Why is Johnny reusing the same jokes night after night?
R H Draney
Ed's a drunk...
Doc wears flashy clothes...
Tommy Newsom is boring...
I've been divorced a whole bunch of times...
it's so cold in Los Angeles that...
a joke goes flat and you get a little tap-dancing to "Tea for Two"...
and always ending with that stupid golf swing; who is *that* for?...
It's like the writers aren't even trying....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Twibil
>
>
> Every monologue it's the same thing:
>
> Ed's a drunk...
>
> Doc wears flashy clothes...
>
> Tommy Newsom is boring...
>
> I've been divorced a whole bunch of times...
>
> it's so cold in Los Angeles that...
>
> a joke goes flat and you get a little tap-dancing to "Tea for Two"...
>
> and always ending with that stupid golf swing; who is *that* for?...
>
> It's like the writers aren't even trying....r
Robert Cohen
that's a digitized meter measuring dis-tastefulness of irony oxide in
antique piping*
* MARY WEBSTER'S COLLAGEN: derivation from ole joke warehouse corny-
cob-webbed inventory
randwill
"R H Draney" <dado...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:hel32...@drn.newsguy.com...
Carson used a lot of the same set-ups but his writers wrote different
punchlines. "It's so hot that..."
Dave's writers use the same punchlines, but vary the set-ups. "Blah, blah,
blah...the thing on Trump's head."
Since comedy depends on surprise, I think it's funnier if the punchline is
not predictable. Anybody who watches Dave regularly will know which of the
regular punchlines is coming around in the rotation based on the set-up. No
surprise, no funny.
But it's all about making television that *sounds* to the home viewer as if
it is funny. The audience is instructed to laugh and then applaud every time
Dave stops talking. This gives the undiscriminating home viewer the illusion
that funny things are being said. The rest of us find the audience reaction
surreal, since much of what is said isn't funny and hardly anything is
applause-worthy.
And even though Dave occasionally acknowledges that the comedy is "bottom of
the barrel", he may believe that the monologue is killing. For instance, he
seems to think that just saying the word "Geico" is comedy gold. Several
years ago he thought that saying "Oprah Uma" was comedy gold because the
coached studio audience laughed every time he said it. But when he tried it
at the Academy Awards he was shocked into reality.
With Carson, when a joke fell flat, Johnny made that funny. With Dave's
programmed audience, even unfunny jokes get a laugh and a round of applause.
That's not funny, it's sad.
Traci
> But it's all about making television that *sounds* to the home viewer as if
> it is funny. The audience is instructed to laugh and then applaud every time
> Dave stops talking.
No, the audience is NOT instructed to laugh and clap every time Dave
stops talking. Is the audience coached to have big reactions?
Absolutely. As they are for EVERY television show. I've been to dozens
of tapings here in NYC and it's the same spiel...Laugh big, laugh loud
and laugh even if you're not sure it's funny. The Late Show isn't unique
in that aspect.
I miss the days of Late Night when there would be tumbleweeds rolling
across the stage when something fell flat as it allowed Dave to
improvise. But those days of TV are LONG gone. No producer is going to
allow silence. It's part of the landscape now that there is so much
competition. Big laughs and applause hold people's attention and keep
them from finding something more exciting. You may not like that, but
that's the way it works these days.
> This gives the undiscriminating home viewer the illusion
> that funny things are being said. The rest of us find the audience reaction
> surreal, since much of what is said isn't funny and hardly anything is
> applause-worthy.
Don't speak for me. While I'm not the biggest fan of the monologue by
any means, Dave gets a laugh out of me more often than not. Some of it
is because I'm a long time viewer and something strikes me funny that
may not strike a casual viewer funny (like hearing Tony Mendez cracking
up or the tried and true squirrel/nuts jokes) and sometimes it's a great
line that gets me.
And you can give the writers shit all day long, but it's Dave who makes
the ultimate decision of what makes air. They write what he wants. And
if he wants to use the Geico joke a 1000 times then he'll do just that.
And while I've grown weary of a lot of bits, I admire Dave for doing
what HE wants to do and what he thinks is funny and everyone else be
damned. That's what drew me to him in the 80's and is still one of the
core reasons I love him.
Traci
johnny bobby bee
> Don't speak for me. While I'm not the biggest fan of the monologue by
> any means, Dave gets a laugh out of me more often than not. Some of it
> is because I'm a long time viewer and something strikes me funny that
> may not strike a casual viewer funny (like hearing Tony Mendez cracking
> up or the tried and true squirrel/nuts jokes) and sometimes it's a great
> line that gets me.
