James Ellroy

Didn't think I would get a comedy-related blog item directly out of attending the Book Expo this weekend, but a great moment happened out of going for crime novelist James Ellroy's autograph at his publisher's booth yesterday.

Unlike a lot of the other authors who sign at the convention, Ellroy, by the time I made it up to him in the line, seemed to be conducting an hour-long stand-up act/profane circus barker monologue where signing was beside the point. Gesturing with a twinkle in his eye, he said, "Do you want to hear a joke?" as he invited booth staff and everyone near the head of the line to listen in:

A lion is fucking a zebra in the jungle, and the zebra's husband comes along. 'Quick,' the zebra tells the lion, 'pretend you're killing me.'

A pause settles as everyone realizes that's the drier-than-dry punchline. An apt joke coming from the author of such dark fiction.

Not to knock authors without such animated patter -- grateful that they do sign -- but a close second to Ellroy in booth patter was Elliot Tiber, author of "Taking Woodstock," his true-life story that is the subject of an upcoming movie starrting Demetri Martin. Tiber seemed to have running jokes going with two staff members working in the booth with him, and spying me, asked if I was sure I was over 18 and old enough to be reading what's in the book. "Don't look at page 46!" With a smile, I told him I'd be sure to turn to that page first.

Romantic misadventures

Nearly a year ago now, I dabbled not so successfully in stand-up comedy at open mike nights, but it was valuable for trying my hand at writing my own personal stand-up material, inspired by my own experiences and perceptions, just like many stand-ups do.

I'm not actively writing this stuff now, but every once in awhile have a thought or two that could be worked out on a stage, and I just had a couple I thought I'd put out there.

I guess I'll never understand the objections some dates had. These were sort of in-between relationships, not just one blind date that didn't click, or a full-fledged relationship of some months or more, but one of those little pseudo stillborn things that took a little longer to not click. In one, I should have known when I tried to hold hands on a date -- not a first date -- and got an objection, "what are you doing?" Yea, I'm trying to hold your hand and be romantic, that's so terrible ...

Another time I saw a date into a cab, and kissed her goodbye, and she said, bland and businesslike, "thank you." Who reacts that way? I didn't get it.

Anyway, those are the two bits. I don't know if they would be helped or hurt by delivery in person, or if they play well in print, but consider them a few stray pieces of that stand-up career that never was.

Parks & Recreation

The pseduo spin-off of "The Office" on NBC, "Parks & Recreation," is getting a faster start than that show did, as it spent its first several episodes simply recreating what happened on the BBC original.

With Amy Poehler in the lead, P&R uses the same documentary and interview style as The Office, and its creators are already having a lot of fun with the incompetence of some of the characters. Supporting player Nick Offerman makes an impression as Poehler's boss, a right-wing anti-government true believer who just happens to work for a government. Jester noted his gift as a completely different type of character on the short lived Comedy Central show, American Body Shop, where he played a spacey savant mechanic and was the only good thing about that show.

Also, Aziz Ansari, another Upright Citizens Brigade-spawned performer, gets more screen time and gets to do much more than on his brief stint in the final season of "Scrubs," as a subordinate who enjoys undermining Poehler and sucking up to Offerman. And UCB player Lennon Parham (see interview: http://www.jesterjournal.com/IntParham.htm) had a memorable cameo on the show recently, as an opponent of Poehler's park plans.

Just as great Daily Show and UCB players have added to "The Office," "Parks & Recreation" benefits from a premise and situations that might be spawned in improv performances that the UCB is known for.

Finding Bliss

A couple years ago, Jester really ripped into Jamie Kennedy for his documentary, "Heckler," (see review, 4/29/07) that was a response to critical drubbings some of his movies got.

But with a small role in the as-yet-undistributed "Finding Bliss," which closed the Gen Art Film Festival tonight, Kennedy redeems himself by delivering with smart timing the dialogue he has playing a dumb porn star. It's the little things he does, like mistaking 'thrust' for 'trust' and deflating the naive hero of the movie, played by Leelee Sobieski, when she talks up the delayed sexual gratification that is the subject of her character's film within the film -- by summarily dismissing that as "blue balls."

"Finding Bliss" may not be the most substantial movie or greatest comedy classic ever, partly because of some obvious turns in the story, but it's a fun flick. Jamie Kennedy's part in it contributes to that sense of fun and sense of play seen onscreen.

God of Carnage

"God of Carnage," the new play on Broadway by Yasmina Reza, featuring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden, like Reza's previous long-running hit, "Art," seen years ago, takes a seemingly simple conflict and spirals it out into illuminating dark comedy. In "Art," it was three middle-aged friends' debate over an abstract painting one bought, and in "Carnage," it's two sets of parents trying to resolve an incident where one's son knocked out the others' son's teeth.

Reza uses the premise to unwind the inevitable differences between couples, no matter how good they might seem together. The cast puts so much physical energy into their performances that you feel not just the words, but their impact. Gandolfini and Gay Harden draw a little bit on previous characters -- maybe this production is a bit tailored to them -- Gandolfini the obvious one and Gay Harden, very similar to the harpy she played in "The Mist" -- perhaps by design.

The show's dark comedy comes from the way the husbands and wives alternate both going at each other and the other couple, and at times siding with their own mate in the arguments and at other times, the others' spouse. Reza's lines, coupled with the actors' commitment, makes it all come alive and brings out that wry humor all at once.

Bill Hader

I do like to or tend to critique or rant about SNL, but here's a recent bit, where they really get it right, in no small part due to Bill Hader's talent. This sketch takes a simple tone of voice and inflection and gets all the absurdity possible out of that -- and doesn't drag or overdo it. It's written economically & compactly. Enjoy.

Seeing Tom Davis recall what he could of his years as a key writer for Saturday Night Live, both in the 1970s and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in an appearance promoting his memoir "39 Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There," at the 92Y Tribeca tonight, really reinforced a critic's conviction that Lorne Michaels really does sometimes suck all the air out of comedy on the show.

Case in point -- Tracy Morgan's recent return as host, in which the opening sketch where he has trouble clearing security to get into 30 Rock was probably the only good piece Morgan was in. Morgan's old recurring character -- this points to Michaels' penchant for recurring characters ad nauseum -- Brian Fellows, was never all that funny. Since Morgan's part on "30 Rock" and that show itself, became a hit, it's become all the more evident that Tina Fey knew far better how to tap Morgan's ability to be absurd. Morgan also shines when he's a guest on Letterman as well. It almost seems like everybody but Michaels knows what to do with him.

Anyway, back to Davis. He did note Michaels' love of recurring characters, adding that he much preferred having the cast serve the idea of a sketch rather than the other way around, which is what happens with character pieces showcasing a performer instead. And in a couple old clips Davis had as part of his appearance, one saw the perfect case in point -- one of the "Franken & Davis Show" segments Davis wrote with old partner Al Franken, which imagined a male beauty pageant featuring the duo, with Belushi, Aykroyd and Bill Murray interspersed among several extras, all as contestants. Belushi had one little line thanking the host -- albeit delivered as if he were a kid thanking his mommy; and Aykroyd and Bill Murray had no lines at all, merely holding a punching bag for Franken to run into repeatedly, acting like a football player for his talent.

Delightfully stupid as this bit was, it had way more laughs than anything misusing Tracy Morgan. Davis in his middle age does give a sense that he could have been a cantankerous pain-in-the-ass to Michaels as a writer, but Davis' convictions about comedy could have been more on the mark.