Uberfluff

I'm pretty sure this is kind of the point, and maybe I'm just hypersensitive to embarrasment, but sometimes certain kinds of comedy are almost impossible for me to watch without cringing, looking away, and feeling too embarrassed for the characters.  The best example of what I'm talking about is The Office--and the best example there is probably Steve Carrrell's portrayal of Michael Scott.  (Though watching Andy try to work a bar as Oscar's wingman last night also scored pretty high on the cringe meter.)

Obviously, I still enjoy the shows and find them funny.  But the way that they use the characrer's violation of social codes to underline his cluelessness/misplaced motivations/etc. leave me wondering whether I'm just odd for being overly sensitive to it.  Or maybe they've just done a good job of making Michael Scott somewhat sympathetic and this makes it hard to watch him make a fool of himself.  Which happens constantly.  Heck, maybe it's even the very real documentary-style feel of the show which leads to a tendency to absorb the situation as though it really happened, as opposed to being pure fiction.  But I'm certain willing to accept the explanation that I'm just weird about this.

Speaking of a realistic feel, I will miss Ryan a lot when BJ Novak leaves the show.  I think we all identify or recognize certain characters, and Ryan is a dead-on characterization of about half-a-dozen guys that I've known.  His determined pursuit of Kelly (while she was with Darrell)--the push-ups, the effort to persuade her to break-up with Darrell via text message--were funny, but his disappointment with his success is even better.  I loved the interview scene where Kelly enthuses about their being back together (going on about destiny), while Ryan adds, "I realized that I couldn't do better than Kelly."  (Subtext: "I really, really should have been able to do better than Kelly--I'm not sure what went wrong.")

So last night, we were watching some E! countdown of Saturday Night Live moments (I really, really am a sucker for countdown shows), which was frustrating because it would only give little peeks of the sketches they talked about.  Anyway, it got me thinking about my favorite SNL skts--and I'm definitely going with favorites here, over "best" skits, since what makes you laugh is so individual and subjective.  I won't subject you to any rants about the decline of SNL, but will instead leap to a few of the best on my list.

1. Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton at McDonald's.  To my mind, Hartman may well be the all-time SNL VIP.  Look at how he really nails the early-90s Clinton.  I still love it when the nugget gets intercepted by warlords.

2. Just about anything by Mike Myers.  My favorites are probably the Sprockets episodes.  Especially the one with Kyle McLachlan--though I was happy as long as they showed a film.  Stick some Radiohead under one of those babies, and you'd having something that would pass for a "deep" video nowadays.  Alas, the copyright Nazis at NBC make it nearly impossible to find decent Dieter video, so instead I'm posting a Wayne's World classic.  Don't be biased by the movies--when you look back at the original sketches, you can remember how fresh and funny they are.

3.  I have a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!  To this day, it is almost irresistable not to start doing aggressive cowbell playing when "Don't Fear the Reaper" shows up in your Rock Band setlist.  (Yes, I do the vocals.  What can I say?  I'm a highly-uncoordinated chick.)  And speaking of copyright Nazis--watch this one quickly before they have to take it down.  I found hundreds of crappy homages to this sketch, but poorly-dubbed copies of the original are like gold, baby, solid gold.