John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Poisoned With You

A great chuckle for Friday. The latest video from Wish and Flo ... a.k.a., Roger Maunder and Colleen Power. (A heads-up: Not for the youngest ears.)

David Tennant, Catherine Tate and the Shakespeare speed-round

A clip from the latest Graham Norton show on the BBC:

Ship Inn Man

Ship Inn Man was a song (and a filmeo, as they were called during that Eighties heyday of Wedding In Texas, etc.) composed for the Codco series on TV. Definitely a moment in time. The Ship still exists, albeit as the Ship Pub, and the arts community still hangs out there en masse, but the song Cathy Jones sings is about another era. The filmeo features many of the regulars, some unfortunately no longer with us and able to enjoy a nostalgic smile.

Jay Pharoah goes to the Oscars

Jay Pharoah joined the Saturday Night Live cast last fall; he hasn't had a breakout scene or character, yet, but it's obvious the guy has an uncanny ability to do impressions.

This video was made a couple of years ago, featuring one celebrity after another accepting an Oscar.

His jokes

"Men alwas say the most important thing in a woman is a sense of humour. You know what that means? He's looking for someone to laugh at his jokes."
- Sheila Wenz

Modern teen talk and the WWII pilots

Comedy comes in many ways, and one of them is taking something and transposing it in an unlikely environment. The British comedy team Armstrong and Miller have been mining a vein by taking the rap-infused slang of modern kids and putting it in the mouths of World War II pilots, albeit with a bit of polish.

In this sketch, the fall guys are another team, Mitchell and Webb. A language advisory: this is not for the youngsters.

Funny, innit? Er, that should be ... isn't it?

Proposal

A sketch from 25 years ago, with Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Fascinating Aida: Cheap Flights

From the comedy trio Fascinating Aida, a song that travels well. There's no such thing as a flight for 50p, it seems.

Kenneth talks to the animals, so to speak

"I can talk to animals. Well, not talk to 'em. I can take commands from them."

This line, from Jack McBrayer's Kenneth, aired on last month's 30 Rock episode Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning, which I got around to watching tonight. Many of Kenneth's lines are throwaway bits or comic beats, but McBrayer makes them sail.

Michael Scott annexes the thoughts of Wayne Gretzky

I surely shall miss Steve Carrell when he leaves The Office.

Wait a day

"My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next."
- Nora Ephron

Ephron, who has had a lengthy career as a writer and more recently a film director, is the daughter of Phoebe Ephron, a playwright. Ephron says her mother's parting words before her premature death were "Take notes."

The photo above is a portrait by Katherine Wolkoff for The New York Times.

In honour of Douglas Adams, some horrifying things that involve the number 42

Well, not necessarily horrifying.

For starters, we all know that the answer to the ultimate question about the meaning of life, the universe and everything is 42. We know that because Douglas Adams told us that.

Sure, it was a joke (or so Adams insisted). But it's been enough of a pop culture mainstay to inspire an unlikely book called 42: Douglas Adams' Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, which is just out.

This article in The Independent cites some of the curious things involving the number in question. A handful:

Titanic was travelling at a speed equivalent to 42km/hour when it collided with an iceberg.

The atomic bomb that devastated Nagasaki, Japan, contained the destructive power of 42 million sticks of dynamite.

In an episode of The Simpsons, police chief Wiggum wakes up to a question aimed at him and replies "42".

A single Big Mac contains 42 per cent of the recommended daily intake of salt.

Cricket has 42 laws.

 

 

 

Marcel the Shell

... with shoes on.

This has been such a hit on the web for the last few months, and is a great example of how a career disaster doesn't mean the death of a career. Jenny Slate got hired by Saturday Night Live, and then got dropped by Saturday Night Live after one season that was notably largely for her accidentally dropping an F-bomb on her debut episode.

Now she has a whole new following because of the Marcel videos she makes with her partner. A book deal is the works. Probably more.

Good on her.

Now, have a laugh!

Kevin Spacey introduces you to Al Pacino (among others)

Kevin Spacey is a gifted actor and, as this Actors Studio spot shows, a great mimic.

 

Pee-Wee Herman and shots, shots, shots

Too funny. Almost.

Anderson Cooper and Chairy, together at last.

Comedy's Frat Pack

"It doesn`t really exist, this Frat Pack. We run into each other on occasion and we all like each other's films, I guess, but there isn't some big funny restaurant or bar where we all hang out. At least, if there is, they haven't invited me."
- Will Ferrell

Who's on first?

I'm posting this for my son, who can already tell a good joke, adores Kramer and can figure out a few puns. Time, then, to study with the greats.

 

 

Cookie Monster's audition tape for Saturday Night Live

Rebranding himself as a "cookie enthusiast," and with sketch ideas like Macarooner ... it could work. Can't wait to show our son tonight.

Also, let's not forget the Muppets - or a soon-to-be-discarded set of characters - appeared in SNL's first year.

 

The quasi-rap song my sarcasm-loving son likes

I tend to skip over several Flight of the Conchords songs when they come up in shuffle mode in the car, but I let Hurt Feelings play ... and my son laughed. Yes, there's the odd naughty word, but the 10-year-old still covers his mouth when he hears them. 

And, yes, I laugh too. 

The Robin Williams random character generator

From the Jonathan Ross episode that aired in Canada this weekend (and a month ago in the UK), a sketch that lets Robin Williams unleash his improv instincts.

Hey heckler, I've got all the time in the world

In comedy, and in responding to hecklers in particular, timing is everything. Comedian Bryson Turner proves this in this short clip (which is not for kids):

Peter Griffin and Jerry Lewis

A Family Guy episode in May (the 150th, incidentally) included a few musical numbers, and a spoof or two. As Brian put it, "One thing we like to do at Family Guy is make fun of pop culture, by twisting it and mocking it and commenting on it." As Stewie added, "Yeah, and some times we just steal stuff and put our characters in it."

Then came a replica of Peter Griffin mimicking the jazzy pantomime of Jerry Lewis in The Errand Boy, set to Count Basie.

Here's a side-by-side comparison that shows Stewie definitely had a point.

An Upright Citizens take on BP and spills

A hilarious take from the Upright Citizens Brigade on BP's spill:

Moving along at a steady clip

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, May 6, 2010. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

I’ve been reading plenty about the iPad and the expected slate (no pun intended) of tablets expected to launch in the months and years ahead, and how life as we know it is about to … blah blah blah. You can fill in the hyperbole by yourself.

 That said, a lot of it is ringing true. And some of it has been coming from some unexpected types.

 Like Martha Stewart, for instance.

Now, I know I should not be so tough on Martha; sure, she may be a domestic diva of the first order, but she’s also been a technological innovator. (Don’t forget, for instance, that she came to St. John’s once as part of a collaboration with the ill-fated Microsoft online magazine Mungo Park.) Stewart was one of the first publishers to “get” the web, that it required a different approach to content beyond what was in her printed products.

So, I suppose, it wasn’t that surprising that Wired, for its comprehensive takeout on iPads and tablets (on why they will … you know, blah blah blah) asked Stewart for her take.

Apart from her expectation that tablets will make magazines much easier to enjoy (she practically drools over what could happen with National Geographic), she made a point that should resonate with packrats everywhere.

“We all have so much to read these days, and having the ability to pick and choose and save and file and send digitally is really exciting,” she said. “I have a bag full of torn-out magazine pages that I distribute to various people for creative ideas. I’ll be able to do that much more effectively if I have access to a digital version of those magazines rather than having to destroy them.”

Well, that kind of hit home with me. Let me explain.

In my home office, I have scores of magazines – hundreds of them, actually. I’ve clipped pages out of some of them, but what will likely happen (as it has in the past) is that I will sooner or later get tired and send a large of them out for recycling. One of my wife’s long-running to-do projects is to clip preferred features and layouts from her own collection of magazines.

So, the idea of digital clipping sounds quite appealing.

It’s not entirely new, of course. In the grand old days, when online databases like InfoGlobe were strictly text-based and you paid by the minute, and even before the web as we knew it didn’t exist, I kept directories of “clippings,” or news stories I wanted for reference. That migrated with the web, and I found that copying-and-pasting text was useful.  In these pages, I extolled products like AskSam, which made warehousing text possible, and searchable.

But what’s been missing is the ability to extract full-resolution “clippings,” distribute them, share them, store them and retrieve them – pretty much as Martha Stewart described above.

Managing a personal library with a few taps of the finger. Trust me … there’ll be an app for that.

Elsewhere this week

 
Monty Python Video Wall
When I was much younger, I developed a thing for Monty Python, from sneaking into a screening of the Holy Grail to staying up late for Flying Circus repeats. The “wall” presented here is a vast array of screens, each one taking you to a howling moment from the Python canon.

forLater
Do you know something that you’ll need to do in the future? Keep forLater on hand, for sending an email that will arrive with a reminder, just when you need it.

Laundry symbols
Trust me: I can be trusted with the laundry. That doesn’t mean, though, that I can identify on sight what each and every one of those washing symbols means. Here’s precisely the tool for the most obscure icons you’ll find on laundry day.

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and works with CBC News. John is on Twitter right here.

B.J. Novak on making a joke work

"Only say what you think is funny. Only keep what they think is funny."
- B.J. Novak