Silliness that changed you.
 

     I was just talking to someone about the Muppets reference I made in the 'Personal Philosophys' thread. It made me think about how much that show effected my young mind. I still think the Waldorf and Statler bits are some of the funniest things I've ever seen. I know they've effected my sense of humor.
     More than that though, through my sense of humor it's effected my veiw of life. Monty Python has had some effect too. I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.
     So, the question then becomes, "What silliness has effect your life?" Not special, heart warming moments. Not tramatic experiences, just the silly stuff. Like the Muppets or Monty Python. What's yours?

Regardless of how bad my mood may be, "Seinfeld" will always put a smile on my face. 'Cept this doesn't work with some of the earlier episodes.
"MPFC" is up there as well. How can you go wrong with the silly walk foundation, or the paid argue session?

I always felt alienated from my peers because I couldn't see anything funny about the 3 stooges.

Naked gun?

My first concept of silliness was Harpo Marx in A Night at the Opera. I think I was 9 or 10 or 11. I was amazed at this new, strange humor. I still am. Where does weirdness switch over into funny?

Airplane!

When it catches you off guard, makes you say "run that by me again" and makes you want to see it over and over.

It has to make some recognizable connection. Someone has to receive it, to laugh. Weird is one, its lonely, funny takes two, usually its a good and healthy exchange.

In what Marx bro movie does Groucho call himself "Monsieur Cornblow"? Night at the Opera? I just remember that line killed me. That Bill Murray kind of moxy.

My '60s-70s childhood was blessed with some great comedy albums supplied by dad- Tom Leherer, Smothers Brothers, Cosby. And the Carlin album with "7 dirty words" smuggled on to the turntable in the basement. Had to laugh into a pillow, or get busted. Then Steve Martin.

And silly TV: as a little kid I loved The Carol Burnett Show, except when she sang.

I got pretty silly at a pretty early age. Early enough, in fact, that I'm trying to remember what first made it start sinking in that being weird was a good thing.

I suppose it was a healthy dose of Looney Toons first, followed closely by Mad Magazine. During the 60's I was a Peter Sellers/Pink Panther Fan, and of course, Bill Cosby. Laugh-In contributed more than a little to my transition, as did Steve Allen, Jonathan Winters and Vaughn Meader (mostly known for The First Family, a comedy album about the Kennedys which was huge right up until the day JFK was assassinated). In high school I gravitated to the National Lampoon and Richard Pryor, and Monty Python.

I still get weirder every day, and I try to draw on as many sources as I can.

I would name most of the same things that elspode does here, with some additions/specifics.

Bill Cosby - Wonderfulness was one of the first LPs that I owned.

Rocky and Bullwinkle warped me in special ways.

Dr. Demento. Many the Sunday night did I spend, eagerly awaiting the Funny Five.

There were an assortment of other britcoms that molded me, and very importantly, I'm the exception that proves the rule about women liking the Stooges. I love them.

The early years of Saturday Night Live also set the comedy bar higher ... and the brilliance of robin william's "Reality, What a Concept" album shines to this day.

Then there was our own self-generated silly ... long before there was an internet, back in the ol' paper terminal days, my socially impaired geek friends and I kept voluminous lists of very silly things that we said in the course of what where, for us, ordinary conversations.

The tradition continues to this day ... there's an annual picnic that started back when we were in college that is still going on, and it continues to be my duty to write down all the 'sentences not often heard.'

We also did the customary assortment of 'we don't care what you think' goofy stuff.

Dr. Demento and Rocky & Bullwinkle
 

     Heh, I listened to Dr. D just this last weekend. Good stuff.

     As for Rocky & Bullwinkle, I prefer the Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman bits. Does anyone else remember how Mr. Peabody got custody of Sherman? I swear that Mr. Peabody saved Sherman from an abusive home and then argued in court that since it was okay for a boy to have a dog then it should be okay for a dog to have a boy. It even seems like Sherman's dad got violent when he drank, though that may just be inferred. It's also been a very long time since I've seen it. Talk about a show ahead of it's time...

     Oh yeah, britcoms. I used to watch 'Fawlty Towers' religously.Oh yeah, britcoms. I used to watch 'Fawlty Towers' religiously.

Mr. Peabody: Sherman, I am so proud of you I could just lick your nose!

Bwahahahahahahaaha

The First Family
 

Some random memories from that album, which I was playing in the 1970s and which had been in the house for at least ten years previous...


KHRUSCHEV: Oh, don't worry about me! I'll just have a bite of everybody else's!

