That reminds me of being a kid and watching the old Looney Tunes, even though I didn’t get most of the references or celebrities (until later in life), I still enjoyed them and enjoy them today on a different level.
It took the invention of the Internet before I figured out the whole “Wanna buy a duck?” gag.
Mr. brown is re-reading Tortilla Flat, and I haven’t read it in many years. He’s reading out a line here and there to me, and I’m finding it funny all over again.
“Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on their way to the throne of God.”
“Be good to little doggies, you ugly man.”
“Both thy mothers were udderless cows.”
Gene Wilder acting nonchalant after he’s stabbed himself in the thigh with a scalpel? Or saying “My Financier” instead of “my fiancee”? The dart game with the Inspector (If you want to see it played straight, watch the original Son of FRankenstein)
Madelein Kahn interacting with Marty FEldman? Her too-prim interactions with Gene Wilder?
Cloris Leachman’s “He vas…my Boyfriend!!”?
Damned near everything Teri Garr did?
Not a comedy? Either you weren’t paying attention, or you watch some strange dramas.
Loach didn’t say it’s not a comedy, just that the actors played it straight, which they did for the most part. For instance, in Madeleine Kahn’s too-prim interactions with Gene Wilder, she never mugged to the camera, never acted like there was an audience she was trying to get to laugh. Some of the humor came from Gene Wilder’s deliberate overacting, but that’s not the same as acting like it’s a comedy. There’s a difference between funny acting and acting funny.
The movie Airplane! was like this. There was a joke about every thirty seconds, but the performers didn’t act like they knew anything was funny, except for Stephen Stucker as Johnny. Similarly, in Young Frankenstein, Marty Feldman as Igor was the one actor who played it like his character knew he was in a comedy.
That’s called “mugging to the audience” and except for some very rare examples - like the two you gave - it is almost always considered bad Comedy.
But it’s wrong to say that they were acting like it’s not a comedy. Yes, I appreciate that you have to play many things pretty straight to get maximum comedic effect. But these actors were definitely acting as if they were in a comedy. To say that they weren’t misreprtesents their skill.
Once again, I’m not talking about whether the actors were acting like they were in a comedy. I’m talking about the characters acting like they were in a comedy.
Obviously, all the actors in Young Frankenstein knew they were making a comedy, and played their roles accordingly. Gene Wilder’s over-the-top acting was part of this. But the characters Dr. Frankenstein, Elizabeth, Frau Blücher, Inga, The Monster, Inspector Kemp, et al. didn’t know they were in a comedy, and the actors didn’t play their roles to suggest that they did.
The one exception was Marty Feldman as Igor. As an example, when Dr. Frankenstein lost it and started screaming things like “Son of a bitch! Bastard! I’ll get you for this! What did you do to me? What did you do to me.” and “I don’t want to live. I do not want to live.”, Gene Wilder knew he was supposed to be funny, but the character did not. But when Igor turned to the camera and said, “Quiet dignity and grace” while rolling his eyes, both Marty Feldman and Igor were acting like they knew it was a comedy.
I enjoyed Steve Allen reading local complaints from the local newspaper and actually being outraged by them. He would encourage the crowd to yell, “Yeah!!!” while he read some boring complaint about a rude cashier at a grocery store.
Thank you. You shall be my spokesman from here on.
I agree with you, but (and this is mainly directed at @Loach) isn’t this the rule rather than the exception in most comedies?
James Thurber’s short stories especially the Night The Bed Fell are from the turn of the 20th century and are still hilarious…
T
I like his modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood
Red shoots the wolf
Moral. It’s not so easy to fool little girls these days.
“The Night the Bed Fell” was published in 1933. His writing (and drawing) wasn’t really from the turn of the twentieth century unless you’re really loose about that term. He did his work in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He was born in 1894.
I think the actors in Young Frankenstein played it straight for the most part, but in the exaggerated style of Universal horror films— which, to modern audiences, comes across as inherently funny. Their performances leaned toward melodrama with an undercurrent of absurdity, yet they never broke character or winked at the audience, which made the comedy even sharper.
I stand corrected sir.
T
“Playing it straight” is what I would call what Bud Abbott or Zeppo Marx did. Gene Wilder approached that in a few scenes but the rest of the cast never did.
I disagree. Watch this clip from YF. The situation and dialogue are funny, but the actors are playing it straight—in an enhanced melodramatic style.
I think we have different definitions of playing it straight. In the first minute of that clip, Teri Garr plays dumb blonde and Cloris Leachman makes an exasperated facial acknowledgement of the neighing gag. They are definitely parodying the old Universal acting style, but in no way are they merely aping it.
Right that’s what made it work. The parody of Universal horror films was so close it was also a homage. That’s what made it work.