Second City, Twice

It’s probably just a coincidence that Eli and I were talking about SCTV the other day, because she had no way of knowing I had just picked up a couple of books about The Second City (one about the history of the theatre; the other about the television show).

I hadn’t planned on reporting for Jury Duty on the first day of Summer, but having been through the drill before I knew that I’d probably have to kill a little bit of time. As it turned out, it was a good thing I brought both books.

The first was one I had read before, an insider’s recollection by Dave Thomas about the show, the cast, and how it all came together called SCTV Behind The Scenes. Thomas weaves personal observations with interviews with others into an engaging narrative about the origins of the program as well as the camaraderie – and sometimes rivalries – between the cast members. In doing so he is unflinchingly honest about his own myopia and drive which sometimes placed him at odds with fellow actors and staff while trying to put the show first.

There’s a lot of inside peeks at the process of turning writing sessions into post-produced pieces for air; how despite comparisons to Saturday Night Live the shows were really apples and oranges; how dedicated behind-the-scenes people from makeup artists to producers were usually in way over their head but delivered anyway. Despite the incredible difficulties involved in staging and (mostly) selling the show, their ability to self-create in a vacuum without regard for ratings or network input led to what most of them consider the artistic peak of their careers.

Behind The Scenes is already fifteen years old but still a wonderful read and a must for any SCTV fan. It’s a vivid reminder of how blessed we were to have a company with such creative minds cranking out truly original material. There’s a great essay from Conan O’Brien where he describes the impact the show had upon him. He felt for the first time that a comedy program was speaking directly to him while refusing to dumb it down for the masses; it was a logic that he would carry forward and use in his own career. (And his story about first meeting John Candy is both funny and a heart-warming tribute to both men.)

Unscripted, written by Mike Thomas (A Chicago journalist, no apparent relation to Dave) is a 2009 book that presents a fascinating history of the Second City theatre framed within quotes from its creators and participants. Although the Chicago side of the story dominates - as it should - Thomas pays great tribute to the Toronto establishment and sheds light on the many road shows and other city-based affiliates.

If you’ve read Live From New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller – among the best tomes on Saturday Night Live – you’ll be familiar with the structure that Unscripted utilizes. Both authors conducted a bevy of interviews and weave quotes and anecdotes from the insiders to tell a chronological story. It’s an effective technique – as if a group of famous people are gathered in one room and they decided to tell you the history of their theatre in a round-robin format.

And we’re talking famous people.  A fifty year history, from early stars like Alan Arkin,  David Steinberg and Robert Klein to the recent TV pipeline of comedians Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. Most of the better cast members from Saturday Night Live. Ensembles from classic sitcoms from Cheers to 30 Rock. Actors like Peter Boyle. Stand-up comics like Joan Rivers. Of course, many will gravitate towards the bittersweet stories of the departed legends John Belushi, Chris Farley, and John Candy as well as famous stars like Bill Murray and Mike Myers who parlayed their improv training into huge careers. The list of Second City alumni is daunting.

But Thomas also lets us get to know about important innovators like Del Close, Bernard Salkins, Andrew Alexander and Joyce Sloan, whose work behind the scenes saved the company many times over. It’s great storytelling, albeit using the words of others. I laughed out loud several times, caught up in everything from great backstage anecdotes to quotes that just killed me. (My favorite – one performer recalling that a sketch bombed so badly “you could hear a mouse shit!”)

It’s fun to read about Second City and its history, but it’s great to know we can take in a live performance and revisit the brilliant television show on DVD.

Info about Unscripted at the Mike Thomas webpage.

Dave Thomas Wiki page

Happy Birthday Al Jaffee!

One of the longest ongoing relationships in my life is with a magazine. Now before sick thoughts start entering your mind, let me clarify – I have been reading Mad Magazine since I was a kid. Along with the stand-up comics who appeared on Ed Sullivan and other variety shows, it was one of my first comedy influences, and probably the first consistent exposure to satire I had.

As a child I devoured every issue, a period only briefly interrupted when a Catholic School nun told my cousin’s class that Mad was immoral and filthy. The idiot told his mother, who told mine. I had to read on the sly for a while; I was forbidden to bring Mad into the house. I remember a year or so later I was in the hospital and after surgery  she brought the newest issue to the recovery room to cheer me up. It was her wordless way of lifting the lifetime ban on something she discovered was just harmless fun. (Typical, classic Mom move.)

Reading Mad Magazine was an early primer in comic writing, and I became adept at dashing off humorous limericks and substituting comic lyrics for popular songs or commercial jingles. In high school, I wrote a mock version of the student newspaper (under several aliases as well as my own name) using some of Mad’s classic formats to poke fun at teachers, fellow students and the high school experience in general. A sympathetic teacher not only made the copies on an old mimeo machine but defended me to the irate and embarrassed principal, explaining that sometimes creativity gets started on the wrong foot.

But although I loved the writing in Mad, I was especially enamored by the cartoons. My immediate favorite was Don Martin, whose absurd creations were both imaginative and hilarious (it was a black day when his ongoing dispute with publisher William M. Gaines finally boiled over and he left Mad for Cracked). And soon after I started reading Mad, another cartoonist named Al Jaffee came on board with an inventive style and two great concepts.

