Weekly Poll Winner: Dave Chappelle

Readers! By a narrow margin of one vote, and in the last hour of voting, you selected Dave Chappelle as the funniest stand-up comedian!

Every week, the poll winner will receive a special post, just to show you faithful readers how much I appreciate you stopping by, and that this blog is not completely run by my own opinions.

It just so happens, in this case, that Dave Chappelle was also my favorite of the five comedian choices in the poll, so it gives me pleasure to bring to you the Weekly Poll Winner post.

Dave Chappelle started out with small movie roles in the early 1990s and then a few medium-sized roles (such as "Con Air," 1997), before his break-out success "Half Baked."

"Half Baked" follows Thurgood Jenkins (Chappelle), who is a custodian at a pharmaceutical lab, and his three friends, as they sell marijuana Jenkins steals from the lab, in an attempt to make the bail for their friend to be released from prison before being raped. It may sound immature and silly, but it has some good moments that have given it contemporary classic status among pot-smokers.

Chappelle's fame then skyrocketed when in 2003, he was given his own sketch comedy show on Comedy Central, with primetime real estate. The show brought Chappelle so much fanfare and money that he allegedly could not handle the stress, and was reported to have run off to South Africa to relax.

I would like to be able to show you clips from his stand-up, which are all over Youtube and are most always hilarious; but, they are just as profane as they are funny, and so I will not post them. I will, however, give you some of his sketches, so you can enjoy his own personal brand of humor.

Chappelle often found creative and humiliating ways to make fun of other African-American superstars, most notably R. Kelly, Rick James, Lil Jon, Prince and P. Diddy. He often thwarts many racial stereotypes by beating them to the punch, with characters like Tyrone Biggums, a homeless crackhead, and Clayton Bigsby, a blind white-supremacist unaware he is black.

But sketches like this one prove that his ability ranges beyond making fun at the expense of others, and that he is quite adept at the fine art of parody:

Chappelle's Show
It's a Wonderful Chest
www.comedycentral.com
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs Black Comedy True Hollywood Story

Here's another recurring sketch, where Chappelle makes fun of hip-hop artist Lil Jon:

Chappelle's Show
A Moment in the Life of Lil Jon - Flying
www.comedycentral.com
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs Black Comedy True Hollywood Story

Laughasaurus worthiness:

Dave Chappelle's worth and comedic genius in his stand-up comes in his apparent effortlessness. When you watch him spit his jokes, you often don't feel like he's giving a performance. It seems like he is just standing there, telling you funny stories about people and situations he has encountered--of course we know they're made up, but it doesn't seem to matter.

His jokes are also so funny on their own that he doesn't need an over-the-top performance to get laughs from his audience.

He also has a very keen, discerning sense of humor, and--unlike some African-American comedians--can easily capture the attention of both blacks and whites, without ostracizing the latter. In fact, one could argue that Dave Chappelle holds just as much appeal among white comedy fans as he does with black comedy fans.

Some of his sketch comedy has become a mainstream part of society for young adults about 18 to 28, for you would be hard pressed to find someone in that range who would not understand the line "I'm Rick James, bitch!"








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Movie Monday: The Seven Year Itch

Directed by Billy Wilder
Starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell

From 1955, The Seven Year Itch's title is not nearly as famous as the half-minute sequence in which the then-29-year-old Marilyn Monroe has her skirt blown up by a passing underground train as she stands on the grate. The movie's comedic brilliance is often overshadowed by the iconic image of Monroe pushing her skirt down--likely the most reproduced image of the ditsy blond bombshell ever.








But don't let that overshadowing fool you. The Seven Year Itch should have a permanent spot on the timeline of cinematic comedy. Women were never so idolized for their beauty as the characters Marilyn Monroe played. Sure, there were women that could make the hair on your arm stand, but Marilyn brought "sexy" to a new level entirely.


The "Seven Year Itch" refers to the idea that a man, once he's been married and settled for about seven years, will start to yearn, or "itch," for the company of another woman. Over the summer in Richard Sherman's (Tom Ewell) seventh year of marriage, his wife and daughter take a vacation, and the busty, irresistible Monroe (who doesn't have a name, she's just "the Girl"), moves in to the unit above. Richard is immediately swept off his feet, and has a series of grand delusions about the trouble he would be in for being unfaithful.


