Wednesday, October 21, 2009

This is What I Have Always Feared...

...That I could just stop trying and slip into the going-through-the-motions mediocrity evident in oh....85% of popular comics and writers. This week I left all my homework till the last day, and found myself pumping out sketches and blackouts just to get them done, and produced what I felt were two absolute stinkers. Even more disappointingly, they killed in class, appealing to broad non-offensive comedic themes. God-dammit.

The first thing is a TV-parody of a bunch of CBS procedural shows, as I hate them. The second is a parody of the movie Public Enemies. There are then a few blackouts. There are typos, and I am lazy.





[BILL HADER AS HORATIO CAINE AND ABBY ELLIOTT AS CALLEIGH DUQUENSE FROM CSI: MIAMI STANDING OVER A HORRIBLY MANGLED CORPSE]

ABBY: It appears that the victim was being stabbed with an empty

bottle of Corona, when he was shot in the face with a poison

dart, at which time someone began to strangle him with his

own necktie. After he died, from a brick shot out of an air

cannon positioned half a mile away that struck him in the

head, he was skinned, de-boned, re-boned with someone

else’s bones, before he was cooked in this enormous pan

BILL: And yet, no signs of a struggle

ABBY: From the presence of these oversize tortillas, and these tubs

of sour cream, shredded asiago cheese, and guacamole, the

killer intended to eat the victim, but ran off when he was

spotted by the witness who reported the body to us

[SAYS LINE WHILE TAKING OFF BLACK SUNGLASSES]

BILL: He was fixing himself a fine dish of carne asadism

ABBY: Let’s not jump to conclusions, the bosses are furious with

us already because we have the lowest conviction rate in the

entire department

BILL: What? We do?

ABBY: Well yeah, we always collect a small amount of obscure

evidence, then arrest suspects largely on the strength of

scenarios of the murder you concoct in your head using

a series of wild inferences. It’s always really impressive

to the other cops, and really cool when we act it out, but

it doesn’t really constitute legal evidence, combined with

the fact that we never ever follow proper police procedure

when interrogating suspects. Ever.

BILL: Lawyers mess up the lighting on my hair

ANDY: You call that hair?

[ANDY AS PATRICK JANE FROM ‘THE MENTALIST’ COMPELTE WITH BLEACHED BLONDE HAIR APPEARS]

ABBY: How did you get on this crime scene? What department are

you from?

ANDY: Don’t be silly, I’m not policeman, I’m just a douchebag

who tells people what to do. Any amateurish investigator

could find, and be fooled by the presence of these Mexican

accoutrements, but they’d be remiss to ignore the whiff of

sauerkraut and russian dressing, leading me to search under

this conveniently located tarp

[ANDY LIFTS UP TARP TO REVEAL OVERSIZE COLLECTION OF RYE BREAD, RUSSIAN DRESSING, SAUERKRAUT, AND SWISS CHEESE]

which shows that they intended to make this man into a

delicious reuben sandwich!

ABBY: He was preparing the victim to be his corned beef!

[BILL SAYS LINE WHILE TAKING OFF GLASSES AGAIN]

BILL: When I make myself corned beef, I like to mix in a little

Hash

ANDY: What?

BILL: Don’t you ever wonder why I talk like this? I’m stoned out

of my mind

[JASON AS LEROY GIBBS, AND JENNY AS ABBY SCIUTO APPEARS FLASHING THEIR BADGES]

JASON: Excuse me! Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, this is

Forensic Specialist Abigail Sciuto. She’s the only person I

know with a personality

JENNY: This crime scene is totally hinky

JASON: Yes it is, and you’re all trespassing on military property, as

this is a matter to be handled by the US Navy

[ANDY, BILL, AND ABBY LOOK AROUND AT THE SCENE CONFUSED]

ANDY: Um…what are you guys doing here?

JASON: This is nothing more than a naval training exercise gone

slightly awry

ABBY: Slightly?

JASON: We were experimenting with feeding troops more

efficiently by simply making one large enormous meal, and

it didn’t quite work

ANDY: What went wrong?

