[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
No idea–what radio station is that?
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It’s a syndicated radio show based out of Indianapolis, but IIRC it’s broadcast across the country now. Here is a link to their website, and they have a link to Paul Gilmartin’s site also.
[QUOTE=Neidhart]
Was Tim Allen ever any good? All he seems to do nowadays is grade-D kiddie krap.
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His original stand-up act, the “tool man” stuff before he got famous with his sitcom - that stuff was hysterical. I saw his first HBO Special years and years ago and almost peed myself laughing.
The thing we have to remember is that humor is subjective. I don’t get anything at all out of The Three Stooges, but will laugh myself silly at Monty Python.
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I heard the same thing, and I believe it. He did a thing with Gilda Radner on SNL years ago that was simultaneously great and hilarious. You have to have talent in order to crack people up when you dance. He knows exactly how to capitalize on his lankiness, how to mug at the right times…he really is a genius.
[/QUOTE]
Steve Martin was the guest host on SNL the night Gilda Radner died. He specifically had them replay this piece and gave a very heart-felt introduction.
The thing I can’t understand about Eddie Murphy is why he always has to play more than one character in a film? It makes sense in the current film of course, but it seems to be a major theme in his other movies too. Has any other actor done this as many times as he has? Why does it seem to me that he constantly does this?
[QUOTE=samm]
The thing I can’t understand about Eddie Murphy is why he always has to play more than one character in a film? It makes sense in the current film of course, but it seems to be a major theme in his other movies too. Has any other actor done this as many times as he has? Why does it seem to me that he constantly does this?
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Peter Sellers did this quite often as did Jerry Lewis. Both Sellers and Lewis were big influences on people like Murphy and Mike Meyers so it makes sense that they’d want to follow in their footsteps and do a lot of movies where they get to play more than one role. However, what I think Murphy and Myers forget is that while playing multiple parts in a movie can result in a comic tour de force performance, it can get to be gimmicky, predictable, and tiresome if you do it too many times. With Lewis, that happened very soon. Sellers was more successful but even he did not know when to lay off the multi-role shtick.
[QUOTE=cmkeller]
Steve Martin is amazing. If we’re talking Roxanne-era, you have to give him props for All of Me.
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Back in Bowl.
I’ve never understood why that movie isn’t more popular. It is fantastic and gets better every time I’ve watched it. Edwina Cutwater…
I’ve never understood the hate for Robin Williams or Steve Martin.
Respectively, they are both Gods of Comedy.
The problem with comedy is what is funny to one person puts a bee up another’s nose, so to speak and deemed inappropriate.
Yeah, there have been a few stink bomb movies, but every star out there has made a pile of doo-doo. This is known as Paying The Bills.
I think I’ve only missed possible two or three of each of their movies and have never come away with OH GOD DID THEY SUCK DONKEY BALLS! Sure, the plots have sucked, but they’ve always been solid in their performance. I thought RV was a nice, respectable family film. His ‘speech’ at the end to the soda pop company showed why his character is so good at what he does. It was possibly the best scene in the movie. I wanted to buy that pop.
We drones in our Cubicleville world certianly don’t hit one out of the park every time we go to work, neither to actors or comedians. Some times you get a so-so script and make the best of what you can with it while putting bread on the table, other times you get get a GIFT from the Writing GODS with a script that is fantastic and then it gets paired up with a great team where everything comes together.
Both of these men have had several movies of either great financial success or lauded by critics. ( You cannot seem to have both, except for the oscar nod that RW got for GMV and eventual win for DPS.) Both have taken huge leaps and tried things that were completely out of their comfort zone. Some times it works, some times it doesn’t.
As for** Eddie Murphy**, he has made a fortune over the past twenty years, he never seems to really rest and, here is the part that gets me, he doesn’t seem to have aged at all. It is freaky. His humor and timing are always spot on, but the movies he does panders to what I refer to as the Walmart Crowd. Low Brow Yuck Yuck Pratfall kind of stupid humor that I just don’t get. I appreciate all kinds of comedy, but dressing up in all the different characters is just old. Black men in barbershops and fat old grannies just isn’t funny after awhile. He doesn’t seem to take huge leaps at anything. But he is still making wads of money.
