30 The State Of American Humor with Fred Allen.mp3

 

Happy 120th birthday BUSTER KEATON

 

You might consider this bit from Red Skelton for Grand Champion - Ad Lib department:



The Pet Ritz pie joke gets double bonus points as the result of Skelton's show being sponsored by Pet Ritz.

 

A great glimpse of classic humor from the 50s and into the 60s can be found by watching the Mystery Guest segments of What's My Line (the Kovacks clip above comes from WML). Comics like Fred Allen were frequently one of the panelists, and they had to be sharp/think quickly to take advantage of opportunities to let the zingers fly:

Skip to 18:00 and watch Mr. Allen at work:

 

Never seen a "Classic Comedy" list that didn't include The Marx Brothers!

Jeff

 

When it comes to 30s-40s Comedy, many young people only know the Stooges. A co-worker of mine even thought that ONLY the Stooges made comedies then. Oh, for the days when Boomers knew the Marxes, W.C. Fields, Mae West, etc.

 

There's something to be said for live television (or radio) at the time, they had to be quick about their wits, it was scripted but ya never know what people will do or say necessarily.

Groucho was the master at this, from what I have listened to his game show hosting "You Bet Your Life". The problem then as now, was the advent of the Laugh Track. At some point in my life I became severely allergic. Can't stand 'em.

 

Jack Benny from 70 years ago this week is pretty awesome!

Jack Benny Classic Podcast 1945-09-30 (554) Season Premiere - debut of the phone operators

Here is the first one form the 1950 season 65 years ago.

Jack Benny Classic Podcast 1950-09-10 First show of 1950-1951 season - back from London

 

Yep, kicked myself when I realized I forgot to include them and my post edit period expired!

 

I caught a little bit of What's My Line on the Buzzr channel last night. The celebrity guest was Arnold Stang. He spoke in a German acccent. No one identified him. There was a commercial for Stopette left in.

 

Some of the celebrity guests really had to work to get past several questions - the audience frequently tipped of women with loud whistling, or voices were so distinct that the celebs would resort to whistles or other cues to try avoiding their telltale vocal cues: