I didn't watch it.
It's not that I missed it, or had to go to bed, I just sat in my room and read magazines. I listened to some Tool.
There was a time when Steve Coogan was one of my comedy heroes.
There was a time when I had comedy heroes.
I'm interested in Peter Sellers. I read Roger Lewis' mammoth The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and I think I have more Sellers' films than any other film comedian. But part of that is because he was a shit. He was bitter and malicious and paranoid and so I see some kinship there.
The other part is that, aside from Sir Alec Guinness, he is the greatest screen actor this country ever produced. Comedy or not, it is fascinating to watch him work.
I still enjoy comedy, but I don't get excited by it anymore. I guess this is my point. I don't feel the joy I once did over Vic and Bob, Fist of Fun or The Day Today for The Mighty Boosh, Nighty Night, or Peep Show. That's not to say I don't find these shows funny. Before they even had a radio show I had seen The Mighty Boosh live twice (I'm not trying to make an 'I was there before you lot were' boast here. I was there, and before you lot were. But that's more simple truth than 'nyahnyahnyah') and loved it. But how did I react when they got a television show? Meh. I might watch it. Depends what I'm doing.
I think there's only one comedy show on T.V. right now that I try and watch. And that's '8 Simple Rules' on ABC.
I love this show, but I have a hard time explaining to anyone why.
It's an American sitcom that started off being about a father's anxieties over his teenage daughter's dating habits. John Ritter played the father, and that's what got me into it, because John Ritter is awesome. And also because he was dead. He died still a cast member, sometime at the end of the first season ( I think) but the show continued with the theme being more about a single mother raising three kids.
So far so formulaic.
So formulaic.
And I'm just terrible at articulating where the magic is. Why do I laugh at this show, when other sitcoms like, say, 'My Family' or 'Two and a Half Men' (Charlie Sheen in a My Two Dads situation) scream shit at me whenever they on, and I start bleeding out my eyes just coming across them in the TV Guide?
It might be the casting. Katy Sagal plays the mother, a veteran of something like a thousand years of Married With Children. She's been a voice actor too, probably most of you know her as the voice of Leela on Futurama. She's a natural at this stuff, I admire her. In John Ritter's absence they brought in James Garner to play a grandfather, Adam Arkin - who did years of great TV in Chicago Hope - as the mother's on/off new boyfriend, and David Spade.
No, shut up. David Spade is good in this.
Seriously he is. This is good.
Stay with me.
Please.
Well, anyway - safe reliable hands. These guys are all pros. They've done lighthearted, good-natured stuff all of their careers. I mean James Garner was Maverick and Jim Rockford, he's probably so light-hearted he floats like a balloon.
But is that where I am? Watching the light-heated, good-natured comedy (8 Simple Rules does end-of-episode morals even), the reliable comedy, and shunning the new and exciting and cutting edge comedy? Do I even want to bother? I laugh, don't I? Isn't that the whole point?
Actually, I do try and watch The Daily Show whenever I can. As much as I enjoy and respect Jon Stewart (ever see him do a bad interview? Oh did you? Oh. I didn't see that one.) the Ice-Cream status belongs to co-host Rob Corddry, who is so good at what he does, I'm going to make him the first picture I publish on this blog. Here is his face, and some upper body.
(You know, I've tried, but I can't get this text to appear not bold.)
I'm guilty of enough hyperbole as is, but fuck it, the man is the funniest thing on T.V. right now. See how I used italics and bold on the 'is' in that sentence? That's how you show truth.
But what would I know?
I'm going to take a break for a minute, but there's more I want to grumble about. That will tie into this in a way. See you above this one.
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