Eddie’s most memorable work in the last ten years has been Donkey. That says ALOT for his talent if your voice work is THAT GOOD.
In Hollywood, it is all about the bottom line. The Financial bottom line. If you can reel them in, you have a job.
Will Ferrell, who really irritated me on SNL ( the cheerleader sketches seemed to go on longer than Chinese Water Torture. The lounge act…GAH.) It was always like he overstayed him time on stage, but he was doing the best with what crap SNL was feeding him. I cannot imagine a harder job. If you ever want an interesting read, Live From New York . Fascinating.
Wil Farrel has really grown on me. I think he is excellent in a supporting roll: Frank the Tank and whatever his name was in Talledega Nights shake and bake. Give him a leading part and it just doesn’t work, but he doesn’t stop trying. I strongly suspect that he will have some HUGE hit on his hands in the next few years. He isn’t afraid to make total cake of himself and doesn’t seem to have a drug or tranny problem.
I haven’t seen The Guru by Mike Myers, but everything I’ve ever read about him has always been that he is a PITA to work with. A genius, but PITA. Maybe after such a string of hits ( Wayne’s World, Shrek, Austin Powers) maybe he finally got his comeuppence. I do want to see The Guru. To see if it is Bad bad or just what the deal is.
I’m babbling now..
Eddie has certainly done a ton more family fare in the past ten years, and it has been hit or miss. His voice work as Donkey was great. Norbit, bleh. Don’t give me that “it was his voice coach” business… good grief. If you guys REALLY have it in for somebody- there is no stopping you. Understandably a movie is not just one person- but seriously- the actors have to ACTUALLY perform. Had I been in that spot- with the same talent coach, etc… I would not have done donkey the same? It wouldn’t have even been GOOD!
Eddie also received an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls. So- he hasn’t sunk too terribly low as an actor it doesn’t look like.
As a general rule though, it does seem difficult for a comedian to maintain a level of comedy. I’m not sure why. I used to think it was because they got stale- as has been mentioned- but that doesn’t explain why I can still watch older material and laugh at it. Shouldn’t the old material stale also? Musicians are similar. <shrug>
Some people in this thread may enjoy this video (mocking Meet Dave and Murphey in general):
http://tinyurl .com/63ls9f
(only mildly nsfw, but I broke it anyway
Yeah, well, the thing about Eddie Murphy to me is that he is an ICON. Following in the footsteps of Redd Foxx and (especially) Richard Pryor, he really changed the cultural landscape of comedy, and, to some extent, Hollywood. He was raunchy, lusty, and unmannered in a way that even Pryor wasn’t. He ushered in the age of Chris Rock and Dave Chappell. He really popularized the Black Comedian. I view “Delirious” and some parts of “Raw” as high art.
So to see him as a donkey in “Shrek” is somewhat disappointing to me.
[QUOTE=Peter Morris]
Ben Elton.
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I saw Ben Elton live in Christchurch about 10 years ago, and it was the funniest show I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. I laughed so hard I was literally aching for the entire next day as a result. Brilliant stuff.
His work with Blackadder should also get a mention- the first series was, well, Not Very Good, but once he came on board for Blackadder II it became one of the most sublime comedies ever broadcast, IMHO. The Young Ones was also brilliant in its day and still holds up pretty well even now.
I’m not as much of a fan of his books as I’d like to be; I just can’t get into them. The one exception would be The First Casualty, which is a Murder Mystery set in the trenches of WWI. It’s an interesting book but it’s not a humour piece and it’s pretty obvious who The Bad Guy is (and it isn’t The Kaiser) from fairly early in the piece.
I don’t know if I’d say he’d “Fallen”, though. More likely, being English-Australian and successful, Mr. Elton now has more money than he could ever hope to spend and is content to simply spend his days doing whatever he feels like, which (for now) appears to be writing the odd novel every couple of years to keep the Royalties coming in- he doesn’t need to work anymore, at least not in the fields he was associated with Back In The Day.