JASON: He was supposed to fall into the tortilla

BILL(to Andy): Told you

JASON: And he was also not supposed to die

[KRISTEN AS DETECTIVE LILY RUSH AND KENAN AS DETECTIVE WILL JEFFRIES FROM COLD CASE APPEAR]

KRISTEN: Justice is a dish best served cold

ABBY: Aw man, who the hell are you?

KENAN: Philadelphia Police, Cold Case Squad

JASON: And why are you here?

KRISTEN: Because this murder occurred 37 years ago…

KENAN: …In Philadelphia

ANDY: I don’t think there’s any way that you can explain how this

murder could have occurred 37 years ago

[BRIAN URLACHER AS LIEUTENANT KOJAK APPEARS SUCKING ON A LOLLIPOP]

BRIAN: But maybe I can! After all, who loves ya baby?

Lieutenant Theo Kojak, I was assigned to escort a witness

in a mob case back in ’72, and I lost track of him when I

left him to score with a kargiola in Philly. I’ve been

looking for the guy ever since for the past 37 years, though

admittedly not as much since I died in ’94. Now it appears

to have been brutally murdered in some incident involving

the navy, a giant taco, and a reuben sandwich. Ta gamisa.

KENAN: Well, who killed this man?

BRIAN: Well that’s easy. Jerry Bruckheimer did, he kills

everybody so that we have jobs

ANDY: Including my entire family!

ABBY: And thank God that he does

[RANDOM SONG BY THE WHO PLAYS OVER SHOT OF CBS LOGO]




[1930’S ERA BANK WHERE WILL AND FRED ARE BANK WORKERS WHERE KRISTEN IS A BANK CUSTOMER. WILL IS COUNTING KRISTEN’S MONEY]

WILL: You see ma’am I cannot accept this into your account, for it

is not a penny, but an unusually shiny button

KRISTEN: Yes, but it is a very shiny button

[BILL AS JOHN DILLINGER, BRIAN AS BABY FACE NELSON, WITH BOBBY AND ANDY AS THEIR BACKUP, ALL ATTENDANTS OF THE BANK PUT THEIR HANDS UP IN TERROR]

FRED: Holy smokes! It’s John Dillinger and his somewhat puffy-

faced companion

BILL: I’m John Dillinger, and this is my companion Baby-Face

Nelson, the other two men are escaped mental patients

who've been following me for miles

BRIAN: This is a robbery! Do what we say or we’ll kill you!

WILL: Yes, we are aware of the protocol, and are one step ahead of

you, as we have already raised our hands in pure terror.

Unless my nose deceives me, my counterpart here has gone

so far as to soil his pants

[FRED NODS]

FRED: Indeed I have

KRISTEN: I too, have tinkled in my girtle

BILL: Well there’s no need for that folks, if everyone stays calm,

everyone stays alive

WILL: You shot Avery the last time you came here

BILL: We were here before? I don’t remember that, who the hell

is Avery?

FRED: Right in the face

BILL: Alright, I definitely didn’t shoot anyone in the face. I think

brains are icky

BRIAN: I…I probably shot someone in the face the last time we

were here

BILL: Guh, why?! Why would you do such a thing? And why are

we robbing the same place twice? You realize banks have

less money after we rob them, right?

FRED: Are you going to rob us or not? My arms are getting tired

and I need to change my pants

BILL: Alright, there’s no need to stick up your arms, we mean you

no harm, we just want the money

KRISTEN: You want to steal my pennies?

WILL: They’re buttons, ma’am

BILL: We’re not here for your money, we’re here for the bank’s

FRED: Wha? But we put our money into the bank

BILL: Yeah, it’s the bank, it’s not really you

WILL: It’s the same, physical money, just in a stored location—

BILL: No it’s not, it’s different

FRED: Do you understand the concept of a bank?

BILL: Look, the bank is the establishment. They represent the

Man whose done you wrong, we’re folk heroes!

WILL: This bank is locally-owned

BRIAN: Shut up!

BILL: Yeah, shut up. Let’s not forget who has the guns and crazy

people on their side

[SHOT OF BOBBY AND ANDY LICKING THEIR TOMMY GUNS]

FRED: Well do you just want the money that the one rich guy who

lives here has in the bank, or everyone’s money?