***

KENNEDY: "...the following toys have been allocated for tub use: eighteen PT-109 boats, nine Howdy Doody Bouncing Clowns, and a rubber schwan. [there follows an allocation of the PT boats and the Howdy Doodies to John-John and Caroline] The rubber schwan -- is mine."

The reason that The First Family even came to mind for me was that, while sitting in the doctor's office a few days ago, I picked up an semi-old copy of Entertainment Weekly in which there was an article about Vaughn Meader. It seems that, following Kennedy's assassination, Vaughn began a decline from the heights of fame and popularity that is nearly unmatched in weirdness and rapidity in the annals of popular culture. I had no idea about what had happened to him until I read that.

http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Stage/1985/

The link above tells some of the same story, although it omits much of the scary details, including his messianic phase and his belief that he was actually a small blue rabbit (LSD - what a drug!).

Have you guys seen Yatta? That video is the silliest thing I have ever seen. You can download it off Kazaa.

The late great Douglas Adams. There is a brilliance to the British sense of "non-sequiter" that permeates his work.

Also, the Simpsons. Still campy, still stupid, still, hanging on after all these years, there are still moments when that show makes me blow milk through my nose.

I can sing Yatta.

Yat-ta, Yat-ta! aoqiwjflkjasldkjfjaoisjdf
lasjdfljasdfalskjfoiwjifjasdf
jalsidjfoijqweijfalksdfj
Yat-ta, Yat-ta!

(that's all I know. But yes, the video is funny. I first saw it a year or so ago, and I take great pains to squeeze a little Yat-ta into my day. That, and Chu-Chu Rockets, which is probably also available on Kazaa.)

The Marx brothers, Monty Python, and early Saturday Night Live.

Basketball Jones.Cheech and Chong albums.
Fat Albert. Hey-b baby, wha-b you-b doo-bin?

OLD OLD WB cartoons , hell any old cartoon , the old black and white ones were the BEST!!
"Here pussy pussy pussy , where did you roam ?
Here pussy pussy pussy , please come home."
when i was young I saw the cartoon this came from , i was danceing all around the house singing this song at the top of my little voice , mom got red faced and told me to stop .

Marx Bro ,
"In what Marx bro movie does Groucho call himself "Monsieur Cornblow"? Night at the Opera? I just remember that line killed me. That Bill Murray kind of moxy." ?????

WRONGO' DUDE !!!!!!!!!!!!
Bill Murry tries to have Groucho Marx moxie !!!!

You're so right! Groucho set the moxie bar.:)

Amongst other things:
The Firesign Theatre
and
DangerMouse

I just remembered another way-early silliness that changed me. It was in a book of Peanuts comics. I must have been about 6 or so. There was this strip in which Snoopy is being yelled at by Lucy, who is trying to get Snoopy to pay attention. I can't remember the whole thing, but in the punchline, Lucy yells "And don't roll your ears!" and Snoopy is shown with his ears rolled up.

(I don't remember if the line is set up with "Don't roll your eyes when I'm talking to you", but that would make sense, wouldn't it?)

At that very young age, something about Snoopy rolling up his ears was just marvelous. I think it must have been the first time I encountered a gag that could be drawn, but was impossible in real life.

Today, decades later, I'm a very passive-aggressive anti-socialite. So the notion of being able to aggressively ignore others by rolling up my ears is deeply rooted in my personality.

That's a great Image, UT. At Westinghouse my bosses, bosses, boss would hold staff meetings once a month. If he didn't like what he was hearing, he'd take out his hearing aid and place it on the table. If the speaker persisted, he'd take the battery out and play catch with it. :D

Re: Dr. Demento and Rocky & Bullwinkle
 

i LOVE fawlty towers....

don't mention the war!



also liked rising damp and LOVED yes minister & yes prime minister...recently onto DVD.

(snicker)

that's me, someday.

soon.

     Ya know, I've found myself watching the Muppets and similar things with my kids. Trying to expose them to the same silliness. Am I the only one?
     For the record, nine year olds just don't get Monty Python's The Holy Grail in general, but the black knight scene was an instant success.

A classic example of cartoon violence in a live-action film, that one.

Fawlty Towers,
or Farty Towels

My favorite episode is when the battle axe, complaining woman is too cheap to turn up her hearing aide because the battery goes. Then theres a whole missing/hiding money thing. Basil totally, brilliantly loses it. My favorite line, as he's just tricked her into turning it up and then screamed in her ear "Is this a piece of your brain?!"