Never hailed for her acting ability, and often notorious for being high maintenance and for having to do (sometimes) dozens of takes of a scene or line before she got it right. According to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), it took Monroe more than 40 takes to get the skirt blowing scene right. Still, famed seven-time Oscar-winning writer/director/producer Billy Wilder kept her in his film. He even used her again in 1959 for what would become the most famous film in both their careers: "Some Like It Hot," also starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.


She played similar characters in both films she did with Wilder, as she did in many of the approximately dozen she starred in before her untimely death in 1962. Her characters in these films were often naive, ditsy, and somehow completely oblivious to the affect she has on her male counterparts. Much of the humor of her films, particularly in The Seven Year Itch, was derived from jokes about men essentially tripping on their tongues over her, and her having no idea of why. She often doesn't even realize that the men around her are acting strange, just like this scene from The Seven Year Itch:










Laughasaurus worthiness:

There are two elements that stand out in The Seven Year Itch, accounting for most of the humor content, both of which have been mentioned already. The first is Marilyn Monroe's naivete and obliviousness, and the second is Tom Ewell's imagination. At one point, he talks to a mirage of his wife. He creates elaborate scenarios of his wife coming home and finding out about him having a relationship with Marilyn. I tried to find a clip showing his outrageous imagination, but unsuccessfully, so you'll have to rent the movie to see.

The other worthy element is in nearly every line spoken by Marilyn Monroe. Everything she says is sexy, yet she doesn't seem to know just how sexy she appears to the eyes of her neighbor (and everybody watching the movie). Billy Wilder likely knew this, and likely knew that even though her natural acting ability was (we'll call it) "mediocre at best," he knew that nobody could do what she did just the way she did it.

I highly recommend checking this movie out, because I know it will make you laugh. At Laughasaurus, that's what we're all about!

Final Friday Filet: Dane Cook

"So, if you want to solve a real mystery, go ahead and figure out who's taking my New York Times every Sunday, or better yet, how about why anybody on the planet actually thinks Dane Cook is funny..."

-- Dr. Perry Cox, "Scrubs"

Today is the Final Friday Filet, where Laughasaurus will dissect an attempt at humor and (hopefully) prove that, in this case, Dane Cook does not make the cut.

Although my personal opinions do weigh in on this post, I will try and attack it with as little bias as possible. If you think it's too biased, let me know so.

Dane Cook's stand-up jokes and other comedic offerings are, like many comedians, satirical takes on mostly-normal life situations. He invents hypothetical scenarios and builds off of them to the point of apparent hilarity; he also tries to bring out the humor in a situation that may or may not have happened to you before.

But many of Cook's jokes lose their comedic value when you take away the factor of his outrageous performances--his over-the-top gesticulations. For example, in this clip where he talks about what white guys, Hispanic guys and black guys do before a fight:





You can tell the audience is directly reacting to his abrupt and ridiculous gestures, as the laughs only come when he makes one. From 0:13-15 seconds he says: "Everybody's got their own little...??????" The movement garners the laugh. A few seconds later: "You just gotta see them an you know something is going down." The laughs come with the hand movement.


If you were to hold up a laugh meter to this segment, it would reach its highest point when Cook rips off his shirt at the end. Ripping off one's shirt, I would argue, has almost no comedic value.


Now, I can see how a person would think that Dane Cook is a funny comedian, because I appreciate that he's gotten as far as he has doing what he does. However, the fact that he has starred in numerous movies, often opposite women far too beautiful for him, is disappointing to those who see through his false talent.


He's a quote from Cook's stand-up that, if simply read without the aid of his seizure-induced arm flailing, is not even really a joke:


"You know what I'd like to be able to do more than anything else? I'd love to be able to shoot spaghetti out of my fingertips. Pppptthhh! Cause no one wants to be covered in spaghetti. No. If I'm on a date with a girl and she's very rude, I'd be like, 'You know what?' Pppptthhh! 'Enjoy your spaghetti, you're very rude. Enjoy your spaghetti, cause you're rude.' Pppptthhh!"