BILL: Um, we’ll just take everyone’s money

WILL: You’re not really folk heroes if you take all of our money

BILL: Yes we are, it’s the bank’s money—

WILL: No you’re not—

[GUNBLAST SOUNDS AS BRIAN SHOOTS KRISTEN, SHE WHIMPERS AS SHE FALLS DOWN]

KRISTEN: Oh my!

FRED: You shot the annoying button lady!

BILL: Why would that be the thing for us to do?

BRIAN: They were going to say we weren’t folk heroes, so if we

shoot all of them, no one will know we aren’t

FRED: No, that’s not how it works!

WILL: Nuh-uh!

BILL: They’re right, the trail of civilian corpses will inevitably

dismiss notions of our heroism. And why did you shoot her,

of all people?

BRIAN: She was closest and her girdle smelled bad

[BILL STARTS TO WALK TOWARDS CENTER OF STAGE AND GIVE SOLILOQUY]

BILL: Baby-Face, I feel as if we’re getting away from the reasons

I got into this practice. I saw injustice and a consolidation

of all the wealth in this country in the hands of a few while

the rest of this nation lay powerless. I wanted to strike back,

not to hurt and kill my fellow men but to put the world on

its ear, and maybe show that if you use your smarts you can

really do something in—

[BILL LOOKS OFFSTAGE AND REACTS]

BILL: Aw shucks, it’s the coppers

[JASON AS A COP BURSTS IN AND START SHOOTING WILDLY MISSING EVERYONE AS THEY STARE BLANKLY WATCHING HIM AS HE SLOWLY MOVES TOWARD KRISTEN’S BODY]

JASON: Is this girdle urine?

[JASON SLIPS AND FALLS, KNOCKS HIMSELF UNCONSCIOUS]

BILL: That was disappointingly easy, but why didn’t you fire

back?

BRIAN: It’s the same cop who shot at us last time, why waste bullets

we can use on civilians?

[BRIAN AIMS WEAPONS AT FRED AND WILL WHO SCREAM AS IMAGE FREEZES AND CUTS TO ‘PUBLIC ENEMIES’ POSTER WITH SCROLLING TEXT]

VOICEOVER:John Dillinger went on robbing banks constantly and

generally avoiding shooting people for no reason. History

does not remember him has a folk hero, but he is generally

acknowledged to not be a total D-bag. Baby-Face Nelson

continued to repeatedly shoot civilians in the head, often

when they weren’t even looking, and is universally

regarded as a crazy bastard. Both were killed by authorities

in 1934. And both were found to have tinkled in their

girdles immediately prior. They were wearing girdles under

their suits, because they were cross-dressers, as were most

men in the 1930’s. Especially J. Edgar Hoover.




More Blackouts

(Child dressed up in a suit is sitting impatiently in a waiting room, empties two bags of M&Ms on table and begins sorting them)

Child: Put all the blues with blues…..reds with reds…oranges with orange….browns with browns

(Man with headset and clipboard opens door and pokes his head in

Man: 5 minutes, Mr. Beck

Child: Thank you, Gerald

(Child goes back to sorting)

Child: Yellows with yellows…




(Goldilocks is asleep in a bed as the Three Bears look on)

Baby Bear: Man, I thought I told her honky ass not to come over till 9

Mama Bear: What?

Baby Bear: What?!?! Huh?!?! That white girl broke into our house! Let’s eat her!

Papa Bear: Ok.



(Wife covering Husband’s eyes, then lets go)

Wife: Ok, you can open them now!

Husband: Oh honey! A hot tub in our bathroom!

Wife: You like it?

Husband: It’s perfect! Wow, just the other day I said to Bob, “you know Bob, I am way too rich to still be peeing in a toilet.”




(Teacher sits down in principal’s office)

Principal: Tim, I think that’s probably going to be the last class trip to the zoo

Tim: What? Why? Because we didn’t get back till 4?

Principal: Well it’s a variety of factors

Tim: Because we went over-budget?

Principal: Don’t dodge around the issue Tim, you know why

(Tim sighs deeply, and bows his head)

Tim: Are parents complaining because…(sighs again) the kids saw all those elephants commit suicide?