>
> And you can give the writers shit all day long, but it's Dave who makes
> the ultimate decision of what makes air. They write what he wants. And
> if he wants to use the Geico joke a 1000 times then he'll do just that.
> And while I've grown weary of a lot of bits, I admire Dave for doing
> what HE wants to do and what he thinks is funny and everyone else be
> damned. That's what drew me to him in the 80's and is still one of the
> core reasons I love him.
I love you.
Alan Page
> That's what drew me to him in the 80's and is still one of the
> core reasons I love him.
This is actually from Traci's deposition in her divorce proceedings with
Donz.
--
Alan
~WWWWW~
What a Wonderful Web We Weave
Alan Page
"johnny bobby bee" wrote...
> I love you.
This is actually from Donz's deposition in his divorce proceedings with
Traci.
Donz5
wrote:
Wait until you two are wed; you'll suddenly notice her deep-seated
disdain for the fine, outstanding citizens of Canada and its rich
cultural history. First there'll be the seemingly offhand remark: she
didn't care for Michael Moore's "Canadian Bacon," say; then there'll
be the Sunday brunches, when she complains about Nova Scotia lox being
too "salty."
But the snark escalates soon after: she'll hear Yankee great Tony
Kubek announce a baseball game and then scream at the tv set, "Go back
to Canada, Tony Quebec!" Soon followed with "You like Joni Mitchell?
Ah - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
It's sad, very sad.
Twibil
>
>
> >http://masonictao.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/imeter1.gif
>
> that's a digitized meter measuring dis-tastefulness of irony oxide in
> antique piping*
Er, no, digital meters display "digits"; most often on LCDs. This one
above is an old-fashioned "analog" irony meter: the sort with a moving
needle.
A pointed analogy, one might say.
R H Draney
>
>Don't speak for me. While I'm not the biggest fan of the monologue by
>any means, Dave gets a laugh out of me more often than not. Some of it
>is because I'm a long time viewer and something strikes me funny that
>may not strike a casual viewer funny (like hearing Tony Mendez cracking
>up or the tried and true squirrel/nuts jokes) and sometimes it's a great
>line that gets me.
The first few times you hear it, "I wouldn't give his troubles to a monkey on a
rock" is funny because it's a bizarre expression...now it's funny because the
entire theatre recites the line in unison along with him...and what was the
first time Dave asked a rhetorical question only to find the horn section
raising their hands?...
There's a slight chance I'm wrong about this, but didn't Johnny's audience
shouting "how cold *was* it?" start when someone noticed that he was telling a
lot of "it was so cold" type jokes?...at some point that morphed from a standard
setup-and-punchline framework upon which to hang a joke, into a joke on its
own....
(And now, things more fun that reading the Sarah Palin memoir...number 326:
arguing about whether a joke you don't get is funny)....r
johnny bobby bee
> Wait until you two are wed; you'll suddenly notice her deep-seated
> disdain for the fine, outstanding citizens of Canada and its rich
> cultural history.
Ya, but I'll move to NY to be with her, then you and I can go watch
Rupert skin rats for his lunch specials. Then it's off to your place for
all-night LAN parties and hackfests.
Donz5
wrote:
You talking computer or flu? I'll need to adjust the settings
accordingly.
johnny bobby bee
> You talking computer or flu? I'll need to adjust the settings
> accordingly.
Can't it be both?
Donz5
wrote:
Don't be greedy; you're not from our country.
btw -- I tried to listen to the Rupert Skinrats when they were in town
but found them tedious and repetitive. And the football team wasn't
much better.
Alan Page
"johnny bobby bee" wrote...
> Ya, but I'll move to NY to be with her, then you and I can go watch
> Rupert skin rats for his lunch specials. Then it's off to your place for
> all-night LAN parties and hackfests.
Yeah, but that's *after* you host the Winter Olympics afl Retreat,
right?
randwill
> There's a slight chance I'm wrong about this, but didn't Johnny's audience
> shouting "how cold *was* it?" start when someone noticed that he was
> telling a
> lot of "it was so cold" type jokes?...at some point that morphed from a
> standard
> setup-and-punchline framework upon which to hang a joke, into a joke on
> its
> own....
>
Absolutely right. So it was funny when the audience participated by asking,
"How cold was it?" and it was funny because every time Johnny had a
*different* punchline answer. Johnny, different punchlines. Dave, same
punchlines. I understand some people think hearing the same punchline over
and over is funny. I'm just not one of those people.
johnny bobby bee
> Yeah, but that's *after* you host the Winter Olympics afl Retreat,
> right?
Of course. That is if the flame ever makes it's way back West. The torch
runs a butane mixture measured in gallons, but we're taking it some
45000 kilometres across this great country, not sure the conversion and
early harvest was factored in.