This idea could be funny to an 8-year-old, who would also probably go nuts over his active performance, but weighing the spaghetti joke beside a joke like this blurs the line on both his target audience and his achievement:





Of course, there's no way right now to tell if this story is real--comedians make up stories for their jokes all the time--so assuming it isn't real, you're left to wonder why would this man make a joke about accidentally seeing under his father's robe? If, by some miracle, he is telling a true tale, the joke actually belongs to Dane Cook's dad for the punchline, "Some day all this will be yours."


So as not to bore you, I will conclude there and leave the topic open for debate for the next three days, as I will not be posting over the weekend. But based on the single vote he's received in my "Favorite comedians" poll, I believe that many of you would agree. For those of you who thought Dane Cook was funny, I hope you have seen the light.

Final Friday Filet!

Now on Laughasaurus, the Final Friday Filet!

The last Friday of every month will be "Final Friday Filet" day, where I will examine--in depth, if possible--an attempt at humor that Laughasaurus deems a complete failure.

Tomorrow will be a great time for me, because I will be discussing the humor and career of one particular, and, for some reason, popular comedian who I believe has no actual comedic merit. Yet still, this particular comedian seems to garner audience laughs well beyond his inborn ability

Check back tomorrow to see who gets gutted on Final Friday Filet!

The Office - Vending Machine Prank

On NBC's remake of the British comedy show "The Office," one of the staples (get it? staples?) of the first few seasons was a series of pranks played by Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and sometimes Pam Beasley (Jenna Fischer) on the office dweeb Dwight K. Schrute (Rainn Wilson).


Beginning in the pilot episode which first aired in March of 2005, Jim plays a series of practical jokes on Dwight using what limited resources an office salesman would have at his disposal.


As a devoted fan of "The Office," I will be gracing Laughasaurus followers with more of these pranks from time to time. They are clever in both their simplicity and their ability to irk and provoke Dwight, on whose expense many jokes are made, but who is seldom amused.


This clip of a classic Office prank is from the season 2, episode #11 titled "Booze Cruise"



Laughasaurus worthiness:


What makes this clip Laughasaurus worthy is three distinct elements.


The first is Jim's resourcefulness. As I mentioned above, Jim's pranks on Dwight are so good because (it would appear) he dreams up and executes them with very limited materials. Then, he does what Jim does best, which is pretending so very well that what's going on is completely normal.


The second element is Pam's inclusion in the prank, and her behavior. She too acts like a normal vending machine patron, ready to pick out Dwight's pencil cup as if it were a Reese's Peanutbutter cup. (Not quite stimulative to the taste buds, but quite stimulative to the Laughasaurus buds, wherever that is.)


The third element of the prank is, of course, Dwight's reaction and then eventual submission to defeat. As with most pranks played on him, he gets mad, makes a fuss, but then eventually has to play along to regain his homeostatic office life. Instead of tattling (which he does, on occasion), he begins purchasing his coil-trapped items, one by one...with nickels--the smallest change accepted by vending machines.


Stick around! Laughasaurus will definitely be bringing you more of "The Office" in future posts!

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go camping (not by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. They set up their tent and built a fire to cook their dinner. After a good meal, bottle of wine and perhaps a smoke, they were exhausted and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend.

"Watson, old chap, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

"I see millions and millions of stars," Watson replied.

"What does that tell you?" Holmes asked.

Watson pondered for a minute, and said: "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, I deduce that it's approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that the Lord is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have, a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"

Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. "Watson, you idiot, some bastard has stolen our tent."

Laughasaurus worthiness:

What makes this joke funny is its connection to the situations that often revolve around Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson. I don't know who wrote the joke, or when it was written, but it can transcend a generation, and probably several generations.

Sherlock Holmes mysteries always seem very complex; in fact, they often may spend the entire length of the story trying to solve the case. As they get closer and closer, it seems more and more complex to the reader, when it usually turns out to be a simple explanation.