Principal: Yeah, that’s it

Monday, October 12, 2009

Things on Film

My homework this week was a commercial parody, a few more blackouts, and a digital short. Ideally, this will represent how solid execution can compensate for unimaginative concepts. Personally I've always felt that high-concept comedies are overrated, but that was not the reason I couldn't come up with anything more creative than a commercial for a large towel, three blackouts with the same premise, and digital short that operates solely on the notion that going as meta as possible will be funny.




Commercial Parody

[BOBBY FLUSHES TOILET IN THE BATHROOM. SOUNDS OF A PARTY ARE AUDIBLE IN THE BACKGROUND. TOILET BEGINS TO FANTASTICALLY OVERFLOW, A FOUNTAIN OF SEWAGE WATER]

BOBBY: Whoa. Whoa! WHOA!

[BOBBY SCAMPERS OUT TO THE PARTY IN A PANIC, RUNS UP TO BILL AND WILL]

BOBBY: Dude! Dude!!! I was in the place! With the bath! In a

room! And, and, and, it’s going crazy! I need help!

WILL: Bobby, you drinking the shampoo again?

BOBBY: Brown water! Brown water! Broowwwwnnnn!

BILL: Bobby, did you back up the toilet?

BOBBY: That’s the one!

WILL: We’ll need the plunger!

BOBBY: We’ll need several towels!

BILL: No. We’ll need one big fuck-off towel

[A-TEAM THEME PLAYS AND ACTION SWITCHES TO SLOW-MOTION AS BILL RUSHES TO CLOSET AND PULLS OUT A LARGE PACKAGE LABELED ‘BIG FUCK-OFF TOWEL’. IT IS CLEARLY ENORMOUS AND VERY DIFFICULT TO CARRY. HE UNFURLS A PREPOSTEROUSLY LARGE TOWELS AND THROWS IT ON TOP OF THE ENTIRE TOILET, COMPLETELY COVERING IT. WILL AND BOBBY LOOK ON WITH A MIXTURE OF AWE AND CONFUSION]

BOBBY: That…was…amazing!

WILL: That did not solve the problem at all

BILL: What? It’s completely solved

[SHOT OF TOILET PUMPING MORE AND MORE WATER INTO AN ENORMOUS TOWEL]

BILL: I can’t imagine a thing that would make this situation better

[SHOT OF MASSIVE PACKAGE LABELED ‘BIG FUCK-OFF TOWEL’ ROTATING AS VOICEOVER NARRATION BOASTS OF ITS QUALITIES]

VOICEOVER:We’ve taken the amount of cloth that would normally be

used to make several towels, and used it to make one big

fuck-off towel. We do not engage in false advertising, this

towel is not especially absorbent, nor imbued with any

unique property, it is simply preposterously enormous.

Accept no substitutes; accept only the towel so big, you’ll

soon be foolishly attempting to use it as a solution to all of

your problems

[BILL, WILL, ARE STANDING TOGETHER AT A NEW PARTY, BOBBY APPROACHES THEM]

BOBBY: Dude, your toilet is still broken down from three weeks

ago? And you’re throwing a party? This is a disaster!

BILL: Bobby, you panicky jabbering idiot, there’s no problem.

You gotta go, you tinkle on the towel, buddy

BOBBY: On the towel?

BILL: Absolutely. It’s amazing

WILL: Aw man, I gotta go too

BILL: Bros, it’s a big fuck-off towel, why don’t you both go?

[BOBBY AND WILL LOOK AT EACH OTHER, SHRUG, THEN LOCK ARMS AND WALK TO THE BATHROOM TOGETHER. AFTER A MOMENT SETH RUNS UP IN A PANIC TO BILL]

SETH: Hey man, I heard a rumor that the bathroom is no more

than a large towel that several men are urinating on, is this

true?

BILL: Yeah, I’ve been using it for a few weeks now

SETH: I’ve also noticed that the few women in attendance are

fleeing in terror, do you know why?

