# "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World",...Not Funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017 "2013-01-13T02:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/61 "2013-01-15T15:07:25Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Kovacs’ death was an odd one too. A car crash yes, but they think it was caused by losing control of the steering as he was trying to light a cigar by striking a match against his shoe sole. You mean . . . he just went sailing right out there? Did he make any kind of a statement before he died? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/62 "2013-01-15T15:28:01Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Not to get too off topic but didn’t that occur on the same dangerous stretch of road that was later immortalized in Jan & Dean’s [“Dead Man’s Curve”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIqVu2XBHYA)? I’d once read that it was the same stretch of road where his daughter, [Mia](http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2011/03/09/mia-kovacs/), was killed 20 years later, but can’t find current confirmation so I no longer believe so. Kovaks died either reaching for or trying to light a cigar, leaving Edie Adams with hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay off in taxes: which she did in part by becoming the spokesperson for Muriel Cigars. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/63 "2013-01-15T18:59:36Z")
[Shrug] The movie went over with me like a lead balloon, especially Phil Silver’s con job and the nurse slip-and-fall at the end (yes, I have suffered slip-and-falls myself, which took a while to heal). Whatever the humor was it went way over my head; I was 26 the first (and only) time I saw the movie. Well, there’s no point casting pearls before swine… ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/64 "2013-01-15T20:24:06Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’d once read that it was the same stretch of road where his daughter, [Mia](http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2011/03/09/mia-kovacs/), was killed 20 years later, but can’t find current confirmation so I no longer believe so. I remember that when it happened since Mia was only a few years older than me. Not that I believe in such things but it almost makes me think that family was cursed. [QUOTE= C K Dexter Haven] (2) Timing. Physical humor relies entirely on timing, and the timing is often off. Someone mentioned the final chase, which just isn’t funny; and, OK, winding up on the fire escape and falling off has some humor to it, but not when the same thing (with minor variations) happens 20 times. [/QUOTE] That’s my main problem with movie too. Directing a comedy is a special skill and that’s why many more-than-capable directors have stumbled when they tried to do broad physical comedy (e.g., Speilberg with **1941** ). Because a lot of physical humor depends on the element of surprise, a director can’t let the audience get ahead of him. This happens all too often in **IAM4W** due to Kramer’s sluggish comic pacing. You’re also right regarding the film’s climax on the fire escape/fire ladder. Even as a kid I thought it would’ve funnier if one of the characters, after a few hairbreadth escapes, managed to get off of the ladder and onto the ground unscathed–and then get whacked by speeding fire truck a half-second later. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/65 "2013-01-15T20:27:39Z")
I like the movie a lot. Highlights for me are Terry-Thomas’s rant about Americans’ obsession with bosoms, and Jonathan Winters single-handedly destroying the gas station. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/66 "2013-01-15T20:48:02Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Even as a kid I thought it would’ve funnier if one of the characters, after a few hairbreadth escapes, managed to get off of the ladder and onto the ground unscathed–and then get whacked by speeding fire truck a half-second later. On second thought, change “whacked by [a] speeding fire truck …” to “whacked by a speeding **ambulance**.” That’s funnier. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/67 "2013-01-16T01:14:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I like the movie a lot. Highlights for me are Terry-Thomas’s rant about Americans’ obsession with bosoms, … “If American women stopped wearing brassiers your entire economy would collapse!” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/68 "2013-01-16T01:23:27Z")
Great flick! For me, the best part was when the still-drunk Jim Backus tries to fly the airplane. Anybody remember the brief appearance of the “Three Stooges”? I wonder what they were paid for that? Who was the buy with the glasses (co-owner of the gas station that Jonathan Winters destroyed)? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/69 "2013-01-16T01:34:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Great flick! For me, the best part was when the still-drunk Jim Backus tries to fly the airplane. Anybody remember the brief appearance of the “Three Stooges”? I wonder what they were paid for that? Who was the buy with the glasses (co-owner of the gas station that Jonathan Winters destroyed)? That was Marvin Kaplan who also played the newspaper editor’s stooge in _The Great Race_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017/70 "2013-01-16T02:10:59Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Great flick! For me, the best part was when the still-drunk Jim Backus tries to fly the airplane. Anybody remember the brief appearance of the “Three Stooges”? I wonder what they were paid for that? Who was the buy with the glasses (co-owner of the gas station that Jonathan Winters destroyed)? The stooges were experiencing a resurgence of popularity about then. “Curly Joe” de Rita had joined them, they were making movies (instead of shorts), and were appearing on TV. They also had a brief scene in the Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra movie **Four for Texas** about this time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-not-funny/647017.md?page=3)