Many Holmes mysteries involve what also seems to be paranormal activity, such as the short story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire."

What may be first thought to be paranormal turns out to be, indeed, normal, as Holmes uses his unsurpassed and unmatched powers of logic to solve the mystery.

The relationship between Holmes and Watson is both important to Doyle's tales and to this joke. Watson is always the practical one, always aware of Holmes' genius, and always one step behind. Just as he is in this joke. He looks at the sky and tries to produce every possible explanation and view it from every possible angle he believes Holmes could imagine. But Holmes, like always, is always one step ahead.

Tom Toles political cartoon

Tom Toles began his career as a cartoonist working for The University at Buffalo’s student newspaper The Spectrum (which I also worked for, for a semester in college). He also worked for The Buffalo News (where I interned for a semester, in D.C.) for a time before taking his current job at The Washington Post (where I will probably never work, but would surrender a toe for the opportunity).

In 1990, Toles won the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning and is syndicated in newspapers across the country.

His cartoons often focus on politics and matters of national interest, while attacking them with a keen social edge. A self-described liberal, Toles usually avoids making directly biased statements in his cartoons (though he has managed to make former President George W. Bush look right foolish on occasion).

What makes them particularly funny is his ability to be fresh and imaginative, taking an often complex issue that may receive great play in the media and reducing it to six frames, such as this cartoon for today’s Laughasaurus post from last year’s election:

Laughasaurus worthiness:

This Toles cartoon from last fall meets the cut because of its reductive impression. It is not biased for one to comment on former GOP nominee John McCain's, perhaps, frantic scramble to come up with reasons why he was the better candidate.

In six frames, Toles follows the progress of McCain's sometimes negative campaign on to his defeat, showing how ineffective negative campaigning can often be.



Don't think this is funny? Leave a comment and make a suggestion for Laughasaurus!

Welcome to Laughasaurus!

Don’t waste your time looking for a laugh. At Laughasaurus we bring the laughs to you.

I will try to bring as much variety in humor as possible, while simultaneously maintaining a blog presenting humor that is objectively in good taste. Mondays on Laughasaurus will be known as Movie Mondays, where I will write about and often present a few video clips from a particularly hilarious movie.

Each post will have a "Laughasaurus worthiness" section, where I will talk about what makes it worthy of your time.

For my first official Laughasaurus post, I will discuss a timeless classic—fraught with hilarity—that shoots off a dozen jokes per minute: Duck Soup.

Made in 1933 and starring one of the greatest comedy teams of all time, the Marx Brothers, Duck Soup is a whimsical 68-minute romp about Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx), who is named the new president of a fictional country called Freedonia.

With his trademark painted-on mustache and eyebrows and a cigar always betwixt his teeth, Firefly doesn’t take his presidential responsibilities very seriously.

Here is a clip from Firefly’s introduction as president:



As with all of the Marx Brothers’ movies, Groucho stars alongside his two brothers Chico and Harpo. Chico, or “Chicolini” in the movie, always plays a character with a thick Italian accent. He was also a talented pianist, which is seldom ignored in their movies. Harpo’s (“Pinky”) trademark is that he never speaks a word, but what he doesn’t say, he makes up for as a brilliant harpist.

Here's another scene with all three brothers:



Zeppo, the fourth and lesser known Marx brother, often plays a role in their movies. Playing "Lt. Roland" in the film, you can tell that Zeppo didn't get the humor gene. He's about as interesting as beige paint.


Laughasaurus worthiness:

Even if you don't like watching older, black-and-white movies, give this one a try. Following silent film heroes such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, these guys were at the forefront of spoken comedy (with the exception of Harpo). In fact, the comedy almost solely relied on their spitfire jokes and situational conversations.


If you don't think Duck Soup is Laughasaurus worthy, post a comment and let me know why! (If you do like it, I'd also love to know.)

Coming soon!

A new blog starting the week of June 22, with the sole purpose of trying to make you laugh.

Videos, pictures, jokes, TV and movie recommendations, and much more.

Instead of spending your time searching the web, Laughasaurus will bring the laughs to you.