[SHOT OF JENNY, KRISTEN, AND ABBY HUSTLING OUT OF THE PARTY AS FAST AS THEY CAN]

BILL: Because they don’t know what it means to be a man

[CUT BACK TO SHOT OF BIG-FUCK OFF TOWEL PACKAGING WITH VOICEOVER NARRATION]

VOICEOVER:Big Fuck-off Towel is available for four big fuck-off

payments of $74.99, with additional fees so that big

fuck-off guys can be hired to perform shipping and

handling. Not recommended to be carried if you suffer

from chronic back pain, or any other big fuck-off medical

issues. Big Fuck-Off Towel is useful for a variety of needs,

and is even sold to the military

[TWO PILOTS RIDING IN RECONNASAINCE PLANE ARE ANDY AND JASON]

ANDY: I always hate flying by and doing spy missions of Haiti, and

never getting to bomb it

JASON: I know, I know, but our flight manual in basic training was

very clear; ‘Don’t bomb Haiti’. I wonder how they knew

that that was the nation we were thinking of…

ANDY: We gotta be able to drop something on them!

JASON: Well…we do have the Big Fuck-Off towel on board

[ANDY AND JASON PEEK BACK TO SEE BIG FUCK-OFF TOWEL SITTING IN ITS PACKAGE RIGHT OVER THE BOTTOM HATCH OF THE PLANE, THEN LOOK AT EACH OTHER AND SMILE]

[FRED AND KENAN ARE TWO HAITIANS IN A CITY SQUARE SPEAKING FRENCH TO ONE ANOTHER AS ENGLISH SUBTITLES ARE PROVIDED]

KENAN: I cannot help but think that some horribly calamitous thing

is about to happen to Haiti. For it has been almost 20

minutes since the last thing.

FRED: Look at this, I am far too fair-skinned to be portraying a

Haitian. I am firing my agent

[CUT BACK TO SHOT OF BIG FUCK-OFF TOWEL OVER HATCH]

ANDY: Drop it!

[TOWEL DROPS OUT, CUT BACK TO PILOTS]

JASON: Take that…Haiti

[CUT TO FRED AND KENAN, WHO ARE NOW MERE LUMPS IN A LANDSCAPE COMPLETELY COVERED BY AN UNENDING DINGY BROWN TOWEL]

KENAN: I can only hope this is not another poorly planned UN

attempt to provide aid

FRED: What an enormous fucking towel

[CUT TO PRODUCT SHOT WITH VOICEOVER]

VOICEOVER:Big Fuck-Off towel, order now or get it free with a Chicken

Pomodori Grilled Panini at selected Corner Bakeries

More Blackouts

(Scientists observing subjects of sleep study)

Scientist #1: Look at them…they even sleep Jewish

(Scientists observing subjects of sleep study)

Scientist #1: What time is it?

Scientist #2: 10:00pm exactly, sir

Scientist #1: Time to rub grape jelly between their toes

(Scientists observing subject of sleep study)

(a moment of staring)

Scientist #1: Holy fuck! Are they awake?!?!

Scientist #2: Wha-What? No, sir. They’re clearly asleep

Scientist #1: Uh..heh..huh….so they are.

Digital Short

[LORNE APPROACHES THE ENTIRE CAST WHILE THEY ARE WRITING AND PREPARING FOR THE SHOW]

LORNE: Guys, gather round

WILL: Aw crap, I knew it

LORNE: No Will, you’re not fired

WILL: Really?

LORNE: Really. The network is moving us out of our time slot.

They feel that they’re wasting us. Apparently on Saturday

nights most people go out with their friends and don’t

watch TV at all. We are just hearing about this

FRED: But that’s preposterous, we are Saturday Night Live

LORNE: Not anymore, we are now Wednesday Morning Funtime…

for kiddies

[CUT TO SCENE OF SETH GIVING PEP-TALK TO THE CAST]

SETH: Alright guys we can do this. If we’re really great

comedians, we can appeal to any audience. Andy!

ANDY: Yeah?

SETH: Take your existing songs, and just edit out the sexual

references and vulgarity

ANDY: Uh…

SETH: Kenan!

KENAN: What’s up?

SETH: Return to your creative peak of 15 years ago

KENAN: Man, screw you Seth

SETH: Will!

WILL: Yes?