Like any of the “usual gang of idiots” at Mad Magazine (a term coined decades prior to Johnny Damon’s recent famous reference to the Boston Red Sox), Jaffee sought to create a hook that could be used as a consistent platform to write from, like The Lighter Side of… and Spy vs. Spy. He nailed two. Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions was a veritable cheat sheet for anyone seeking a quick comeback when someone asks an absurdly obvious question; Jaffee provided the cartoon, the question and three possible quips. This feature was an immediate success and spawned several collections.

Even more creative was The Mad Fold-In, a feature that started in 1964 and continues to this day. A full page cartoon with a paragraph of text could be folded in half and then that half folded out again, basically overlaying the outside quarter of the page with the inside quarter – the middle of the page was now hidden. The payoff was that the art and the text would now form a different picture and statement, usually an answer to the question posed on the full page. Jaffee reportedly came up with the concept as an alternative to the fold-outs popular magazines were employing as their gimmick, most notably Playboy. What better concept for a notoriously frugal magazine to invent than something that folded in?

This NY Times feature animates a few famous fold-ins

Being as anal about the condition of my Mad Magazines as I was about my singles and albums, I quickly became adept and folding the cover over gingerly so as not to make an actual crease; I could figure out the text from the flat page without a problem. Jaffee was fearless in his subject matter, though, taking shots at politics and organized religion along with celebrities and other pop culture events of the times. I found it amazing that Jaffee drew all of them while imagining how the folded-in art would match up since he didn’t have the tools we have today.

As I got older, the changes in Mad Magazine affected my previously voracious consumption of its contents. National Lampoon became a far more sophisticated tool for satirical writing, and today we have everything from The Onion to the faux newscasts of John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Even the look of the magazine is different; although they have done so for several years I still can’t get used to real advertisements among its pages. Today I subscribe more out of brand loyalty than visceral excitement.

But the comic skill of Al Jaffee is something that has made an indelible mark on me, true artistry that is timeless. And that’s not just my opinion; in 2008 - at 87 years young – the National Cartoonists Society named him the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Happy 89th Birthday, Al. Thanks for everything!

 

Al Jaffee and Mad Fold In wiki sites.

Link to a 2008 interview with NY1.

Mad Magazine and their wiki page

Doug Gilford’s Mad Magazine Cover site.

T.G.I.F. – Ten Globe Guesses

But before we get to the prognostication…and just to keep the teakettle whistling – here are the latest clips from the late night talk show hosts on the Tonight Show debacle, courtesy Gawker. Jimmy Kimmel bitch-slaps Jay Leno on his own show, and if you aren’t a Craig Ferguson fan after his clip…well, you might just be an NBC executive…

So here are ten guesses for who will win at Sunday’s award show. I’ve limited this group to films; I always wonder why they even vote on American television programming anyway.

The Globes are always a crapshoot, since the voters are the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who (1) may not have seen all of the nominees, (2) might not get the context of American humor and cultural references and (3) tend to vote for their favorite people – those who play the schmooze game – regardless of merit. But what the hell, it’s only internet money.

Tune in to NBC – if it’s still broadcasting – this Sunday night at 8:00pm EST to find out for yourself. (Even if you don’t care about the minor categories, watch or record the program; I wager that Ricky Gervais will make this an evening to remember).

Best Motion Picture – Drama:  There’s a lot of George Clooney love right now, but as much as I liked Up In The Air I think it’s been a wee bit overrated and it won’t hold up. Even those who don’t normally like war films are praising The Hurt Locker and I think it will resonate here as well

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama:  The HFPA loves Sandra Bullock. Lovvvvvvve her. And since this is being hailed as her “greatest performance” they are all but being directed to strike while the iron is hot. I thought she was great in Crash but she makes too many cheesey comedies (not that it stopped the HFPA for nominating her for that also).

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Did I mention how they love George Clooney? Caution spoiler: Morgan Freeman did play Nelson Mandela…

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical - This is a horrible category. Of the films, I liked the flawed The Hangover the best, but the all-star cast suggests It’s Compicated is probably more up their alley.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: This category tells you all you need to know about the HFPA – Bullock chewing the scenery, Julia Roberts automatic nod and two Meryl Streep roles. The only way Streep loses is if she splits her own votes, but since HFPA also loves people playing real characters, it’s Streep for Julia and Julia.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: That Sherlock Holmes is a comedy tells you a lot about why I hate the very concept of the movie, but not enough people appreciate that Joesph Gordon-Levitt is the best young actor in Hollywood and not enough people cared about The Informant. So I’ll wager it’s Robert Downey Jr.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: As intense and worthy as Mo’Nique was in Precious, and as revered as Penelope Cruz is in general, I just have a gut feeling that Vera Farmiga will benefit from being in the most likeable film in the group. Not that she isn’t worthy – tough crowd here.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - This is quite possibly the best group of nominees on the whole show (and they didn’t even nominate Christian McKay for Me and Orson Welles!) Any other year Stanley Tucci walks away with this for his chilling performance in The Lovely Bones, but Christoph Waltz probably gave a performence for the ages in Inglorious Basterds.

Best Director – Motion Picture - It makes no sense that someone could helm the Best Picture and not win as Best Director, but Avatar is a tidal wave and James Cameron gets rewarded for the sheer scope of the film.

Best Screenplay- Motion Picture - I think this is where the HFPA again gets to reward a feel-good picture (even though it was anything but feel-good) by Globing Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air.

The full slate of categories and nominees can be found here. I’ll post links to the results, along with my reactions, on Monday January 18th.