Tracey Ullman was/is silly and did/does change me. She's the best.

And Ms. Ullman introduced the Simpsons to the world, for which we are forever grateful.

Tracey Ullman is brilliant. And she seems to get funnier and wackier every time I see her. Did anyone see her recent appearance on the Daily Show?

Tracy Ullman. Mmmmm...traaaacy......
There's nothing she can't do.
There's nothing she can't wear.
There's nothing she can't afford.
:beer:

I saw Tracey on the Daily Show doing her Kim Cattrall. She can make Jon blush, and thats good.

Damn, warch. I'd have loved to see that!:D

Hey, look what I found
 

See the clip here (RealPlayer) thanks to Comedy Central

-or-


Here (MOV 14MB) thanks to On Lisa Rein's Radar

:3eye:

OMG! I'm forever in your debt for that link, bm and to warch for the heads-up, too.:beer:
The first link has all the dialog but the second one (14meg:( ) shows the body english (and Tracey's underwear;) ) that makes her performance outrageous. Two thumbs up.

Don't mention the war!!! Whatever you do, don't mention the war!!!

Funnies; Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Garfield, Montey Python, Bill Cosby, Carlin, Are you being served, Absolutely Fabulous, Fawlty Towers, (I'm really into brit humor - can ya tell??) Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Stand up comedy in general, MARGARET CHO, Tim Allen, Dougles Adams, Dilbert.... etc.

      I saw Carlin live several years back. Excellent show. Got a T-shirt with Carlin on the front and on the back it says, "Simon says go fuck yourself." I'm rather fond of it...
      Still a bit said about Adams kickin' off. Ah, well.

I have, for some time now, been of the opinion that George Carlin is less and less a comedian and more and more a philosopher.

      Eh, he's on the border. I will say that he's made me consider a lot of topics that I otherwise would not have. Prostitution for example. As it plays absolutely no role in my life I hadn't realy considered if it should be legal or not. Carlin discussed it and convinced me it sould be. I've never seen anyone poke holes in his arguement.
      Of course, I don't believe the laws should be based on pure morality either. Heck, I don't even think old statues in the capital should get covered for the sake of decency, so what do I know?

As a Missourian, I believe I have the right to say this about our homeboy AG Johnny "The Disciple" Ashcroft...he's a twit, pandering to a narrow section of the public out of a misbegotten notion that it will somehow win votes and garner favor for his political career.

Pious? Yeah, sure...but who the hell is stupid enough to think that the average American is seriously offended by a statue's nudity? Ashcroft is just another right-wing religious nut with a carefully calculated agenda designed to bring him into power and control the lives of others in a world of his own puritanical devising.

He probably smokes crack and masturbates to gay porn in the privacy of his own bedroom.

No...don't get me started on Ashcroft. Besides, this isn't the Politics section, and I try to stay out of there.

Dont hold back Ep, tell us what you really think. LOL.

      Ep, I dunno, I think any thread with 'silliniess' in the title is a decent place to discuss Ashcroft's metality. Then again since he's making stuff happen, maybe it's scary instead of silly...
      By the by, even with your graphic visual description I successfuly blocked it from my mind. Thus I can still sleep tonight, no nightmares.

      Slang, he can't tell us what he really thinks. He's posting from home and it's not an officially designated "Free speech zone".
      Good to see you post again, dude.

This old thread is hereby bumped.

Good one! Except for all the &nbsp's.

Kids in the hall! Yeeess! I got cable for Comedy Central once after committing to no tv for years, just because they used to have back to back episodes....


When I was younger I didn't get all the humour, so even if I did see an episode twice it was probably funnier later!!

My favorite? Dave Foley! This one is like a time capsule in an age before caller id:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwqIa...eature=related

When I was a kid I used to love the Monkees, the Banana Splits and the Goodies

wtf is goony goo goo? (Where did that line come from? It popped into my head...tv, movie? Oh wait, an Eddie Murphy thing?)


anyway, wtf is &nbsp?

Back in the day the Cellar allowed HTML in posts. At some point people started to develop hacks for HTML in forums, and it became necessary to prevent HTML usage. That just left a lot of bare HTML in posts, where people used it.

  is an HTML character code for "no break space", basically a space character that the browser isn't allowed to drop for typography purposes, even if it happens at the beginning of a line. Browsers make typography decisions about text, and so if you put a bunch of space characters in to format a post, the browsers will just throw them all away. But they can't throw away   so people get in the habit of using them for formatting.

I tried to use alt+0160s here but I got *

I see. Thanks for the explanation!