SETH: You’re fired

WILL: Right

[CUT TO SCENE WITH KRISTEN WIIG SITTING IN FRONT OF A MAKEUP MIRROR]

SETH: Are you prepared to perform in garish clown makeup for

the rest of your career?

KRISTEN: Well…I did have a cameo role on Desperate Housewives

once

[CUT TO SCENE WITH SETH ARGUING WITH A CREW MEM BER]

SETH: I want more rainbows, and butterscotch clouds!

CREW: We’ve never designed sets for children’s programming

before, Seth

SETH: It’s simple! Just imagine what any set would look like, if

the viewers were retarded and gay

[CUT TO SETH PEPPING UP THE CAST BEFOR THE SHOW]

SETH: Alright guys, we worked hard preparing for this and I’m

proud of all you, let’s have a great show!

[CAST RUNS OUT ENTHUSIASTICALLY, MAKING IT VISIBLE THAT WILL IS NOW SWEEPING THE FLOORS BEHIND THEM] [MONTAGE OF SCENES FROM THE SHOW] [BRIAN URLACHER GIVING THE OPENING MONOLOGUE WEARING RAINBOWS OVERALLS SPEAKING IN AN UNENTHUSIASTIC MONOTONE]

BRIAN: Hey kids, we got a great show for you this morning, and

we'll be right back after a five-minute long PSA about

huffing glue

[SETH MEYERS ON WEEKEND UPDATE]

SETH: Today’s top story; Parents are stupid!

[ANDY IN A DIGITAL SHORT DRESSED AS HIS ‘DICK IN A BOX’ WITH A MASSIVE BOX OF TEDDY GRAHAMS TIED AROUND HIS WAIST AS HE DANCES WITH MILEY CYRUS]

ANDY: (singing) It’s Teddy Grahams in a box!

[A DISTURBING IMAGE OF MILEY CYRUS REACHING INTO ANDY’S BOX, CUT TO JASON INTRODUCING KRISTEN]

JASON: Hey kids, it’s your favorite party clown, Krazy & Kooky

Kristy!

[KRISTEN DANCES OUT WITH TERRIFYING ORANGE AND RED FACE MAKEUP, CHILDREN SCREAMING IS AUDIBLE] [CUT TO SETH LOOKING ON WITH LORNE, ANDY CAN BE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND SINGING A REVISED VERSION OF ‘LIKE A BOSS’ WITH LINES SUCH AS ‘BRUSH MY TEETH’, ‘ACT POLITELY’, AND ‘SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO’]

LORNE: I didn’t think you could pull this off Seth, but you did

SETH: Yeah, it’s all really coming together

[MONTAGE CONTINUES, WITH FRED AS BARACK OBAMA READING TO CHILDREN]

FRED: Hello children, I can’t help but notice that some of your

republican friends didn’t show up today

[CUT TO KENAN DRESSED AS HIS ‘ALL THAT’ CHARACTER OF SUPERDUDE, WITH ABBY AND BOBBY ALSO IN THE SCENE]

ABBY: But Superdude, your weakness is your lactose intolerance

KENAN: I know what my weakness is! I did this sketch when I was

16!

[CUT TO ABBY, JENNY, KRISTEN PLAYING A VERSION OF THE DATING GAME RETITLED TO ‘WHICH JONAS BROTHER WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO ON A PLAYDATE WITH?’ WHERE BILL HOSTS]

BILL: So Jenny, which Jonas brother would you like to go on a

playdate with? Nick Jonas? Joe Jonas? Or Kevin Jonas?

JENNY: I don’t know man, that’s a lot of fucking Jonases

[CUT TO SEVERAL SHOTS OFBILL FROZEN IN SHOCK, SETH FROZEN IN SHOCK, LORNE FROZEN IN SHOCK, AND FINALLY THE JONAS BROTHERS NEAR TEARS AND TRYING TO COVER THEIR EARS] [NEW SCENE WITH LORNE ADDRESSING CAST]

LORNE: We got our old timeslot back

[CAST CHEERS]

LORNE: We also rehired Will

[CUT TO WILL ON THE SIDE WAVING HAPPILY]

[CAST MUMBLES AND MURMURS WITH A CLEAR LACK OF EXCITEMENT]