# Iconic but awful **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 11, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285 "2021-10-11T02:10:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/341 "2021-10-20T01:05:32Z")
And here’s SCTV’s version: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WToCce62BZw/hqdefault.jpg "midnight special who's on first.m4v") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WToCce62BZw) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/342 "2021-10-20T02:03:15Z")
Correction: Winwood played keyboards (mostly). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/343 "2021-10-20T03:36:33Z")
He did both, although original member Dave Mason also played guitar ( only on the first album and then part of the second album). But on [Dear Mr. Fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxVlN-LzIks) for example I’m pretty sure that is Winwood playing guitar (Mason is playing bass and harmonica). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/344 "2021-10-20T03:42:59Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > _Cheers_ . Cannot watch it. Every character on there, I would run over in the streets of Boston if I didn’t live 3,000 miles away. > > Now, _Frasier,_ I liked, at least for the first five seasons. Mainly because Frasier Crane is away from all those horrid characters that you hoped would all die in a bar fire. And I’m the opposite. I could handle the bar flies in Cheers; Frasier’s haughty attitude left me cold. You heard a lot of “it’s the most intelligent show on TV.”. I thought it was a typical fish-out-of-water show. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/345 "2021-10-20T07:43:58Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I think bell bottoms, disco music, avocado green colored walls and shag carpeting - all iconic representations of the late 70s to early 80s - were awful. You left out burnt umber refrigerators and other major household appliances. And those sunburst wall clocks. Yeccch! 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/346 "2021-10-20T07:45:53Z")
I do. People often make the mistake of placing plot and character as paramount in judging movies, and if a movie fails on that, if it has plot holes or poor characterization or similar, it’s somehow a failure overall. I enjoyed (and _still_ enjoy) _Avatar_ for the spectacle - the effects, the worldbuilding, the cinematography - and I’m looking forward to more of the same, if not better. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/347 "2021-10-20T17:20:36Z")
“Some Like It Hot” Can we just kill this horrid piece of one-joke trash, that is a “”“Masterpiece”"" !!!men in women’s clothes!!! !!!How outrageously funny is THAT!!! …!!!AND FLIRTING WITH Marilyn while dressed as a woman!!! !!!OH EM GEE, I am dying this is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUNNNNNNNNNY!!! I just don’t get it. At all. It is like listening to Uncle Herman tell you about his trip to Des Moines. In 1962 For three hours While in his car Stuck in Traffic On the way to his house To see the slides of the same trip Stuck between his overweight flatulent son and his petulant anorexic daughter who pops her gum while listening to his wife complain about her hair in New York, in August, without air conditioning While he smokes a white owl 10 cent cigar. BORE RING.to the point of being painful. .Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/348 "2021-10-21T02:01:08Z")
> [@phxjcc](#): > > “Some Like It Hot” Billy Wilder is all over the place for me. Stalag 17 is about the best movie I’ve ever seen. Kiss Me Stupid about the worst. 1 2 3 is average. This one… I’ve never seen. Drag humor… not for me. Some people, that is the height of humor. I do not get it. Seen two seconds of Jack Lemmon in this, and why. Tony Curtis can’t be any better. Plus Marilyn Monroe in Betty Boop mode, which I never got either. Like a movie from a foreign culture I’ll never understand. Pass. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/349 "2021-10-21T02:02:25Z")
Speaking of which… Marilyn Monroe. Mostly seems like a cartoon of a woman. Her imitators were better. She just never has done it for me. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/350 "2021-10-22T01:46:35Z")
I haven’t seen any of the “Bill & Ted” movies, but I did see “Beetlejuice”, and didn’t think it was very good either. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/351 "2021-10-22T01:49:46Z")
It became iconic because it got the Rifftrax treatment, and then some, 40 years before Rifftrax debuted. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/352 "2021-10-22T01:59:02Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I haven’t seen any of the “Bill & Ted” movies, but I did see “Beetlejuice”, and didn’t think it was very good either. But the iconic phone booth is from _Doctor Who_, and the iconic Rule of Three occurs in any number of fairy tales. So what is really so iconic about those films? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/353 "2021-10-22T02:14:00Z")
This is one of my favorite “Far Side” cartoons. FTR, I DID like DWW. > ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/354 "2021-10-25T04:56:26Z")
My favorite take on _Who’s On First_ has to be from [Kids in the Hall](https://youtu.be/jFhvmCgs_L4). The bit starts at 1.50 in. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/355 "2021-10-25T21:13:13Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Morecambe and Wise is the one that comes to mind for me, and it’s a fairly strong memory, but memory is fallible The Two Ronnies were a comedy duo that often used wordplay and puns to get laughs; the ‘Four Candles’ sketch is a classic, but there are many more, mostly written by Ronnie Barker in the guise of ‘Gerald Wiley’. I really can’t understand the ‘Who’s on First’ sketch, but I probably lack the cultural references necessary. I wonder if Americans can ‘get’ the ‘Four Candles’ sketch. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/356 "2021-10-25T21:14:25Z")
Yup, definitely could have been the Two Ronnies. I liked them when they were on TV when I was a little kid. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/357 "2021-10-25T21:22:25Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > I wonder if Americans can ‘get’ the ‘Four Candles’ sketch. What a load of billhooks. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/358 "2021-10-26T01:37:55Z")
My first exposure to “Who’s On First” was a parody about a rock festival featuring the Who, the Guess Who, and Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/359 "2021-10-26T05:39:33Z")
There’s got to be a way to work The Band into that. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285/360 "2021-10-26T06:30:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There’s got to be a way to work The Band into that. There is. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mdqv5xIsFLM/hqdefault.jpg "Slappy Squirrel - Who's on Stage?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdqv5xIsFLM) Now that’s a much better version. I find this version funny. A lot of the love seems to be for parodies and references, rather than the original. I still don’t find the A&C version at all amusing. There’s a lot wrong with it. Just for a start it goes on for far too long. The premise is implausible, Lou is told explicitly that Who is a name. I can’t believe that he misunderstood it. I can’t believe the dialogue, people just wouldn’t talk like that, and so on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-but-awful/952285.md?page=19)